711 research outputs found
Lyman Alpha Emitter Evolution in the Reionization Epoch
Combining cosmological SPH simulations with a previously developed Lyman
Alpha production/transmission model and the Early Reionization Model (ERM,
reionization ends at redshift z~7), we obtain Lyman Alpha and UV Luminosity
Functions (LFs) for Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs) for redshifts between 5.7 and
7.6. Matching model results to observations at z~5.7 requires escape fractions
of Lyman Alpha, f_alpha=0.3, and UV (non-ionizing) continuum photons, f_c=0.22,
corresponding to a color excess, E(B-V)=0.15. We find that (i) f_c increases
towards higher redshifts, due the decreasing mean dust content of galaxies,
(ii) the evolution of f_alpha/f_c hints at the dust content of the ISM becoming
progressively inhomogeneous/clumped with decreasing redshift. The clustering
photoionization boost is important during the initial reionization phases but
has little effect on the Lyman Alpha LF for a highly ionized IGM. Halo
(stellar) masses are in the range 10.0 < \log M_h < 11.8 (8.1 < \log M_* <
10.4) with M_h \propto M_*^{0.64}. The star formation rates are between 3-120
solar masses per year, mass-weighted mean ages are greater than 20 Myr at all
redshifts, while the mean stellar metallicity increases from Z=0.12 to 0.22
solar metallicity from z~7.6 to z~5.7; both age and metallicity positively
correlate with stellar mass. The brightest LAEs are all characterized by large
star formation rates and intermediate ages (~200 Myr), while objects in the
faint end of the Lyman Alpha LF show large age and star formation rate spreads.
With no more free parameters, the Spectral Energy Distributions of three LAE at
z~5.7 observed by Lai et al. (2007) are well reproduced by an intermediate age
(182-220 Myr) stellar population and the above E(B-V) value.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted to MNRA
Quantifying Tensions between CMB and Distance Datasets in Models with Free Curvature or Lensing Amplitude
Recent measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) by the Planck
Collaboration have produced arguably the most powerful observational evidence
in support of the standard model of cosmology, i.e. the spatially flat
CDM paradigm. In this work, we perform model selection tests to
examine whether the base CMB temperature and large scale polarization
anisotropy data from Planck 2015 (P15) prefer any of eight commonly used
one-parameter model extensions with respect to flat CDM. We find a
clear preference for models with free curvature, , or free
amplitude of the CMB lensing potential, . We also further develop
statistical tools to measure tension between datasets. We use a Gaussianization
scheme to compute tensions directly from the posterior samples using an
entropy-based method, the surprise, as well as a calibrated evidence ratio
presented here for the first time. We then proceed to investigate the
consistency between the base P15~CMB data and six other CMB and distance
datasets. In flat CDM we find a tension between the base
P15~CMB data and a distance ladder measurement, whereas the former are
consistent with the other datasets. In the curved CDM model we find
significant tensions in most of the cases, arising from the well-known low
power of the low- multipoles of the CMB data. In the flat CDM
model, however, all datasets are consistent with the base
P15~CMB observations except for the CMB lensing measurement, which remains in
significant tension. This tension is driven by the increased power of the CMB
lensing potential derived from the base P15~CMB constraints in both models,
pointing at either potentially unresolved systematic effects or the need for
new physics beyond the standard flat CDM model.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 6 table
Simulating the formation of a proto-cluster at z~2
We present results from two high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of
proto-cluster regions at z~2.1. The simulations have been compared to
observational results for the socalled Spiderweb galaxy system, the core of a
putative proto-cluster region at z = 2.16, found around a radio galaxy. The
simulated regions have been chosen so as to form a poor cluster with M200~10^14
h-1 Msun (C1) and a rich cluster with M200~2x10^15 h-1 Msun (C2) at z = 0. The
simulated proto-clusters show evidence of ongoing assembly of a dominating
central galaxy. The stellar mass of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) of the
C2 system is in excess with respect to observational estimates for the
Spiderweb galaxy, with a total star formation rate which is also larger than
indicated by observations. We find that the projected velocities of galaxies in
the C2 cluster are consistent with observations, while those measured for the
poorer cluster C1 are too low compared to the observed velocities. We argue
that the Spiderweb complex resemble the high-redshift progenitor of a rich
galaxy cluster. Our results indicate that the included supernovae feedback is
not enough to suppress star formation in these systems, supporting the need of
introducing AGN feedback. According to our simulations, a diffuse atmosphere of
hot gas in hydrostatic equilibrium should already be present at this redshift,
and enriched at a level comparable to that of nearby galaxy clusters. The
presence of this gas should be detectable with future deep X-ray observations.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS (Letters
Properties of the galaxy population in hydrodynamical simulations of clusters
We present a study of the galaxy population predicted by hydrodynamical
simulations for a set of 19 galaxy clusters based on the GADGET-2 Tree+SPH
code. These simulations include gas cooling, star formation, a detailed
treatment of stellar evolution and chemical enrichment, as well as SN energy
feedback in the form of galactic winds. We compute the spectro-photometric
