8,715 research outputs found
A summary of the BARREL campaigns: Technique for studying electron precipitation.
BARREL observed electron precipitation over wide range of energy and timescalesPrecipitating electron distribution is determined using spectroscopy for 19 January 2013 eventBARREL timing data has accuracy within sampling interval of 0.05 s
Colour Gradients and the Colour-Magnitude Relation: Different Properties of Brightest Cluster Galaxies and E/S0 Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We examine the colour-magnitude relation of approximately 5000 Brightest
Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and compare with
non-BCG E/S0 galaxies. The colour-magnitude and colour-sigma (velocity
dispersion) relations are flatter in slope (by a factor of about 2) for BCGs
than for non-BCG E/S0s, and the BCGs also tend to be redder by 0.01 magnitudes
in g-r. We investigate radial colour gradients in both samples, using the ratio
of the de Vaucouleurs radii in the g and r bands. We find BCGs have
significantly flatter (by 23%) mean colour gradients than other high luminosity
E/S0s. In early-type galaxies, the colour gradients are strongest at
intermediate luminosities of Mr=-22. Colour gradients in E/S0s increase with
radius (up to 10kpc) and are negatively correlated with 10sigma + Mr (velocity
dispersion relative to luminosity) and with mass density. The gradients also
tend to decrease with increasing stellar age. These trends are weak or not seen
in BCGs, in which the mean colour gradient is low whatever the other
properties. We discuss possible explanations, which involve a greater amount of
dry merging in the formation history of the BCGs.Comment: 16 pages, 24 figures, revised, accepted for publication in MNRAS
SPIDER - IV. Optical and NIR color gradients in Early-type galaxies: New Insights into Correlations with Galaxy Properties
We present an analysis of stellar population gradients in 4,546 Early-Type
Galaxies with photometry in along with optical spectroscopy. A new
approach is described which utilizes color information to constrain age and
metallicity gradients. Defining an effective color gradient, ,
which incorporates all of the available color indices, we investigate how
varies with galaxy mass proxies, i.e. velocity dispersion,
stellar (M_star) and dynamical (M_dyn) masses, as well as age, metallicity, and
alpha/Fe. ETGs with M_dyn larger than 8.5 x 10^10, M_odot have increasing age
gradients and decreasing metallicity gradients wrt mass, metallicity, and
enhancement. We find that velocity dispersion and alpha/Fe are the main drivers
of these correlations. ETGs with 2.5 x 10^10 M_odot =< M_dyn =< 8.5 x 10^10
M_odot, show no correlation of age, metallicity, and color gradients wrt mass,
although color gradients still correlate with stellar population parameters,
and these correlations are independent of each other. In both mass regimes, the
striking anti-correlation between color gradient and alpha-enhancement is
significant at \sim 4sigma, and results from the fact that metallicity gradient
decreases with alpha/Fe. This anti-correlation may reflect the fact that star
formation and metallicity enrichment are regulated by the interplay between the
energy input from supernovae, and the temperature and pressure of the hot X-ray
gas in ETGs. For all mass ranges, positive age gradients are associated with
old galaxies (>5-7 Gyr). For galaxies younger than \sim 5 Gyr, mostly at
low-mass, the age gradient tends to be anti-correlated with the Age parameter,
with more positive gradients at younger ages.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Astronomical Journa
Mechanisms for the Origin of Turbulence in Non-Star-forming Clouds: The Translucent Cloud MBM 40
We present a multiline, high spatial and velocity resolution CO, H I, and IRAS 100 μm study of the high-latitude, low-mass, non-star-forming, translucent molecular cloud MBM 40. The cloud mass is distributed into two ridges, or filaments, that form a hairpin structure. Velocity channel maps indicate a highly ordered flow in the molecular gas, with the northeastern part of the filament moving away from and the southwestern filament moving toward the observer relative to the mean cloud radial velocity. Significant changes in emissivity occur over 0.03 pc, indicating large transverse density gradients along the ridges. However, the velocity field appears to be continuous, showing no evidence for shock compression. The neutral hydrogen at the same velocity envelops the molecular gas but shows a decrease along the hairpin, indicating that the atomic hydrogen has converted to H2; the strongest 100 μm emission coincides with the CO, not the H I, emission peak. These results indicate that MBM 40 is condensing out of a larger scale flow and is structured by thermal instability and shear flow turbulence. This externally driven turbulence does not produce large compression and may explain why gravitational collapse and star formation do not occur in MBM 40
The Formation and Evolution of Virgo Cluster Galaxies - I. Broadband Optical & Infrared Colours
We use a combination of deep optical (gri) and near-infrared (H) photometry
