6,638 research outputs found
Weak proton capture on 3He
The astrophysical S-factor for the proton weak capture on 3He is calculated
with correlated-hyperspherical-harmonics bound and continuum wave functions
corresponding to realistic Hamiltonians consisting of the Argonne v14 or
Argonne v18 two-nucleon and Urbana-VIII or Urbana-IX three-nucleon
interactions. The nuclear weak charge and current operators have vector and
axial-vector components, that include one- and many-body terms. All possible
multipole transitions connecting any of the p 3He S- and P-wave channels to the
4He bound state are considered. The S-factor at a p 3He center-of-mass energy
of 10 keV, close to the Gamow-peak energy, is predicted to be 10.1 10^{-20} keV
b with the AV18/UIX Hamiltonian, a factor of about 4.5 larger than the value
adopted in the standard solar model. The P-wave transitions are found to be
important, contributing about 40 % of the calculated S-factor. The energy
dependence is rather weak: the AV18/UIX zero-energy S-factor is 9.64 10^{-20}
keV b, only 5 % smaller than the 10 keV result quoted above. The model
dependence is also found to be weak: the zero-energy S-factor is calculated to
be 10.2 10^{-20} keV b with the older AV14/UVIII model, only 6 % larger than
the AV18/UIX result. Our best estimate for the S-factor at 10 keV is therefore
(10.1 \pm 0.6) 10^{-20} keV b, when the theoretical uncertainty due to the
model dependence is included. This value for the calculated S-factor is not as
large as determined in fits to the Super-Kamiokande data in which the hep flux
normalization is free. However, the precise calculation of the S-factor and the
consequent absolute prediction for the hep neutrino flux will allow much
greater discrimination among proposed solar neutrino oscillation solutions.Comment: 54 pages RevTex file, 6 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
The Three-Nucleon System Near the N-d Threshold
The three-nucleon system is studied at energies a few hundred keV above the
N-d threshold. Measurements of the tensor analyzing powers and
for p-d elastic scattering at keV are presented
together with the corresponding theoretical predictions. The calculations are
extended to very low energies since they are useful for extracting the p-d
scattering lengths from the experimental data. The interaction considered here
is the Argonne V18 potential plus the Urbana three-nucleon potential. The
calculation of the asymptotic D- to S-state ratio for H and He, for
which recent experimental results are available, is also presented.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Phy.Lett.
Advances in European agroforestry: results from the AGFORWARD project
In global terms, European farms produce high yields of safe and high quality food but this depends on the use of many off-farm inputs and the associated greenhouse gas emissions, loss of soil nutrients and other negative environmental impacts incur substantial societal costs. Farmers in the European Union receive support through a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that comprises direct payments to farmers (Pillar I) and payments related to rural development measures (Pillar II). This paper examines the ways in which agroforestry can support European agriculture and rural development drawing on the conclusions of 23 papers presented in this Special Issue of Agroforestry Systems which have been produced during a 4-year research project called AGFORWARD. The project had the goal of promoting agroforestry in Europe and focused on four types of agroforestry: (1) existing systems of high nature and cultural value, and agroforestry for (2) high value tree, (3) arable, and (4) livestock systems. The project has advanced our understanding of the extent of agroforestry in Europe and of farmers’ perceptions of agroforestry, including the reasons for adoption or non-adoption. A participatory approach was used with over 40 stakeholder groups across Europe to test selected agroforestry innovations through field trials and experiments. Innovations included improved grazing management in agroforestry systems of high nature and cultural value and the introduction of nitrogen fixing plants in high value timber plantations and olive groves. Other innovations included shelter benefits for arable crops, and disease-control, nutrient-retention, and food diversification benefits from integrating trees in livestock enterprises. Biophysical and economic models have also been developed to predict the effect of different agroforestry designs on crop and tree production, and on carbon sequestration, nutrient loss and ecosystems services in general. These models help us to quantify the potential environmental benefits of agroforestry, relative to agriculture without trees. In view of the substantial area of European agroforestry and its wider societal and environmental benefits, the final policy papers in this Special Issue argue that agroforestry should play a more significant role in future versions of the CAP than it does at present
XMMU J100750.5+125818: A strong lensing cluster at z=1.082
We report on the discovery of the X-ray luminous cluster XMMU
J100750.5+125818 at redshift 1.082 based on 19 spectroscopic members, which
displays several strong lensing features. SED modeling of the lensed arc
features from multicolor imaging with the VLT and the LBT reveals likely
redshifts ~2.7 for the most prominent of the lensed background galaxies. Mass
estimates are derived for different radii from the velocity dispersion of the
cluster members, M_200 ~ 1.8 10^{14} Msun, from the X-ray spectral parameters,
M_500 ~ 1.0 10^{14} Msun, and the largest lensing arc, M_SL ~ 2.3 10^{13} Msun.
