A Decade Of Starspot Activity On The Eclipsing Short-Period RS Canum Venaticorum Star WY Cancri: 1988-1997

We present optical photometry of the short-period eclipsing RS CVn system WY Cancri for the years 1988–1997. For each light curve, we model the distortion waves in order to study the behavior of starspots in this system. After removing the spot effects f

Radial HI Profiles at the Periphery of Galactic Disks: The Role of Ionizing Background Radiation

Observations of neutral hydrogen in spiral galaxies reveal a sharp cutoff in the radial density profile at some distance from the center. Using 22 galaxies with known HI distributions as an example, we discuss the question of whether this effect can be associated exclusively with external ionizing radiation, as is commonly assumed. We show that before the surface density reaches $\sigma_{\textrm{HI}}\le 0.5 {\cal M}_\odot/{\textrm {pc}}^2$(the same for galaxies of different types), it is hard to expect the gas to be fully ionized by background radiation. For two of 13 galaxies with a sharp drop in the HI profile, the "steepening" can actually be caused by ionization. At the same time, for the remaining galaxies, the observed cutoff in the radial HI profile is closer to the center than if it was a consequence of ionization by background radiation and, therefore, it should be caused by other factors.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

The Bolocam 1.1 mm Lockman Hole Galaxy Survey: SHARC II 350 micron Photometry and Implications for Spectral Models, Dust Temperatures, and Redshift Estimation

We present 350 micron photometry of all 17 galaxy candidates in the Lockman Hole detected in a 1.1 mm Bolocam survey. Several of the galaxies were previously detected at 850 microns, at 1.2 mm, in the infrared by Spitzer, and in the radio. Nine of the Bolocam galaxy candidates were detected at 350 microns and two new candidates were serendipitously detected at 350 microns (bringing the total in the literature detected in this way to three). Five of the galaxies have published spectroscopic redshifts, enabling investigation of the implied temperature ranges and a comparison of photometric redshift techniques. Lambda = 350 microns lies near the spectral energy distribution peak for z = 2.5 thermally emitting galaxies. Thus, luminosities can be measured without extrapolating to the peak from detection wavelengths of lambda > 850 microns. Characteristically, the galaxy luminosities lie in the range 1.0 - 1.2 x 10^13 L_solar, with dust temperatures in the range of 40 K to 70 K, depending on the choice of spectral index and wavelength of unit optical depth. The implied dust masses are 3 - 5 x 10^8 M_solar. We find that the far-infrared to radio relation for star-forming ULIRGs systematically overpredicts the radio luminosities and overestimates redshifts on the order of Delta z ~ 1, whereas redshifts based on either on submillimeter data alone or the 1.6 micron stellar bump and PAH features are more accurate.Comment: In Press (to appear in Astrophysical Journal, ApJ 20 May 2006 v643 1) 47 pages, 10 figures, 4 table

Three Body Interactions, Angular Momentum and Black Hole Moduli Spaces

We investigate the dynamics of a pair of (4+1)-dimensional black holes in the moduli approximation and with fixed angular momentum. We find that spinning black holes at small separations are described by the de Alfaro, Fubini and Furlan model. For more than two black holes, we find an explicit expression for the three-body interactions in the moduli metric by associating them with the one-loop three-point amplitude of a four-dimensional $\phi^3$ theory. We also investigate the dynamics of a three black hole system in various approximations.Comment: 20 pages, phyzz

Conformal Quantum Mechanics in Two Black Hole Moduli Space

We discuss quantum mechanics in the moduli space consisting of two maximally charged dilaton black holes. The quantum mechanics of the two black hole system is similar to the one of DFF model, and this system has the $SL(2,R)$ conformal symmetry. Also, we discuss the bound states in this system.Comment: 15 pages, RevTeX3.0. References added, Minor correction

The Universal Phase Space of AdS3 Gravity

We describe what can be called the "universal" phase space of AdS3 gravity, in which the moduli spaces of globally hyperbolic AdS spacetimes with compact spatial sections, as well as the moduli spaces of multi-black-hole spacetimes are realized as submanifolds. The universal phase space is parametrized by two copies of the Universal Teichm\"uller space T(1) and is obtained from the correspondence between maximal surfaces in AdS3 and quasisymmetric homeomorphisms of the unit circle. We also relate our parametrization to the Chern-Simons formulation of 2+1 gravity and, infinitesimally, to the holographic (Fefferman-Graham) description. In particular, we obtain a relation between the generators of quasiconformal deformations in each T(1) sector and the chiral Brown-Henneaux vector fields. We also relate the charges arising in the holographic description (such as the mass and angular momentum of an AdS3 spacetime) to the periods of the quadratic differentials arising via the Bers embedding of T(1)xT(1). Our construction also yields a symplectic map from T*T(1) to T(1)xT(1) generalizing the well-known Mess map in the compact spatial surface setting.Comment: 41 pages, 2 figures, revised version accepted for publication in Commun.Math.Phy

Superconformal Multi-Black Hole Moduli Spaces in Four Dimensions

Quantum mechanics on the moduli space of N supersymmetric Reissner-Nordstrom black holes is shown to admit 4 supersymmetries using an unconventional supermultiplet which contains 3N bosons and 4N fermions. A near-horizon limit is found in which the quantum mechanics of widely separated black holes decouples from that of strongly-interacting, near-coincident black holes. This near-horizon theory is shown to have an enhanced D(2,1;0) superconformal symmetry. The bosonic symmetries are SL(2,R) conformal symmetry and SU(2)xSU(2) R-symmetry arising from spatial rotations and the R-symmetry of N=2 supergravity.Comment: 23 pages, harvmac. v2: many typos fixe

Reconstructing Images from Projections Using the Maximum-Entropy Method. Numerical Simulations of Low-Aspect Astrotomography

The reconstruction of images from a small number of projections using the maximum-entropy method (MEM) with the Shannon entropy is considered. MEM provides higher-quality image reconstruction for sources with extended components than the Hogbom CLEAN method, which is also used in low-aspect astrotomography. The quality of image reconstruction for sources with mixed structure containing bright, compact features embedded in a comparatively weak, extended base can be further improved using a difference-mapping method, which requires a generalization of MEM for the reconstruction of sign-variable functions.We draw conclusions based on the results of numerical simulations for a number of model radio sources with various morphologies.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Superconformal Quantum Mechanics of Small Black Holes

Recently, Gaiotto, Strominger and Yin have proposed a holographic dual description for the near-horizon physics of certain N=2 black holes in terms of the superconformal quantum mechanics on D0-branes in the attractor geometry. We provide further evidence for their proposal by applying it to the case of `small' black holes which have vanishing horizon area in the leading supergravity approximation. We consider 2-charge black holes in type IIA on $T^2 \times M$, where $M$ can be either $K_3$ or $T^4$, made up out of D0-branes and D4-branes wrapping $M$. We construct the corresponding superconformal quantum mechanics and show that the asymptotic growth of chiral primaries exactly matches with the known entropy of these black holes. The state-counting problem reduces to counting lowest Landau levels on $T^2$ and Dolbeault cohomology classes on $M$.Comment: Latex, 16 pages; v2: minor corrections, references added, published versio

Many-Body Superconformal Systems from Hamiltonian Reductions

We propose a new reduction mechanism which allows one to construct n-particle (super)conformal theories with pairwise interaction starting from a composite system involving n(n-1)/2+1 copies of the ordinary (super)conformal mechanics. Applications of the scheme include an N=4 superconformal extension for a complexification of the Calogero model and a D(2,1|\alpha)-invariant n-particle system.Comment: 12 pages, no figures. v2: Title changed. New material and acknowledgements adde