3,110 research outputs found
The Mass Function of Dark Halos in Superclusters and Voids
A modification of the Press-Schechter theory allowing for presence of a
background large-scale structure (LSS) - a supercluster or a void, is proposed.
The LSS is accounted as the statistical constraints in form of linear
functionals of the random overdensity field. The deviation of the background
density within the LSS is interpreted in a pseudo-cosmological sense. Using the
constraints formalism may help us to probe non-trivial spatial statistics of
haloes, e.g. edge and shape effects on boundaries of the superclusters and
voids. Parameters of the constraints are connected to features of the LSS: its
mean overdensity, a spatial scale and a shape, and spatial momenta of higher
orders. It is shown that presence of a non-virialized LSS can lead to an
observable deviation of the mass function. This effect is exploited to build a
procedure to recover parameters of the background perturbation from the
observationally estimated mass function.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures; to be appeared in Astronomy Reports, 2014, Vol.
58, No. 6, pp. 386-39
On the Distribution of Haloes, Galaxies and Mass
The stochasticity in the distribution of dark haloes in the cosmic density
field is reflected in the distribution function which gives
the probability of finding haloes in a volume with mass density
contrast . We study the properties of this function using
high-resolution -body simulations, and find that is
significantly non-Poisson. The ratio between the variance and the mean goes
from (Poisson) at to (sub-Poisson) at
to (super-Poisson) at . The mean bias
relation is found to be well described by halo bias models based on the
Press-Schechter formalism. The sub-Poisson variance can be explained as a
result of halo-exclusion while the super-Poisson variance at high
may be explained as a result of halo clustering. A simple phenomenological
model is proposed to describe the behavior of the variance as a function of
. Galaxy distribution in the cosmic density field predicted by
semi-analytic models of galaxy formation shows similar stochastic behavior. We
discuss the implications of the stochasticity in halo bias to the modelling of
higher-order moments of dark haloes and of galaxies.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Latex using MN2e style. Minor changes. Accepted
for publication in MNRA
The Pairwise Peculiar Velocity Dispersion of Galaxies: Effects of the Infall
We study the reliability of the reconstruction method which uses a modelling
of the redshift distortions of the two-point correlation function to estimate
the pairwise peculiar velocity dispersion of galaxies. In particular, the
dependence of this quantity on different models for the infall velocity is
examined for the Las Campanas Redshift Survey. We make extensive use of
numerical simulations and of mock catalogs derived from them to discuss the
effect of a self-similar infall model, of zero infall, and of the real infall
taken from the simulation. The implications for two recent discrepant
determinations of the pairwise velocity dispersion for this survey are
discussed.Comment: minor changes in the discussion; accepted for publication in ApJ; 8
pages with 2 figures include
Nonlinear Gravitational Clustering: dreams of a paradigm
We discuss the late time evolution of the gravitational clustering in an
expanding universe, based on the nonlinear scaling relations (NSR) which
connect the nonlinear and linear two point correlation functions. The existence
of critical indices for the NSR suggests that the evolution may proceed towards
a universal profile which does not change its shape at late times. We begin by
clarifying the relation between the density profiles of the individual halo and
the slope of the correlation function and discuss the conditions under which
the slopes of the correlation function at the extreme nonlinear end can be
independent of the initial power spectrum. If the evolution should lead to a
profile which preserves the shape at late times, then the correlation function
should grow as [in a universe] een at nonlinear scales. We
prove that such exact solutions do not exist; however, ther e exists a class of
solutions (``psuedo-linear profiles'', PLP's for short) which evolve as
to a good approximation. It turns out that the PLP's are the correlation
functions which arise if the individual halos are assumed to be isothermal
spheres. They are also configurations of mass in which the nonlinear effects of
gravitational clustering is a minimum and hence can act as building blocks of
the nonlinear universe. We discuss the implicatios of this result.Comment: 32 Pages, Submitted to Ap
The efficacy and safety of insulin-sensitizing drugs in HIV-associated lipodystrophy syndrome: a meta-analysis of randomized trials
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HIV-associated lipodystrophy syndrome (HALS) is characterized by insulin resistance, abnormal lipid metabolism and redistribution of body fat. To date, there has been no quantitative summary of the effects of insulin sensitizing-agents for the treatment of this challenging problem.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We searched MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, clinical trial registries, conference proceedings and references for randomized trials evaluating rosiglitazone, pioglitazone or metformin in patients with evidence of HALS (last update December 2009). Two reviewers independently abstracted data and assessed quality using a standard form. We contacted authors for missing data and calculated weighted mean differences (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each outcome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sixteen trials involving 920 patients met inclusion criteria. Rosiglitazone modestly improved fasting insulin (WMD -3.67 mU/L; CI -7.03, -0.31) but worsened triglycerides (WMD 32.5 mg/dL; CI 1.93, 63.1), LDL (WMD 11.33 mg/dL; CI 1.85, 20.82) and HDL (WMD -2.91 mg/dL; CI -4.56, -1.26) when compared to placebo or no treatment in seven trials. Conversely, pioglitazone had no impact on fasting insulin, triglycerides or LDL but improved HDL (WMD 7.60 mg/dL; CI 0.20, 15.0) when compared to placebo in two trials. Neither drug favorably impacted measures of fat redistribution. Based on six trials with placebo or no treatment controls, metformin reduced fasting insulin (WMD -8.94 mU/L; CI -13.0, -4.90), triglycerides (WMD -42.87 mg/dL; CI -73.3, -12.5), body mass index (WMD -0.70 kg/m<sup>2</sup>; CI -1.09, -0.31) and waist-to-hip ratio (WMD -0.02; CI -0.03, 0.00). Three trials directly compared metformin to rosiglitazone. While effects on insulin were comparable, lipid levels and measures of fat redistribution all favored metformin. Severe adverse events were uncommon in all 16 trials.