2,010 research outputs found
Abelian covers of surfaces and the homology of the level L mapping class group
We calculate the first homology group of the mapping class group with
coefficients in the first rational homology group of the universal abelian -cover of the surface. If the surface has one marked point, then the
answer is \Q^{\tau(L)}, where is the number of positive divisors of
. If the surface instead has one boundary component, then the answer is
\Q. We also perform the same calculation for the level subgroup of the
mapping class group. Set . If the surface has one
marked point, then the answer is \Q[H_L], the rational group ring of .
If the surface instead has one boundary component, then the answer is \Q.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures; numerous corrections and simplifications; to
appear in J. Topol. Ana
The Magellanic Bridge: The Nearest Purely Tidal Stellar Population
We report on observations of the stellar populations in twelve fields
spanning the region between the Magellanic Clouds, made with the Mosaic-II
camera on the 4-meter telescope at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory.
The two main goals of the observations are to characterize the young stellar
population (which presumably formed in situ in the Bridge and therefore
represents the nearest stellar population formed from tidal debris), and to
search for an older stellar component (which would have been stripped from
either Cloud as stars, by the same tidal forces which formed the gaseous
Bridge). We determine the star-formation history of the young inter-Cloud
population, which provides a constraint on the timing of the gravitational
interaction which formed the Bridge. We do not detect an older stellar
population belonging to the Bridge in any of our fields, implying that the
material that was stripped from the Clouds to form the Magellanic Bridge was
very nearly a pure gas.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. Accepted to Ap
Consumption, protein and energy intake of fallow deer fawns on diets of differing nutritional quality
The Smith Cloud: HI associated with the Sgr dwarf?
The Smith high velocity cloud (V(LSR) = 98 kms) has been observed at two
locations in the emission lines [OIII]5007, [NII]6548 and H-alpha. Both the
[NII] and H-alpha profiles show bright cores due to the Reynolds layer, and red
wings with emission extending to V(LSR) = 130 kms. This is the first
simultaneous detection of two emission lines towards a high velocity cloud,
allowing us to form the ratio of these line profiles as a function of LSR
velocity. At both cloud positions, we see a clear distinction between emission
at the cloud velocity, and the Reynolds layer emission (V(LSR) = 0). The
[NII]/H-alpha ratio (=0.25) for the Reynolds layer is typical of the warm
ionised medium. At the cloud velocity, this ratio is enhanced by a factor of
3-4 compared to emission at rest with respect to the LSR. A moderately deep
upper limit at [OIII] (0.12R at 3-sigma) was derived from our data. If the
emission arises from dilute photoionisation from hot young stars, the highly
enhanced [NII]/H-alpha ratio, the [OIII] non-detection and weak H-alpha
emission (0.24-0.30R) suggest that the Smith Cloud is 26+/-4 kpc from the Sun,
at a Galactocentric radius of 20+/-4 kpc. This value assumes that the emission
arises from an optically thick slab, with a covering fraction of unity as seen
by the ionizing photons, whose orientation is either (a) parallel to the
Galactic disk, or (b) such as to maximize the received flux from the disk. The
estimated mass and size of the cloud are 4x10^6 Msun and 6 kpc. We discuss a
possible association with the much larger Sgr dwarf, at a galactocentric radius
of 16+/-2 kpc, which lies within 35 degrees (~12 kpc) of the Smith Cloud.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, mn.sty. Our first application of a new method
for establishing distances to high velocity clouds. This version matches
paper to appear in MNRAS, 299, 611-624 (Sept. 11 issue
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