43,894 research outputs found
On the accretion origin of a vast extended stellar disk around the Andromeda galaxy
We present the discovery of an inhomogenous, low-surface brightness, extended
disk-like structure around the Andromeda galaxy (M31) based on a large
kinematic survey of more than 2800 stars with the Keck/DEIMOS spectrograph. The
stellar structure spans radii from 15 kpc out to ~40 kpc, with detections out
to R ~ 70 kpc. The constituent stars lag the expected velocity of circular
orbits in the plane of the M31 disk by ~40 kms and have a velocity dispersion
of ~30 kms. The color range on the upper RGB shows a large spread indicative of
a population with a significant range of metallicity. The mean metallicity of
the population, measured from Ca II equivalent widths, is [Fe/H] = -0.9 +/-
0.2. The morphology of the structure is irregular at large radii, and shows a
wealth of substructures which must be transitory in nature, and are almost
certainly tidal debris. The presence of these substructures indicates that the
global entity was formed by accretion. This extended disk follows smoothly on
from the central parts of M31 disk with an exponential density law of
scale-length of 5.1 +/- 0.1 kpc, similar to that of the bright inner disk. The
population possesses similar kinematic and abundance properties over the entire
region where it is detected in the survey. We estimate that the structure
accounts for approximately 10% of the total luminosity of the M31 disk, and
given the huge scale, contains ~30% of the total disk angular momentum. This
finding indicates that at least some galactic stellar disks are vastly larger
than previously thought and are formed, at least in their outer regions,
primarily by accretion. [abridged]Comment: 20 pages, 30 figures, ApJ submitte
A near zero velocity dispersion stellar component in the Canes Venatici dwarf spheroidal galaxy
We present a spectroscopic survey of the newly-discovered Canes Venatici
dwarf galaxy using the Keck/DEIMOS spectrograph. Two stellar populations of
distinct kinematics are found to be present in this galaxy: an extended,
metal-poor component, of half-light radius 7'.8(+2.4/-2.1), which has a
velocity dispersion of 13.9(+3.2/-2.5) km/s, and a more concentrated
(half-light radius 3'.6(+1.1/-0.8) metal-rich component of extremely low
velocity dispersion. At 99% confidence, the upper limit to the central velocity
dispersion of the metal-rich population is 1.9 km/s. This is the lowest
velocity dispersion ever measured in a galaxy. We perform a Jeans analysis on
the two components, and find that the dynamics of the structures can only be
consistent if we adopt extreme (and unlikely) values for the scale length and
velocity dispersion of the metal-poor population. With a larger radial velocity
sample and improved measurements of the density profile of the two populations,
we anticipate that it will be possible to place strong constraints on the
central distribution of the dark matter in this galaxy.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, accepted by MNRA
The perimeter of large planar Voronoi cells: a double-stranded random walk
Let be the probability for a planar Poisson-Voronoi cell to have
exactly sides. We construct the asymptotic expansion of up to
terms that vanish as . We show that {\it two independent biased
random walks} executed by the polar angle determine the trajectory of the cell
perimeter. We find the limit distribution of (i) the angle between two
successive vertex vectors, and (ii) the one between two successive perimeter
segments. We obtain the probability law for the perimeter's long wavelength
deviations from circularity. We prove Lewis' law and show that it has
coefficient 1/4.Comment: Slightly extended version; journal reference adde
Barrierless procedure for substitutionally doping graphene sheets with boron atoms: ab initio calculations
Using ab initio methods, we propose a simple and effective way to
substitutionally dope graphene sheets with Boron. The method consists of
selectively exposing each side of the graphene sheet to different elements. We
first expose one side of the membrane to Boron, while the other side is exposed
to Nitrogen. Proceeding this way, the B atoms will be spontaneously
incorporated into the graphene membrane, without any activation barrier. In a
second step, the system should be exposed to a H-rich environment, that will
remove the CN radical from the layer and form HCN, leading to a perfect
substitutional doping.Comment: Accepted Physical Review
Asymptotic formula for the moments of Minkowski question mark function in the interval [0,1]