to study the radially-resolved colours of a broad sample of 300 Virgo cluster
galaxies. For most galaxy types, we find that the median g-H colour gradient is
either flat (gas-poor giants and gas-rich dwarfs) or negative (i.e., colours
become bluer with increasing radius; gas-poor dwarfs, spirals, and gas-poor
peculiars). Later-type galaxies typically exhibit more negative gradients than
early-types. Given the lack of a correlation between the central colours and
axis ratios of Virgo spiral galaxies, we argue that dust likely plays a small
role, if at all, in setting those colour gradients. We search for possible
correlations between galaxy colour and photometric structure or environment and
find that the Virgo galaxy colours become redder with increasing concentration,
luminosity and surface brightness, while no dependence with cluster-centric
radius or local galaxy density is detected (over a range of ~2 Mpc and ~3-16
Mpc^-2, respectively). However, the colours of gas-rich Virgo galaxies do
correlate with neutral gas deficiency, such that these galaxies become redder
with higher deficiencies. Comparisons with stellar population models suggest
that these colour gradients arise principally from variations in stellar
metallicity within these galaxies, while age variations only make a significant
contribution to the colour gradients of Virgo irregulars. A detailed stellar
population analysis based on this material is presented in Roediger et al
(2011b; arXiv:1011.3511).Comment: 34 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, submitted to MNRAS; Paper II
(arXiv:1011.3511) has also been update
On the Nature of Fossil Galaxy Groups: Are they really fossils ?
We use SDSS-DR4 photometric and spectroscopic data out to redshift z~0.1
combined with ROSAT All Sky Survey X-ray data to produce a sample of
twenty-five fossil groups (FGs), defined as bound systems dominated by a
single, luminous elliptical galaxy with extended X-ray emission. We examine
possible biases introduced by varying the parameters used to define the sample
and the main pitfalls are discussed. The spatial density of FGs, estimated via
the V/V_ MAX} test, is 2.83 x 10^{-6} h_{75}^3 Mpc^{-3} for L_x > 0.89 x 10^42
h_{75}^-2 erg/s consistent with Vikhlinin et al. (1999), who examined an X-ray
overluminous elliptical galaxy sample (OLEG). We compare the general properties
of FGs identified here with a sample of bright field ellipticals generated from
the same dataset. These two samples show no differences in the distribution of
neighboring faint galaxy density excess, distance from the red sequence in the
color-magnitude diagram, and structural parameters such as a and internal
color gradients. Furthermore, examination of stellar populations shows that our
twenty-five FGs have similar ages, metallicities, and -enhancement as
the bright field ellipticals, undermining the idea that these systems represent
fossils of a physical mechanism that occurred at high redshift. Our study
reveals no difference between FGs and field ellipticals, suggesting that FGs
might not be a distinct family of true fossils, but rather the final stage of
mass assembly in the Universe.Comment: 18 pages, Accepted to A
A z=1.82 Analog of Local Ultra-massive Elliptical Galaxies
We present observations of a very massive galaxy at z=1.82 which show that
its morphology, size, velocity dispersion and stellar population properties
that are fully consistent with those expected for passively evolving
progenitors of today's giant ellipticals. These findings are based on a deep
optical rest-frame spectrum obtained with the Multi-Object InfraRed Camera and
Spectrograph (MOIRCS) on the Subaru telescope of a high-z passive galaxy
candidate (pBzK) from the COSMOS field, for which we accurately measure its
redshift of z=1.8230 and obtain an upper limit on its velocity dispersion
sigma_star<326 km/s. By detailed stellar population modeling of both the galaxy
broad-band SED and the rest-frame optical spectrum we derive a
star-formation-weighted age and formation redshift of t_sf~1-2 Gyr and
z_form~2.5-4, and a stellar mass of M_star~(3-4)x10^{11} M_sun. This is in
agreement with a virial mass limit of M_vir<7x10^{11}M_sun, derived from the
measured sigma_star value and stellar half-light radius, as well as with the
dynamical mass limit based on the Jeans equations. In contrast with previously
reported super-dense passive galaxies at z~2, the present galaxy at z=1.82
appears to have both size and velocity dispersion similar to early-type
galaxies in the local Universe with similar stellar mass. This suggests that
z~2 massive and passive galaxies may exhibit a wide range of properties, then
possibly following quite different evolutionary histories from z~2 to z=0.Comment: ApJ Letters in press; 9 pages; 4 figures; 1 table; emulateapj.cl
Dark Matter from the Inflaton Field
We present a model where inflation and Dark Matter takes place via a single
scalar field phi. Without introducing any new parameters we are able unify
inflation and Dark Matter using a scalar field phi that accounts for inflation
at an early epoch while it gives a Dark Matter WIMP particle at low energies.
