6,411 research outputs found
Correlations of near-infrared, optical and X-ray luminosity for early-type galaxies
The relation between X-ray luminosity and near-infrared luminosity for
early-type galaxies has been examined. Near-infrared (NIR) luminosities should
provide a superior measure of stellar mass compared to optical luminosities
used in previous studies, especially if there is significant star-formation or
dust present in the galaxies. However, we show that the X-ray-NIR relations are
remarkably consistent with the X-ray-optical relations. This indicates that the
large scatter of the relations is dominated by scatter in the X-ray properties
of early-type galaxies, and is consistent with early-types consisting of old,
quiescent stellar populations.
We have investigated scatter in terms of environment, surface brightness
profile, Mg2, H_beta, H_gamma line strength indices, spectroscopic age, and
nuclear H_alpha emission. We found that galaxies with high Mg2 index, low
H_beta and H_gamma indices or a `core' profile have a large scatter in Lx,
whereas galaxies with low Mg2, high H_beta and H_gamma indices or `power-law'
profiles, generally have Lx<10^41 erg/s. There is no clear trend in the scatter
with environment or nuclear H_alpha emission.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 22 pages, 15 figure
Cold gas in group-dominant elliptical galaxies
We present IRAM 30m telescope observations of the CO(1-0) and (2-1) lines in
a sample of 11 group-dominant elliptical galaxies selected from the CLoGS
nearby groups sample. Our observations confirm the presence of molecular gas in
4 of the 11 galaxies at >4 sigma significance, and combining these with data
from the literature we find a detection rate of 43+-14%, comparable to the
detection rate for nearby radio galaxies, suggesting that group-dominant
ellipticals may be more likely to contain molecular gas than their non-central
counterparts. Those group-dominant galaxies which are detected typically
contain ~2x10^8 Msol of molecular gas, and although most have low star
formation rates (<1 Msol/yr) they have short depletion times, indicating that
the gas must be replenished on timescales ~100 Myr. Almost all of the galaxies
contain active nuclei, and we note while the data suggest that CO may be more
common in the most radio-loud galaxies, the mass of molecular gas required to
power the active nuclei through accretion is small compared to the masses
observed. We consider possible origin mechanisms for the gas, through cooling
of stellar ejecta within the galaxies, group-scale cooling flows, and gas-rich
mergers, and find probable examples of each type within our sample, confirming
that a variety of processes act to drive the build up of molecular gas in
group-dominant ellipticals.Comment: 9 pages, 5 postscript figures, 4 tables, accepted by A&A. Revised
throughout in response to referee's comments, including updates to Table 1
and Figure 4, and addition of Figure
The dynamics of internal working surfaces in MHD jets
The dynamical effects of magnetic fields in models of radiative, Herbig-Haro
(HH) jets have been studied in a number of papers. For example, magnetized,
radiative jets from variable sources have been studied with axisymmetric and 3D
numerical simulations. In this paper, we present an analytic model describing
the effect of a toroidal magnetic field on the internal working surfaces that
result from a variability in the ejection velocity. We find that for parameters
appropriate for HH jets the forces associated with the magnetic field dominate
over the gas pressure force within the working surfaces. Depending on the ram
pressure radial cross section of the jet, the magnetic field can produce a
strong axial pinch, or, alternatively, a broadening of the internal working
surfaces. We check the validity of the analytic model with axisymmetric
numerical simulations of variable, magnetized jets.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. ApJ in pres
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Is Robotic Surgery Highlighting Critical Gaps in Resident Training?
