2,646 research outputs found
Discovery of distant high luminosity infrared galaxies
We have developed a method for selecting the most luminous galaxies detected
by IRAS based on their extreme values of R, the ratio of 60 micron and B-band
luminosity. These objects have optical counterparts that are close to or below
the limits of Schmidt surveys. We have tested our method on a 1079 deg^2 region
of sky, where we have selected a sample of IRAS sources with 60 micron flux
densities greater than 0.2 Jy, corresponding to a redshift limit z~1 for
objects with far-IR luminosities of 10^{13} L_sun. Optical identifications for
these were obtained from the UK Schmidt Telescope plates, using the likelihood
ratio method. Optical spectroscopy has been carried out to reliably identify
and measure the redshifts of six objects with very faint optical counterparts,
which are the only objects with R>100 in the sample. One object is a
hyperluminous infrared galaxy (HyLIG) at z=0.834. Of the remaining, fainter
objects, five are ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs) with a mean redshift
of 0.45, higher than the highest known redshift of any non-hyperluminous ULIG
prior to this study. High excitation lines reveal the presence of an active
nucleus in the HyLIG, just as in the other known infrared-selected HyLIGs. In
contrast, no high excitation lines are found in the non-hyperluminous ULIGs. We
discuss the implications of our results for the number density of HyLIGs at z<1
and for the evolution of the infrared galaxy population out to this redshift,
and show that substantial evolution is indicated. Our selection method is
robust against the presence of gravitational lensing if the optical and
infrared magnification factors are similar, and we suggest a way of using it to
select candidate gravitationally lensed infrared galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, accepted for publication in A&
The Parkes quarter-Jansky flat-spectrum sample 3. Space density and evolution of QSOs
We analyze the Parkes quarter-Jansky flat-spectrum sample of QSOs in terms of
space density, including the redshift distribution, the radio luminosity
function, and the evidence for a redshift cutoff. With regard to the luminosity
function, we note the strong evolution in space density from the present day to
epochs corresponding to redshifts ~ 1. We draw attention to a selection effect
due to spread in spectral shape that may have misled other investigators to
consider the apparent similarities in shape of luminosity functions in
different redshift shells as evidence for luminosity evolution. To examine the
evolution at redshifts beyond 3, we develop a model-independent method based on
the V_max test using each object to predict expectation densities beyond z=3.
With this we show that a diminution in space density at z > 3 is present at a
significance level >4 sigma. We identify a severe bias in such determinations
from using flux-density measurements at epochs significantly later than that of
the finding survey. The form of the diminution is estimated, and is shown to be
very similar to that found for QSOs selected in X-ray and optical wavebands.
The diminution is also compared with the current estimates of star-formation
evolution, with less conclusive results. In summary we suggest that the
reionization epoch is little influenced by powerful flat-spectrum QSOs, and
that dust obscuration does not play a major role in our view of the QSO
population selected at radio, optical or X-ray wavelengths.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted 18 Dec 2004, Astron. & Astrophys. The
accepted version is expanded to include an analysis of the form of the
decline in radio-QSO space density at high redshifts. This is compared with
the forms of epoch dependence derived for optically-selected QSOs, for
X-ray-selected QSOs, and for star formation rat
The Keck/OSIRIS Nearby AGN Survey (KONA) I. The Nuclear K-band Properties of Nearby AGN
We introduce the Keck Osiris Nearby AGN survey (KONA), a new adaptive
optics-assisted integral-field spectroscopic survey of Seyfert galaxies. KONA
permits at ~0.1" resolution a detailed study of the nuclear kinematic structure
of gas and stars in a representative sample of 40 local bona fide active
galactic nucleus (AGN). KONA seeks to characterize the physical processes
responsible for the coevolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies,
principally inflows and outflows. With these IFU data of the nuclear regions of
40 Seyfert galaxies, the KONA survey will be able to study, for the first time,
a number of key topics with meaningful statistics. In this paper we study the
nuclear K-band properties of nearby AGN. We find that the luminosities of the
unresolved Seyfert 1 sources at 2.1 microns are correlated with the hard X-ray
luminosities, implying that the majority of the emission is non-stellar. The
best-fit correlation is logLK = 0.9logL2-10 keV + 4 over 3 orders of magnitude
in both K-band and X-ray luminosities. We find no strong correlation between
2.1 microns luminosity and hard X-ray luminosity for the Seyfert 2 galaxies.
The spatial extent and spectral slope of the Seyfert 2 galaxies indicate the
presence of nuclear star formation and attenuating material (gas and dust),
which in some cases is compact and in some galaxies extended. We detect
coronal-line emission in 36 galaxies and for the first time in five galaxies.
Finally, we find 4/20 galaxies that are optically classified as Seyfert 2 show
broad emission lines in the near-IR, and one galaxy (NGC 7465) shows evidence
of a double nucleus.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 19 pages with 18 figure
Controlled radical polymerization of vinyl acetate mediated by a vanadium complex
Initiation of the polymerization of vinyl acetate with azobis(isobutyronitrile) in the presence of a vanadium bis(iminopyridine) complex generates vanadium-capped dormant polymer chains with excellent correlation between molecular weight and conversion and good molecular weight distributions.JID: 9610838; 2010/02/17 [aheadofprint]; 2010/03/09 [epublish]; ppublishSource type: Electronic(1
Do Quasars Lens Quasars?
