3,770 research outputs found
Doing the Public a Disservice: Behavioral Economics and Maintaining the Status Quo
When deciding whether to grant a preliminary injunction or a stay pending appeal, courts consider, among other factors, whether granting the preliminary injunction or stay would disserve the public interest. In the context of individual-rights cases, courts often experience pressure to remedy the alleged constitutional harms immediately. However, behavioral-economic concepts demonstrate that such quick action can negatively affect society as a whole. Specifically, granting a right and then taking it away, as happens when a lower court grants a right and is reversed on appeal, results in a net loss to society. Using the recent same-sex marriage litigation, this analysis demonstrates that to avoid disserving the public interest, courts should consider the behavioral-economic effects of loss aversion and the endowment effect within the public-interest factor of the tests for preliminary relief and should attempt to maintain the status quo until the decisions are final
The DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey: The Impact of Environment on the Size Evolution of Massive Early-type Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift
Using data drawn from the DEEP2 and DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Surveys, we
investigate the relationship between the environment and the structure of
galaxies residing on the red sequence at intermediate redshift. Within the
massive (10 < log(M*/Msun) < 11) early-type population at 0.4 < z <1.2, we find
a significant correlation between local galaxy overdensity (or environment) and
galaxy size, such that early-type systems in higher-density regions tend to
have larger effective radii (by ~0.5 kpc or 25% larger) than their counterparts
of equal stellar mass and Sersic index in lower-density environments. This
observed size-density relation is consistent with a model of galaxy formation
in which the evolution of early-type systems at z < 2 is accelerated in
high-density environments such as groups and clusters and in which dry, minor
mergers (versus mechanisms such as quasar feedback) play a central role in the
structural evolution of the massive, early-type galaxy population.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; resubmitted to MNRAS after addressing
referee's comments (originally submitted to journal on August 16, 2011
The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Mean Ages and Metallicities of Red Field Galaxies at z ~ 0.9 from Stacked Keck/DEIMOS Spectra
As part of the DEEP2 galaxy redshift survey, we analyze absorption line
strengths in stacked Keck/DEIMOS spectra of red field galaxies with weak to no
emission lines, at redshifts 0.7 <= z <= 1. Comparison with models of stellar
population synthesis shows that red galaxies at z ~ 0.9 have mean
luminosity-weighted ages of the order of only 1 Gyr and at least solar
metallicities. This result cannot be reconciled with a scenario where all stars
evolved passively after forming at very high z. Rather, a significant fraction
of stars can be no more than 1 Gyr old, which means that star formation
continued to at least z ~ 1.2. Furthermore, a comparison of these distant
galaxies with a local SDSS sample, using stellar populations synthesis models,
shows that the drop in the equivalent width of Hdelta from z ~ 0.9 to 0.1 is
less than predicted by passively evolving models. This admits of two
interpretations: either each individual galaxy experiences continuing low-level
star formation, or the red-sequence galaxy population from z ~ 0.9 to 0.1 is
continually being added to by new galaxies with younger stars.Comment: A few typos were corrected and numbers in Table 1 were revise
The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Clustering of Groups and Group Galaxies at z~1
We study the clustering properties of groups and of galaxies in groups in the
DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey dataset at z~1. Four clustering measures are
presented: 1) the group correlation function for 460 groups with estimated
velocity dispersions of sigma>200 km/s, 2) the galaxy correlation for the full
galaxy sample, using a flux-limited sample of 9800 objects between 0.7<z<1.0,
3) the galaxy correlation for galaxies in groups, and 4) the group-galaxy
cross-correlation function. Using the observed number density and clustering
amplitude of the groups, the estimated minimum group dark matter halo mass is
M_min~6 10^12 h^-1 M_Sun for a flat LCDM cosmology. Groups are more clustered
than galaxies, with a relative bias of b=1.7 +/-0.04 on scales r_p=0.5-15
Mpc/h. Galaxies in groups are also more clustered than the full galaxy sample,
with a scale-dependent relative bias which falls from b~2.5 +/-0.3 at r_p=0.1
Mpc/h to b~1 +/-0.5 at r_p=10 Mpc/h. The correlation functions for all galaxies
and galaxies in groups can be fit by a power-law on scales r_p=0.05-20 Mpc/h.
We empirically measure the contribution to the projected correlation function
for galaxies in groups from a `one-halo' term and a `two-halo' term by counting
pairs of galaxies in the same or in different groups. The projected
cross-correlation between shows that red galaxies are more centrally
concentrated in groups than blue galaxies at z~1. DEEP2 galaxies in groups
appear to have a shallower radial distribution than that of mock galaxy
catalogs made from N-body simulations, which assume a central galaxy surrounded
by satellite galaxies with an NFW profile. We show that the clustering of
galaxies in groups can be used to place tighter constraints on the halo model
than can be gained from using the usual galaxy correlation function alone.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, in emulateapj format, accepted to ApJ, minor
changes made to match published versio
The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Color and Luminosity Dependence of Galaxy Clustering at z~1
We present measurements of the color and luminosity dependence of galaxy
clustering at z~1 in the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey. Using volume-limited
subsamples in bins of both color and luminosity, we find that: 1) The
clustering dependence is much stronger with color than with luminosity and is
as strong with color at z~1 as is found locally. We find no dependence of the
clustering amplitude on color for galaxies on the red sequence, but a
significant dependence on color for galaxies within the blue cloud. 2) For
galaxies in the range L/L*~0.7-2, a stronger large-scale luminosity dependence
is seen for all galaxies than for red and blue galaxies separately. The
small-scale clustering amplitude depends significantly on luminosity for blue
galaxies, with brighter samples having a stronger rise on scales r_p<0.5 Mpc/h.
