Integrating the Catholic Intellectual Tradition into College Courses: An Annotated Bibliography of Resources for Faculty

To assist faculty with integrating the Catholic Intellectual Tradition into their courses, this annotated bibliography of book chapters and scholarly articles provides practical ways to include the CIT in their courses. Only resources which are freely available on the web or are in standard university-held publications were included to ensure reader accessibility

The renewed role of sweep functions in noisy shortcuts to adiabaticity

We study the robustness of different sweep protocols for accelerated adiabaticity following in the presence of static errors and of dissipative and dephasing phenomena. While in the noise-free case, counterdiabatic driving is, by definition, insensitive to the form of the original sweep function, this property may be lost when the quantum system is open. We indeed observe that, according to the decay and dephasing channels investigated here, the performance of the system becomes highly dependent on the sweep function. Our findings are relevant for the experimental implementation of robust shortcuts-to-adiabaticity techniques for the control of quantum systems

Atomic interactions for qubit-error compensation

Experimental imperfections induce phase and population errors in quantum systems. We present a method to compensate unitary errors affecting also the population of the qubit states. This is achieved through the interaction of the target qubit with an additional control qubit. We show that our approach works well for single-photon and two-photon excitation schemes. In the first case, we study two reduced models: (i) a two-level system in which the interaction corresponds to an effective level shift and (ii) a three-level one describing two qubits in the Bell triplet subspace. In the second case, a double Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage process is presented with comparable compensation efficiency with respect to the single-photon case

Star-forming galaxies versus low- and high-excitation radio AGN in the VLA-COSMOS 3GHz Large Project

We study the composition of the faint radio population selected from the VLA-COSMOS 3GHz Large Project, a radio continuum survey performed at 10 cm wavelength. The survey covers the full 2 square degree COSMOS field with mean $rms\sim2.3$ $\mu$Jy/beam, cataloging 10,899 source components above $5\times rms$. By combining these radio data with UltraVISTA, optical, near-infrared, and Spitzer/IRAC mid-infrared data, as well as X-ray data from the Chandra Legacy, and Chandra COSMOS surveys, we gain insight into the emission mechanisms within our radio sources out to redshifts of $z\sim5$. From these emission characteristics we classify our souces as star forming galaxies or AGN. Using their multi-wavelength properties we further separate the AGN into sub-samples dominated by radiatively efficient and inefficient AGN, often referred to as high- and low-excitation emission line AGN. We compare our method with other results based on fitting of the sources' spectral energy distributions using both galaxy and AGN spectral models, and those based on the infrared-radio correlation. We study the fractional contributions of these sub-populations down to radio flux levels of $\sim$10 $\mu$Jy. We find that at 3 GHz flux densities above $\sim$400 $\mu$Jy quiescent, red galaxies, consistent with the low-excitation radio AGN class constitute the dominant fraction. Below densities of $\sim$200 $\mu$Jy star-forming galaxies begin to constitute the largest fraction, followed by the low-excitation, and X-ray- and IR-identified high-excitation radio AGN.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, The many facets of extragalactic radio surveys: towards new scientific challenges, Bologna 20-23 October 201

Herschel Far-IR counterparts of SDSS galaxies: Analysis of commonly used Star Formation Rate estimates

We study a hundred of galaxies from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey with individual detections in the Far-Infrared Herschel PACS bands (100 or 160 $\mu$m) and in the GALEX Far-UltraViolet band up to z$\sim$0.4 in the COSMOS and Lockman Hole fields. The galaxies are divided into 4 spectral and 4 morphological types. For the star forming and unclassifiable galaxies we calculate dust extinctions from the UV slope, the H$\alpha$/H$\beta$ ratio and the $L_{\rm IR}/L_{\rm UV}$ ratio. There is a tight correlation between the dust extinction and both $L_{\rm IR}$ and metallicity. We calculate SFR$_{total}$ and compare it with other SFR estimates (H$\alpha$, UV, SDSS) finding a very good agreement between them with smaller dispersions than typical SFR uncertainties. We study the effect of mass and metallicity, finding that it is only significant at high masses for SFR$_{H\alpha}$. For the AGN and composite galaxies we find a tight correlation between SFR and L$_{IR}$ ($\sigma\sim$0.29), while the dispersion in the SFR - L$_{UV}$ relation is larger ($\sigma\sim$0.57). The galaxies follow the prescriptions of the Fundamental Plane in the M-Z-SFR space.Comment: 24 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

HST grism spectroscopy of z ∼3 massive quiescent galaxies: Approaching the metamorphosis

Tracing the emergence of the massive quiescent galaxy (QG) population requires the build-up of reliable quenched samples by distinguishing these systems from red, dusty star-forming sources. We present Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/G141 grism spectra of ten quiescent galaxy candidates selected at 2.5 < z < 3.5 in the COSMOS field. Spectroscopic confirmation for the whole sample is obtained within one to three orbits through the detection of strong spectral breaks and Balmer absorption lines. When their spectra are combined with optical to near-infrared photometry, star-forming solutions are formally rejected for the entire sample. Broad spectral indices are consistent with the presence of young A-type stars, which indicates that the last major episode of star formation has taken place no earlier than ∼300-800 Myr prior to observation. This confirms clues from their post-starburst UVJ colors. Marginalising over three different slopes of the dust attenuation curve, we obtain young mass-weighted ages and an average peak star formation rate (SFR) of ∼103 M yr-1 at zformation ∼ 3.5. Although mid- and far-IR data are too shallow to determine the obscured SFR on a galaxy-by-galaxy basis, the mean stacked emission from 3 GHz data constrains the level of residual-obscured SFR to be globally below 50 M yr-1, three times below the scatter of the coeval main sequence. Alternatively, the very same radio detection suggests a widespread radio-mode feedback by active galactic nuclei (AGN) four times stronger than in z ∼ 1.8 massive QGs. This is accompanied by a 30% fraction of X-ray luminous AGN with a black hole accretion rate per unit SFR enhanced by a factor of ∼30 with respect to similarly massive QGs at lower redshift. The average compact, high Sérsic index morphologies of the galaxies in this sample, coupled with their young mass-weighted ages, suggest that the mechanisms responsible for the development of a spheroidal component might be concomitant with (or preceding) those causing their quenching

Systematic review of irreversible electroporation role in management of locally advanced pancreatic cancer

Background: Ablative techniques provide in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) symptomatic relief, survival benefit and potential downsizing. Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) represents potentially an ideal solution as no thermal tissue damage occurs. The purpose of this review is to present an overview on safety, feasibility, oncological results, survival and quality of life improvement obtained by IRE. Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed, regarding the use of IRE on PC in humans for studies published in English up to March 2019. Results: 15 original studies embodying 691 patients with unresectable LAPC who underwent IRE were included. As emerged, IRE works better on tumour sizes between 3–4 cm. Oncological results are promising: median OS from diagnosis or treatment up to 27 months. Two groups investigated borderline resectable tumours treated with IRE before resection with margin attenuation, whereas IRE has proved to be effective in pain control. Conclusions: Electroporation is bringing new hopes in LAPC management. The first aim of IRE is to offer a palliative treatment. Further efforts are needed for patient selection, as well as the use of IRE for ‘margin accentuation’ during surgical resection. Even if promising, IRE needs to be validated in large, randomized, prospective series