If the unexpectedly high frequency of quasar pairs with very different
component redshifts is due to the lensing of a population of background quasars
by the foreground quasar, typical lens masses must be \sim10^{12}M_{\sun} and
the sum of all such quasar lenses would have to contain times the
closure density of the Universe. It then seems plausible that a very high
fraction of all \sim10^{12} M_{\sun} gravitational lenses with redshifts
contain quasars. Here I propose that these systems have evolved to
form the present population of massive galaxies with M and M
>5\times10^{11} M_{\sun}.Comment: 6 pages, aas style, ams symbols, ApJL (accepted
Radio Signatures of HI at High Redshift: Mapping the End of the ``Dark Ages''
The emission of 21-cm radiation from a neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) at
high redshift is discussed in connection with the thermal and ionization
history of the universe. The physical mechanisms that make such radiation
detectable against the cosmic microwave background include Ly_alpha coupling of
the hydrogen spin temperature to the kinetic temperature of the gas and
preheating of the IGM by the first generation of stars and quasars. Three
different signatures are investigated in detail: (a) the fluctuations in the
redshifted 21-cm emission induced by the gas density inhomogeneities that
develop at early times in cold dark matter (CDM) dominated cosmologies; (b) the
sharp absorption feature in the radio sky due to the rapid rise of the Ly_alpha
continuum background that marks the birth of the first UV sources in the
universe; and (c) the 21-cm emission and absorption shells that are generated
on several Mpc scales around the first bright quasars. Future radio
observations with projected facilities like the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
and the Square Kilometer Array may shed light on the power spectrum of density
fluctuations at z>5, and map the end of the "dark ages", i.e. the transition
from the post-recombination universe to one populated with radiation sources.Comment: LateX, 19 pages, 5 figures, significantly revised version to be
published in the Ap
Global 21cm signal experiments: a designer's guide
[Abridged] The spatially averaged global spectrum of the redshifted 21cm line
has generated much experimental interest, for it is potentially a direct probe
of the Epoch of Reionization and the Dark Ages. Since the cosmological signal
here has a purely spectral signature, most proposed experiments have little
angular sensitivity. This is worrisome because with only spectra, the global
21cm signal can be difficult to distinguish from foregrounds such as Galactic
synchrotron radiation, as both are spectrally smooth and the latter is orders
of magnitude brighter. We establish a mathematical framework for global signal
data analysis in a way that removes foregrounds optimally, complementing
spectra with angular information. We explore various experimental design
trade-offs, and find that 1) with spectral-only methods, it is impossible to
mitigate errors that arise from uncertainties in foreground modeling; 2)
foreground contamination can be significantly reduced for experiments with fine
angular resolution; 3) most of the statistical significance in a positive
detection during the Dark Ages comes from a characteristic high-redshift trough
in the 21cm brightness temperature; and 4) Measurement errors decrease more
rapidly with integration time for instruments with fine angular resolution. We
show that if observations and algorithms are optimized based on these findings,
an instrument with a 5 degree beam can achieve highly significant detections
(greater than 5-sigma) of even extended (high Delta-z) reionization scenarios
after integrating for 500 hrs. This is in contrast to instruments without
angular resolution, which cannot detect gradual reionization. Abrupt ionization
histories can be detected at the level of 10-100's of sigma. The expected
errors are also low during the Dark Ages, with a 25-sigma detection of the
expected cosmological signal after only 100 hrs of integration.Comment: 34 pages, 30 figures. Replaced (v2) to match accepted PRD version
(minor pedagogical additions to text; methods, results, and conclusions
unchanged). Fixed two typos (v3); text, results, conclusions etc. completely
unchange
Simulation of primordial object formation
We have included the chemical rate network responsible for the formation of
molecular Hydrogen in the N-body hydrodynamic code, Hydra, in order to study
the formation of the first cosmological at redshifts between 10 and 50. We have
tested our implementation of the chemical and cooling processes by comparing
N-body top hat simulations with theoretical predictions from a semi-analytic
model and found them to be in good agreement. We find that post-virialization
properties are insensitive to the initial abundance of molecular hydrogen. Our
main objective was to determine the minimum mass () of perturbations
that could become self gravitating (a prerequisite for star formation), and the
redshift at which this occurred. We have developed a robust indicator for
detecting the presence of a self-gravitating cloud in our simulations and find
that we can do so with a baryonic particle mass-resolution of 40 solar masses.
We have performed cosmological simulations of primordial objects and find that
the object's mass and redshift at which they become self gravitating agree well
with the results from the top hat simulations. Once a critical
molecular hydrogen fractional abundance of about 0.0005 has formed in an
object, the cooling time drops below the dynamical time at the centre of the
cloud and the gas free falls in the dark matter potential wells, becoming self
gravitating a dynamical time later.Comment: 45 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Ap
Post-polymerization functionalization of poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(β-6-heptenolactone) diblock copolymers to tune properties and self-assembly
Copolymers were synthesized and functionalized with a variety of moieties to tune self-assembly and install drugs or fluorescent dyes. , Polyester-based amphiphilic block copolymers and their nanoassemblies are of significant interest for a wide range of applications due to the degradability of the polyester block. However, the commonly used polyesters lack functional groups on their backbones, limiting the possibilities to chemically modify these polymers. Described here are new poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)–poly(β-6-heptenolactone) (PHEL) block copolymers having pendant alkenes at each repeat unit on the PHEL block. First, the self-assembly of these block copolymers in aqueous solution was studied and it was found that they formed solid nanoparticles and vesicles depending on the relative block lengths. Next the alkene moieties of the block copolymer were modified with either hydrophilic or hydrophobic pendant groups using thiol–ene reactions, allowing the hydrophilic mass fractions and consequently the self-assembled morphologies to be tuned, accessing both smaller nanoparticles and cylindrical assemblies. It was also demonstrated that the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel or a fluorescent rhodamine dye could be easily conjugated to the block copolymers and the self-assembly of these conjugates was explored. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that PEO-PHEL block copolymers can serve as versatile backbones for the preparation of functional, polyester-based materials
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