23,637 research outputs found
Major Galaxy Mergers and the Growth of Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars
Despite observed strong correlations between central supermassive black holes
(SMBHs) and star-formation in galactic nuclei, uncertainties exist in our
understanding of their coupling. We present observations of the ratio of
heavily-obscured to unobscured quasars as a function of cosmic epoch up to z~3,
and show that a simple physical model describing mergers of massive, gas-rich
galaxies matches these observations. In the context of this model, every
obscured and unobscured quasar represent two distinct phases that result from a
massive galaxy merger event. Much of the mass growth of the SMBH occurs during
the heavily-obscured phase. These observations provide additional evidence for
a causal link between gas-rich galaxy mergers, accretion onto the nuclear SMBH
and coeval star formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Science. Published by Science Express on
March 25th. 17 pages, 5 figures, including supplemental online materia
Generalized virial theorem in Palatini gravity
We use the collision-free Boltzmann equation in Palatini
gravity to derive the virial theorem within the context of the Palatini
approach. It is shown that the virial mass is proportional to certain
geometrical terms appearing in the Einstein field equations which contribute to
gravitational energy and that such geometric mass can be attributed to the
virial mass discrepancy in cluster of galaxies. We then derive the velocity
dispersion relation for clusters followed by the metric tensor components
inside the cluster as well as the lagrangian in terms of the
observational parameters. Since these quantities may also be obtained
experimentally, the virial theorem is a convenient tool to
test the viability of theories in different models. Finally,
we discuss the limitations of our approach in the light of the cosmological
averaging used and questions that have been raised in the literature against
such averaging procedures in the context of the present work.Comment: 16 pages, to appear in PR
The virial theorem and the dynamics of clusters of galaxies in the brane world models
A version of the virial theorem, which takes into account the effects of the
non-compact extra-dimensions, is derived in the framework of the brane world
models. In the braneworld scenario, the four dimensional effective Einstein
equation has some extra terms, called dark radiation and dark pressure,
respectively, which arise from the embedding of the 3-brane in the bulk. To
derive the generalized virial theorem we use a method based on the
collisionless Boltzmann equation. The dark radiation term generates an
equivalent mass term (the dark mass), which gives an effective contribution to
the gravitational energy. This term may account for the well-known virial
theorem mass discrepancy in actual clusters of galaxies. An approximate
solution of the vacuum field equations on the brane, corresponding to weak
gravitational fields, is also obtained, and the expressions for the dark
radiation and dark mass are derived. The qualitative behavior of the dark mass
is similar to that of the observed virial mass in clusters of galaxies. We
compare our model with the observational data for galaxy clusters, and we
express all the physical parameters of the model in terms of observable
quantities. In particular, we predict that the dark mass must extend far beyond
the presently considered virial radius. The behavior of the galaxy cluster
velocity dispersion in brane world models is also considered. Therefore the
study of the matter distribution and velocity dispersion at the extragalactic
scales could provide an efficient method for testing the multi-dimensional
physical models.Comment: 29 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in PR
Bayes-X: a Bayesian inference tool for the analysis of X-ray observations of galaxy clusters
We present the first public release of our Bayesian inference tool, Bayes-X,
for the analysis of X-ray observations of galaxy clusters. We illustrate the
use of Bayes-X by analysing a set of four simulated clusters at z=0.2-0.9 as
they would be observed by a Chandra-like X-ray observatory. In both the
simulations and the analysis pipeline we assume that the dark matter density
follows a spherically-symmetric Navarro, Frenk and White (NFW) profile and that
the gas pressure is described by a generalised NFW (GNFW) profile. We then
perform four sets of analyses. By numerically exploring the joint probability
distribution of the cluster parameters given simulated Chandra-like data, we
show that the model and analysis technique can robustly return the simulated
cluster input quantities, constrain the cluster physical parameters and reveal
the degeneracies among the model parameters and cluster physical parameters. We
then analyse Chandra data on the nearby cluster, A262, and derive the cluster
physical profiles. To illustrate the performance of the Bayesian model
selection, we also carried out analyses assuming an Einasto profile for the
matter density and calculated the Bayes factor. The results of the model
selection analyses for the simulated data favour the NFW model as expected.
However, we find that the Einasto profile is preferred in the analysis of A262.
The Bayes-X software, which is implemented in Fortran 90, is available at
http://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/facilities/software/bayesx/.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure
Testing a double AGN hypothesis for Mrk 273
The ULIRG Mrk 273 contains two infrared nuclei, N and SW, separated by 1
arcsec. A Chandra observation has identified the SW nucleus as an absorbed
X-ray source with nH ~4e23 cm-2 but also hinted at the possible presence of a
Compton thick AGN in the N nucleus, where a black hole of 10^9 Msun is inferred
from the ionized gas kinematics. The intrinsic X-ray spectral slope recently
measured by NuSTAR is unusually hard (photon index of ~1.3) for a Seyfert
nucleus, for which we seek an alternative explanation. We hypothesise a
strongly absorbed X-ray source in N, of which X-ray emission rises steeply
above 10 keV, in addition to the known X-ray source in SW, and test it against
the NuSTAR data, assuming the standard spectral slope (photon index of 1.9).
