790 research outputs found
Spectroscopy of CASSOWARY gravitationally-lensed galaxies in SDSS: characterisation of an extremely bright reionization-era analog at
We present new observations of sixteen bright () gravitationally
lensed galaxies at selected from the CASSOWARY survey. Included
in our sample is the galaxy CSWA-141, one of the brightest known
reionization-era analogs at high redshift (g=20.5), with a large sSFR (31.2
Gyr) and an [OIII]+H equivalent width
(EW=730~\r{A}) that is nearly identical to the average
value expected at . In this paper, we investigate the rest-frame
UV nebular line emission in our sample with the goal of understanding the
factors that regulate strong CIII] emission. Whereas most of the sources in our
sample show weak UV line emission, we find elevated CIII] in the spectrum of
CSWA-141 (EW=4.6~\r{A}) together with detections of
other prominent emission lines (OIII], Si III], Fe II, Mg II). We
compare the rest-optical line properties of high redshift galaxies with strong
and weak CIII] emission, and find that systems with the strongest UV line
emission tend to have young stellar populations and nebular gas that is
moderately metal-poor and highly ionized, consistent with trends seen at low
and high redshift. The brightness of CSWA-141 enables detailed investigation of
the extreme emission line galaxies which become common at . We find that
gas traced by the CIII] doublet likely probes higher densities than that traced
by [OII] and [SII]. Characterisation of the spectrally resolved Mg II emission
line and several low ionization absorption lines suggests neutral gas around
the young stars is likely optically thin, potentially facilitating the escape
of ionizing radiation.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA
Subclinical infection and asymptomatic carriage of gastrointestinal zoonoses: Occupational exposure, environmental pathways, and the anonymous spread of disease
Asymptomatic carriage of gastrointestinal zoonoses is more common in people whose profession involves them working directly with domesticated animals. Subclinical infections (defined as an infection in which symptoms are either asymptomatic or sufficiently mild to escape diagnosis) are important within a community as unknowing (asymptomatic) carriers of pathogens do not change their behaviour to prevent the spread of disease; therefore the public health significance of asymptomatic human excretion of zoonoses should not be underestimated. However, optimal strategies for managing diseases where asymptomatic carriage instigates further infection remain unresolved, and the impact on disease management is unclear. In this review we consider the environmental pathways associated with prolonged antigenic exposure and critically assess the significance of asymptomatic carriage in disease outbreaks Although screening high-risk groups for occupationally acquired diseases would be logistically problematical, there may be an economic case for identifying and treating asymptomatic carriage if the costs of screening and treatment are less than the costs of identifying and treating those individuals infected by asymptomatic hosts
Isotropic Luminosity Indicators in a Complete AGN Sample
The [O IV] 25.89 micron line has been shown to be an accurate indicator of
active galactic nucleus (AGN) intrinsic luminosity in that it correlates well
with hard (10-200 keV) X-ray emission. We present measurements of [O IV] for 89
Seyfert galaxies from the unbiased Revised Shapley-Ames (RSA) sample. The [O
IV] luminosity distributions of obscured and unobscured Seyferts are
indistinguishable, indicating that their intrinsic AGN luminosities are quite
similar and that the RSA sample is well suited for tests of the unified model.
In addition, we analyze several commonly used proxies for AGN luminosity,
including [O III] 5007 A, 6 cm radio, and 2-10 keV X-ray emission. We find that
the radio luminosity distributions of obscured and unobscured AGNs show no
significant difference, indicating that radio luminosity is a useful isotropic
luminosity indicator. However, the observed [O III] and 2-10 keV luminosities
are systematically smaller for obscured Seyferts, indicating that they are not
emitted isotropically.Comment: Updated to match version published in ApJ. 9 pages, 4 figure
Design of a speed meter interferometer proof-of-principle experiment
The second generation of large scale interferometric gravitational wave
detectors will be limited by quantum noise over a wide frequency range in their
detection band. Further sensitivity improvements for future upgrades or new
detectors beyond the second generation motivate the development of measurement
schemes to mitigate the impact of quantum noise in these instruments. Two
strands of development are being pursued to reach this goal, focusing both on
modifications of the well-established Michelson detector configuration and
development of different detector topologies. In this paper, we present the
design of the world's first Sagnac speed meter interferometer which is
currently being constructed at the University of Glasgow. With this
proof-of-principle experiment we aim to demonstrate the theoretically predicted
lower quantum noise in a Sagnac interferometer compared to an equivalent
Michelson interferometer, to qualify Sagnac speed meters for further research
towards an implementation in a future generation large scale gravitational wave
detector, such as the planned Einstein Telescope observatory.Comment: Revised version: 16 pages, 6 figure
Hubble Space Telescope Hx Imaging of Star-forming Galaxies at z approximately equal to 1-1.5: Evolution in the Size and Luminosity of Giant H II Regions
We present Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3 narrow-band imaging of the H emission in a sample of eight gravitationally lensed galaxies at z = 1-1.5. The magnification caused by the foreground clusters enables us to obtain a median source plane spatial resolution of 360 pc, as well as providing magnifications in flux ranging from approximately 10 to approximately 50. This enables us to identify resolved star-forming HII regions at this epoch and therefore study their H luminosity distributions for comparisons with equivalent samples at z approximately 2 and in the local Universe. We find evolution in the both luminosity and surface brightness of HII regions with redshift. The distribution of clump properties can be quantified with an HII region luminosity function, which can be fit by a power law with an exponential break at some cut-off, and we find that the cut-off evolves with redshift. We therefore conclude that 'clumpy' galaxies are seen at high redshift because of the evolution of the cut-off mass; the galaxies themselves follow similar scaling relations to those at z = 0, but their HII regions are larger and brighter and thus appear as clumps which dominate the morphology of the galaxy. A simple theoretical argument based on gas collapsing on scales of the Jeans mass in a marginally unstable disc shows that the clumpy morphologies of high-z galaxies are driven by the competing effects of higher gas fractions causing perturbations on larger scales, partially compensated by higher epicyclic frequencies which stabilize the disc
Spitzer view on the evolution of star-forming galaxies from z=0 to z~3
We use a 24 micron selected sample containing more than 8,000 sources to
study the evolution of star-forming galaxies in the redshift range from z=0 to
z~3. We obtain photometric redshifts for most of the sources in our survey
using a method based on empirically-built templates spanning from ultraviolet
to mid-infrared wavelengths. The accuracy of these redshifts is better than 10%
for 80% of the sample. The derived redshift distribution of the sources
detected by our survey peaks at around z=0.6-1.0 (the location of the peak
being affected by cosmic variance), and decays monotonically from z~1 to z~3.
