Color Gradients in Early-Type Galaxies in Clusters at the Redshift from 0.37 to 0.56

Color gradients in elliptical galaxies in distant clusters ($z=0.37-0.56$) are examined by using the archival deep imaging data of Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on-board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Obtained color gradients are compared with the two model gradients to examine the origin of the color gradients. In one model, a color gradient is assumed to be caused by a metallicity gradient of stellar populations, while in the other one, it is caused by an age gradient. Both of these model color gradients reproduce the average color gradient seen in nearby ellipticals, but predict significantly different gradients at a redshift larger than $\sim$0.3. Comparison between the observed gradients and the model gradients reveals that the metallicity gradient is much more favorable as the primary origin of color gradients in elliptical galaxies in clusters. The same conclusion has been obtained for field ellipticals by using those at the redshift from 0.1 to 1.0 in the Hubble Deep Field-North by Tamura et al. (2000). Thus, it is also suggested that the primary origin of the color gradients in elliptical galaxies does not depend on galaxy environment.Comment: 23 pages LaTeX, 5 PostScript figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

Using error correction to determine the noise model

Quantum error correcting codes have been shown to have the ability of making quantum information resilient against noise. Here we show that we can use quantum error correcting codes as diagnostics to characterise noise. The experiment is based on a three-bit quantum error correcting code carried out on a three-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum information processor. Utilizing both engineered and natural noise, the degree of correlations present in the noise affecting a two-qubit subsystem was determined. We measured a correlation factor of c=0.5+/-0.2 using the error correction protocol, and c=0.3+/-0.2 using a standard NMR technique based on coherence pathway selection. Although the error correction method demands precise control, the results demonstrate that the required precision is achievable in the liquid-state NMR setting.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Added discussion section, improved figure

A Look At Three Different Scenarios for Bulge Formation

In this paper, we present three qualitatively different scenarios for bulge formation: a secular evolution model in which bulges form after disks and undergo several central starbursts, a primordial collapse model in which bulges and disks form simultaneously, and an early bulge formation model in which bulges form prior to disks. We normalize our models to the local z=0 observations of de Jong & van der Kruit (1994) and Peletier & Balcells (1996) and make comparisons with high redshift observations. We consider model predictions relating directly to bulge-to-disk properties. As expected, smaller bulge-to-disk ratios and bluer bulge colors are predicted by the secular evolution model at all redshifts, although uncertainties in the data are currently too large to differentiate strongly between the models.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

The Age of Cluster Galaxies from Continuum Colors

We determine the age of 1,104 early-type galaxies in eight rich clusters ($z = 0.0046$ to $0.175$) using a new continuum color technique. We find that galaxies in clusters divide into two populations, an old population with a mean age similar to the age of the Universe (12 Gyrs) and a younger population with a mean age of 9 Gyrs. The older population follows the expected relations for mass and metallicity that imply a classic monolithic collapse origin. Although total galaxy metallicity is correlated with galaxy mass, it is uncorrelated with age. It is impossible, with the current data, to distinguish between a later epoch of star formation, longer duration of star formation or late bursts of star formation to explain the difference between the old and young populations. However, the global properties of this younger population are correlated with cluster environmental factors, which implies secondary processes, post-formation epoch, operate on the internal stellar population of a significant fraction of cluster galaxies. In addition, the mean age of the oldest galaxies in a cluster are correlated with cluster velocity dispersion implying that galaxy formation in massive clusters begins at earlier epochs than less massive clusters.Comment: 35 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Ap

Numerical Analyses of Weakly Nonlinear Velocity-Density Coupling

We study evolution of various statistical quantities of smoothed cosmic density and velocity fields using N-body simulations. The parameter $C\equiv /( )$ characterizes nonlinear coupling of these two fields and determines behavior of bulk velocity dispersion as a function of local density contrast. It is found that this parameter depends strongly on the smoothing scale even in quasi-linear regimes where the skewness parameter $S_3$ is nearly constant and close to the predicted value by the second-order perturbation theory. We also analyze weakly nonlinear effects caused by an adaptive smoothing known as the gather approach.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, to appear in ApJ (558, Sep 10

The Angular Three-Point Correlation Function in the Quasilinear Regime

We calculate the normalized angular three-point correlation function (3PCF), $q$, as well as the normalized angular skewness, $s_3$, assuming the small-angle approximation, for a biased mass distribution in flat and open cold-dark-matter (CDM) models with Gaussian initial conditions. The leading-order perturbative results incorporate the explicit dependence on the cosmological parameters, the shape of the CDM transfer function, the linear evolution of the power spectrum, the form of redshift distribution function, and linear and nonlinear biasing, which may be evolving. Results are presented for different redshift distributions, including that appropriate for the APM Galaxy Survey, as well as for a survey with a mean redshift of $\bar{z} \simeq 1$ (such as the VLA FIRST Survey). Qualitatively, many of the results found for $s_3$ and $q$ are similar to those obtained in a related treatment of the spatial skewness and 3PCF (Buchalter & Kamionkowski 1999), such as a leading-order correction to the standard result for $s_3$ in the case of nonlinear bias (as defined for unsmoothed density fields), and the sensitivity of the configuration dependence of $q$ to both cosmological and biasing models. We show that since angular CFs are sensitive to clustering over a range of redshifts, the various evolutionary dependences included in our predictions imply that measurements of $q$ in a deep survey might better discriminate between models with different histories, such as evolving vs. non-evolving bias, that can have similar spatial CFs at low redshift. Our calculations employ a derived equation---valid for open, closed, and flat models---for obtaining the angular bispectrum from the spatial bispectrum in the small-angle approximation.Comment: 45 pages, including 11 Figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa

The Canada-UK Deep Submillimeter Survey VI: The 3-Hour Field

We present the complete submillimeter data for the Canada-UK Deep Submillimeter Survey (CUDSS) 3-hour field. The obeservations were taken with the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea. The 3-hour field is one of two main fields in our survey and covers 60 square arcminutes to a 3-sigma depth of 3 mJy. In this field we have detected 27 sources above 3-sigma and 15 above 3.5-sigma. We assume the source counts follow the form $N(S) {\propto} S^{-\alpha}$ and measure $\alpha$ = 3.3$^{+1.4}_{-1.0}$. This is in good agreement with previous studies and further supports our claim (Eales et al., 2000) that SCUBA sources brighter than 3 mJy produce ~20% of the 850$\mu$m background energy. Using preliminary ISO 15 $\mu$m maps and VLA 1.4 GHz data we have identified counterparts for six objects and have marginal detections at 450$\mu$m for two additional sources. With this information we estimate a median redshift for the sample of 2.0$\pm$0.5, with $\sim$10% lying at $z<$ 1. We have measured the angular clustering of S850 > 3 mJy sources using the source catalogues from the CUDSS two main fields, the 3-hour and 14-hour fields, and find a marginal detection of clustering, primarily from the 14-hour field, of $\omega(\theta)=4.4\pm2.9 \theta^{-0.8}$. This is consistent with clustering at least as strong as that seen for the Lyman-break galaxy population and the Extremely Red Objects. Since SCUBA sources are selected over a broader range in redshifts than these two populations the strength of the true spatial clustering is expected to be correspondingly stronger.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap