1,341 research outputs found
The History of Galaxy Formation in Groups: An Observational Perspective
We present a pedagogical review on the formation and evolution of galaxies in
groups, utilizing observational information from the Local Group to galaxies at
z~6. The majority of galaxies in the nearby universe are found in groups, and
galaxies at all redshifts up to z~6 tend to cluster on the scale of nearby
groups (~1 Mpc). This suggests that the group environment may play a role in
the formation of most galaxies. The Local Group, and other nearby groups,
display a diversity in star formation and morphological properties that puts
limits on how, and when, galaxies in groups formed. Effects that depend on an
intragroup medium, such as ram-pressure and strangulation, are likely not major
mechanisms driving group galaxy evolution. Simple dynamical friction arguments
however show that galaxy mergers should be common, and a dominant process for
driving evolution. While mergers between L_* galaxies are observed to be rare
at z < 1, they are much more common at earlier times. This is due to the
increased density of the universe, and to the fact that high mass galaxies are
highly clustered on the scale of groups. We furthermore discus why the local
number density environment of galaxies strongly correlates with galaxy
properties, and why the group environment may be the preferred method for
establishing the relationship between properties of galaxies and their local
density.Comment: Invited review, 16 pages, to be published in ESO Astrophysics
Symposia: "Groups of Galaxies in the Nearby Universe", eds. I. Saviane, V.
Ivanov, J. Borissov
Development, validation and effectiveness of diagnostic prediction tools for colorectal cancer in primary care: a systematic review
Long Range Forces from the Cosmological Neutrino Background
The cosmological neutrino background will mediate long range forces between
objects. For a background of temperature T, the potential decreases as 1/r^5
for r >> 1/T and as 1/r for r << 1/T. These forces have large spin-dependent
components. If the neutrino background is nonrelativistic, the long range
forces are enhanced by a factor of the inverse neutrino velocity. These long
range forces may provide a method for observing the cosmological neutrino
background.Comment: 14 pages, LATEX, IUHET-249, IUNTC93-1
Equatorial rain forest lateritic mantles : a geomembrane filter
ABSTRACT The superimposed weathering layers in equatorial rain forest lateritic mantles from Gabon, AtXca, function as interactive compartments forming a dynamic semipermeable geomembrane filter. Selectivity of the filter is controlled by a progressive downward disappearance Of Connected macropore pathways created by bioturbation and dissolution. The natural balance of root activity, translocation, dissolution, deformation, and pore evolution leads to the development of porous and permeable, mature, open geochemical weathering systems at the expense of the lithosphere. These conclusions can be useful in modeling the fate of lateritic soils, which cover one-third of the emerged area of the world and which are economically important both as metal deposits and agricultural soils
Petrogenesis of fertile mantle peridotites from the Monte del Estado massif (Southwest Puerto Rico): a preserved section of Proto-Caribbean lithospheric mantle?
The Monte del Estado massif is the largest and northernmost serpentinized peridotite belt in southwest Puerto Rico. It is mainly composed of spinel lherzolite and minor harzburgite with variable clinopyroxene modal abundances. Mineral and whole rock major and trace element compositions of peridotites coincide with those of fertile abyssal mantle rocks from mid ocean ridges. Peridotites lost 2-14 wt% of relative MgO and variable amounts of CaO by serpentinization and seafloor weathering. HREE contents in whole rock indicate that the Monte del Estado peridotites are residues after low to moderate degrees (2-15%) of fractional partial melting in the spinel stability field. However, very low LREE/HREE and MREE/HREE in clinopyroxene cannot be explained by melting models of a spinel lherzolite source and support that the Monte del Estado peridotites experienced initial low fractional melting degrees (~ 4%) in the garnet stability field. The relative enrichment of LREE in whole rock is not due to alteration processes but probably reflects the capture of percolating fluid/melt fractions or the crystallization of sub-percent amounts of hydrous minerals (e.g., amphibole, phlogopite) along grain boundaries or as microinclusions in minerals. We propose that the Monte del Estado peridotite belt represents a section of ancient Proto-Caribbean (Atlantic) lithospheric mantle originated by seafloor spreading between North and South America in the Late Jurassic- Early Cretaceous. This portion of oceanic lithospheric mantle was subsequently trapped in the forearc region of the Greater Antilles paleo-island arc generated by the northward subduction of the Caribbean plate beneath the Proto-Caribbean ocean. Finally, the Monte del Estado peridotites belt was emplaced in the Early Cretaceous probably as result of the change in subduction polarity of the Greater Antilles paleo-island arc without having been significantly modified by subduction processes
Computational advances in gravitational microlensing: a comparison of CPU, GPU, and parallel, large data codes
To assess how future progress in gravitational microlensing computation at
high optical depth will rely on both hardware and software solutions, we
compare a direct inverse ray-shooting code implemented on a graphics processing
unit (GPU) with both a widely-used hierarchical tree code on a single-core CPU,
and a recent implementation of a parallel tree code suitable for a CPU-based
cluster supercomputer. We examine the accuracy of the tree codes through
comparison with a direct code over a much wider range of parameter space than
has been feasible before. We demonstrate that all three codes present
comparable accuracy, and choice of approach depends on considerations relating
to the scale and nature of the microlensing problem under investigation. On
current hardware, there is little difference in the processing speed of the
single-core CPU tree code and the GPU direct code, however the recent plateau
in single-core CPU speeds means the existing tree code is no longer able to
take advantage of Moore's law-like increases in processing speed. Instead, we
anticipate a rapid increase in GPU capabilities in the next few years, which is
advantageous to the direct code. We suggest that progress in other areas of
astrophysical computation may benefit from a transition to GPUs through the use
of "brute force" algorithms, rather than attempting to port the current best
solution directly to a GPU language -- for certain classes of problems, the
simple implementation on GPUs may already be no worse than an optimised
single-core CPU version.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in New Astronom
Effect of abnormal coronary flow reserve and coronary endothelial dysfunction on debutamine stress echocardiography: pilot phase data from the NHLBI women's ischemia syndrome evaluation (WISE)
Petrogenesis of fertile mantle peridotites from the Monte del Estado massif (Southwest Puerto Rico): a preserved section of Proto-Caribbean lithospheric mantle?
