540 research outputs found
The Effects of Varying Cosmological Parameters on Halo Substructure
We investigate how different cosmological parameters, such as those delivered
by the WMAP and Planck missions, affect the nature and evolution of dark matter
halo substructure. We use a series of flat cold dark matter
(CDM) cosmological -body simulations of structure formation, each
with a different power spectrum but the same initial white noise field. Our
fiducial simulation is based on parameters from the WMAP 7th year cosmology. We
then systematically vary the spectral index, , matter density, ,
and normalization of the power spectrum, , for 7 unique simulations.
Across these, we study variations in the subhalo mass function, mass fraction,
maximum circular velocity function, spatial distribution, concentration,
formation times, accretion times, and peak mass. We eliminate dependence of
subhalo properties on host halo mass and average over many hosts to reduce
variance. While the "same" subhalos from identical initial overdensity peaks in
higher , and simulations accrete earlier and end up
less massive and closer to the halo center at , the process of continuous
subhalo accretion and destruction leads to a steady state distribution of these
properties across all subhalos in a given host. This steady state mechanism
eliminates cosmological dependence on all properties listed above except
subhalo concentration and , which remain greater for higher and simulations, and subhalo formation time, which remains
earlier. We also find that the numerical technique for computing scale radius
and the halo finder used can significantly affect the concentration-mass
relationship computed for a simulation.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, Accepted to ApJ on March 15, 201
Significance of Autumn and Winter Food Consumption for Reproduction by Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bears, \u3ci\u3eUrsus Maritimus\u3c/i\u3e
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the southern Beaufort Sea experience long annual periods when preferred seal prey are scarce or are unavailable. Consumption of bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) carcasses from native Alaskan subsistence hunting is increasingly common for onshore polar bears, yet the energetic consequences of this consumption remain unclear. We use data on bears captured repeatedly over periods that encompassed autumn and winter, combined with calculations, to show that adult female bears likely consume an average of at least 4 seal equivalents during both autumn and winter periods and that considerable variation in energy intake exists across individual bears. We further show that subsistence-caught whale carcasses provide an upper threshold of \u3e 4000 seal equivalents, which could potentially meet mean consumption needs of ~ 80% of the southern Beaufort Sea bear subpopulation during autumn and winter periods. Finally, we modify an existing model to show that observed mass changes over autumn and winter could substantially alter spring foraging habitat choice by females with cubs and the chance that a female with reduced energy reserves would abort a pregnancy or abandon cubs in favor of increasing her own survival; these behaviors could potentially influence population vital rates. Our study highlights the importance of mass dynamics over the autumn and winter months, points to the need for additional data on foraging and energetics over this period, and indicates that the recent declines in polar bear body condition in some subpopulations could have complex effects on reproduction
The Caterpillar Project: A Large Suite of Milky Way Sized Halos
We present the largest number of Milky Way sized dark matter halos simulated
at very high mass ( M/particle) and temporal resolution
(5 Myrs/snapshot) done to date, quadrupling what is currently available
in the literature. This initial suite consists of the first 24 halos of the
(www.caterpillarproject.org) whose project goal of 60 -
70 halos will be made public when complete. We resolve 20,000
gravitationally bound subhalos within the virial radius of each host halo. Over
the ranges set by our spatial resolution our convergence is excellent and
improvements were made upon current state-of-the-art halo finders to better
identify substructure at such high resolutions (e.g., on average we recover
4 subhalos in each host halo above 10 M which would have
otherwise not been found using conventional methods). For our relaxed halos,
the inner profiles are reasonably fit by Einasto profiles ( = 0.169
0.023) though this depends on the relaxed nature and assembly history of
a given halo. Averaging over all halos, the substructure mass fraction is
, and mass function slope is d/d though we find scatter in the normalizations for fixed halo
mass due to more concentrated hosts having less subhalos at fixed subhalo mass.
