3,617 research outputs found
Linear Momentum Density in Quasistatic Electromagnetic Systems
We discuss a couple of simple quasistatic electromagnetic systems in which
the density of electromagnetic linear momentum can be easily computed. The
examples are also used to illustrate how the total electromagnetic linear
momentum, which may also be calculated by using the vector potential, can be
understood as a consequence of the violation of the action-reaction principle,
because a non-null external force is required to maintain constant the
mechanical linear momentum. We show how one can avoid the divergence in the
interaction linear electromagnetic momentum of a system composed by an
idealization often used in textbooks (an infinite straight current) and a point
charge.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Eur. J. Phy
SDSS-RASS: Next Generation of Cluster-Finding Algorithms
We outline here the next generation of cluster-finding algorithms. We show
how advances in Computer Science and Statistics have helped develop robust,
fast algorithms for finding clusters of galaxies in large multi-dimensional
astronomical databases like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Specifically,
this paper presents four new advances: (1) A new semi-parametric algorithm -
nicknamed ``C4'' - for jointly finding clusters of galaxies in the SDSS and
ROSAT All-Sky Survey databases; (2) The introduction of the False Discovery
Rate into Astronomy; (3) The role of kernel shape in optimizing cluster
detection; (4) A new determination of the X-ray Cluster Luminosity Function
which has bearing on the existence of a ``deficit'' of high redshift, high
luminosity clusters. This research is part of our ``Computational
AstroStatistics'' collaboration (see Nichol et al. 2000) and the algorithms and
techniques discussed herein will form part of the ``Virtual Observatory''
analysis toolkit.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of MPA/MPE/ESO Conference "Mining the Sky",
July 31 - August 4, 2000, Garching, German
An extension of the SHARC survey
We report on our search for distant clusters of galaxies based on optical and
X-ray follow up observations of X-ray candidates from the SHARC survey. Based
on the assumption that the absence of bright optical or radio counterparts to
possibly extended X-ray sources could be distant clusters. We have obtained
deep optical images and redshifts for several of these objects and analyzed
archive XMM-Newton or Chandra data where applicable. In our list of candidate
clusters, two are probably galaxy structures at redshifts of z0.51 and
0.28. Seven other structures are possibly galaxy clusters between z0.3
and 1. Three sources are identified with QSOs and are thus likely to be X-ray
point sources, and six more also probably fall in this category. One X-ray
source is spurious or variable. For 17 other sources, the data are too sparse
at this time to put forward any hypothesis on their nature. We also
serendipitously detected a cluster at z=0.53 and another galaxy concentration
which is probably a structure with a redshift in the [0.15-0.6] range. We
discuss these results within the context of future space missions to
demonstrate the necessity of a wide field of view telescope optimized for the
0.5-2 keV range.Comment: Accepted in A&
Periodic retinoic acid–STRA8 signaling intersects with periodic germ-cell competencies to regulate spermatogenesis
Mammalian spermatogenesis—the transformation of stem cells into millions of haploid spermatozoa—is elaborately organized in time and space. We explored the underlying regulatory mechanisms by genetically and chemically perturbing spermatogenesis in vivo, focusing on spermatogonial differentiation, which begins a series of amplifying divisions, and meiotic initiation, which ends these divisions. We first found that, in mice lacking the retinoic acid (RA) target gene Stimulated by retinoic acid gene 8 (Stra8), undifferentiated spermatogonia accumulated in unusually high numbers as early as 10 d after birth, whereas differentiating spermatogonia were depleted. We thus conclude that Stra8, previously shown to be required for meiotic initiation, also promotes (but is not strictly required for) spermatogonial differentiation. Second, we found that injection of RA into wild-type adult males induced, independently, precocious spermatogonial differentiation and precocious meiotic initiation; thus, RA acts instructively on germ cells at both transitions. Third, the competencies of germ cells to undergo spermatogonial differentiation or meiotic initiation in response to RA were found to be distinct, periodic, and limited to particular seminiferous stages. Competencies for both transitions begin while RA levels are low, so that the germ cells respond as soon as RA levels rise. Together with other findings, our results demonstrate that periodic RA–STRA8 signaling intersects with periodic germ-cell competencies to regulate two distinct, cell-type-specific responses: spermatogonial differentiation and meiotic initiation. This simple mechanism, with one signal both starting and ending the amplifying divisions, contributes to the prodigious output of spermatozoa and to the elaborate organization of spermatogenesis.Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Pre-doctoral Training Grant T32GM007287