The projected spatial distribution of cluster galaxies appears to be elongated,
and the brightest galaxy lies off center with respect to the X-ray emission
indicating a not yet relaxed structure. XMMU J100750.5+125818 offers excellent
diagnostics of the inner mass distribution of a distant cluster with a
combination of strong and weak lensing, optical and X-ray spectroscopy.Comment: A&A, accepted for publicatio
An extension of SPARQL for expressing qualitative preferences
In this paper we present SPREFQL, an extension of the SPARQL language that
allows appending a PREFER clause that expresses "soft" preferences over the
query results obtained by the main body of the query. The extension does not
add expressivity and any SPREFQL query can be transformed to an equivalent
standard SPARQL query. However, clearly separating preferences from the "hard"
patterns and filters in the WHERE clause gives queries where the intention of
the client is more cleanly expressed, an advantage for both human readability
and machine optimization. In the paper we formally define the syntax and the
semantics of the extension and we also provide empirical evidence that
optimizations specific to SPREFQL improve run-time efficiency by comparison to
the usually applied optimizations on the equivalent standard SPARQL query.Comment: Accepted to the 2017 International Semantic Web Conference, Vienna,
October 201
The Evolutionary Status of Clusters of Galaxies at z ~ 1
Combined HST, X-ray, and ground-based optical studies show that clusters of
galaxies are largely "in place" by , an epoch when the Universe was
less than half its present age. High resolution images show that elliptical,
S0, and spiral galaxies are present in clusters at redshifts up to . Analysis of the CMDs suggest that the cluster ellipticals formed their
stars several Gyr earlier, near redshift 3. The morphology--density relation is
well established at , with star-forming spirals and irregulars residing
mostly in the outer parts of the clusters and E/S0s concentrated in dense
clumps. The intracluster medium has already reached the metallicity of
present-day clusters. The distributions of the hot gas and early-type galaxies
are similar in clusters, indicating both have largely virialized in
the deepest potentials wells. In spite of the many similarities between
and present-day clusters, there are significant differences. The
morphologies revealed by the hot gas, and particularly the early-type galaxies,
are elongated rather than spherical. We appear to be observing the clusters at
an epoch when the sub-clusters and groups are still assembling into a single
regular cluster. Support for this picture comes from CL0152 where the gas
appears to be lagging behind the luminous and dark mass in two merging
sub-components. Moreover, the luminosity difference between the first and
second brightest cluster galaxies at is smaller than in 93% of
present-day Abell clusters, which suggests that considerable luminosity
evolution through merging has occurred since that epoch. Evolution is also seen
in the bolometric X-ray luminosity function.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, to appear in Penetrating Bars through Masks of
Cosmic Dust: the Hubble Tuing Fork Strikes a New Note, eds. D.L. Block, K.C.
