4,369 research outputs found
Asteroids in GALEX: Near-ultraviolet photometry of the major taxonomic groups
We present ultraviolet photometry (NUV band, 180--280 nm) of 405 asteroids
observed serendipitously by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) from
2003--2012. All asteroids in this sample were detected by GALEX at least twice.
Unambiguous visible-color-based taxonomic labels (C type versus S type) exist
for 315 of these asteroids; of these, thermal-infrared-based diameters are
available for 245. We derive NUV-V color using two independent models to
predict the visual magnitude V at each NUV-detection epoch. Both V models
produce NUV-V distributions in which the S types are redder than C types with
more than 8-sigma confidence. This confirms that the S types' redder spectral
slopes in the visible remain redder than the C types' into the NUV, this
redness being consistent with absorption by silica-containing rocks. The GALEX
asteroid data confirm earlier results from the International Ultraviolet
Explorer, which two decades ago produced the only other sizeable set of UV
asteroid photometry. The GALEX-derived NUV-V data also agree with previously
published Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UV observations of asteroids 21 Lutetia
and 1 Ceres. Both the HST and GALEX data indicate that NUV band is less useful
than u band for distinguishing subgroups within the greater population of
visible-color-defined C types (notably, M types and G types).Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted 2015-May-6 to The Astrophysical
Journal. Includes one machine-readable table of NUV asteroid detections.
Version 2 includes a corrected citation to Waszczak et al. (2015) arXiv
abstrac
Remarks on the Generalized Chaplygin Gas
We have developed an action formulation for the Generalized Chaplygin Gas
(GCG). The most general form for the nonrelativistic GCG action is derived
consistent with the equation of state. We have also discussed a relativistic
formulation for GCG by providing a detailed analysis of the Poincare algebra.Comment: References addede
Probing the Intergalactic Medium with Fast Radio Bursts
The recently discovered fast radio bursts (FRBs), presumably of
extra-galactic origin, have the potential to become a powerful probe of the
intergalactic medium (IGM). We point out a few such potential applications. We
provide expressions for the dispersion measure and rotation measure as a
function of redshift, and we discuss the sensitivity of these measures to the
HeII reionization and the IGM magnetic field. Finally we calculate the
microlensing effect from an isolate, extragalctic stellar-mass compact object
on the FRB spectrum. The time delays between the two lensing images will induce
constructive and destructive interference, leaving a specific imprint on the
spectra of FRBs. With a high all-sky rate, a large statistical sample of FRBs
is expected to make these applications feasible.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; Typos for the variable x in Eq.6 corrected;
Published in ApJ; Originally the Appendix E of arXiv:1402.4766; Separated
from the main paper upon the referee's reques
PTF 10bzf (SN 2010ah): A Broad-Line Ic Supernova Discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory
We present the discovery and follow-up observations of a broad-line Type Ic supernova (SN), PTF 10bzf (SN 2010ah), detected by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) on 2010 February 23. The SN distance is ā
218 Mpc, greater than GRB 980425/SN 1998bw and GRB 060218/SN 2006aj, but smaller than the other SNe firmly associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We conducted a multi-wavelength follow-up campaign with Palomar 48 inch, Palomar 60 inch, Gemini-N, Keck, Wise, Swift, the Allen Telescope Array, Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy, Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, and Expanded Very Large Array. Here we compare the properties of PTF 10bzf with those of SN 1998bw and other broad-line SNe. The optical luminosity and spectral properties of PTF 10bzf suggest that this SN is intermediate, in kinetic energy and amount of ^(56)Ni, between non-GRB-associated SNe like 2002ap or 1997ef, and GRB-associated SNe like 1998bw. No X-ray or radio counterpart to PTF 10bzf was detected. X-ray upper limits allow us to exclude the presence of an underlying X-ray afterglow as luminous as that of other SN-associated GRBs such as GRB 030329 or GRB 031203. Early-time radio upper limits do not show evidence for mildly relativistic ejecta. Late-time radio upper limits rule out the presence of an underlying off-axis GRB, with energy and wind density similar to the SN-associated GRB 030329 and GRB 031203. Finally, by performing a search for a GRB in the time window and at the position of PTF 10bzf, we find that no GRB in the interplanetary network catalog could be associated with this SN
Aspects of Diffeomorphism and Conformal invariance in classical Liouville theory
The interplay between the diffeomorphism and conformal symmetries (a feature
common in quantum field theories) is shown to be exhibited for the case of
black holes in two dimensional classical Liouville theory. We show that
although the theory is conformally invariant in the near horizon limit, there
is a breaking of the diffeomorphism symmetry at the classical level. On the
other hand, in the region away from the horizon, the conformal symmetry of the
theory gets broken with the diffeomorphism symmetry remaining intact.Comment: Accepted in Euro. Phys. Letters., Title changed, abstract modified,
major modifications made in the pape
Parallelizing Deadlock Resolution in Symbolic Synthesis of Distributed Programs
Previous work has shown that there are two major complexity barriers in the
synthesis of fault-tolerant distributed programs: (1) generation of fault-span,
the set of states reachable in the presence of faults, and (2) resolving
deadlock states, from where the program has no outgoing transitions. Of these,
the former closely resembles with model checking and, hence, techniques for
efficient verification are directly applicable to it. Hence, we focus on
expediting the latter with the use of multi-core technology.