Response Functions to Critical Shocks in Social Sciences: An Empirical and Numerical Study
We show that, provided one focuses on properly selected episodes, one can
apply to the social sciences the same observational strategy that has proved
successful in natural sciences such as astrophysics or geodynamics. For
instance, in order to probe the cohesion of a policy, one can, in different
countries, study the reactions to some huge and sudden exogenous shocks, which
we call Dirac shocks. This approach naturally leads to the notion of structural
(as opposed or complementary to temporal) forecast. Although structural
predictions are by far the most common way to test theories in the natural
sciences, they have been much less used in the social sciences. The Dirac shock
approach opens the way to testing structural predictions in the social
sciences. The examples reported here suggest that critical events are able to
reveal pre-existing ``cracks'' because they probe the social cohesion which is
an indicator and predictor of future evolution of the system, and in some cases
foreshadows a bifurcation. We complement our empirical work with numerical
simulations of the response function (``damage spreading'') to Dirac shocks in
the Sznajd model of consensus build-up. We quantify the slow relaxation of the
difference between perturbed and unperturbed systems, the conditions under
which the consensus is modified by the shock and the large variability from one
realization to another
Cl 1205+44, a fossil group at z = 0.59
This is a report of Chandra, XMM-Newton, HST and ARC observations of an
extended X-ray source at z = 0.59. The apparent member galaxies range from
spiral to elliptical and are all relatively red (i'-Ks about 3). We interpret
this object to be a fossil group based on the difference between the brightness
of the first and second brightest cluster members in the i'-band, and because
the rest-frame bolometric X-ray luminosity is about 9.2x10^43 h70^-2 erg s^-1.
This makes Cl 1205+44 the highest redshift fossil group yet reported. The
system also contains a central double-lobed radio galaxy which appears to be
growing via the accretion of smaller galaxies. We discuss the formation and
evolution of fossil groups in light of the high redshift of Cl 1205+44.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, minor corrections to match published ApJ
versio
The Bright SHARC Survey: The Cluster Catalog
We present the Bright SHARC (Serendipitous High-Redshift Archival ROSAT
Cluster) Survey, which is an objective search for serendipitously detected
extended X-ray sources in 460 deep ROSAT PSPC pointings. The Bright SHARC
Survey covers an area of 178.6 sq.deg and has yielded 374 extended sources. We
discuss the X-ray data reduction, the candidate selection and present results
from our on-going optical follow-up campaign. The optical follow-up
concentrates on the brightest 94 of the 374 extended sources and is now 97%
complete. We have identified thirty-seven clusters of galaxies, for which we
present redshifts and luminosities. The clusters span a redshift range of
0.0696<z<0.83 and a luminosity range of 0.065<Lx<8.3e44 erg/s [0.5-2.0 keV]
(assuming Ho = 50 km/s/Mpc and qo=0.5). Twelve of the clusters have redshifts
greater than z=0.3, eight of which are at luminosities brighter than Lx=3e44
erg/s. Seventeen of the 37 optically confirmed Bright SHARC clusters have not
been listed in any previously published catalog. We also report the discovery
of three candidate ``fossil groups'' of the kind proposed by Ponman et al.
(1994).Comment: Minor revisions: References updated and typos corrected. Shortened by
use of emulateapj.st
The ROSAT All-Sky Survey: a Catalog of Clusters of Galaxies in a Region of 1 Ster around the South Galactic Pole
A field of 1.013 ster in the ROSAT all-sky survey (RASS), centered on the
south galactic pole (SGP), has been searched in a systematic, objective manner
for clusters of galaxies. The procedure relied on a correlation of the X-ray
positions and properties of ROSAT sources with the distribution of galaxies in
the COSMOS digitised data base, which was obtained by scanning the plates of
the UK Schmidt IIIa-J optical southern sky survey. The study used the second
ROSAT survey data base (RASS-2) and included several optical observing
campaigns to measure redshifts. The search, a precursor to the larger REFLEX
survey of the whole southern sky, reached the detection limits of the RASS and
the COSMOS data, and yielded a catalog of 186 clusters in which the lowest flux
is 1.5e-12 erg/cm2/s in the 0.1-2.4 keV band. Of these 157 have measured
redshifts. Using a limit of 3.0e-12 erg/cm2/s a complete subset of 112 clusters
was obtained, of which 110 have measured redshifts. The spatial distribution of
the X-ray clusters out to z = 0.15 shows an extension of the Local Supercluster
to the Pisces-Cetus supercluster (z<~0.07), and a more distant orthogonal
structure at 0.07<z<0.15.Comment: To be published in ApJ Supplements in February 2002: 53 pages: 18
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