2,822 research outputs found
Intrinsic galaxy shapes and alignments II: Modelling the intrinsic alignment contamination of weak lensing surveys
Intrinsic galaxy alignments constitute the major astrophysical systematic of
forthcoming weak gravitational lensing surveys but also yield unique insights
into galaxy formation and evolution. We build analytic models for the
distribution of galaxy shapes based on halo properties extracted from the
Millennium Simulation, differentiating between early- and late-type galaxies as
well as central galaxies and satellites. The resulting ellipticity correlations
are investigated for their physical properties and compared to a suite of
current observations. The best-faring model is then used to predict the
intrinsic alignment contamination of planned weak lensing surveys. We find that
late-type galaxy models generally have weak intrinsic ellipticity correlations,
marginally increasing towards smaller galaxy separation and higher redshift.
The signal for early-type models at fixed halo mass strongly increases by three
orders of magnitude over two decades in galaxy separation, and by one order of
magnitude from z=0 to z=2. The intrinsic alignment strength also depends
strongly on halo mass, but not on galaxy luminosity at fixed mass, or galaxy
number density in the environment. We identify models that are in good
agreement with all observational data, except that all models over-predict
alignments of faint early-type galaxies. The best model yields an intrinsic
alignment contamination of a Euclid-like survey between 0.5-10% at z>0.6 and on
angular scales larger than a few arcminutes. Cutting 20% of red foreground
galaxies using observer-frame colours can suppress this contamination by up to
a factor of two.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures; minor changes to match version published in
MNRA
Evidence for Non-Hydrostatic Gas from the Cluster X-ray to Lensing Mass Ratio
Using a uniform analysis procedure, we measure spatially resolved weak
gravitational lensing and hydrostatic X-ray masses for a sample of 18 clusters
of galaxies. We find a radial trend in the X-ray to lensing mass ratio: at
r2500 we obtain a ratio MX/ML=1.03+/-0.07 which decreases to MX/ML=0.78+/-0.09
at r500. This difference is significant at 3 sigma once we account for
correlations between the measurements. We show that correcting the lensing mass
for excess correlated structure outside the virial radius slightly reduces, but
does not eliminate this trend. An X-ray mass underestimate, perhaps due to
nonthermal pressure support, can explain the residual trend. The trend is not
correlated with the presence or absence of a cool core. We also examine the
cluster gas fraction and find no correlation with ML, an important result for
techniques that aim to determine cosmological parameters using the gas
fraction.Comment: 8 pages, minor modifications, accepted for publication in MNRA
Growing Grass for Greener Grazers: Herbage Management for Improved N Utilisation of Grazing Cows
The Effect of Grassland Management on Bovine Nitrogen Efficiency
Nitrogen (N) losses through grazing bovines are at the heart of the current debate on environment and agriculture. N utilisation of grazing bovines is predominantly determined by the form and amount of energy and protein in their diet, which in Ireland consists mainly of grazed grass. The two main problems of grazed grass with respect to animal N utilisation are 1) the imbalance between total N content and energy content, and 2) the lack of synchronisation between the release of N and carbohydrates in the rumen. It was hypothesised that both the balance and synchronisation of N and energy in herbage could be improved through grassland management. The objective of this study was to study the effect of grassland management on herbage carbohydrate and protein fractionation
A Multiwavelength Analysis of the Strong Lensing Cluster RCS 022434-0002.5 at z=0.778
We present the results of two (101 ks total) Chandra observations of the
z=0.778 optically selected lensing cluster RCS022434-0002.5, along with weak
lensing and dynamical analyses of this object. An X-ray spectrum extracted
within R(2500) (362 h(70)^(-1) kpc) results in an integrated cluster
temperature of 5.1 (+0.9,-0.5) keV. The surface brightness profile of
RCS022434-0002.5 indicates the presence of a slight excess of emission in the
core. A hardness ratio image of this object reveals that this central emission
is primarily produced by soft X-rays. Further investigation yields a cluster
cooling time of 3.3 times 10^9 years, which is less than half of the age of the
universe at this redshift given the current LCDM cosmology. A weak lensing
analysis is performed using HST images, and our weak lensing mass estimate is
found to be in good agreement with the X-ray determined mass of the cluster.
Spectroscopic analysis reveals that RCS022434-0002.5 has a velocity dispersion
of 900 +/- 180 km/s, consistent with its X-ray temperature. The core gas mass
fraction of RCS022434-0002.5 is, however, found to be three times lower than
expected universal values. The radial distribution of X-ray point sources
within R(200) of this cluster peaks at ~0.7 R(200), possibly indicating that
the cluster potential is influencing AGN activity at that radius. Correlations
between X-ray and radio (VLA) point source positions are also examined.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
First Test of Lorentz Invariance in the Weak Decay of Polarized Nuclei
A new test of Lorentz invariance in the weak interactions has been made by
searching for variations in the decay rate of spin-polarized 20Na nuclei. This
test is unique to Gamow-Teller transitions, as was shown in the framework of a
recently developed theory that assumes a Lorentz symmetry breaking background
field of tensor nature. The nuclear spins were polarized in the up and down
direction, putting a limit on the amplitude of sidereal variations of the form
|(\Gamma_{up} - \Gamma_{down})| / (\Gamma_{up} + \Gamma_{down}) < 3 * 10^{-3}.