properties of the simulated galaxies. All simulations have been performed for
two choices of the stellar initial mass function: a standard Salpeter IMF, and
a top-heavier IMF. Several of the observational properties of the galaxy
population in nearby clusters are reproduced fairly well by simulations. A
Salpeter IMF is successful in accounting for the slope and the normalization of
the color-magnitude relation for the bulk of the galaxy population. Simulated
clusters have a relation between mass and optical luminosity which generally
agrees with observations, both in normalization and slope. We find that
galaxies are generally bluer, younger and more star forming in the cluster
outskirts, thus reproducing the observational trends. However, simulated
clusters have a total number of galaxies which is significantly smaller than
the observed one, falling short by about a factor 2-3. Finally, the brightest
cluster galaxies are always predicted to be too massive and too blue, when
compared to observations, due to gas overcooling in the core cluster regions,
even in the presence of a rather efficient SN feedback.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, to appear in MNRA
Stellar Mass to Halo Mass Scaling Relation for X-ray Selected Low Mass Galaxy Clusters and Groups out to Redshift
We present the stellar mass-halo mass scaling relation for 46 X-ray selected
low-mass clusters or groups detected in the XMM-BCS survey with masses
at
redshift . The cluster binding masses are inferred
from the measured X-ray luminosities \Lx, while the stellar masses
of the galaxy populations are estimated using near-infrared imaging from the
SSDF survey and optical imaging from the BCS survey. With the measured \Lx\ and
stellar mass , we determine the best fit stellar mass-halo mass
relation, accounting for selection effects, measurement uncertainties and the
intrinsic scatter in the scaling relation. The resulting mass trend is
, the intrinsic (log-normal) scatter is
, and there is no
significant redshift trend , although
the uncertainties are still large. We also examine within a fixed
projected radius of ~Mpc, showing that it provides a cluster binding mass
proxy with intrinsic scatter of (1 in ). We
compare our scaling relation from the XMM-BCS
clusters with samples of massive, SZE-selected clusters
() and low mass NIR-selected clusters
() at redshift .
After correcting for the known mass measurement systematics in the compared
samples, we find that the scaling relation is in good agreement with the high
redshift samples, suggesting that for both groups and clusters the stellar
content of the galaxy populations within depends strongly on mass but
only weakly on redshift out to .Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Gas cooling in semi-analytic models and SPH simulations: are results consistent?
We present a detailed comparison between the galaxy populations within a
massive cluster, as predicted by hydrodynamical SPH simulations and by a
semi-analytic model (SAM) of galaxy formation. Both models include gas cooling
and a simple prescription of star formation, which consists in transforming
instantaneously any cold gas available into stars, while neglecting any source
of energy feedback. We find that, in general, galaxy populations from SAMs and
SPH have similar statistical properties, in agreement with previous studies.
However, when comparing galaxies on an object-by-object basis, we find a number
of interesting differences: a) the star formation histories of the brightest
cluster galaxies (BCGs) from SAM and SPH models differ significantly, with the
SPH BCG exhibiting a lower level of star formation activity at low redshift,
and a more intense and shorter initial burst of star formation with respect to
its SAM counterpart; b) while all stars associated with the BCG were formed in
its progenitors in the semi-analytic model used here, this holds true only for
half of the final BCG stellar mass in the SPH simulation, the remaining half
being contributed by tidal stripping of stars from the diffuse stellar
component associated with galaxies accreted on the cluster halo; c) SPH
satellites can loose up to 90 per cent of their stellar mass at the time of
accretion, due to tidal stripping, a process not included in the semi-analytic
model used in this study; d) in the SPH simulation, significant cooling occurs
on the most massive satellite galaxies and this lasts for up to 1 Gyr after
accretion. This physical process is not included in the semi-analytic model
used in our study, as well as in most of the models discussed in the recent
literature.Comment: Revised version submitted to MNRAS, 15 pages, 9 figures. A
High-resolution version of the paper and figures can be found at this
http://adlibitum.oats.inaf.it/saro/SAM2/paper.pd
Evolution of the metal content of the intra-cluster medium with hydrodynamical simulations
We present a comparison between simulation results and X-ray observational
data on the evolution of the metallicity of the intra-cluster medium (ICM). The
simulations of galaxy clusters were performed with the Tree-SPH Gadget2 code
that includes a detailed model of chemical evolution, by assuming three
different shapes for the stellar initial mass function (IMF), namely the
Salpeter (1955), Kroupa (2001) and Arimoto-Yoshii (1987) IMF. Our simulations
predict significant radial gradients of the Iron abundance, which extend over
the whole cluster virialized region. At larger radii, we do not detect any
flattening of the metallicity profiles. As for the evolution of the ICM metal
(Iron) abundance out to z=1, we find that it is determined by the combined
action of (i) the sinking of already enriched gas, (ii) the ongoing metal
production in galaxies and (iii) the locking of ICM metals in newborn stars. As
a result, rather than suppressing the metallicity evolution, stopping star
formation at z=1 has the effect of producing an even too fast evolution of the
emission-weighted ICM metallicity with too high values at low redshift.