The Monte del Estado massif is the largest and northernmost serpentinized peridotite belt in southwest Puerto Rico. It is mainly composed of spinel lherzolite and minor harzburgite with variable clinopyroxene modal abundances. Mineral and whole rock major and trace element compositions of peridotites coincide with those of fertile abyssal mantle rocks from mid ocean ridges. Peridotites lost 2-14 wt% of relative MgO and variable amounts of CaO by serpentinization and seafloor weathering. HREE contents in whole rock indicate that the Monte del Estado peridotites are residues after low to moderate degrees (2-15%) of fractional partial melting in the spinel stability field. However, very low LREE/HREE and MREE/HREE in clinopyroxene cannot be explained by melting models of a spinel lherzolite source and support that the Monte del Estado peridotites experienced initial low fractional melting degrees (~ 4%) in the garnet stability field. The relative enrichment of LREE in whole rock is not due to alteration processes but probably reflects the capture of percolating fluid/melt fractions or the crystallization of sub-percent amounts of hydrous minerals (e.g., amphibole, phlogopite) along grain boundaries or as microinclusions in minerals. We propose that the Monte del Estado peridotite belt represents a section of ancient Proto-Caribbean (Atlantic) lithospheric mantle originated by seafloor spreading between North and South America in the Late Jurassic- Early Cretaceous. This portion of oceanic lithospheric mantle was subsequently trapped in the forearc region of the Greater Antilles paleo-island arc generated by the northward subduction of the Caribbean plate beneath the Proto-Caribbean ocean. Finally, the Monte del Estado peridotites belt was emplaced in the Early Cretaceous probably as result of the change in subduction polarity of the Greater Antilles paleo-island arc without having been significantly modified by subduction processe
HP2 survey: III. the California Molecular Cloud : A sleeping giant revisited
We present new high resolution and dynamic range dust column density and temperature maps of the California Molecular Cloud derived from a combination of Planck and Herschel dust-emission maps, and 2MASS NIR dust-extinction maps. We used these data to determine the ratio of the 2.2 \uce\ubcm extinction coefficient to the 850 \uce\ubcm opacity and found the value to be close to that found in similar studies of the Orion B and Perseus clouds but higher than that characterizing the Orion A cloud, indicating that variations in the fundamental optical properties of dust may exist between local clouds. We show that over a wide range of extinction, the column density probability distribution function (pdf) of the cloud can be well described by a simple power law (i.e., PDFNAK-n) with an index (n = 4.0 \uc2\ub1 0.1) that represents a steeper decline with AKthan found (n 3) in similar studies of the Orion and Perseus clouds. Using only the protostellar population of the cloud and our extinction maps we investigate the Schmidt relation, that is, the relation between the protostellar surface density, \uce\ua3-, and extinction, AK, within the cloud. We show that \uce\ua3-is directly proportional to the ratio of the protostellar and cloud pdfs, i.e., PDF-(AK)/PDFN(AK). We use the cumulative distribution of protostars to infer the functional forms for both \uce\ua3-and PDF-. We find that \uce\ua3-is best described by two power-law functions. At extinctions AK2.5 mag, \uce\ua3-AK\uce\ub2with \uce\ub2 = 3.3 while at higher extinctions \uce\ub2 = 2.5, both values steeper than those (2) found in other local giant molecular clouds (GMCs). We find that PDF-is a declining function of extinction also best described by two power-laws whose behavior mirrors that of \uce\ua3-. Our observations suggest that variations both in the slope of the Schmidt relation and in the sizes of the protostellar populations between GMCs are largely driven by variations in the slope, n, of PDFN(AK). This confirms earlier studies suggesting that cloud structure plays a major role in setting the global star formation rates in GMCs
Amplitude and phase representation of quantum invariants for the time dependent harmonic oscillator
The correspondence between classical and quantum invariants is established.
The Ermakov Lewis quantum invariant of the time dependent harmonic oscillator
is translated from the coordinate and momentum operators into amplitude and
phase operators. In doing so, Turski's phase operator as well as
Susskind-Glogower operators are generalized to the time dependent harmonic
oscillator case. A quantum derivation of the Manley-Rowe relations is shown as
an example
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