In this paper we prove the asymptotic formula for the moments of Minkowski
question mark function, which describes the distribution of rationals in the
Farey tree. The main idea is to demonstrate that certain a variation of a
Laplace method is applicable in this problem, hence the task reduces to a
number of technical calculations.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure (final version). Lithuanian Math. J. (to appear
Chemical studies of the passivation of GaAs surface recombination using sulfides and thiols
Steady-state photoluminescence, time-resolved photoluminescence, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have been used to study the electrical and chemical properties of GaAs surfaces exposed to inorganic and organic sulfur donors. Despite a wide variation in S2–(aq) concentration, variation of the pH of aqueous HS–solutions had a small effect on the steady-state n-type GaAs photoluminescence intensity, with surfaces exposed to pH=8, 0.1-M HS–(aq) solutions displaying comparable luminescence intensity relative to those treated with pH=14, 1.0-M Na2S·9H2O(aq). Organic thiols (R-SH, where R=–CH2CH2SH or –C6H4Cl) dissolved in nonaqueous solvents were found to effect increases in steady-state luminescence yields and in time-resolved luminescence decay lifetimes of (100)-oriented GaAs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that exposure of GaAs surfaces to these organic systems yielded thiols bound to the GaAs surface, but such exposure did not remove excess elemental As and did not form a detectable As2S3 overlayer on the GaAs. These results imply that complete removal of As0 or formation of monolayers of As2S3 is not necessary to effect a reduction in the recombination rate at etched GaAs surfaces. Other compounds that do not contain sulfur but that are strong Lewis bases, such as methoxide ion, also improved the GaAs steady-state photoluminescence intensity. These results demonstrate that a general class of electron-donating reagents can be used to reduce nonradiative recombination at GaAs surfaces, and also imply that prior models focusing on the formation of monolayer coverages of As2S3 and Ga2S3 are not adequate to describe the passivating behavior of this class of reagents. The time-resolved, high level injection experiments clearly demonstrate that a shift in the equilibrium surface Fermi-level energy is not sufficient to explain the luminescence intensity changes, and confirm that HS– and thiol-based reagents induce substantial reductions in the surface recombination velocity through a change in the GaAs surface state recombination rate
The effect of sertraline on emotional processing: secondary analyses of the PANDA randomised controlled trial
Background. According to the cognitive neuropsychological model, antidepressants reduce
symptoms of depression and anxiety by increasing positive relative to negative information processing. Most studies of whether antidepressants alter emotional processing use small samples of
healthy individuals, which lead to low statistical power and selection bias and are difficult to
generalise to clinical practice. We tested whether the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
(SSRI) sertraline altered recall of positive and negative information in a large randomised controlled trial (RCT) of patients with depressive symptoms recruited from primary care.
Methods. The PANDA trial was a pragmatic multicentre double-blind RCT comparing sertraline with placebo. Memory for personality descriptors was tested at baseline and 2 and 6
weeks after randomisation using a computerised emotional categorisation task followed by
a free recall. We measured the number of positive and negative words correctly recalled
(hits). Poisson mixed models were used to analyse longitudinal associations between treatment allocation and hits.
Results. A total of 576 participants (88% of those randomised) completed the recall task at 2
and 6 weeks. We found no evidence that positive or negative hits differed according to treatment allocation at 2 or 6 weeks (adjusted positive hits ratio = 0.97, 95% CI 0.90–1.05, p = 0.52;
adjusted negative hits ratio = 0.99, 95% CI 0.90–1.08, p = 0.76).
Conclusions. In the largest individual placebo-controlled trial of an antidepressant not
funded by the pharmaceutical industry, we found no evidence that sertraline altered positive
or negative recall early in treatment. These findings challenge some assumptions of the
cognitive neuropsychological model of antidepressant action
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