Finally, we compare simulations with the observed rate of type-Ia supernovae
per unit B-band luminosity (SnU_B). We find that our simulated clusters do not
reproduce the decreasing trend of SnU_B at low redshift, unless star formation
is truncated at z=1.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, to appear in MNRA
Constraints on the CMB temperature evolution using multiband measurements of the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect with the South Pole Telescope
The adiabatic evolution of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a key prediction of standard cosmology. We study deviations from the expected adiabatic evolution of the CMB temperature of the form T(z) = T_0(1 + z)^(1 − α) using measurements of the spectrum of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect with the South Pole Telescope (SPT). We present a method for using the ratio of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich signal measured at 95 and 150 GHz in the SPT data to constrain the temperature of the CMB. We demonstrate that this approach provides unbiased results using mock observations of clusters from a new set of hydrodynamical simulations. We apply this method to a sample of 158 SPT-selected clusters, spanning the redshift range 0.05 < z < 1.35, and measure α=0.017^(+0.030)_(−0.028), consistent with the standard model prediction of α = 0. In combination with other published results, we find α = 0.005 ± 0.012, an improvement of ∼10 per cent over published constraints. This measurement also provides a strong constraint on the effective equation of state in models of decaying dark energy w_(eff) = −0.994 ± 0.010
On the impact of baryons on the halo mass function, bias, and cluster cosmology
Luminous matter produces very energetic events, such as active galactic nuclei and supernova explosions, that significantly affect the internal regions of galaxy clusters. Although the current uncertainty in the effect of baryonic physics on cluster statistics is subdominant as compared to other systematics, the picture is likely to change soon as the amount of high-quality data is growing fast, urging the community to keep theoretical systematic uncertainties below the ever-growing statistical precision. In this paper, we study the effect of baryons on galaxy clusters, and their impact on the cosmological applications of clusters, using the magneticum suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We show that the impact of baryons on the halo mass function can be recast in terms on a variation of the mass of the haloes simulated with pure N-body, when baryonic effects are included. The halo mass function and halo bias are only indirectly affected. Finally, we demonstrate that neglecting baryonic effects on haloes mass function and bias would significantly alter the inference of cosmological parameters from high-sensitivity next-generations surveys of galaxy clusters
Behavior in subcortical vascular dementia with sight pathologies: visual hallucinations as a consequence of precocious gait imbalance and institutionalization
Background: Subcortical vascular dementia (sVAD) is considered the most frequent dementia in old population, and it is due to a small vessel disease. It has a very specific nosography, where the dominant factors are dysexecutive functions, depression, and apathy. Very few studies described visual hallucinations in sVAD, apart from in the final stages of it. Methods: This study recruited 577 patients with a diagnosis of sVAD associated with major ocular pathologies and 1118 patients with sVAD without any significant ocular pathology: Patients were followed up for 24 months. We studied the influence of ocular pathologies in precocious visual hallucinations, on behavior disorder (aggressiveness), and gait disorders (instability, fells). We registered the necessity of neuropsychiatric therapies, incidence of hospitalization, and institutionalization. Results: What emerges from our study is that the ocular comorbidities might change the behavior profile of dementia, provoking behavioral alterations, and the need for therapies with adverse effects. As far as old age is a complicated status of life, many factors can modify its development. The possible contribution of multiple biological events cannot be neglected, particularly the underlying influence of chronic diseases as well as the geriatric conditions, per se, might compromise the cognitive functions and the pathological conditions. Ocular pathology as a superimposing event in sVAD might worse the outcome. A correct and rapid identification of critical patients might be relevant for the dynamic life events in these patients and their caregive
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