This double X-ray source model gives a good explanation of the hard continuum
spectrum, the deep Fe K absorption edge, and the strong Fe K line observed in
this ULIRG, without invoking the unusual spectral slope required for a single
source interpretation. The putative X-ray source in N is found to be absorbed
by nH = 1.4(+0.7/-0.4)e24 cm-2. The estimated 2-10 keV luminosity of the N
source is 1.3e43 erg/s, about a factor of 2 larger than that of SW during the
NuSTAR observation. Uncorrelated variability above and below 10 keV between the
Suzaku and NuSTAR observations appears to support the double source
interpretation. Variability in spectral hardness and Fe K line flux between the
previous X-ray observations is also consistent with this picture.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in A&
Effects of a multi-component exercise program and calcium–vitamin-D3-fortified milk on bone mineral density in older men : a randomised controlled trial
Summary We examined the independent and combined effects of a multi-component exercise program and calcium–vitamin-D3-fortified milk on bone mineral density (BMD) in older men. Exercise resulted in a 1.8% net gain in femoral neck BMD, but additional calcium–vitamin D3 did not enhance the response in this group of older well-nourished men.Introduction This 12-month randomised controlled trial assessed whether calcium–vitamin-D3-fortified milk could enhance the effects of a multi-component exercise program on BMD in older men.Methods Men (n  = 180) aged 50–79 years were randomised into: (1) exercise + fortified milk; (2) exercise; (3) fortified milk; or (4) controls. Exercise consisted of high intensity progressive resistance training with weight-bearing impact exercise. Men assigned to fortified milk consumed 400 mL/day of low fat milk providing an additional 1,000 mg/day calcium and 800 IU/day vitamin D3. Femoral neck (FN), total hip, lumbar spine and trochanter BMD and body composition (DXA), muscle strength 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were assessed.Results There were no exercise-by-fortified milk interactions at any skeletal site. Exercise resulted in a 1.8% net gain in FN BMD relative to no-exercise (p < 0.001); lean mass (0.6 kg, p < 0.05) and muscle strength (20–52%, p < 0.001) also increased in response to exercise. For lumbar spine BMD, there was a net 1.4–1.5% increase in all treatment groups relative to controls (all p < 0.01). There were no main effects of fortified milk at any skeletal site.Conclusion A multi-component community-based exercise program was effective for increasing FN BMD in older men, but additional calcium–vitamin D3 did not enhance the osteogenic response.<br /
Gyroscopes based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond
We propose solid-state gyroscopes based on ensembles of negatively charged
nitrogen-vacancy () centers in diamond. In one scheme, rotation of
the nitrogen-vacancy symmetry axis will induce Berry phase shifts in the electronic ground-state coherences proportional to the solid angle
subtended by the symmetry axis. We estimate sensitivity in the range of
in a 1 sensor volume using
a simple Ramsey sequence. Incorporating dynamical decoupling to suppress
dipolar relaxation may yield sensitivity at the level of . With a modified Ramsey scheme, Berry phase shifts in the
hyperfine sublevels would be employed. The projected sensitivity
is in the range of , however the smaller
gyromagnetic ratio reduces sensitivity to magnetic-field noise by several
orders of magnitude. Reaching would represent
an order of magnitude improvement over other compact, solid-state gyroscope
technologies.Comment: 3 figures, 5 page
Implications of the first detection of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) with Liquid Argon
The CENNS-10 experiment of the COHERENT collaboration has recently reported
the first detection of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) in
liquid Argon with more than significance. In this work, we exploit
the new data in order to probe various interesting parameters which are of key
importance to CEvNS within and beyond the Standard Model. A dedicated
statistical analysis of these data shows that the current constraints are
significantly improved in most cases. We derive a first measurement of the
neutron rms charge radius of Argon, and also an improved determination of the
weak mixing angle in the low energy regime. We also update the constraints on
neutrino non-standard interactions, electromagnetic properties and light
mediators with respect to those derived from the first COHERENT-CsI data.Comment: discussion expanded including light mediators and nuclear
uncertainties, figures added, references added. V3: Fig. 7 corrected,
conclusions unchange
A Robust AFPTAS for Online Bin Packing with Polynomial Migration
In this paper we develop general LP and ILP techniques to find an approximate
solution with improved objective value close to an existing solution. The task
of improving an approximate solution is closely related to a classical theorem
of Cook et al. in the sensitivity analysis for LPs and ILPs. This result is
often applied in designing robust algorithms for online problems. We apply our
new techniques to the online bin packing problem, where it is allowed to
reassign a certain number of items, measured by the migration factor. The
migration factor is defined by the total size of reassigned items divided by
the size of the arriving item. We obtain a robust asymptotic fully polynomial
time approximation scheme (AFPTAS) for the online bin packing problem with
migration factor bounded by a polynomial in . This answers
an open question stated by Epstein and Levin in the affirmative. As a byproduct
we prove an approximate variant of the sensitivity theorem by Cook at el. for
linear programs
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