680 research outputs found
Pulse Shape Analysis with scintillating bolometers
Among the detectors used for rare event searches, such as neutrinoless Double
Beta Decay (0DBD) and Dark Matter experiments, bolometers are very
promising because of their favorable properties (excellent energy resolution,
high detector efficiency, a wide choice of different materials used as
absorber, ...). However, up to now, the actual interesting possibility to
identify the interacting particle, and thus to greatly reduce the background,
can be fulfilled only with a double read-out (i.e. the simultaneous and
independent read out of heat and scintillation light or heat and ionization).
This double read-out could greatly complicate the assembly of a huge,
multi-detector array, such as CUORE and EURECA. The possibility to recognize
the interacting particle through the shape of the thermal pulse is then clearly
a very interesting opportunity.
While detailed analyses of the signal time development in purely thermal
detectors have not produced so far interesting results, similar analyses on
macro-bolometers (10-500 g) built with scintillating crystals showed that
it is possible to distinguish between an electron or -ray and an
particle interaction (i.e. the main source of background for 0DBD
experiments based on the bolometric technique). Results on pulse shape analysis
of a CaMoO crystal operated as bolometer is reported as an example. An
explanation of this behavior, based on the energy partition in the heat and
scintillation channels, is also presented.Comment: Presented at the 14th International Workshop on Low Temperature
Detectors, proceedings to be published in the Journal of Low Temperature
Physic
Diffuse light and galaxy interactions in the core of nearby clusters
The kinematics of the diffuse light in the densest regions of the nearby
clusters can be unmasked using the planetary nebulae (PNs) as probes of the
stellar motions. The position-velocity diagrams around the brightest cluster
galaxies (BCGs) identify the relative contributions from the outer halos and
the intracluster light (ICL), defined as the light radiated by the stars
floating in the cluster potential. The kinematics of the ICL can then be used
to asses the dynamical status of the nearby cluster cores and to infer their
formation histories. The cores of the Virgo and Coma are observed to be far
from equilibrium, with mergers currently on-going, while the ICL properties in
the Fornax and Hydra clusters show the presence of sub-components being
accreted in their cores, but superposed to an otherwise relaxed population of
stars. Finally the comparison of the observed ICL properties with those
predicted from Lambda-CDM simulations indicates a qualitative agreement and
provides insights on the ICL formation. Both observations and simulations
indicate that BCG halos and ICL are physically distinct components, with the
``hotter" ICL dominating at large radial distances from the BCGs halos as the
latter become progressively fainter.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. Invited review to appear in the proceedings of
"Galaxies and their masks" eds. Block, D.L., Freeman, K.C. and Puerari, I.,
2010, Springer (New York
The NIR structure of the barred galaxy NGC253 from VISTA
[abridged] We used J and Ks band images acquired with the VISTA telescope as
part of the science verification to quantify the structures in the stellar disk
of the barred Sc galaxy NGC253. Moving outward from the galaxy center, we find
a nuclear ring within the bright 1 kpc diameter nucleus, then a bar, a ring
with 2.9 kpc radius. From the Ks image we obtain a new measure of the
deprojected length of the bar of 2.5 kpc. The bar's strength, as derived from
the curvature of the dust lanes in the J-Ks image, is typical of weak bars.
From the deprojected length of the bar, we establish the corotation radius
(R_CR=3 kpc) and bar pattern speed (Omega_b = 61.3 km /s kpc), which provides
the connection between the high-frequency structures in the disk and the
orbital resonances induced by the bar. The nuclear ring is located at the inner
Lindblad resonance. The second ring does not have a resonant origin, but it
could be a merger remnant or a transient structure formed during an
intermediate stage of the bar formation. The inferred bar pattern speed places
the outer Lindblad resonance within the optical disk at 4.9 kpc, in the same
radial range as the peak in the HI surface density. The disk of NGC253 has a
down-bending profile with a break at R~9.3 kpc, which corresponds to about 3
times the scale length of the inner disk. We discuss the evidence for a
threshold in star formation efficiency as a possible explanation of the steep
gradient in the surface brightness profile at large radii. The NIR photometry
unveils the dynamical response of the NGC253 stellar disk to its central bar.
