251 research outputs found
WHAM Observations of H-alpha from High-Velocity Clouds: Are They Galactic or Extragalactic?
It has been suggested that high velocity clouds may be distributed throughout
the Local Group and are therefore not in general associated with the Milky Way
galaxy. With the aim of testing this hypothesis, we have made observations in
the H-alpha line of high velocity clouds selected as the most likely candidates
for being at larger than average distances. We have found H-alpha emission from
4 out of 5 of the observed clouds, suggesting that the clouds under study are
being illuminated by a Lyman continuum flux greater than that of the
metagalactic ionizing radiation. Therefore, it appears likely that these clouds
are in the Galactic halo and not distributed throughout the Local Group.Comment: 12 pages, 5 eps figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Theoretical He I Emissivities in the Case B Approximation
We calculate the He I case B recombination cascade spectrum using improved
radiative and collisional data. We present new emissivities over a range of
electron temperatures and densities. The differences between our results and
the current standard are large enough to have a significant effect not only on
the interpretation of observed spectra of a wide variety of objects but also on
determinations of the primordial helium abundance.Comment: Accepted to ApJ
A New Observational Upper Limit to the Low Redshift Ionizing Background Radiation
We report a new Fabry-Perot search for Halpha emission from the intergalactic
cloud HI 1225+01 in an attempt to measure the low redshift ionizing background
radiation. We set a new 2 sigma upper limit on Halpha emission of 8 mR (5 x
10^{-20} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1} arcsec^{-2}). Conversion of this limit to limits
on the strength of the ionizing background requires knowledge of the ratio of
the projected to total surface area of this cloud, which is uncertain. We
discuss the plausible range of this ratio, and within this range find that the
strength of the ionizing backround is in the lower range of, but consistent
with, previous observational and theoretical estimates.Comment: 46 pages including 9 figures (7 ps, 2 gif
Improving Predictions for Helium Emission Lines
We have combined the detailed He I recombination model of Smits with the
collisional transitions of Sawey & Berrington in order to produce new accurate
helium emissivities that include the effects of collisional excitation from
both the 2 (3)S and 2 (1) S levels. We present a grid of emissivities for a
range of temperature and densities along with analytical fits and error
estimates.
Fits accurate to within 1% are given for the emissivities of the brightest
lines over a restricted range for estimates of primordial helium abundance. We
characterize the analysis uncertainties associated with uncertainties in
temperature, density, fitting functions, and input atomic data. We estimate
that atomic data uncertainties alone may limit abundance estimates to an
accuracy of 1.5%; systematic errors may be greater than this. This analysis
uncertainty must be incorporated when attempting to make high accuracy
estimates of the helium abundance. For example, in recent determinations of the
primordial helium abundance, uncertainties in the input atomic data have been
neglected.Comment: ApJ, accepte
Accurate Hydrogen Spectral Simulations with a Compact Model Atom
Many large scale numerical simulations of astrophysical plasmas must also
reproduce the hydrogen ionization and the resulting emission spectrum, in some
cases quite accurately. We describe a compact model hydrogen atom that can be
readily incorporated into such simulations. It reproduces the recombination
efficiency and line spectrum predicted by much larger calculations for a very
broad range of densities and temperatures. Uncertainties in hydrogen collision
data are the largest source of differences between our compact atom and
predictions of more extensive calculations, and underscore the need for
accurate atomic data.Comment: 18 pages, prepared in MS-Word, Postscript only, 12 Figures, also
available at http://www.pa.uky.edu/~ferguson/bib/bib.html, accepted for
publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Selection of Forages for the Tropics (SoFT) - A Database and Selection Tool for Identifying Forages Adapted to Local Conditions in the Tropics and Subtropics
Rising populations and incomes in developing countries are likely to double demand for livestock products by 2020 (Delgado et al. 1999). This strong demand has potential to improve profitability for farmers but will require improved animal feeding in both semi-intensive crop-livestock and more extensive livestock systems. Forages usually are the most cost-effective option to supply feed demands, particularly for ruminant-, but also for pig- and poultry- production. It is critical to select the most suitable forages for the local system and conditions. Small- and even larger-scale farmers depend heavily on advice from extension and development agencies, and from seed companies, but this advice often is limited by inexperience and the difficulty in accessing reliable information. Expert information on an extensive range of tropical forages is now readily available through the SoFT database