Freeman, I. Puerari & R. Groess. Figures degraded to meet astroph size limit;
a version with higher resolution figures may be downloaded from:
http://acs.pha.jhu.edu/~jpb/z1clusters/ford_clusters.pd
Chandra and optical/IR observations of CXOJ1415.2+3610, a massive, newly discovered galaxy cluster at z~1.5
(Abridged) We report the discovery of CXO J1415.2+3610, a distant (z~1.5)
galaxy cluster serendipitously detected in a deep, high-resolution Chandra
observation targeted to study the cluster WARP J1415.1+3612 at z=1.03. This is
the highest-z cluster discovered with Chandra so far. Moreover, the total
exposure time of 280 ks with ACIS-S provides the deepest X-ray observation
currently achieved on a cluster at z>1.5. We perform an X-ray spectral fit of
the extended emission of the intracluster medium (ICM) with XSPEC, and we
detect at a 99.5% confidence level the rest frame 6.7-6.9 keV Iron K_\alpha
line complex, from which we obtain z_X=1.46\pm0.025. The analysis of the
z-3.6\mu m color-magnitude diagram shows a well defined sequence of red
galaxies within 1' from the cluster X-ray emission peak with a color range [5 <
z-3.6 \mu m < 6]. The photometric redshift obtained by spectral energy
distribution (SED) fitting is z_phot=1.47\pm 0.25. After fixing the redshift to
z=1.46, we perform the final spectral analysis and measure the average gas
temperature with a 20% error, kT=5.8^{+1.2}_{-1.0} keV, and the Fe abundance
Z_Fe = 1.3_{-0.5}^{+0.8}Z_\odot. We fit the background subtracted surface
brightness with a single beta--model out to 35" and derive the deprojected
electron density profile. The ICM mass is 1.09_{-0.2}^{+0.3}\times 10^{13}
M_\odot within 300 kpc. The total mass is M_{2500}= 8.6_{-1.7}^{+2.1} \times 10
^{13} M_\odot for R_{2500}=(220\pm 55) kpc. Extrapolating the profile at larger
radii we find M_{500}= 2.1_{-0.5}^{+0.7} \times 10 ^{14} M_\odot for R_{500} =
510_{-50}^{+55}$ kpc. This analysis establishes CXOJ1415.2+3610 as one of the
best characterized distant galaxy clusters based on X-ray data alone.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, A\&A in press, minor modifications in the tex
Strong Lensing Analysis of the Cluster RCS0224-0002 at
We present a detailed mass reconstruction of the cluster RCS0224-0002 at
from the strong lensing features observed with HST/WFPC2. The mass
profile is reconstructed using a parametric approach. We introduce a novel
method to fit extended multiple images based on the Modified Hausdorff Distance
between observed arcs and the arcs reproduced by the model. We perform the
detailed error analysis of the model parameter using the MCMC method. Our model
reproduces all the observed strong lensing features of the RCS0224-0002 and
predicts the redshift of one of the arcs systems to be (the
other system has an spectroscopic redshift of ). The reconstructed
inner mass profile is well fitted by a non-singular isothermal sphere, rather
than with an NFW model. Dark matter substructure, derived from the light
distribution of the most luminous cluster members, is crucial for reproducing
the complexity of the quadrupole image system, which could not be achieved
otherwise. The reconstructed mass distribution closely follows the light,
however it is significantly shifted from the X-ray emission of the gas. The
mass of RCS0224-0002 derived from the lensing model, is in a very good agreement with the one obtained from the X-ray
temperature measured with deep Chandra observations.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for A&
A phenomenological model of galaxy clusters
We present a simple model to describe the dark matter density, the gas
density, and the gas temperature profiles of galaxy clusters. Analytical
expressions for these quantities are given in terms of only five free
parameters with a clear physical meaning: the mass M of the dark matter halo
(or the characteristic temperature T_0), the characteristic scale radius a, the
cooling radius in units of a (0<alpha<1), the central temperature in units of
T_0 (0<t<1), and the asymptotic baryon fraction in units of the cosmic value
(f~1). It is shown that our model is able to reproduce the three-dimensional
density and temperature profiles inferred from X-ray observations of real
clusters within a 20 per cent accuracy over most of the radial range. Some
possible applications are briefly discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to MNRA
Hard x-ray broad band Laue lenses (80 - 600 keV): building methods and performances
We present the status of the laue project devoted to develop a technology for
building a 20 meter long focal length Laue lens for hard x-/soft gamma-ray
astronomy (80 - 600 keV). The Laue lens is composed of bent crystals of Gallium
Arsenide (GaAs, 220) and Germanium (Ge, 111), and, for the first time, the
focusing property of bent crystals has been exploited for this field of
applications. We show the preliminary results concerning the adhesive employed
to fix the crystal tiles over the lens support, the positioning accuracy
obtained and possible further improvements. The Laue lens petal that will be
completed in a few months has a pass band of 80 - 300 keV and is a fraction of
an entire Laue lens capable of focusing X-rays up to 600 keV, possibly
extendable down to 20 - 30 keV with suitable low absorption crystal materials
and focal length. The final goal is to develop a focusing optics that can
improve the sensitivity over current telescopes in this energy band by 2 orders
of magnitude
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