3) Redder galaxies exhibit stronger small-scale redshift-space distortions
("fingers of god"), and both red and blue populations show large-scale
distortions in xi(r_p,pi) due to coherent infall. 4) While the clustering
length, r_0, increases smoothly with galaxy color (in narrow bins), its
power-law exponent, gamma, exhibits a sharp jump from the blue cloud to the red
sequence. The intermediate color `green' galaxy population likely includes
transitional galaxies moving from the blue cloud to the red sequence; on large
scales green galaxies are as clustered as red galaxies but show infall
kinematics and a small-scale correlation slope akin to the blue galaxy
population. 5) We compare our results to a semi-analytic galaxy formation model
applied to the Millenium Run simulation. Differences between the data and the
model suggest that in the model star formation is shut down too efficiently in
satellite galaxies.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, emulateapj format, accepted to ApJ, updated to
match published versio
The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: The Voronoi-Delaunay Method Catalog of Galaxy Groups
We present a public catalog of galaxy groups constructed from the spectroscopic sample of galaxies in the fourth data release from the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe 2 (DEEP2) Galaxy Redshift Survey, including the Extended Groth Strip (EGS). The catalog contains 1165 groups with two or more members in the EGS over the redshift range 0 0.6 in the rest of DEEP2. Twenty-five percent of EGS galaxies and fourteen percent of high-z DEEP2 galaxies are assigned to galaxy groups. The groups were detected using the Voronoi-Delaunay method (VDM) after it has been optimized on mock DEEP2 catalogs following similar methods to those employed in Gerke et al. In the optimization effort, we have taken particular care to ensure that the mock catalogs resemble the data as closely as possible, and we have fine-tuned our methods separately on mocks constructed for the EGS and the rest of DEEP2. We have also probed the effect of the assumed cosmology on our inferred group-finding efficiency by performing our optimization on three different mock catalogs with different background cosmologies, finding large differences in the group-finding success we can achieve for these different mocks. Using the mock catalog whose background cosmology is most consistent with current data, we estimate that the DEEP2 group catalog is 72% complete and 61% pure (74% and 67% for the EGS) and that the group finder correctly classifies 70% of galaxies that truly belong to groups, with an additional 46% of interloper galaxies contaminating the catalog (66% and 43% for the EGS). We also confirm that the VDM catalog reconstructs the abundance of galaxy groups with velocity dispersions above ~300 km s^(â1) to an accuracy better than the sample variance, and this successful reconstruction is not strongly dependent on cosmology. This makes the DEEP2 group catalog a promising probe of the growth of cosmic structure that can potentially be used for cosmological tests
AEGIS: New Evidence Linking Active Galactic Nuclei to the Quenching of Star Formation
Utilizing Chandra X-ray observations in the All-wavelength Extended Groth
Strip International Survey (AEGIS) we identify 241 X-ray selected Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGNs, L > 10^{42} ergs/s) and study the properties of their
host galaxies in the range 0.4 < z < 1.4. By making use of infrared photometry
from Palomar Observatory and BRI imaging from the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope, we estimate AGN host galaxy stellar masses and show that both
stellar mass and photometric redshift estimates (where necessary) are robust to
the possible contamination from AGNs in our X-ray selected sample. Accounting
for the photometric and X-ray sensitivity limits of the survey, we construct
the stellar mass function of X-ray selected AGN host galaxies and find that
their abundance decreases by a factor of ~2 since z~1, but remains roughly flat
as a function of stellar mass. We compare the abundance of AGN hosts to the
rate of star formation quenching observed in the total galaxy population. If
the timescale for X-ray detectable AGN activity is roughly 0.5-1 Gyr--as
suggested by black hole demographics and recent simulations--then we deduce
that the inferred AGN "trigger" rate matches the star formation quenching rate,
suggesting a link between these phenomena. However, given the large range of
nuclear accretion rates we infer for the most massive and red hosts, X-ray
selected AGNs may not be directly responsible for quenching star formation.Comment: 12 pages. Submitted to ApJ. Comments welcom
The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Probing the Evolution of Dark Matter Halos around Isolated Galaxies at z ~ 1
Using the first 25% of DEEP2 Redshift Survey data, we probe the line-of-sight
velocity dispersion profile for isolated galaxies with absolute B-band
magnitude -22<M_B-5log(h)<-21 at z=0.7-1.0, using satellite galaxies as
luminous tracers of the underlying velocity distribution. Measuring the
velocity dispersion beyond a galactocentric radius of ~200 kpc/h (physical)
permits us to determine the total mass, including dark matter, around these
bright galaxies. We find a line-of-sight velocity dispersion (sigma_los) of
162^{+44}_{-30} km/s at ~110 kpc/h, 136^{+26}_{-20} km/s at ~230 kpc/h, and
150^{+55}_{-38} km/s at ~320 kpc/h. Assuming an NFW model for the dark matter
density profile, this corresponds to a mass within r_{200} of
M_200=5.5^{+2.5}_{-2.0} x 10^12 M_Sun/h for our sample of satellite hosts with
mean luminosity ~2.5L*. Roughly $~60% of these host galaxies have early-type
spectra and are red in restframe (U-B) color, consistent with the overall DEEP2
sample in the same luminosity and redshift range. The halo mass determined for
DEEP2 host galaxies is consistent with that measured in the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey for host galaxies within a similar luminosity range relative to M*_B.
This comparison is insensitive to the assumed halo mass profile, and implies an
increase in the dynamical mass-to-light ratio (M_200/L_B) of isolated galaxies
which host satellites by a factor of ~2.5 from z ~ 1 to z ~ 0. Our results are
consistent with scenarios in which galaxies populate dark matter halos
similarly from z ~ 0 to z ~ 1, except for ~1 magnitude of evolution in the
luminosity of all galaxies.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, ApJ accepte
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