22,532 research outputs found
A Multiwavelength Investigation of Unidentified EGRET Sources
Statistical studies indicate that the 271 point sources of high-energy gamma
rays belong to two groups: a Galactic population and an isotropic extragalactic
population. Many unidentified extragalactic sources are certainly blazars, and
it is the intention of this work to uncover gamma-ray blazars missed by
previous attempts. Until recently, searches for blazar counterparts to
unidentified EGRET sources have focused on finding AGN that have 5-GHz radio
flux densities S_5 near or above 1 Jy. However, the recent blazar
identification of 3EG J2006-2321 (S_5 = 260 mJy) and other work suggest that
careful studies of weaker flat-spectrum sources may be fruitful. In this
spirit, error circles of 4 high-latitude unidentified EGRET sources have been
searched for 5-GHz sources. The gamma-ray sources are 3EG J1133+0033, 3EG
J1212+2304, 3EG J1222+2315, and 3EG J1227+4302. Within the error contours of
each of the four sources are found 6 radio candidates; by observing the
positions of the radio sources with the 0.81-m Tenagra II telescope it is
determined that 14 of these 24 radio sources have optical counterparts with R <
22. Eight of these from two different EGRET sources have been observed in the
B, V, and R bands in more than one epoch and the analysis of these data is
ongoing. Any sources that are found to be variable will be the objects of
multi-epoch polarimetry studies.Comment: 6 pages, 2 tables. To appear in Astrophysics & Space Scienc
Convergence of random zeros on complex manifolds
We show that the zeros of random sequences of Gaussian systems of polynomials
of increasing degree almost surely converge to the expected limit distribution
under very general hypotheses. In particular, the normalized distribution of
zeros of systems of m polynomials of degree N, orthonormalized on a regular
compact subset K of C^m, almost surely converge to the equilibrium measure on K
as the degree N goes to infinity.Comment: 16 page
The star-formation rate in the host of GRB 990712
We have observed the host galaxy of GRB 990712 at 1.4 GHz with the Australia
Telescope Compact Array, to obtain an estimate of its total star-formation
rate. We do not detect a source at the position of the host. The 2 sigma upper
limit of 70 microJy implies that the total star-formation rate is lower than
100 Msun/yr, using conservative values for the spectral index and cosmological
parameters. This upper limit is in stark contrast with recent reports of
radio/submillimeter-determined star-formation rates of roughly 500 Msun/yr for
two other GRB host galaxies. Our observations present the deepest
radio-determined star-formation rate limit on a GRB host galaxy yet, and show
that also from the unobscured radio point-of-view, not every GRB host galaxy is
a vigorous starburst.Comment: A&A Letters, in press, 5 pages; a high-resolution color gif version
of the paper figure is also supplie
Discovery of a supernova associated with GRB 031203: SMARTS Optical-Infrared Lightcurves from 0.2 to 92 days
Optical and infrared monitoring of the afterglow site of gamma-ray burst
(GRB) 031203 has revealed a brightening source embedded in the host galaxy,
which we attribute to the presence of a supernova (SN) related to the GRB ("SN
031203"). We present details of the discovery and evolution of SN 031203 from
0.2 to 92 days after the GRB, derived from SMARTS consortium photometry in I
and J bands. A template type Ic lightcurve, constructed from SN 1998bw
photometry, is consistent with the peak brightness of SN 031203 although the
lightcurves are not identical. Differential astrometry reveals that the SN, and
hence the GRB, occurred less than 300 h_71^-1 pc (3-sigma) from the apparent
galaxy center. The peak of the supernova is brighter than the optical afterglow
suggesting that this source is intermediate between a strong GRB and a
supernova.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ Letter
The impact of health on professionally active people's incomes in Poland. Microeconometric analysis
The outcome of the research confirms the occurrence of positive interaction between professionally active people's incomes and the self-assessed state of health. People declaring a bad state of health have incomes by 20% on average lower than people who enjoy good health (assuming that the remaining characteristics of the surveyed person are the same). In case of men, the impact of health state on incomes is slightly greater than in case of women.Wyniki badań potwierdzają istnienie pozytywnej zależności dochodów osób aktywnych zawodowo od stanu zdrowia mierzonego jego samooceną. Osoby deklarujące zły stan zdrowia osiągają dochody przeciętnie o 20% niższe niż osoby, które cieszą się dobrym stanem zdrowia (przy założeniu, że pozostałe charakterystyki badanej osoby są takie same). W przypadku mężczyzn zależność dochodów od stanu zdrowia jest nieznacznie silniejsza niż w przypadku kobiet
Virtue and austerity
Virtue ethics is often proposed as a third way in health-care ethics, that while consequentialism and deontology focus on action guidelines, virtue focuses on character; all three aim to help agents discern morally right action although virtue seems to have least to contribute to political issues, such as austerity. I claim: (1) This is a bad way to characterize virtue ethics. The 20th century renaissance of virtue ethics was first proposed as a response to the difficulty of making sense of ‘moral rightness’ outside a religious context. For Aristotle the right action is that which is practically best; that means best for the agent in order to live a flourishing life.There are no moral considerations besides this. (2) Properly characterized, virtue ethics can contribute to discussion of austerity.