We have fitted infrared luminosity functions in several redshift bins in the
range 0<z<~3. Our results constrain the density and/or luminosity evolution of
infrared-bright star-forming galaxies. The typical infrared luminosity (L*)
decreases by an order of magnitude from z~2 to the present. The cosmic star
formation rate (SFR) density goes as (1+z)^{4.0\pm0.2} from z=0 to z=0.8. From
z=0.8 to z~1.2, the SFR density continues rising with a smaller slope. At
1.2<z<3, the cosmic SFR density remains roughly constant. The SFR density is
dominated at low redshift (z<0.5) by galaxies which are not very luminous in
the infrared (L_TIR<1.e11 L_sun, where L_TIR is the total infrared luminosity,
integrated from 8 to 1000 micron). The contribution from luminous and
ultraluminous infrared galaxies (L_TIR>1.e11 L_sun) to the total SFR density
increases steadily from z~0 up to z~2.5, forming at least half of the
newly-born stars by z~1.5. Ultraluminous infrared galaxies (L_TIR>1.e12 L_sun)
play a rapidly increasing role for z>~1.3.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Development of an urban greenhouse gas modelling system to support a London monitoring network
A greenhouse gas monitoring network is being developed across London that will allow independent evaluation of reported emissions based on atmospheric data. The first site is operational at the Thames Barrier, and in this work, two atmospheric dispersion models (NAME and ADMS‐URBAN) are compared to observed methane concentrations between 5 May 2018 and 31 July 2018. We find that the models simulate some of the major features in the data, with consistent data–model discrepancies suggesting errors in the emissions inventory
Spirometry reference equations for central European populations from school age to old age.
Spirometry reference values are important for the interpretation of spirometry results. Reference values should be updated regularly, derived from a population as similar to the population for which they are to be used and span across all ages. Such spirometry reference equations are currently lacking for central European populations. To develop spirometry reference equations for central European populations between 8 and 90 years of age. We used data collected between January 1993 and December 2010 from a central European population. The data was modelled using "Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape" (GAMLSS). The spirometry reference equations were derived from 118'891 individuals consisting of 60'624 (51%) females and 58'267 (49%) males. Altogether, there were 18'211 (15.3%) children under the age of 18 years. We developed spirometry reference equations for a central European population between 8 and 90 years of age that can be implemented in a wide range of clinical settings
Restaurant cooking trends and increased risk for Campylobacter infection
In the United Kingdom, outbreaks of Campylobacter infection are increasingly attributed to undercooked chicken livers, yet many recipes, including those of top chefs, advocate short cooking times and serving livers pink. During 2015, we studied preferences of chefs and the public in the United Kingdom and investigated the link between liver rareness and survival of Campylobacter. We used photographs to assess chefs’ ability to identify chicken livers meeting safe cooking guidelines. To investigate the microbiological safety of livers chefs preferred to serve, we modeled Campylobacter survival in infected chicken livers cooked to various temperatures. Most chefs correctly identified safely cooked livers but overestimated the public’s preference for rareness and thus preferred to serve them more rare. We estimated that 19%-52% of livers served commercially in the United Kingdom fail to reach 70°C and that predicted Campylobacter survival rates are 48%-98%. These findings indicate that cooking trends are linked to increasing Campylobacter infections
Direct observation of long-lived isomers in Bi
Long-lived isomers in 212Bi have been studied following 238U projectile
fragmentation at 670 MeV per nucleon. The fragmentation products were injected
as highly charged ions into the GSI storage ring, giving access to masses and
half-lives. While the excitation energy of the first isomer of 212Bi was
confirmed, the second isomer was observed at 1478(30) keV, in contrast to the
previously accepted value of >1910 keV. It was also found to have an extended
Lorentz-corrected in-ring halflife >30 min, compared to 7.0(3) min for the
neutral atom. Both the energy and half-life differences can be understood as
being due a substantial, though previously unrecognised, internal decay branch
for neutral atoms. Earlier shell-model calculations are now found to give good
agreement with the isomer excitation energy. Furthermore, these and new
calculations predict the existence of states at slightly higher energy that
could facilitate isomer de-excitation studies.Comment: published in PRL 110, 12250
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