5,505 research outputs found
PAH Strength and the Interstellar Radiation Field around the Massive Young Cluster NGC3603
We present spatial distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and
ionized gas within the Galactic giant HII region NGC3603. Using the IRS
instrument on board the Spitzer Space Telescope, we study in particular the PAH
emission features at ~5.7, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, and 11.3um, and the [ArII] 6.99um,
[NeII] 12.81um, [ArIII] 8.99um, and [SIV] 10.51um forbidden emission lines. The
observations probe both ionized regions and photodissociation regions. Silicate
emission is detected close to the central cluster while silicate absorption is
seen further away. We find no significant variation of the PAH ionization
fraction across the whole region. The emission of very small grains lies closer
to the central stellar cluster than emission of PAHs. The PAH/VSG ratio
anticorrelates with the hardness of the interstellar radiation field suggesting
a destruction mechanism of the molecules within the ionized gas, as shown for
low-metallicity galaxies by Madden et al. (2006).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Corrected typo
An epidemiological study of burglary offenders: trends and predictors of self-reported arrests for burglary in the United States, 2002-2013
Burglary is serious property crime with a relatively high incidence and has been shown to be variously associated with other forms of criminal behavior. Unfortunately, an epidemiological understanding of burglary and its correlates is largely missing from the literature. Using public-use data collected between 2002 and 2013 as part of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the current study compared those who self-reported burglary arrest in the prior 12 months with and without criminal history. The unadjusted prevalence estimates of self-reported burglary arrest were statistically different for those with a prior arrest history (4.7%) compared with those without an arrest history (0.02%) which is a 235-fold difference. Those with an arrest history were more likely to report lower educational attainment, to have lower income, to have moved more than 3 times in the past 5 years, and to use alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and engage in binge drinking. Moreover, those with prior arrest histories were younger and more likely to be male. There is considerable heterogeneity among burglars with criminal history indicating substantially greater behavioral risk
Elemental Abundances of Blue Compact Dwarfs from mid-IR Spectroscopy with Spitzer
We present a study of elemental abundances in a sample of thirteen Blue
Compact Dwarf (BCD) galaxies, using the 10--37m high resolution
spectra obtained with Spitzer/IRS. We derive the abundances of neon and sulfur
for our sample using the infrared fine-structure lines probing regions which
may be obscured by dust in the optical and compare our results with similar
infrared studies of starburst galaxies from ISO. We find a good correlation
between the neon and sulfur abundances, though sulfur is under-abundant
relative to neon with respect to the solar value. A comparison of the elemental
abundances (neon, sulfur) measured from the infrared data with those derived
from the optical (neon, sulfur, oxygen) studies reveals a good overall
agreement for sulfur, while the infrared derived neon abundances are slightly
higher than the optical values. This indicates that either the metallicities of
dust enshrouded regions in BCDs are similar to the optically accessible
regions, or that if they are different they do not contribute substantially to
the total infrared emission of the host galaxy.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Ap
Exact Finite-Size-Scaling Corrections to the Critical Two-Dimensional Ising Model on a Torus
We analyze the finite-size corrections to the energy and specific heat of the
critical two-dimensional spin-1/2 Ising model on a torus. We extend the
analysis of Ferdinand and Fisher to compute the correction of order L^{-3} to
the energy and the corrections of order L^{-2} and L^{-3} to the specific heat.
We also obtain general results on the form of the finite-size corrections to
these quantities: only integer powers of L^{-1} occur, unmodified by logarithms
(except of course for the leading term in the specific heat); and the
energy expansion contains only odd powers of L^{-1}. In the specific-heat
expansion any power of L^{-1} can appear, but the coefficients of the odd
powers are proportional to the corresponding coefficients of the energy
expansion.Comment: 26 pages (LaTeX). Self-unpacking file containing the tex file and
three macros (indent.sty, eqsection.sty, subeqnarray.sty). Added discussions
on the results and new references. Version to be published in J. Phys.
Chemical composition and mixing in giant HII regions: NGC3603, 30Doradus, and N66
We investigate the chemical abundances of NGC3603 in the Milky Way, of
30Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and of N66 in the Small Magellanic
Cloud. Mid-infrared observations with the Infrared Spectrograph onboard the
Spitzer Space Telescope allow us to probe the properties of distinct physical
regions within each object: the central ionizing cluster, the surrounding
ionized gas, photodissociation regions, and buried stellar clusters. We detect
[SIII], [SIV], [ArIII], [NeII], [NeIII], [FeII], and [FeIII] lines and derive
the ionic abundances. Based on the ionic abundance ratio (NeIII/H)/(SIII/H), we
find that the gas observed in the MIR is characterized by a higher degree of
ionization than the gas observed in the optical spectra. We compute the
elemental abundances of Ne, S, Ar, and Fe. We find that the alpha-elements Ne,
S, and Ar scale with each other. Our determinations agree well with the
abundances derived from the optical. The Ne/S ratio is higher than the solar
value in the three giant HII regions and points toward a moderate depletion of
sulfur on dust grains. We find that the neon and sulfur abundances display a
remarkably small dispersion (0.11dex in 15 positions in 30Doradus), suggesting
a relatively homogeneous ISM, even though small-scale mixing cannot be ruled
out.Comment: Accepted for submission to ApJ. The present version replaces the
submitted one. Changes: new title, new figure, the text was modified in the
discussio
Black hole radiance, short distances, and TeV gravity
Using a derivation of black hole radiance in terms of two-point functions one
can provide a quantitative estimate of the contribution of short distances to
the spectrum. Thermality is preserved for black holes with .
However, deviations from the Planckian spectrum can be found for mini black
holes in TeV gravity scenarios, even before reaching the Planck phase.Comment: LaTeX, 4 pages, 1 figure. Misprints correcte
The extraordinary mid-infrared spectral properties of FeLoBAL Quasars
We present mid-infrared spectra of six FeLoBAL QSOs at 1<z<1.8, taken with
the Spitzer space telescope. The spectra span a range of shapes, from hot dust
dominated AGN with silicate emission at 9.7 microns, to moderately obscured
starbursts with strong Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) emission. The
spectrum of one object, SDSS 1214-0001, shows the most prominent PAHs yet seen
in any QSO at any redshift, implying that the starburst dominates the mid-IR
emission with an associated star formation rate of order 2700 solar masses per
year. With the caveats that our sample is small and not robustly selected, we
combine our mid-IR spectral diagnostics with previous observations to propose
that FeLoBAL QSOs are at least largely comprised of systems in which (a) a
merger driven starburst is ending, (b) a luminous AGN is in the last stages of
burning through its surrounding dust, and (c) which we may be viewing over a
restricted line of sight range.Comment: ApJ, accepte
Sine-Gordon description of the scaling three-state Potts antiferromagnet on the square lattice
The scaling limit as T->0 of the antiferromagnetic three-state Potts model on
the square lattice is described by the sine-Gordon quantum field theory at a
specific value of the coupling. We show that the correspondence follows
unambigously from an analysis of the sine-Gordon operator space based on
locality, and that the scalar operators carrying solitonic charge play an
essential role in the description of the lattice model. We then evaluate the
correlation functions within the form factor approach and give a number of
universal predictions that can be checked in numerical simulations.Comment: 10 pages, late
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