286 research outputs found
Galaxy Zoo Supernovae
This paper presents the first results from a new citizen science project:
Galaxy Zoo Supernovae. This proof of concept project uses members of the public
to identify supernova candidates from the latest generation of wide-field
imaging transient surveys. We describe the Galaxy Zoo Supernovae operations and
scoring model, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this novel method using
imaging data and transients from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). We
examine the results collected over the period April-July 2010, during which
nearly 14,000 supernova candidates from PTF were classified by more than 2,500
individuals within a few hours of data collection. We compare the transients
selected by the citizen scientists to those identified by experienced PTF
scanners, and find the agreement to be remarkable - Galaxy Zoo Supernovae
performs comparably to the PTF scanners, and identified as transients 93% of
the ~130 spectroscopically confirmed SNe that PTF located during the trial
period (with no false positive identifications). Further analysis shows that
only a small fraction of the lowest signal-to-noise SN detections (r > 19.5)
are given low scores: Galaxy Zoo Supernovae correctly identifies all SNe with >
8{\sigma} detections in the PTF imaging data. The Galaxy Zoo Supernovae project
has direct applicability to future transient searches such as the Large
Synoptic Survey Telescope, by both rapidly identifying candidate transient
events, and via the training and improvement of existing machine classifier
algorithms.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted MNRA
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The visual complexity of coronal mass ejections follows the solar cycle
The Heliospheric Imagers on board National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s
twin STEREO spacecraft show that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can be visually complex structures. To
explore this complexity, we created a citizen science project with the U.K. Science Museum, in which
participants were shown pairs of CME images and asked to decide which image in each pair appeared the
most “complicated.” A Bradley‐Terry model was then applied to these data to rank the CMEs by their
“complicatedness,” or “visual complexity.” This complexity ranking revealed that the annual average visual
complexity values follow the solar activity cycle, with a higher level of complexity being observed at the peak
of the cycle. The average complexity of CMEs observed by STEREO‐A was also found to be significantly
higher than those observed by STEREO‐B. Visual complexity was found to be associated with CME size and
brightness, but our results suggest that complexity may be influenced by the scale‐sizes of structure in the
CMEs
Studying the first galaxies with ALMA
We discuss observations of the first galaxies, within cosmic reionization, at
centimeter and millimeter wavelengths. We present a summary of current
observations of the host galaxies of the most distant QSOs (). These
observations reveal the gas, dust, and star formation in the host galaxies on
kpc-scales. These data imply an enriched ISM in the QSO host galaxies within 1
Gyr of the big bang, and are consistent with models of coeval supermassive
black hole and spheroidal galaxy formation in major mergers at high redshift.
Current instruments are limited to studying truly pathologic objects at these
redshifts, meaning hyper-luminous infrared galaxies (
L). ALMA will provide the one to two orders of magnitude improvement in
millimeter astronomy required to study normal star forming galaxies (ie.
Ly- emitters) at . ALMA will reveal, at sub-kpc spatial
resolution, the thermal gas and dust -- the fundamental fuel for star formation
-- in galaxies into cosmic reionization.Comment: to appear in Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics}, ed. R.
Bachiller (Springer: Berlin); 5 pages, 7 figure
Selection of radio pulsar candidates using artificial neural networks
Radio pulsar surveys are producing many more pulsar candidates than can be
inspected by human experts in a practical length of time. Here we present a
technique to automatically identify credible pulsar candidates from pulsar
surveys using an artificial neural network. The technique has been applied to
candidates from a recent re-analysis of the Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey
resulting in the discovery of a previously unidentified pulsar.Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society. 9 pages, 7 figures, and 1 tabl
Massive elliptical galaxies : From cores to haloes
In the context of recent observational results that show massive ellipticals
were in place at high redshifts, we reassess the status of monolithic collapse
in a LCDM universe. Using a sample of over 2000 galaxies from the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey, by comparing the dynamical mass and stellar mass (estimated from
colours) we find that ellipticals have `cores' which are baryon-dominated
within their half-light radius. These galaxies correspond to 3-sigma peaks in
the spherical collapse model if the total mass in the halo is assumed to be 20
times the dynamical mass within the half-light radius. This value yields
stellar mass to total mass ratios of 8%, compared to a cosmological baryon
fraction of 18% derived from WMAP3 alone. We further develop a method for
reconstructing the concentration halo parameter c of the progenitors of these
galaxies by utilizing adiabatic contraction. Although the analysis is done
within the framework of monolithic collapse, the resulting distribution of c is
log-normal with a peak value of c~3-10 and a distribution width similar to the
results of N-body simulations. We also derive scaling relations between stellar
and dynamical mass and the velocity dispersion, and find that these are
sufficient to recover the tilt of the fundamental plane.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures. Updated to correspond to version accepted by Ap