This measurement shows a possible route toward a more detailed testing of
Lorentz symmetry in weak interactions.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
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Evolutionary biology for the 21st century
New theoretical and conceptual frameworks are required for evolutionary biology to capitalize on the wealth of data now becoming available from the study of genomes, phenotypes, and organisms - including humans - in their natural environments.Molecular and Cellular BiologyOrganismic and Evolutionary Biolog
CLASS B0827+525: `Dark lens' or binary radio-loud quasar?
We present radio, optical, near-infrared and spectroscopic observations of
the source B0827+525. We consider this source as the best candidate from the
Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS) for a `dark lens' system or binary
radio-loud quasar. The system consists of two radio components with somewhat
different spectral indices, separated by 2.815 arcsec. VLBA observations show
that each component has substructure on a scale of a few mas. A deep K-band
exposure with the W.M.Keck-II Telescope reveals emission near both radio
components. The K-band emission of the weaker radio component appears extended,
whereas the emission from the brighter radio component is consistent with a
point source. Hubble Space Telescope F160W-band observations with the NICMOS
instrument confirms this. A redshift of 2.064 is found for the brighter
component, using the LRIS instrument on the W.M.Keck-II Telescope. The
probability that B0827+525 consists of two unrelated compact flat-spectrum
radio sources is ~3%, although the presence of similar substructure in both
component might reduce this.
We discuss two scenarios to explain this system: (i) CLASS B0827+525 is a
`dark lens' system or (ii) B0827+525 is a binary radio-loud quasar. B0827+525
has met all criteria that thus far have in 100% of the cases confirmed a source
as an indisputable gravitational lens system. Despite this, no lens galaxy has
been detected with m_F160W<=23 mag. Hence, we might have found the first binary
radio-loud quasar. At this moment, however, we feel that the `dark lens'
hypothesis cannot yet be fully excluded.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures; Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics; Full-res. images 1 and 3 can be obtained from L.V.E.
SolRgene: an online database to explore disease resistance genes in tuber-bearing Solanum species
Background The cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important food crop, but highly susceptible to many pathogens. The major threat to potato production is the Irish famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans, which causes the devastating late blight disease. Potato breeding makes use of germplasm from wild relatives (wild germplasm) to introduce resistances into cultivated potato. The Solanum section Petota comprises tuber-bearing species that are potential donors of new disease resistance genes. The aim of this study was to explore Solanum section Petota for resistance genes and generate a widely accessible resource that is useful for studying and implementing disease resistance in potato. Description The SolRgene database contains data on resistance to P. infestans and presence of R genes and R gene homologues in Solanum section Petota. We have explored Solanum section Petota for resistance to late blight in high throughput disease tests under various laboratory conditions and in field trials. From resistant wild germplasm, segregating populations were generated and assessed for the presence of resistance genes. All these data have been entered into the SolRgene database. To facilitate genetic and resistance gene evolution studies, phylogenetic data of the entire SolRgene collection are included, as well as a tool for generating phylogenetic trees of selected groups of germplasm. Data from resistance gene allele-mining studies are incorporated, which enables detection of R gene homologs in related germplasm. Using these resources, various resistance genes have been detected and some of these have been cloned, whereas others are in the cloning pipeline. All this information is stored in the online SolRgene database, which allows users to query resistance data, sequences, passport data of the accessions, and phylogenic classifications. Conclusion Solanum section Petota forms the basis of the SolRgene database, which contains a collection of resistance data of an unprecedented size and precision. Complemented with R gene sequence data and phylogenetic tools, SolRgene can be considered the primary resource for information on R genes from potato and wild tuber-bearing relatives
Towards a Precision Cosmology from Starburst Galaxies at z>2
This work investigates the use of a well-known empirical correlation between
the velocity dispersion, metallicity, and luminosity in H beta of nearby HII
galaxies to measure the distances to HII-like starburst galaxies at high
redshifts. This correlation is applied to a sample of 15 starburst galaxies
with redshifts between z=2.17 and z=3.39 to constrain Omega_m, using data
available from the literature. A best-fit value of Omega_m = 0.21 +0.30 -0.12
in a Lambda-dominated universe and of Omega_m = 0.11 +0.37 -0.19 in an open
universe is obtained. A detailed analysis of systematic errors, their causes,
and their effects on the values derived for the distance moduli and Omega_m is
carried out. A discussion of how future work will improve constraints on
Omega_m by reducing the errors is also presented.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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