A National Portrait of Domestic Violence Courts
A growing number of criminal courts nationwide handle domestic violence cases on separate calendars, termed domestic violence courts. There are now 208 confirmed domestic violence courts across the U.S. (Center for Court Innovation 2009). More than 150 similar projects have been established internationally. Some domestic violence courts emerged in the context of the broader "problem-solving court" movement and share characteristics with other specialized courts, such as separate dockets and specially trained judges. However, the origins of domestic violence courts are also distinct, growing out of the increased attention afforded domestic violence matters by the justice system over the past 30 years. With funding from the National Institute of Justice, this study explores how criminal domestic violence courts have evolved, their rationale, and how their operations vary across the U.S. This study does not test whether domestic violence courts reduce recidivism, protect victims, or achieve other specific effects -- although we provide a thorough literature review on these points. Rather, our aim is to present a comprehensive national portrait of the field as it exists today, laying the groundwork for future information exchange and research
Observed Faraday Effects in Damped Lyman-Alpha Absorbers and Lyman Limit Systems: The Magnetised Environment of Galactic Building Blocks at Redshift=2
Protogalactic environments are typically identified using quasar absorption
lines, and these galactic building blocks can manifest as Damped Lyman-Alpha
Absorbers (DLAs) and Lyman Limit Systems (LLSs). We use radio observations of
Faraday effects to test whether DLAs and LLSs host a magnetised medium, by
combining DLA and LLS detections throughout the literature with 1.4 GHz
polarization data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). We obtain a control, a
DLA, and a LLS sample consisting of 114, 19, and 27 lines-of-sight respectively
- all of which are polarized at to ensure Rician bias is
negligible. Using a Bayesian framework, we are unable to detect either coherent
or random magnetic fields in DLAs: the regular coherent magnetic fields within
the DLAs must be G, and the lack of depolarization is consistent
with the weakly magnetised gas in DLAs being non-turbulent and quiescent.
However, we find mild suggestive evidence that LLSs have coherent magnetic
fields: after controlling for the redshift-distribution of our data, we find a
71.5% probability that LLSs have a higher RM than a control sample. We also
find strong evidence that LLSs host random magnetic fields, with a 95.5%
probability that LLS lines-of-sight have lower polarized fractions than a
control sample. The regular coherent magnetic fields within the LLSs must be
G, and the magnetised gas must be highly turbulent with a typical
scale on the order of -20 pc, which is similar to that of the Milky
Way. This is consistent with the standard dynamo pedagogy, whereby magnetic
fields in protogalaxies increase in coherence and strength as a function of
cosmic time. Our results are consistent with a hierarchical galaxy formation
scenario, with the DLAs, LLSs, and strong magnesium II (MgII) systems exploring
three different stages of magnetic field evolution in galaxies.Comment: Submitted to Ap
Using adiabatic coupling techniques in atom-chip waveguide structures
Adiabatic techniques are well known tools in multi-level electron systems to
transfer population between different states with high fidelity. Recently it
has been realised that these ideas can also be used in ultra-cold atom systems
to achieve coherent manipulation of the atomic centre-of-mass states. Here we
present an investigation into a realistic setup using three atomic waveguides
created on top of an atom chip and show that such systems hold large potential
for the observation of adiabatic phenomena in experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physica Scripta for
the CEWQO2009 proceeding
Broadband, radio spectro-polarimetric study of 100 radiative-mode and jet-mode AGN
We present the results from a broadband (1 to 3 GHz), spectro-polarimetry
study of the integrated emission from 100 extragalactic radio sources with the
ATCA, selected to be highly linearly polarized at 1.4 GHz. We use a general
purpose, polarization model-fitting procedure that describes the Faraday
rotation measure (RM) and intrinsic polarization structure of up to three
distinct polarized emission regions or 'RM components' of a source. Overall,
37%/52%/11% of sources are best fit by one/two/three RM components. However,
these fractions are dependent on the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) in
polarization (more RM components more likely at higher S/N). In general, our
analysis shows that sources with high integrated degrees of polarization at 1.4
GHz have low Faraday depolarization, are typically dominated by a single RM
component, have a steep spectral index, and a high intrinsic degree of
polarization. After classifying our sample into radiative-mode and jet-mode
AGN, we find no significant difference between the Faraday rotation or Faraday
depolarization properties of jet-mode and radiative-mode AGN. However, there is
a statistically significant difference in the intrinsic degree of polarization
between the two types, with the jet-mode sources having more intrinsically
ordered magnetic field structures than the radiative-mode sources. We also find
a preferred perpendicular orientation of the intrinsic magnetic field structure
of jet-mode AGN with respect to the jet direction, while no clear preference is
found for the radiative-mode sources.Comment: 29 pages (including Appendix), 28 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for
publication in MNRA
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