There are no biases stemming from Lagrangian volume selection as all Lagrangian
volume types are included in our sample. Our detailed contamination study of
264 low resolution halos has resulted in obtaining very large and
unprecedented, high-resolution regions around our host halos for our target
resolution (sphere of radius Mpc) allowing for accurate
studies of low mass dwarf galaxies at large galactocentric radii and the very
first stellar systems at high redshift ( 10).Comment: 19 pages; 14 figures; 6 tables; Received September 3, 2015; Accepted
November 15, 2015; Published February 2, 201
Descendants of the first stars: the distinct chemical signature of second generation stars
Extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars in the Milky Way (MW) allow us to infer the
properties of their progenitors by comparing their chemical composition to the
metal yields of the first supernovae. This method is most powerful when applied
to mono-enriched stars, i.e. stars that formed from gas that was enriched by
only one previous supernova. We present a novel diagnostic to identify this
subclass of EMP stars. We model the first generations of star formation
semi-analytically, based on dark matter halo merger trees that yield MW-like
halos at the present day. Radiative and chemical feedback are included
self-consistently and we trace all elements up to zinc. Mono-enriched stars
account for only of second generation stars in our fiducial model
and we provide an analytical formula for this probability. We also present a
novel analytical diagnostic to identify mono-enriched stars, based on the metal
yields of the first supernovae. This new diagnostic allows us to derive our
main results independently from the specific assumptions made regarding Pop III
star formation, and we apply it to a set of observed EMP stars to demonstrate
its strengths and limitations. Our results may provide selection criteria for
current and future surveys and therefore contribute to a deeper understanding
of EMP stars and their progenitors.Comment: 18 pages, 20 figures, published in MNRA
Rapid quantification of low level polymorph content in a solid dose form using transmission Raman spectroscopy
This proof of concept study demonstrates the application of transmission Raman spectroscopy (TRS) to the non-invasive and non-destructive quantification of low levels (0.62-1.32% w/w) of an active pharmaceutical ingredient's polymorphic forms in a pharmaceutical formulation. Partial least squares calibration models were validated with independent validation samples resulting in prediction RMSEP values of 0.03-0.05% w/w and a limit of detection of 0.1-0.2% w/w. The study further demonstrates the ability of TRS to quantify all tablet constituents in one single measurement. By analysis of degraded stability samples, sole transformation between polymorphic forms was observed while excipient levels remained constant. Additionally, a beam enhancer device was used to enhance laser coupling to the sample, which allowed comparable prediction performance at 60 times faster rates (0.2 s) than in standard mode
AAOmega spectroscopy of 29 351 stars in fields centered on ten Galactic globular clusters
Galactic globular clusters have been pivotal in our understanding of many
astrophysical phenomena. Here we publish the extracted stellar parameters from
a recent large spectroscopic survey of ten globular clusters. A brief review of
the project is also presented. Stellar parameters have been extracted from
individual stellar spectra using both a modified version of the Radial Velocity
Experiment (RAVE) pipeline and a pipeline based on the parameter estimation
method of RAVE. We publish here all parameters extracted from both pipelines.
We calibrate the metallicity and convert this to [Fe/H] for each star and,
furthermore, we compare the velocities and velocity dispersions of the Galactic
stars in each field to the Besan\c{c}on Galaxy model. We find that the model
does not correspond well with the data, indicating that the model is probably
of little use for comparisons with pencil beam survey data such as this.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A. Data
described in tables will be available on CDS (at
http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/530/A31) once publishe
Globular cluster formation within the Aquarius simulation
The Aquarius project is a very high-resolution simulation capable of resolving the full mass range of potential globular cluster (GC) formation sites. With a particle mass mp= 1.4 × 104 M¿, Aquarius yields more than 100 million particles within the virial radius of the central halo which has a mass of 1.8 × 1012 M¿, similar to that of the Milky Way. With this particle mass, dark matter concentrations (haloes) that give rise to GCs via our formation criteria contain a minimum of ~2000 particles. Here, we use this simulation to test a model of metal-poor GC formation based on collapse physics. In our model, GCs form when the virial temperatures of haloes first exceed 104 K as this is when electronic transitions allow the gas to cool efficiently. We calculate the ionizing flux from the stars in these first clusters and stop the formation of new clusters