We present two approaches for parallelization by considering different design
choices. The first approach is based on the computation of equivalence classes
of program transitions (called group computation) that are needed due to the
issue of distribution (i.e., inability of processes to atomically read and
write all program variables). We show that in most cases the speedup of this
approach is close to the ideal speedup and in some cases it is superlinear. The
second approach uses traditional technique of partitioning deadlock states
among multiple threads. However, our experiments show that the speedup for this
approach is small. Consequently, our analysis demonstrates that a simple
approach of parallelizing the group computation is likely to be the effective
method for using multi-core computing in the context of deadlock resolution
Real-time Detection and Rapid Multiwavelength Follow-up Observations of a Highly Subluminous Type II-P Supernova from the Palomar Transient Factory Survey
The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is an optical wide-field variability survey carried out using a camera with a 7.8 deg^2 field of view mounted on the 48 inch Oschin Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory. One of the key goals of this survey is to conduct high-cadence monitoring of the sky in order to detect optical transient sources shortly after they occur. Here, we describe the real-time capabilities of the PTF and our related rapid multiwavelength follow-up programs, extending from the radio to the Ī³-ray bands. We present as a case study observations of the optical transient PTF10vdl (SN 2010id), revealed to be a very young core-collapse (Type II-P) supernova having a remarkably low luminosity. Our results demonstrate that the PTF now provides for optical transients the real-time discovery and rapid-response follow-up capabilities previously reserved only for high-energy transients like gamma-ray bursts
Pulsations of the Low Mass ZZ Ceti Star HS 1824+6000
Measuring g-mode pulsations of isolated white dwarfs can reveal their
interior properties to high precision. With a spectroscopic mass of ~0.51
M_{\odot} (log g = 7.82), the DAV white dwarf HS 1824+6000 is near the
transition between carbon/oxygen core and helium core white dwarfs, motivating
our photometric search for additional pulsations from the Palomar 60-inch
telescope. We confirmed (with much greater precision) the three frequencies:
2.751190 +/- 0.000010 mHz (363.479 sec), 3.116709 +/- 0.000006 mHz (320.851
sec), 3.495113 +/- 0.000009 mHz (286.114 sec), previously found by B. Voss and
collaborators, and found an additional pulsation at 4.443120 +/- 0.000012 mHz
(225.067 sec). These observed frequencies are similar to those found in other
ZZ Ceti white dwarfs of comparable mass (e.g. log g < 8). We hope that future
observations of much lower mass ZZ Ceti stars (< 0.4 M_{\odot}) will reveal
pulsational differences attributable to a hydrogen covered helium core.Comment: 8 Pages; 4 Figures; Accepted to PASP (scheduled to appear in October
issue
A Very Large Array Search for 5 GHz Radio Transients and Variables at Low Galactic Latitudes
We present the results of a 5 GHz survey with the Very Large Array (VLA) and the expanded VLA, designed to search for short-lived (ā¾1 day) transients and to characterize the variability of radio sources at milli-Jansky levels. A total sky area of 2.66 deg^2, spread over 141 fields at low Galactic latitudes (bā
6-8 deg), was observed 16 times with a cadence that was chosen to sample timescales of days, months, and years. Most of the data were reduced, analyzed, and searched for transients in near real-time. Interesting candidates were followed up using visible light telescopes (typical delays of 1-2 hr) and the X-ray Telescope on board the Swift satellite. The final processing of the data revealed a single possible transient with a peak flux density of f_Ī½ā
2.4 mJy. This implies a transient's sky surface density of Īŗ(f_Ī½ > 1.8 mJy) = 0.039^(+0.13 +0.18)_(ā0.032,ā0.038) deg^(ā2) (1Ļ, 2Ļ confidence errors). This areal density is roughly consistent with the sky surface density of transients from the Bower et al. survey extrapolated to 1.8 mJy. Our observed transient areal density is consistent with a neutron star's origin for these events. Furthermore, we use the data to measure the source variability on timescales of days to years, and we present the variability structure function of 5 GHz sources. The mean structure function shows a fast increase on ā1 day timescale, followed by a slower increase on timescales of up to 10 days. On timescales between 10 and 60 days, the structure function is roughly constant. We find that ā³30% of the unresolved sources brighter than 1.8 mJy are variables at the >4Ļ confidence level, presumably mainly due to refractive scintillation
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