897 research outputs found
Near-Infrared Imaging of Early-Type Galaxies IV. The Physical Origins of the Fundamental Plane Scaling Relations
The physical origins of the Fundamental Plane (FP) scaling relations are
investigated for early-type galaxies observed at optical and near-infrared
wavelengths. The slope for the FP is shown to increase systematically with
wavelength from the U-band through the K-band. A distance-independent
construction of the observables is described which provides an accurate
measurement of the change in the FP slope between any pair of bandpasses. The
variation of the FP slope with wavelength is strong evidence of systematic
variations in stellar content along the elliptical galaxy sequence. The
intercept of the diagnostic relationship between log(D_K/D_V) and log(sigma_0)
shows no significant dependence on environment within the uncertainties of the
Galactic extinction corrections, demonstrating the universality of the stellar
populations contributions at the level of Delta(V-K)=0.03 mag to the zero-point
of the global scaling relations.
Several other constraints on the properties of early-type galaxies --- the
slope of the Mg_2-sigma_0 relation, the effects of stellar populations
gradients, and deviations of early-type galaxies from a dynamically homologous
family --- are included to construct an empirical, self-consistent model which
provides a complete picture of the underlying physical properties which are
varying along the early-type galaxy sequence. This empirical approach
demonstrates that there are significant systematic variations in both age and
metallicity along the elliptical galaxy sequence, and that a small, but
systematic, breaking of dynamical homology (or a similar, wavelength
independent effect) is required. Predictions for the evolution of the slope of
the FP with redshift are described. [abriged]Comment: to appear in The Astronomical Journal; 40 pages, including 10
Postscript figures and 3 tables; uses AAS LaTeX style file
Detection of Bulk Motions in the ICM of the Centaurus Cluster
Several recent numerical simulations of off-center cluster mergers predict
that significant angular momentum with associated velocities of a few x 10^{3}
km/s can be imparted to the resulting cluster. Such gas bulk velocities can be
detected by the Doppler shift of X-ray spectral lines with ASCA spectrometers.
Using two ASCA observations of the Centaurus cluster, we produced a velocity
map for the gas in the cluster's central regions. We also detected radial and
azimuthal gradients in temperature and metal abundance distributions, which
seem to be associated with the infalling sub-group centered at NGC 4709 (Cen
45). More importantly, we found a significant (>99.8% confidence level)
velocity gradient along a line near-perpendicular to the direction of the
incoming sub-group and with a maximum velocity difference of ~3.4+-1.1 x 10^{3}
km/s. It is unlikely (P < 0.002) that the observed velocity gradient is
generated by gain fluctuations across the detectors. While the observed
azimuthal temperature and abundance variations can be attributed to the
interaction with Cen 45, we argue that the intracluster gas velocity gradient
is more likely due to a previous off-center merging event in the main body of
the Centaurus cluster.Comment: 13 pages in emulateapj5 style, 8 postscript figures; Accepted by ApJ;
Revised version with minor change
POTENT Reconstruction from Mark III Velocities
We present an improved POTENT method for reconstructing the velocity and mass
density fields from radial peculiar velocities, test it with mock catalogs, and
apply it to the Mark III Catalog. Method improvments: (a) inhomogeneous
Malmquist bias is reduced by grouping and corrected in forward or inverse
analyses of inferred distances, (b) the smoothing into a radial velocity field
is optimized to reduce window and sampling biases, (c) the density is derived
from the velocity using an improved nonlinear approximation, and (d) the
computational errors are made negligible. The method is tested and optimized
using mock catalogs based on an N-body simulation that mimics our cosmological
neighborhood, and the remaining errors are evaluated quantitatively. The Mark
III catalog, with ~3300 grouped galaxies, allows a reliable reconstruction with
fixed Gaussian smoothing of 10-12 Mpc/h out to ~60 Mpc/h. We present maps of
the 3D velocity and mass-density fields and the corresponding errors. The
typical systematic and random errors in the density fluctuations inside 40
Mpc/h are \pm 0.13 and \pm 0.18. The recovered mass distribution resembles in
its gross features the galaxy distribution in redshift surveys and the mass
distribution in a similar POTENT analysis of a complementary velocity catalog
(SFI), including the Great Attractor, Perseus-Pisces, and the void in between.