when all the baryonic gas of the Galaxy is ionized. This is achieved by adopting reasonable values for the star formation efficiencies and escape fraction of ionizing photons which result in similar numbers and masses of clusters to those found in the Milky Way. The model is successful in that it predicts ages (peak age ~13.3 Gyr) and a spatial distribution of metal-poor GCs which are consistent with the observed populations in the Milky Way. The model also predicts that less than 5 per cent of GCs within a radius of 100 kpc have a surviving dark matter halo, but the more distant clusters are all found in dark matter concentrations. We then test a scenario of metal-rich cluster formation by examining mergers that trigger star formation within central gas discs. This results in younger (~7¿13.3 Gyr), more centrally located clusters (40 metal-rich GCs within 18 kpc from the centre of the host) which are consistent with the Galactic metal-rich population. We test an alternate model in which metal-rich GCs form in dwarf galaxies that become stripped as they merge with the main halo. This process is inconsistent with observed metal-rich globulars in the Milky Way because it predicts spatial distributions that are far too extended
The illustris simulation: Public data release
We present the full public release of all data from the Illustris simulation project. Illustris is a suite of large volume, cosmological hydrodynamical simulations run with the moving-mesh code Arepo and including a comprehensive set of physical models critical for following the formation and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. Each simulates a volume of (106.5 Mpc)3and self-consistently evolves five different types of resolution elements from a starting redshift of z=127 to the present day, z=0. These components are: dark matter particles, gas cells, passive gas tracers, stars and stellar wind particles, and supermassive black holes. This data release includes the snapshots at all 136 available redshifts, halo and subhalo catalogs at each snapshot, and two distinct merger trees. Six primary realizations of the Illustris volume are released, including the flagship Illustris-1 run. These include three resolution levels with the fiducial "full" baryonic physics model, and a dark matter only analog for each. In addition, we provide four distinct, high time resolution, smaller volume "subboxes". The total data volume is ~265 TB, including ~800 full volume snapshots and ~30,000 subbox snapshots. We describe the released data products as well as tools we have developed for their analysis. All data may be directly downloaded in its native HDF5 format. Additionally, we release a comprehensive, web-based API which allows programmatic access to search and data processing tasks. In both cases we provide example scripts and a getting-started guide in several languages: currently, IDL, Python, and Matlab. This paper addresses scientific issues relevant for the interpretation of the simulations, serves as a pointer to published and on-line documentation of the project, describes planned future additional data releases, and discusses technical aspects of the release
Chronic Administration of the Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Analog, Liraglutide, Delays the Onset of Diabetes and Lowers Triglycerides in UCD-T2DM Rats
ObjectiveThe efficacy of liraglutide, a human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog, to prevent or delay diabetes in UCD-T2DM rats, a model of polygenic obese type 2 diabetes, was investigated.Research design and methodsAt 2 months of age, male rats were divided into three groups: control, food-restricted, and liraglutide. Animals received liraglutide (0.2 mg/kg s.c.) or vehicle injections twice daily. Restricted rats were food restricted to equalize body weights to liraglutide-treated rats. Half of the animals were followed until diabetes onset, whereas the other half of the animals were killed at 6.5 months of age for tissue collection.ResultsBefore diabetes onset energy intake, body weight, adiposity, and liver triglyceride content were higher in control animals compared with restricted and liraglutide-treated rats. Energy-restricted animals had lower food intake than liraglutide-treated animals to maintain the same body weights, suggesting that liraglutide increases energy expenditure. Liraglutide treatment delayed diabetes onset by 4.1 ± 0.8 months compared with control (P < 0.0001) and by 1.3 ± 0.8 months compared with restricted animals (P < 0.05). Up to 6 months of age, energy restriction and liraglutide treatment lowered fasting plasma glucose and A1C concentrations compared with control animals. In contrast, liraglutide-treated animals exhibited lower fasting plasma insulin, glucagon, and triglycerides compared with both control and restricted animals. Furthermore, energy-restricted and liraglutide-treated animals exhibited more normal islet morphology.ConclusionsLiraglutide treatment delays the development of diabetes in UCD-T2DM rats by reducing energy intake and body weight, and by improving insulin sensitivity, improving lipid profiles, and maintaining islet morphology
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