Evalution of the Efficacy of the Photosystem II Inhibitor DCMU in Periphyton and Its Effects On Nontarget Microorganisms and Extracellular Enzymatic Reactions

We examined the efficacy of the photosystem II inhibitor 3-(3,4-diclorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea (DCMU) for inhibition of algal photosynthesis in periphyton associated with submerged decomposing litter of Typha angustifolia. We also investigated the possible nontarget effects of DCMU exposure on heterotrophic microorganisms (i.e., bacteria and fungi) and extracellular enzyme activity associated with decaying litter. Standing-dead Typha leaf litter was submerged for 34 and 73 d, returned to the laboratory, and used for controlled laboratory experiments that examined the effect of DCMU on algal ([14C]bicarbonate, pulse-amplitude modulated fluorometry), bacterial ([3H]leucine), and fungal ([14C]acetate) production. Simultaneous assays also were conducted to examine the effect of DCMU on the activities of 4 extracellular enzymes (β-glucosidase, β-xylosidase, leucine-aminopeptidase, and phosphatase). DCMU significantly inhibited algal photosynthesis in light-exposed periphyton (p always \u3c 0.0003), with strong inhibitory effects occurring within 5 min after exposure to DCMU. In contrast, DCMU had no significant direct effect on bacterial (p \u3e 0.5) or fungal production (p \u3e 0.3). Extracellular enzyme activities also were not significantly affected by exposure to DCMU. Heterotrophic microbial and enzyme activity assays were conducted in darkness to avoid any indirect effects of DCMU (i.e., heterotrophic responses to the inhibition of photosynthesis, rather than to DCMU itself). The apparent lack of nontarget effects of DCMU on heterotrophic microbial processes, combined with good efficacy against algal photosynthesis, suggest that DCMU may a useful selective inhibitor for investigations of interactions among litter-inhabiting microbiota

Priming in the Microbial Landscape: Periphytic Algal Stimulation of Litter-Associated Microbial Decomposers

Microbial communities associated with submerged detritus in aquatic ecosystems often comprise a diverse mixture of autotrophic and heterotrophic microbes, including algae, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. Recent studies have documented increased rates of plant litter mass loss when periphytic algae are present. We conducted laboratory and field experiments to assess potential metabolic interactions between natural autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial communities inhabiting submerged decaying plant litter of Typha angustifolia and Schoenoplectus acutus. In the field, submerged plant litter was either exposed to natural sunlight or placed under experimental canopies that manipulated light availability and growth of periphytic algae. Litter was collected and returned to the laboratory, where algal photosynthesis was manipulated (light/dark incubation), while rates of bacterial and fungal growth and productivity were simultaneously quantified. Bacteria and fungi were rapidly stimulated by exposure to light, thus establishing the potential for algal priming of microbial heterotrophic decay activities. Experimental incubations of decaying litter with 14C‐ and 13C‐bicarbonate established that inorganic C fixed by algal photosynthesis was rapidly transferred to and assimilated by heterotrophic microbial decomposers. Periphytic algal stimulation of microbial heterotrophs, especially fungal decomposers, is an important and largely unrecognized interaction within the detrital microbial landscape, which may transform our current conceptual understanding of microbial secondary production and organic matter decomposition in aquatic ecosystems

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): active galactic nuclei in pairs of galaxies

There exist conflicting observations on whether or not the environment of broad- and narrowline active galatic nuclei (AGN) differ and this consequently questions the validity of the AGN unification model. The high spectroscopic completeness of the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey makes it ideal for a comprehensive analysis of the close environment of galaxies. To exploit this, and conduct a comparative analysis of the environment of broad- and narrow-line AGN within GAMA, we use a double-Gaussian emission line fitting method to model the more complex line profiles associated with broad-line AGN. We select 209 type 1 (i.e. unobscured), 464 type 1.5–1.9 (partially obscured), and 281 type 2 (obscured) AGN within the GAMA II data base. Comparing the fractions of these with neighbouring galaxies out to a pair separation of 350 kpc h−1 and Δz < 0.012 shows no difference between AGN of different type, except at separations less than 20 kpc h−1 where our observations suggest an excess of type 2 AGN in close pairs. We analyse the properties of the galaxies neighbouring our AGN and find no significant differences in colour or the star formation activity of these galaxies. Further to this, we find that Σ5 is also consistent between broad- and narrow-line AGN. We conclude that the observations presented here are consistent with AGN unification

Search for gravitational waves associated with the InterPlanetary Network short gamma ray bursts

We outline the scientific motivation behind a search for gravitational waves associated with short gamma ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The IPN localisation of short gamma ray bursts is limited to extended error boxes of different shapes and sizes and a search on these error boxes poses a series of challenges for data analysis. We will discuss these challenges and outline the methods to optimise the search over these error boxes.Comment: Methods paper; Proceedings for Eduardo Amaldi 9 Conference on Gravitational Waves, July 2011, Cardiff, U