A criticism of virtue ethics is that fixed characteristics seem a bad idea in ever-changing environments; perhaps we should be generous in prosperity, selfish in austerity. Furthermore, empirical evidence suggests that people indeed do change with their environment. However, I argue that
virtues concern fixed values not fixed behaviour; the values underlying virtue allow for different behaviour in different circumstances: in austerity, virtues still give the agent the best chance of flourishing. Two questions
arise. (a) In austere environments might not injustice help an individual flourish by, say, obtaining material goods? No, because unjust acts undermine the type of society the agent needs for flourishing. (b) What good is virtue to those lacking the other means to flourish? The notion of degrees of flourishing shows that most people would benefit
somewhat from virtue. However, in extreme circumstances virtue might harm rather than benefit the agent: such circumstances are to be avoided; virtue ethics thus has a political agenda to enable flourishing.
This requires justice, a fortiori when in austerity
Multi-color Optical and NIR Light Curves of 64 Stripped-Envelope Core-Collapse Supernovae
We present a densely-sampled, homogeneous set of light curves of 64 low
redshift (z < 0.05) stripped-envelope supernovae (SN of type IIb, Ib, Ic and
Ic-bl). These data were obtained between 2001 and 2009 at the Fred L. Whipple
Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona, with the optical FLWO 1.2-m and
the near-infrared PAIRITEL 1.3-m telescopes. Our dataset consists of 4543
optical photometric measurements on 61 SN, including a combination of UBVRI,
UBVr'i', and u'BVr'i', and 2142 JHKs near-infrared measurements on 25 SN. This
sample constitutes the most extensive multi-color data set of stripped-envelope
SN to date. Our photometry is based on template-subtracted images to eliminate
any potential host galaxy light contamination. This work presents these
photometric data, compares them with data in the literature, and estimates
basic statistical quantities: date of maximum, color, and photometric
properties. We identify promising color trends that may permit the
identification of stripped-envelope SN subtypes from their photometry alone.
Many of these SN were observed spectroscopically by the CfA SN group, and the
spectra are presented in a companion paper (Modjaz et al. 2014). A thorough
exploration that combines the CfA photometry and spectroscopy of
stripped-envelope core-collapse SN will be presented in a follow-up paper.Comment: 26 pages, 17 figures, 8 tables. Revised version resubmitted to ApJ
Supplements after referee report. Additional online material is available
through http://cosmo.nyu.edu/SNYU
Addictive links: The motivational value of adaptive link annotation
Adaptive link annotation is a popular adaptive navigation support technology. Empirical studies of adaptive annotation in the educational context have demonstrated that it can help students to acquire knowledge faster, improve learning outcomes, reduce navigational overhead, and encourage non-sequential navigation. In this paper, we present our exploration of a lesser known effect of adaptive annotation, its ability to significantly increase students' motivation to work with non-mandatory educational content. We explored this effect and confirmed its significance in the context of two different adaptive hypermedia systems. The paper presents and discusses the results of our work
Probing electron acceleration and X-ray emission in laser-plasma accelerator
While laser-plasma accelerators have demonstrated a strong potential in the
acceleration of electrons up to giga-electronvolt energies, few experimental
tools for studying the acceleration physics have been developed. In this paper,
we demonstrate a method for probing the acceleration process. A second laser
beam, propagating perpendicular to the main beam is focused in the gas jet few
nanosecond before the main beam creates the accelerating plasma wave. This
second beam is intense enough to ionize the gas and form a density depletion
which will locally inhibit the acceleration. The position of the density
depletion is scanned along the interaction length to probe the electron
injection and acceleration, and the betatron X-ray emission. To illustrate the
potential of the method, the variation of the injection position with the
plasma density is studied
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