The reconstruction inside ~40 Mpc/h is not affected much by a revised
calibration of the distance indicators (VM2, tailored to match the velocities
from the IRAS 1.2Jy redshift survey). The bulk velocity within the sphere of
radius 50 Mpc/h about the Local Group is V_50=370 \pm 110 km/s (including
systematic errors), and is shown to be mostly generated by external mass
fluctuations. With the VM2 calibration, V_50 is reduced to 305 \pm 110 km/s.Comment: 60 pages, LaTeX, 3 tables and 27 figures incorporated (may print the
most crucial figures only, by commenting out one line in the LaTex source
Fluid-structure interaction of the Jaguar XK8 convertible car roof
Abstract: The designer of convertible vehicles needs to consider the acoustical properties, quality of the interior environment, fatigue life and the aesthetic integrity of the flexible roof. Each of these concerns is affected, to a greater or lesser extent, by the interaction of the flexible roof material and its supporting structure with the aerodynamic loading on the material. For many convertibles, the roof quickly settles into a deformed shape for which the roof's internal forces are in equilibrium with the aerodynamic loading. The use of mathematical modelling can reduce the amount of time spent using experimental methods to assess a large number of design alternatives. A better understanding of the problem is obtained in the computational approach due to the increased amount of information which is gathered as part of the calculation. Also, the approach can be used at the concept stage of a product as the lengthy and costly build of a physical model is not required until later in the design cycle. The current research investigates the flow-induced deformation of the Jaguar XK8 convertible roof using a numerical method. A computational methodology is developed that entails the coupling of a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code with a third-party structural solver. The computed flow-structure interaction yields stable solutions, the aerodynamically loaded flexible roof settling into static equilibrium. The flow-structure interaction is found to yield a static deformation to within 1% difference in the displacement variable after three iterations between the fluid and structural codes. The methodology is also shown to be robust even under conditions beyond those likely to be encountered. The full methodology could be used as a design tool. However, the present work demonstrates that reasonably accurate predictions, to within 20%, are possible using only a single iteration between the fluid and the structural codes
The WARPS Survey: VI. Galaxy Cluster and Source Identifications from Phase I
We present in catalog form the optical identifications for objects from the
first phase of the Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey (WARPS). WARPS is a
serendipitous survey of relatively deep, pointed ROSAT observations for
clusters of galaxies. The X-ray source detection algorithm used by WARPS is
Voronoi Tessellation and Percolation (VTP), a technique which is equally
sensitive to point sources and extended sources of low surface brightness.
WARPS-I is based on the central regions of 86 ROSAT PSPC fields, covering an
area of 16.2 square degrees. We describe here the X-ray source screening and
optical identification process for WARPS-I, which yielded 34 clusters at
0.06<z<0.75. Twenty-two of these clusters form a complete, statistically well
defined sample drawn from 75 of these 86 fields, covering an area of 14.1
square degrees, with a flux limit of F (0.5-2.0 keV) = 6.5 \times 10^{-14} erg
cm^{-2} s^{-1}}. This sample can be used to study the properties and evolution
of the gas, galaxy and dark matter content of clusters, and to constrain
cosmological parameters. We compare in detail the identification process and
findings of WARPS to those from other recently published X-ray surveys for
clusters, including RDCS, SHARC-Bright, SHARC-south and the CfA 160 deg
survey.Comment: v3 reflects minor updates to tables 2 and
Dark Matter Substructure in Galactic Halos
We use numerical simulations to examine the substructure within galactic and
cluster mass halos that form within a hierarchical universe. Clusters are
easily reproduced with a steep mass spectrum of thousands of substructure
clumps that closely matches observations. However, the survival of dark matter
substructure also occurs on galactic scales, leading to the remarkable result
that galaxy halos appear as scaled versions of galaxy clusters. The model
predicts that the virialised extent of the Milky Way's halo should contain
about 500 satellites with circular velocities larger than Draco and Ursa-Minor
i.e. bound masses > 10^8Mo and tidally limited sizes > kpc. The substructure
clumps are on orbits that take a large fraction of them through the stellar
disk leading to significant resonant and impulsive heating. Their abundance and
singular density profiles has important implications for the existence of old
thin disks, cold stellar streams, gravitational lensing and indirect/direct
detection experiments.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Letters. 4 pages, latex. Simulation images and
movies at http://star-www.dur.ac.uk:80/~moore
Evidence for Surface Water Ice in the Lunar Polar Regions Using Reflectance Measurements from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and Temperature Measurements from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment
We find that the reflectance of the lunar surface within 5 deg of latitude of theSouth Pole increases rapidly with decreasing temperature, near approximately 110K, behavior consistent with the presence of surface water ice. The North polar region does not show this behavior, nor do South polar surfaces at latitudes more than 5 deg from the pole. This South pole reflectance anomaly persists when analysis is limited to surfaces with slopes less than 10 deg to eliminate false detection due to the brightening effect of mass wasting, and also when the very bright south polar crater Shackleton is excluded from the analysis. We also find that south polar regions of permanent shadow that have been reported to be generally brighter at 1064 nm do not show anomalous reflectance when their annual maximum surface temperatures are too high to preserve water ice. This distinction is not observed at the North Pole. The reflectance excursion on surfaces with maximum temperatures below 110K is superimposed on a general trend of increasing reflectance with decreasing maximum temperature that is present throughout the polar regions in the north and south; we attribute this trend to a temperature or illumination-dependent space weathering effect (e.g. Hemingway et al. 2015). We also find a sudden increase in reflectance with decreasing temperature superimposed on the general trend at 200K and possibly at 300K. This may indicate the presence of other volatiles such as sulfur or organics. We identified and mapped surfaces with reflectances so high as to be unlikely to be part of an ice-free population. In this south we find a similar distribution found by Hayne et al. 2015 based on UV properties. In the north a cluster of pixels near that pole may represent a limited frost exposure
Behavioural facial animation using motion graphs and mind maps
We present a new behavioural animation method that combines motion graphs for synthesis of animation and mind maps as behaviour controllers for the choice of motions, significantly reducing the cost of animating secondary characters. Motion graphs are created for each facial region from the analysis of a motion database, while synthesis occurs by minimizing the path distance that connects automatically chosen nodes. A Mind map is a hierarchical graph built on top of the motion graphs, where the user visually chooses how a stimulus affects the character's mood, which in turn will trigger motion synthesis. Different personality traits add more emotional complexity to the chosen reactions. Combining behaviour simulation and procedural animation leads to more emphatic and autonomous characters that react differently in each interaction, shifting the task of animating a character to one of defining its behaviour.</p
Observations of Lunar Swirls by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment
The presence of anomalous, high albedo markings on the lunar surface has been known since the Apollo era. These features, collectively known as lunar swirls, occur on both the mare and highlands. Some swirls are associated with the antipodes of major impact basins, while all are associated with magnetic field anomalies of varying strength. Three mechanisms have been proposed for the formation of the swirls: (1) solar wind standoff due to the presence of magnetic fields, (2) micrometeoroid or comet swarms impacting and disturbing the lunar surface, revealing unweathered regolith, and (3) transport and deposition of fine-grained feldspathic material. Diviner s unique capabilities to determine silicate composition and degree of space weathering of the lunar surface, in addition to its capabilities to determine thermophysical properties from night-time temperature measurements, make it an ideal instrument to examine the swirls and help differentiate among the three proposed formation mechanisms
Using Apollo Sites and Soils to Compositionally Ground Truth Diviner Lunar Radiometer Observations
Apollo landing sites and returned soils afford us a unique opportunity to "ground truth" Diviner Lunar Radiometer compositional observations, which are the first global, high resolution , thermal infrared measurements of an airless body. The Moon is the most accessible member of the most abundant class of solar system objects, which includes Mercury, asteroids, and icy satellites. And the Apollo samples returned from the Moon are the only extraterrestrial samples with known spatial context. Here we compare Diviner observations of Apollo landing sites and compositional and spectral laboratory measurements of returned Apollo soils. Diviner, onboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, has three spectral channels near 8 micron that were designed to characterize the mid-infrared emissivity maximum known as the Christiansen feature (CF), a well-studied indicator of silicate mineralogy. It has been observed that thermal infrared spectra measured in simulated lunar environment (SLE) are significantly altered from spectra measured under terrestrial or martian conditions, with enhanced CF contrast and shifted CF position relative to other spectral features. Therefore only thermal emission experiments conducted in SLE are directly comparable to Diviner data. With known compositions, Apollo landing sites and soils are important calibration points for the Diviner dataset, which includes all six Apollo sites at approximately 200 m spatial resolution. Differences in measured CFs caused by composition and space weathering are apparent in Diviner data. Analyses of Diviner observations and SLE measurements for a range of Apollo soils show good agreement, while comparisons to thermal reflectance measurements under ambient conditions do not agree well, which underscores the need for SLE measurements and validates our measurement technique. Diviner observations of Apollo landing sites are also correlated with geochemical measurements of Apollo soils from the Lunar Sample Compendium. In particular, the correlations between CF and FeO and AI203 are very strong, owing to the dependence on the feldspar-mafic ratio. Our analyses suggest that Diviner data may offer an independent measure of soil iron content from the existing optical and gamma-ray spectrometer datasets
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