The formation of the bar may be related to the merger event that determined the
truncation of stars and gas at large radii and the perturbation of the disk's
outer edge.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrphysics. High resolution
pdf file is available at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4o4cofs1lyjrtpv/NGC253.pd
Polar Ring Galaxies and the Tully Fisher relation: implications for the dark halo shape
We have investigated the Tully-Fisher relation for Polar Ring Galaxies
(PRGs), based on near infrared, optical and HI data available for a sample of
these peculiar objects. The total K-band luminosity, which mainly comes from
the central host galaxy, and the measured HI linewidth at 20% of the peak line
flux density, which traces the potential in the polar plane, place most polar
rings of the sample far from the Tully-Fisher relation defined for spiral
galaxies, with many PRGs showing larger HI linewidths than expected for the
observed K band luminosity. This result is confirmed by a larger sample of
objects, based on B-band data. This observational evidence may be related to
the dark halo shape and orientation in these systems, which we study by
numerical modeling of PRG formation and dynamics: the larger rotation
velocities observed in PRGs can be explained by a flattened polar halo, aligned
with the polar ring.Comment: 22 pages, 8 postscript figures, accepted for publication in
Astrophysical Journa
Detection, photometry and slitless radial velocities of 535 planetary nebulae in the flattened elliptical galaxy NGC 4697
We have detected 535 planetary nebulae (PNs) in NGC 4697, using the classic
on-band, off-band filter technique with the Focal Reducer and Spectrograph
(FORS) at the Cassegrain focus of the first 8-meter telescope unit of the ESO
Very Large Telescope. From our photometry we have built the [O III] 5007
planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) of NGC 4697. It indicates a
distance of 10.5 Mpc, substantially smaller than a previous estimate of 24 Mpc
used in earlier dynamical studies. The PNLF also provides an estimate of the
specific PN formation rate. Combining the information from on-band images with
PN positions on dispersed, slitless grism images, we have obtained radial
velocities for 531 of the 535 PNs. They provide kinematic information up to a
distance of almost three effective radii from the nucleus. Some rotation is
detected in the outer regions, but the rotation curve of this galaxy appears to
drop beyond one effective radius. Assuming an isotropic velocity distribution,
the velocity dispersion profile is consistent with no dark matter within three
effective radii of the nucleus (however, some dark matter can be present if the
velocity distribution is anisotropic). We obtain a blue mass-to-light ratio of
11. Earlier M/L ratios for NGC 4697 were too small, because of the too large
distance used for their derivation.Comment: 52 pages, 24 Postscript figures, ApJ 2001, in pres
Evolution of Ego-networks in Social Media with Link Recommendations
Ego-networks are fundamental structures in social graphs, yet the process of
their evolution is still widely unexplored. In an online context, a key
question is how link recommender systems may skew the growth of these networks,
possibly restraining diversity. To shed light on this matter, we analyze the
complete temporal evolution of 170M ego-networks extracted from Flickr and
Tumblr, comparing links that are created spontaneously with those that have
been algorithmically recommended. We find that the evolution of ego-networks is
bursty, community-driven, and characterized by subsequent phases of explosive
diameter increase, slight shrinking, and stabilization. Recommendations favor
popular and well-connected nodes, limiting the diameter expansion. With a
matching experiment aimed at detecting causal relationships from observational
data, we find that the bias introduced by the recommendations fosters global
diversity in the process of neighbor selection. Last, with two link prediction
experiments, we show how insights from our analysis can be used to improve the
effectiveness of social recommender systems.Comment: Proceedings of the 10th ACM International Conference on Web Search
and Data Mining (WSDM 2017), Cambridge, UK. 10 pages, 16 figures, 1 tabl
Mapping the inner regions of the polar disk galaxy NGC4650A with MUSE
[abridged] The polar disk galaxy NGC4650A was observed during the
commissioning of the MUSE at the ESO VLT to obtain the first 2D map of the
velocity and velocity dispersion for both stars and gas. The new MUSE data
allow the analysis of the structure and kinematics towards the central regions
of NGC4650A, where the two components co-exist. These regions were unexplored
by the previous long-slit literature data available for this galaxy. The
extended view of NGC~4650A given by the MUSE data is a galaxy made of two
perpendicular disks that remain distinct and drive the kinematics right into
the very centre of this object. In order to match this observed structure for
NGC4650A, we constructed a multicomponent mass model made by the combined
projection of two disks. By comparing the observations with the 2D kinematics
derived from the model, we found that the modelled mass distribution in these
two disks can, on average, account for the complex kinematics revealed by the
MUSE data, also in the central regions of the galaxy where the two components
coexist. This result is a strong constraint on the dynamics and formation
history of this galaxy; it further supports the idea that polar disk galaxies
like NGC~4650A were formed through the accretion of material that has different
angular momentum.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Scintillating double beta decay bolometers
We present the results obtained in the development of scintillating Double
Beta Decay bolometers. Several Mo and Cd based crystals were tested with the
bolometric technique. The scintillation light was measured through a second
independent bolometer. A 140 g CdWO_4 crystal was run in a 417 h live time
measurement. Thanks to the scintillation light, the alpha background is easily
discriminated resulting in zero counts above the 2615 keV gamma line of
Thallium 208. These results, combined with an extremely easy light detector
operation, represent the first tangible proof demonstrating the feasibility of
this kind of technique.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Innovation and performance of European banks adopting Internet
Ebanking has been a bit of a fad. Virtual banks were believed to challenge traditional banks.
The burst of the internet bubble brought down this first generation of internet banks.
Traditional branch banks have gone online since. Existing banks started to buy up some failed
internet banks; some have set up an internet bank of their own. It seems this second
generation of online banks performs better (DeYoung et al., 2007). However, other traditional
banks have started to complement branch banking with simpler online facilities, like an
internet portal. We examine the reasons for banking groups to either own an internet bank or
provide an internet portal. On a panel of the 60 largest EU banking groups over the period
1995-2005, we find that banks with a heavy cost structure and a large market share in client
deposits and noninterest activities are more likely to introduce internet banking.
Concentration in the banking market favours adoption of internet banking although in some
markets, like France or Italy, M&A have been an easy way to acquire small internet banks.
There is little evidence of economies of scope in ICT development. The performance of the
banking groups with an internet bank is poor. It has mainly created additional costs (although
labour costs have been cut) but so far, little return
The stellar dynamics and mass of NGC 1316 using the radial velocities of planetary nebulae
We present a study of the kinematics of the outer regions of the early-type
galaxy NGC 1316, based on radial velocity measurements of 43 planetary nebulae
as well as deep integrated-light absorption line spectra. The smoothed velocity
field of NGC 1316 indicates fast rotation at a distance of 16 kpc, possibly
associated with an elongated feature orthogonal to the inner dust lanes. The
mean square stellar velocity is approximately independent of radius, and the
estimated total mass of the system is 2.6 x 10^11 M_sun within a radius of 16
kpc, implying an integrated mass-to-light ratio of M/L_B = 8.Comment: 39 pages, 14 figures, in press on The Astrophysical Journal n. 50
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