After inflation our universe must be reheated and we must have a long period of
radiation dominated before the epoch of Dark Matter. Typically the inflaton
decays while it oscillates around the minimum of its potential. If the inflaton
decay is not complete or sufficient then the remaining energy density of the
inflaton after reheating must be fine tuned to give the correct amount of Dark
Matter. An essential feature here, is that Dark Matter-Inflaton particle is
produced at low energies without fine tuning or new parameters. This process
uses the same coupling g as for the inflaton decay. Once the field phi becomes
non-relativistic it will decouple as any WIMP particle, since n_phi is
exponentially suppressed. The correct amount of Dark Matter determines the
cross section and we have a constraint between the coupling and the mass
of phi. The unification scheme we present here has four free parameters,
two for the scalar potential V(phi) given by the inflation parameter lambda of
the quartic term and the mass m_o. The other two parameters are the coupling
between the inflaton phi and a scalar filed varphi and the coupling h
between varphi with standard model particles psi or chi. These four parameters
are already present in models of inflation and reheating process, without
considering Dark Matter. Therefore, our unification scheme does not increase
the number of parameters and it accomplishes the desired unification between
the inflaton and Dark Matter for free.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:0911.517
Amino acid stable N isotope estimations reveal uniform diazotrophic contributions across zooplankton size fractions in the subtropical N Atlantic
presentacionNatural abundance of stable N isotopes (d15N) in both individual amino acids and bulk organic matter of size-fractionated plankton samples were compared to analyze the differential impact of nitrogen fixation through the food web, in a transect across the subtropical North Atlantic. Low d15N values in the central and western regions were consistent with the prevalence of nitrogen fixation, while maximum d15N values tracked the influence of West African upwelling in the eastern zone. Compound-specific amino acid isotope data (CSI-AA) revealed relatively low variability in the impact of diazotrophic nitrogen within the different plankton size fractions, while d15N of bulk organic matter showed higher variability with size. Moreover, CSI-AA results also indicated a greater importance of diazotrophy than suggested by bulk d15N values. Trophic position estimates using CSI-AA showed the expected general increase with mean plankton size class and varied in a relatively narrow range (1.8 to 2.5), with the lowest values in the central zone. Using isotopic δ15N values of individual amino acids (in particular Phe and Thr), as well as reconstructed total protein d15N values, a set of new relationships with bulk plankton d15N was determined, aimed to improve the use CSI-AA data in tracing direct plankton contributions to organic nitrogen pools in the ocean. These new results represent the most detailed investigation of CSI-AA data in zooplankton size classes to date, and point to a key role of large zooplankton in the transmission of the diazotrophic nitrogen up oceanic food webs.Malaspina-2010(CSD2008-00077), NSF Grant OCE-113181
A New Test of the Statistical Nature of the Brightest Cluster Galaxies
A novel statistic is proposed to examine the hypothesis that all cluster
galaxies are drawn from the same luminosity distribution (LD). In such a
"statistical model" of galaxy LD, the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are
simply the statistical extreme of the galaxy population. Using a large sample
of nearby clusters, we show that BCGs in high luminosity clusters (e.g., L_tot
> 4x10^11 L_sun) are unlikely (probability <3x10^-4) to be drawn from the LD
defined by all red cluster galaxies more luminous than M_r=-20. On the other
hand, BCGs in less luminous clusters are consistent with being the statistical
extreme. Applying our method to the second brightest galaxies, we show that
they are consistent with being the statistical extreme, which implies that the
BCGs are also distinct from non-BCG luminous, red, cluster galaxies. We point
out some issues with the interpretation of the classical tests proposed by
Tremaine & Richstone (1977) that are designed to examine the statistical nature
of BCGs, investigate the robustness of both our statistical test and those of
TR against difficulties in photometry of galaxies of large angular size, and
discuss the implication of our findings on surveys that use the luminous red
galaxies to measure the baryon acoustic oscillation features in the galaxy
power spectrum.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables; published in Ap
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