Ecological impact assessments fail to reduce risk of bat casualties at wind farms
Demand for renewable energy is rising exponentially. While this has benefits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there may be costs to biodiversity [1]. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are the main tool used across the world to predict the overall positive and negative effects of renewable energy developments before planning consent is given, and the Ecological Impact Assessments (EcIAs) within them assess their species-specific effects. Given that EIAs are undertaken globally, are extremely expensive, and are enshrined in legislation, their place in evidence-based decision making deserves evaluation. Here we assess how well EIAs of wind-farm developments protect bats. We found they do not predict the risks to bats accurately, and even in those cases where high risk was correctly identified, the mitigation deployed did not avert the risk. Given that the primary purpose of an EIA is to make planning decisions evidence-based, our results indicate that EIA mitigation strategies used to date have been ineffective in protecting bats. In the future, greater emphasis should be placed on assessing the actual impacts post-construction and on developing effective mitigation strategies
Planet Hunters VII. Discovery of a New Low-Mass, Low-Density Planet (PH3 c) Orbiting Kepler-289 with Mass Measurements of Two Additional Planets (PH3 b and d)
We report the discovery of one newly confirmed planet ( days,
) and mass determinations of two previously
validated Kepler planets, Kepler-289 b ( days,
) and Kepler-289-c ( days,
), through their transit timing variations
(TTVs). We also exclude the possibility that these three planets reside in a
Laplace resonance. The outer planet has very deep (), high
signal-to-noise transits, which puts extremely tight constraints on its host
star's stellar properties via Kepler's Third Law. The star PH3 is a young
( Gyr as determined by isochrones and gyrochronology), Sun-like star
with , , and
K. The middle planet's large TTV amplitude (
hours) resulted either in non-detections or inaccurate detections in previous
searches. A strong chopping signal, a shorter period sinusoid in the TTVs,
allows us to break the mass-eccentricity degeneracy and uniquely determine the
masses of the inner, middle, and outer planets to be ,
, and , which we designate PH3 b, c, and
d, respectively. Furthermore, the middle planet, PH3 c, has a relatively low
density, g/cm for a planet of its mass, requiring a
substantial H/He atmosphere of by mass, and joins a
growing population of low-mass, low-density planets.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, accepted into Ap
Supermassive black holes in merger-free galaxies have higher spins which are preferentially aligned with their host galaxy
Here we use the Horizon-AGN simulation to test whether the spins of SMBHs in
merger-free galaxies are higher. We select samples using an observationally
motivated bulge-to-total mass ratio of < 0.1, along with two simulation
motivated thresholds selecting galaxies which have not undergone a galaxy
merger since z = 2, and those SMBHs with < 10% of their mass due to SMBH
mergers. We find higher spins (> 5{\sigma} ) in all three samples compared to
the rest of the population. In addition, we find that SMBHs with their growth
dominated by BH mergers following galaxy mergers, are less likely to be aligned
with their galaxy spin than those that have grown through accretion in the
absence of galaxy mergers (3.4{\sigma} ). We discuss the implications this has
for the impact of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback, finding that
merger-free SMBHs spend on average 91% of their lifetimes since z = 2 in a
radio mode of feedback (88% for merger-dominated galaxies). Given that previous
observational and theoretical works have concluded that merger-free processes
dominate SMBH-galaxy co-evolution, our results suggest that this co-evolution
could be regulated by radio mode AGN feedback.Comment: RSB and RJS are joint first authors. Submitted to MNRAS, 10 page
Evidence for non-merger co-evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes
Recent observational and theoretical studies have suggested that supermassive
black holes (SMBHs) grow mostly through non-merger (`secular') processes. Since
galaxy mergers lead to dynamical bulge growth, the only way to observationally
isolate non-merger growth is to study galaxies with low bulge-to-total mass
ratio (e.g. B/T < 10%). However, bulge growth can also occur due to secular
processes, such as disk instabilities, making disk-dominated selections a
somewhat incomplete way to select merger-free systems. Here we use the
Horizon-AGN simulation to select simulated galaxies which have not undergone a
merger since z = 2, regardless of bulge mass, and investigate their location on
typical black hole-galaxy scaling relations in comparison to galaxies with
merger dominated histories. While the existence of these correlations has long
been interpreted as co-evolution of galaxies and their SMBHs driven by galaxy
mergers, we show here that they persist even in the absence of mergers. We find
that the correlations between SMBH mass and both total mass and stellar
velocity dispersion are independent of B/T ratio for both merger-free and
merger-dominated galaxies. In addition, the bulge mass and SMBH mass
correlation is still apparent for merger-free galaxies, the intercept for which
is dependent on B/T. Galaxy mergers reduce the scatter around the scaling
relations, with merger-free systems showing broader scatter. We show that for
merger-free galaxies, the co-evolution is dominated by radio-mode feedback, and
suggest that the long periods of time between galaxy mergers make an important
contribution to the co-evolution between galaxies and SMBHs in all galaxies.Comment: RJS and RSB are joint first authors. 12 pages, 7 figures, submitted
to MNRA
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