2,482,038 research outputs found
Faint counts as a function of morphological type in a hierarchical merger model
The unprecedented resolution of the refurbished Wide Field and Planetary
Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has led to major advances
in our understanding of galaxy formation. The high image quality in the Medium
Deep Survey and Hubble Deep Field has made it possible, for the first time, to
classify faint distant galaxies according to morphological type. These
observations have revealed a large population of galaxies classed as irregulars
or which show signs of recent merger activity. Their abundance rises steeply
with apparent magnitude, providing a likely explanation for the large number of
blue galaxies seen at faint magnitudes. We demonstrate that such a population
arises naturally in a model in which structure forms hierarchically and which
is dynamically dominated by cold dark matter. The number counts of irregular,
spiral and elliptical galaxies as a function of magnitude seen in the HST data
are well reproduced in this model.We present detailed predictions for the
outcome of spectroscopic follow-up observations of the HST surveys. By
measuring the redshift distributions of faint galaxies of different
morphological types, these programmes will provide a test of the hierarchical
galaxy formation paradigm and might distinguish between models with different
cosmological parameters.Comment: 5 pages, 3 postscript figures included. To be published as a Letter
in Monthly Notices of the RAS. Postscript version available at
http://star-www.dur.ac.uk/~cmb/counts.htm
Nuclear modification at sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3 GeV, measured at NA49
Transverse momentum spectra up to 4.5 GeV/c were measured around midrapidity
in Pb+Pb reactions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3 GeV, for pi^{+/-}, p, pbar and K^{+/-},
by the NA49 experiment. The nuclear modification factors R_{AA}, R_{AA/pA} and
R_{CP} were extracted and are compared to RHIC results at sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV.
The modification factor R_{AA} shows a rapid increase with transverse momentum
in the covered region. The modification factor R_{CP} shows saturation well
below unity in the pi^{+/-} channel. The extracted R_{CP} values follow the 200
GeV RHIC results closely in the available transverse momentum range for all
particle species. For pi^{+/-} above 2.5 GeV/c transverse momentum, the
measured suppression is smaller than that observed at RHIC. The nuclear
modification factor R_{AA/pA} for pi^{+/-} stays well below unity.Comment: Proceedings of Quark Matter 2008 conferenc
An RXTE study of M87 and the core of the Virgo cluster
We present hard X-ray observations of the nearby radio galaxy M87 and the
core of the Virgo cluster using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. These are the
first hard X-ray observations of M87 not affected by contamination from the
nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC4388. Thermal emission from Virgo's intracluster
medium is clearly detected and has a spectrum indicative of kT=2.5keV plasma
with approximately 25% cosmic abundances. No non-thermal (power-law) emission
from M87 is detected in the hard X-ray band, with fluctuations in the Cosmic
X-ray Background being the limiting factor. Combining with ROSAT data, we infer
that the X-ray spectrum of the M87 core and jet must be steep (Gamma_core>1.90$
and Gamma_jet>1.75), and we discuss the implications of this result. In
particular, these results are consistent with M87 being a mis-aligned BL-Lac
object.Comment: 8 pages, 2 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Semiclassical approach to Bose-Einstein condensates in a triple well potential
We present a new approach for the analysis of Bose-Einstein condensates in a
few mode approximation. This method has already been used to successfully
analyze the vibrational modes in various molecular systems and offers a new
perspective on the dynamics in many particle bosonic systems. We discuss a
system consisting of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a triple well potential.
Such systems correspond to classical Hamiltonian systems with three degrees of
freedom. The semiclassical approach allows a simple visualization of the
eigenstates of the quantum system referring to the underlying classical
dynamics. From this classification we can read off the dynamical properties of
the eigenstates such as particle exchange between the wells and entanglement
without further calculations. In addition, this approach offers new insights
into the validity of the mean-field description of the many particle system by
the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, since we make use of exactly this correspondence
in our semiclassical analysis. We choose a three mode system in order to
visualize it easily and, moreover, to have a sufficiently interesting
structure, although the method can also be extended to higher dimensional
systems.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figure
Global Quantum Discord in Multipartite Systems
We propose a global measure for quantum correlations in multipartite systems,
which is obtained by suitably recasting the quantum discord in terms of
relative entropy and local von Neumann measurements. The measure is symmetric
with respect to subsystem exchange and is shown to be non-negative for an
arbitrary state. As an illustration, we consider tripartite correlations in the
Werner-GHZ state and multipartite correlations at quantum criticality. In
particular, in contrast with the pairwise quantum discord, we show that the
global quantum discord is able to characterize the infinite-order quantum phase
transition in the Ashkin-Teller spin chain.Comment: v3: 7 pages, 6 figures. Published versio
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