Deleterious coding variants in multi-case families with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate phenotypes
8 páginasNonsyndromic Cleft Lip and/or Palate (NSCLP) is regarded as a multifactorial condition in which clefting is an isolated phenotype, distinguished from the largely monogenic, syndromic forms which include clefts among a spectrum of phenotypes. Nonsyndromic clefting has been shown to arise through complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. However, there is increasing evidence that the broad NSCLP classification may include a proportion of cases showing familial patterns of inheritance and contain highly penetrant deleterious variation in specific genes. Through exome sequencing of multi-case families ascertained in Bogota, Colombia, we identify 28 non-synonymous single nucleotide variants that are considered damaging by at least one predictive score. We discuss the functional impact of candidate variants identified. In one family we find a coding variant in the MSX1 gene which is predicted damaging by multiple scores. This variant is in exon 2, a highly conserved region of the gene. Previous sequencing has suggested that mutations in MSX1 may account for ~2% of NSCLP. Our analysis further supports evidence that a proportion of NSCLP cases arise through monogenic coding mutations, though further work is required to unravel the complex interplay of genetics and environment involved in facial clefting
Dust and molecules in the Local Group galaxy NGC 6822. III. The first-ranked HII region complex Hubble V
We present maps of the first-ranked HII region complex Hubble V in the
metal-poor Local Group dwarf galaxy NGC 6822 in the first four transitions of
CO, the 158 micron transition of C+, the 21-cm line of HI, the Pa-beta line of
HII, and the continuum at 21 cm and 2.2 micron wavelengths. We have also
determined various integrated intensities, notably of HCO+ and near-IR H2
emission. Although Hubble X is located in a region of relatively strong HI
emission, our mapping failed to reveal any significant CO emission from it. The
relatively small CO cloud complex associated with Hubble V is comparable in
size to the ionized HII region. The CO clouds are hot (Tkin) = 150 K) and have
high molecular gas densities (n(H2) = 10**4 cm**-3) Molecular hydrogen probably
extends well beyond the CO boundaries. C+ column densities are more than an
order of magnitude higher than those of CO. The total mass of the complex is
about 10**6 M(sun) and molecular gas account for more than half of this. The
complex is excited by luminous stars reddened or obscured at visual, but
apparent at near-infrared wavelengths. The total embedded stellar mass may
account for about 10% of the total mass, and the mass of ionized gas for half
of that. Hubble V illustrates that modest star formation efficiencies may be
associated with high CO destruction efficiencies in low-metallicity objects.
The analysis of the Hubble V photon-dominated region (PDR) confirms in an
independent manner the high value of the CO-to-H2 conversion factor X found
earlier, characteristic of starforming low-metallicity regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Towards a free-free template for CMB foregrounds
A full-sky template map of the Galactic free-free foreground emission
component is increasingly important for high sensitivity CMB experiments. We
use the recently published \ha data of both the northern and southern skies as
the basis for such a template.
The first step is to correct the \ha maps for dust absorption using the 100
m dust maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis (1998). We show that for a
range of longitudes, the Galactic latitude distribution of absorption suggests
that it is 33 per cent of the full extragalactic absorption. A reliable
absorption-corrected \ha map can be produced for per cent of the sky;
the area for which a template cannot be recovered is the Galactic plane area
, and some isolated
dense dust clouds at intermediate latitudes.
The second step is to convert the dust-corrected \ha data into a predicted
radio surface brightness. The free-free emission formula is revised to give an
accurate expression (1 per cent) for the radio emission covering the frequency
range 100 MHz to 100 GHz and the electron temperature range 3000 to 20000 K.
The main uncertainty when applying this expression is the variation of electron
temperature across the sky. The emission formula is verified in several
extended H{\sc ii} regions using data in the range 408 to 2326 MHz.
A full-sky free-free template map is presented at 30 GHz; the scaling to
other frequencies is given. The Haslam et al. all-sky 408 MHz map of the sky
can be corrected for this free-free component, which amounts to a
per cent correction at intermediate and high latitudes....Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in M.N.R.A.S.
High-resolution versions of figs 2,7 (in colour), 9 and 11 can be obtained
from ftp://ftp.jb.man.ac.uk/pub/cdickins/ff_paper/FINAL_FIGURES
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