Photometric Properties of Jupiter Trojans Detected by the Dark Energy Survey

The Jupiter Trojans are a large group of asteroids that are coorbiting with Jupiter near its L4 and L5 Lagrange points. The study of Jupiter Trojans is crucial for testing different models of planet formation that are directly related to our understanding of solar system evolution. In this work, we select known Jupiter Trojans listed by the Minor Planet Center from the full six years data set (Y6) of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) to analyze their photometric properties. The DES data allow us to study Jupiter Trojans with a fainter magnitude limit than previous studies in a homogeneous survey with griz band measurements. We extract a final catalog of 573 unique Jupiter Trojans. Our sample include 547 asteroids belonging to L5. This is one of the largest analyzed samples for this group. By comparing with the data reported by other surveys we found that the color distribution of L5 Trojans is similar to that of L4 Trojans. We find that L5 Trojans' g - i and g - r colors become less red with fainter absolute magnitudes, a trend also seen in L4 Trojans. Both the L4 and L5 clouds consistently show such a color-size correlation over an absolute magnitude range 11 < H < 18. We also use DES colors to perform taxonomic classifications. C- and P-type asteroids outnumber D-type asteroids in the L5 Trojans DES sample, which have diameters in the 5-20 km range. This is consistent with the color-size correlation

Searching for dark matter annihilation in recently discovered Milky Way satellites with Fermi-LAT

We search for excess γ-ray emission coincident with the positions of confirmed and candidate Milky Way satellite galaxies using six years of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Our sample of 45 stellar systems includes 28 kinematically confirmed dark-matter-dominated dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) and 17 recently discovered systems that have photometric characteristics consistent with the population of known dSphs. For each of these targets, the relative predicted γ-ray flux due to dark matter annihilation is taken from kinematic analysis if available, and estimated from a distance-based scaling relation otherwise, assuming that the stellar systems are DM-dominated dSphs. LAT data coincident with four of the newly discovered targets show a slight preference (each ~2σ local) for γ-ray emission in excess of the background. However, the ensemble of derived γ-ray flux upper limits for individual targets is consistent with the expectation from analyzing random blank-sky regions, and a combined analysis of the population of stellar systems yields no globally significant excess (global significance 1 TeV and mDM,t+t-> 70 GeV) and weakening by a factor of ~1.5 at lower masses relative to previously observed limits

VDES J2325−5229 a z = 2.7 gravitationally lensed quasar discovered using morphology-independent supervised machine learning

We present the discovery and preliminary characterization of a gravitationally lensed quasar with a source redshift zs = 2.74 and image separation of 2.9 arcsec lensed by a foreground zl = 0.40 elliptical galaxy. Since optical observations of gravitationally lensed quasars showthe lens system as a superposition of multiple point sources and a foreground lensing galaxy, we have developed a morphology-independent multi-wavelength approach to the photometric selection of lensed quasar candidates based on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) supervised machine learning. Using this technique and gi multicolour photometric observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), near-IR JK photometry from the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) and WISE mid-IR photometry, we have identified a candidate system with two catalogue components with iAB = 18.61 and iAB = 20.44 comprising an elliptical galaxy and two blue point sources. Spectroscopic follow-up with NTT and the use of an archival AAT spectrum show that the point sources can be identified as a lensed quasar with an emission line redshift of z = 2.739 ± 0.003 and a foreground early-type galaxy with z = 0.400 ± 0.002.We model the system as a single isothermal ellipsoid and find the Einstein radius θE ∼ 1.47 arcsec, enclosed mass Menc ∼ 4 × 1011 M and a time delay of ∼52 d. The relatively wide separation, month scale time delay duration and high redshift make this an ideal system for constraining the expansion rate beyond a redshift of 1

Discovery of a z = 0.65 post-starburst BAL quasar in the DES supernova fields

We present the discovery of a z = 0.65 low-ionization broad absorption line (LoBAL) quasar in a post-starburst galaxy in data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and spectroscopy from the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES). LoBAL quasars are a minority of all BALs, and rarer still is that this object also exhibits broad Fe II (an FeLoBAL) and Balmer absorption. This is the first BAL quasar that has signatures of recently truncated star formation, which we estimate ended about 40 Myr ago. The characteristic signatures of an FeLoBAL require high column densities, which could be explained by the emergence of a young quasar from an early, dust-enshrouded phase, or by clouds compressed by a blast wave. The age of the starburst component is comparable to estimates of the lifetime of quasars, so if we assume the quasar activity is related to the truncation of the star formation, this object is better explained by the blast wave scenario

Redshift distributions of galaxies in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification shear catalogue and implications for weak lensing

We present photometric redshift estimates for galaxies used in the weak lensing analysis of the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification (DES SV) data. Four model- or machine learning-based photometric redshift methods—ANNZ2, BPZ calibrated against BCC-Ufig simulations, SKYNET, and TPZ—are analyzed. For training, calibration, and testing of these methods, we construct a catalogue of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies matched against DES SV data. The performance of the methods is evaluated against the matched spectroscopic catalogue, focusing on metrics relevant for weak lensing analyses, with additional validation against COSMOS photo-z’s. From the galaxies in the DES SV shear catalogue, which have mean redshift 0.72 0.01 over the range 0.3 < z < 1.3, we construct three tomographic bins with means of z ¼ f0.45; 0.67; 1.00g. These bins each have systematic uncertainties δz ≲ 0.05 in the mean of the fiducial SKYNET photo-z nðzÞ. We propagate the errors in the redshift distributions through to their impact on cosmological parameters estimated with cosmic shear, and find that they cause shifts in the value of σ8 of approximately 3%. This shift is within the one sigma statistical errors on σ8 for the DES SV shear catalogue. We further study the potential impact of systematic differences on the critical surface density, Σcrit, finding levels of bias safely less than the statistical power of DES SV data. We recommend a final Gaussian prior for the photo-z bias in the mean of nðzÞ of width 0.05 for each of the three tomographic bins, and show that this is a sufficient bias model for the corresponding cosmology analysis