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on our meta-analysis, rosiglitazone should not be used in HALS. While pioglitazone may be safer, any benefits appear small. Metformin was the only insulin-sensitizer to demonstrate beneficial effects on all three components of HALS.</p
Deriving the Nonlinear Cosmological Power Spectrum and Bispectrum from Analytic Dark Matter Halo Profiles and Mass Functions
We present an analytic model for the fully nonlinear power spectrum P and
bispectrum Q of the cosmological mass density field. The model is based on
physical properties of dark matter halos, with the three main model inputs
being analytic halo density profiles, halo mass functions, and halo-halo
spatial correlations, each of which has been well studied in the literature. We
demonstrate that this new model can reproduce the power spectrum and bispectrum
computed from cosmological simulations of both an n=-2 scale-free model and a
low-density cold dark matter model. To enhance the dynamic range of these large
simulations, we use the synthetic halo replacement technique of Ma & Fry
(2000a), where the original halos with numerically softened cores are replaced
by synthetic halos of realistic density profiles. At high wavenumbers, our
model predicts a slope for the nonlinear power spectrum different from the
often-used fitting formulas in the literature based on the stable clustering
assumption. Our model also predicts a three-point amplitude Q that is scale
dependent, in contrast to the popular hierarchical clustering assumption. This
model provides a rapid way to compute the mass power spectrum and bispectrum
over all length scales where the input halo properties are valid. It also
provides a physical interpretation of the clustering properties of matter in
the universe.Comment: Final version to appear in the Astrophysical Journal 544 (2000).
Minor revisions; 1 additional figure. 25 pages with 6 inserted figure
The Small Scale Velocity Dispersion of Galaxies: A Comparison of Cosmological Simulations
The velocity dispersion of galaxies on small scales ( Mpc),
, can be estimated from the anisotropy of the galaxy-galaxy
correlation function in redshift space. We apply this technique to
``mock-catalogs'' extracted from N-body simulations of several different
variants of Cold Dark Matter dominated cosmological models to obtain results
which may be consistently compared to similar results from observations. We
find a large variation in the value of in different
regions of the same simulation. We conclude that this statistic should not be
considered to conclusively rule out any of the cosmological models we have
studied. We attempt to make the statistic more robust by removing clusters from
the simulations using an automated cluster-removing routine, but this appears
to reduce the discriminatory power of the statistic. However, studying
as clusters with different internal velocity dispersions are
removed leads to interesting information about the amount of power on cluster
and subcluster scales. We also compute the pairwise velocity dispersion
directly and compare this to the values obtained using the Davis-Peebles
method, and find that the agreement is fairly good. We evaluate the models used
for the mean streaming velocity and the pairwise peculiar velocity distribution
in the original Davis-Peebles method by comparing the models with the results
from the simulations.Comment: 20 pages, uuencoded (Latex file + 8 Postscript figures), uses AAS
macro
Cosmological Three-Point Function: Testing The Halo Model Against Simulations
We perform detailed comparison of the semi-analytic halo model predictions
with measurements in numerical simulations of the two and three point
correlation functions (3PCF), as well as power spectrum and bispectrum. We
discuss the accuracy and self-consistency of the halo model description of
gravitational clustering in the non-linear regime and constrain halo model
parameters. We exploit the recently proposed multipole expansion of three point
statistics that expresses rotation invariance in the most natural way. This not
only offers technical advantages by reducing the integrals required for the
halo model predictions, but amounts to a convenient way of compressing the
information contained in the 3PCF. We find that, with an appropriate choice of
the halo boundary and mass function cut-off, halo model predictions are in good
agreement with the bispectrum measured in numerical simulations. However, the
halo model predicts less than the observed configuration dependence of the 3PCF
on ~ Mpc scales. This effect is mainly due to quadrupole moment deficit,
possibly related to the assumption of spherical halo geometry. Our analysis
shows that using its harmonic decomposition, the full configuration dependence
of the 3PCF in the non-linear regime can be compressed into just a few numbers,
the lowest multipoles. Moreover, these multipoles are closely related to the
highest signal to noise eigenmodes of the 3PCF. Therefore this estimator may
simplify future analyses aimed at constraining cosmological and halo model
parameters from observational data.Comment: Minor corrections. Accepted for publication by Ap
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