A Captured Runaway Black Hole in NGC 1277?

Recent results indicate that the compact lenticular galaxy NGC 1277 in the Perseus Cluster contains a black hole of approximately 10 billion solar masses. This far exceeds the expected mass of the central black hole in a galaxy of the modest dimensions of NGC 1277. We suggest that this giant black hole was ejected from the nearby giant galaxy NGC 1275 and subsequently captured by NGC 1277. The ejection was the result of gravitational radiation recoil when two large black holes merged following the merger of two giant ellipticals that helped to form NGC 1275. The black hole wandered in the cluster core until it was captured in a close encounter with NGC 1277. The migration of black holes in clusters may be a common occurrence.Comment: Four pages, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Major revisions, especially Section

Real-time representations of the output gap

Methods are described for the appropriate use of data obtained and analysed in real time to represent the output gap. The methods employ cointegrating VAR techniques to model real-time measures and realizations of output series jointly. The model is used to mitigate the impact of data revisions; to generate appropriate forecasts that can deliver economically meaningful output trends and that can take into account the end-of-sample problems encountered in measuring these trends; and to calculate probability forecasts that convey in a clear way the uncertainties associated with the gap measures. The methods are applied to data for the United States 1965q4–2004q4, and the improvements over standard methods are illustrated

Intralesional corticosteroid-induced hypopigmentation and atrophy

Intralesional corticosteroids are associated with various, uncommon, local adverse events [1]. Atrophy and hypopigmentation most commonlyremain localized to sites of injection. However, outward radiation in a linear, streaky pattern has been reported and is termed “perilesional/perilymphatic hypopigmentation or atrophy [2].” We report a case of this rare adverse event

The Black Hole Mass - Galaxy Luminosity Relationship for Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasars

We investigate the relationship between the mass of the central supermassive black hole, M_bh, and the host galaxy luminosity, L_gal, in a sample of quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7). We use composite quasar spectra binned by black hole mass and redshift to assess galaxy features that would otherwise be overwhelmed by noise in individual spectra. The black hole mass is calculated using the photoionization method, and the host galaxy luminosity is inferred from the depth of the Ca II H + K features in the composite spectra. We evaluate the evolution in the M_bh - L_gal relationship by examining the redshift dependence of Delta log M_bh, the offset in black hole mass from the local black hole - bulge relationship. There is little systematic trend in Delta log M_bh out to z = 0.8. Using the width of the [O III] emission line as a proxy for the stellar velocity dispersion, sigma_*, we find agreement of our derived host luminosities with the locally-observed Faber-Jackson relation. This supports the utility of the width of the [O III] line as a proxy for sigma_* in statistical studies.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; final version; major revision

The Monterey event in the Mediterranean: A record from shelf sediments of Malta

Oligo-Miocene carbonate platform and shelf sediments outcropping on the Maltese Islands provide an excellent archive of the paleoceanography of the central Mediterranean. A sequence of shallow water limestones, than shelf limestones, and marls, followed again by shallow water limestones, reflects drowning of a carbonate platform, the establishment of a shelf environment and, in the late Miocene, renewed progradation and aggradation of shallow water carbonates. The sequence recording the deepening of the Maltese platform contains several phosphorite hardgrounds and phosphorite pebble beds. These phosphorites were dated with strontium isotopes. Major episodes of phosphogenesis occurred between 25 and 16 Ma, and they are coeval with those phosphorite events reported from Florida and North Carolina. A Miocene carbon isotope and oxygen isotope stratigraphy was established on planktic and benthic foraminifera and on bulk samples. A major carbon isotope excursion with an amplitude of up to +l‰ between 18 and 12.5 Ma can be correlated with the globally recognized Monterey carbon isotope excursion. This is the first record of this event both in shallow water sediments and in the Mediterranean. The carbon isotope excursion precedes an oxygen isotope excursion which also was recognized in deep-sea records. Major episodes of phosphogenesis and platform drowning preceded the carbon isotope excursion by up to millions of years

Income and happiness: Evidence, explanations and economic implications

There is now a great deal of micro-econometric evidence, both cross-section and panel, showing that income is positively correlated with well-being. Yet the famous Easterlin paradox shows essentially no change in average happiness at the country level, despite spectacular rises in per capita GDP. We argue that survey well-being questions are indeed good proxy measures of utility, and resolve the Easterlin paradox by appealing to income comparisons: these can be to others (social comparisons) or to oneself in the past (habituation). We review a substantial amount of econometric, experimental and neurological literature consistent with comparisons, and then spell out the implications for a wide range of economic issues.income ; happiness ; social comparisons ; habituation ; economic policy