2,515 research outputs found
Leveraging SN Ia spectroscopic similarity to improve the measurement of
Recent studies suggest spectroscopic differences explain a fraction of the
variation in Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) luminosities after light-curve/color
standardization. In this work, (i) we empirically characterize the variations
of standardized SN Ia luminosities, and (ii) we use a spectroscopically
inferred parameter, SIP, to improve the precision of SNe Ia along the distance
ladder and the determination of the Hubble constant (). First, we show
that the \texttt{Pantheon+} covariance model modestly overestimates the
uncertainty of standardized magnitudes by %, in the parameter space
used by the Team to measure ; accounting for this alone
yields km s Mpc. Furthermore, accounting
for spectroscopic similarity between SNe~Ia on the distance ladder reduces
their relative scatter to mag per object (compared to
mag previously). Combining these two findings in the model of SN covariance, we
find an overall 14% reduction (to km s Mpc) of the
uncertainty in the Hubble constant and a modest increase in its value.
Including a budget for systematic uncertainties itemized by Riess et al.
(2022a), we report an updated local Hubble constant with %
uncertainty, km s Mpc. We conclude that
spectroscopic differences among photometrically standardized SNe Ia do not
explain the ``Hubble tension." Rather, accounting for such differences
increases its significance, as the discrepancy against CDM calibrated
by the 2018 measurement rises to 5.7.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, accepted to JCA
Discovery and Follow-up Observations of the Young Type Ia Supernova 2016coj
The Type~Ia supernova (SN~Ia) 2016coj in NGC 4125 (redshift ) was
discovered by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search 4.9 days after the fitted
first-light time (FFLT; 11.1 days before -band maximum). Our first detection
(pre-discovery) is merely day after the FFLT, making SN 2016coj one
of the earliest known detections of a SN Ia. A spectrum was taken only 3.7 hr
after discovery (5.0 days after the FFLT) and classified as a normal SN Ia. We
performed high-quality photometry, low- and high-resolution spectroscopy, and
spectropolarimetry, finding that SN 2016coj is a spectroscopically normal SN
Ia, but with a high velocity of \ion{Si}{2} 6355 (\,\kms\
around peak brightness). The \ion{Si}{2} 6355 velocity evolution can
be well fit by a broken-power-law function for up to a month after the FFLT. SN
2016coj has a normal peak luminosity ( mag), and it
reaches a -band maximum \about16.0~d after the FFLT. We estimate there to be
low host-galaxy extinction based on the absence of Na~I~D absorption lines in
our low- and high-resolution spectra. The spectropolarimetric data exhibit weak
polarization in the continuum, but the \ion{Si}{2} line polarization is quite
strong () at peak brightness.Comment: Submitte
Rare Variants in PLXNA4 and Parkinson's Disease.
Approximately 20% of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) report a positive family history. Yet, a large portion of causal and disease-modifying variants is still unknown. We used exome sequencing in two affected individuals from a family with late-onset familial PD followed by frequency assessment in 975 PD cases and 1014 ethnically-matched controls and linkage analysis to identify potentially causal variants. Based on the predicted penetrance and the frequencies, a variant in PLXNA4 proved to be the best candidate and PLXNA4 was screened for additional variants in 862 PD cases and 940 controls, revealing an excess of rare non-synonymous coding variants in PLXNA4 in individuals with PD. Although we cannot conclude that the variant in PLXNA4 is indeed the causative variant, these findings are interesting in the light of a surfacing role of axonal guidance mechanisms in neurodegenerative disorders but, at the same time, highlight the difficulties encountered in the study of rare variants identified by next-generation sequencing in diseases with autosomal dominant or complex patterns of inheritance
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Characterization of subsurface media from locations up- and down-gradient of a uranium-contaminated aquifer.
The processing of sediment to accurately characterize the spatially-resolved depth profiles of geophysical and geochemical properties along with signatures of microbial density and activity remains a challenge especially in complex contaminated areas. This study processed cores from two sediment boreholes from background and contaminated core sediments and surrounding groundwater. Fresh core sediments were compared by depth to capture the changes in sediment structure, sediment minerals, biomass, and pore water geochemistry in terms of major and trace elements including pollutants, cations, anions, and organic acids. Soil porewater samples were matched to groundwater level, flow rate, and preferential flows and compared to homogenized groundwater-only samples from neighboring monitoring wells. Groundwater analysis of nearby wells only revealed high sulfate and nitrate concentrations while the same analysis using sediment pore water samples with depth was able to suggest areas high in sulfate- and nitrate-reducing bacteria based on their decreased concentration and production of reduced by-products that could not be seen in the groundwater samples. Positive correlations among porewater content, total organic carbon, trace metals and clay minerals revealed a more complicated relationship among contaminant, sediment texture, groundwater table, and biomass. The fluctuating capillary interface had high concentrations of Fe and Mn-oxides combined with trace elements including U, Th, Sr, Ba, Cu, and Co. This suggests the mobility of potentially hazardous elements, sediment structure, and biogeochemical factors are all linked together to impact microbial communities, emphasizing that solid interfaces play an important role in determining the abundance of bacteria in the sediments
Cosmicflows-4
With Cosmicflows-4, distances are compiled for 55,877 galaxies gathered into
38,065 groups. Eight methodologies are employed, with the largest numbers
coming from the correlations between the photometric and kinematic properties
of spiral galaxies (TF) and elliptical galaxies (FP). Supernovae that arise
from degenerate progenitors (SNIa) are an important overlapping component.
Smaller contributions come from distance estimates from the surface brightness
fluctuations of elliptical galaxies (SBF) and the luminosities and expansion
rates of core collapse supernovae (SNII). Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation
(CPLR) and Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) observations founded on local
stellar parallax measurements along with the geometric maser distance to NGC
4258 provide the absolute scaling of distances. The assembly of galaxies into
groups is an important feature of the study in facilitating overlaps between
methodologies. Merging between multiple contributions within a methodology and
between methodologies is carried out with Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo
procedures. The final assembly of distances is compatible with a value of the
Hubble constant of km s Mpc with the small statistical
error km s Mpc but a large potential systematic error
~3 km s Mpc. Peculiar velocities can be inferred from the
measured distances. The interpretation of the field of peculiar velocities is
complex because of large errors on individual components and invites analyses
beyond the scope of this study.Comment: 38 pages, 24 figures. catalogs available at edd.ifa.hawaii.edu.
Accepted to Ap
A Comprehensive Measurement of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant with 1 km/s/Mpc Uncertainty from the Hubble Space Telescope and the SH0ES Team
We report observations from HST of Cepheids in the hosts of 42 SNe Ia used to
calibrate the Hubble constant (H0). These include all suitable SNe Ia in the
last 40 years at z1000 orbits, more than doubling the
sample whose size limits the precision of H0. The Cepheids are calibrated
geometrically from Gaia EDR3 parallaxes, masers in N4258 (here tripling that
Cepheid sample), and DEBs in the LMC. The Cepheids were measured with the same
WFC3 instrument and filters (F555W, F814W, F160W) to negate zeropoint errors.
We present multiple verifications of Cepheid photometry and tests of
background determinations that show measurements are accurate in the presence
of crowding. The SNe calibrate the mag-z relation from the new Pantheon+
compilation, accounting here for covariance between all SN data, with host
properties and SN surveys matched to negate differences. We decrease the
uncertainty in H0 to 1 km/s/Mpc with systematics. We present a comprehensive
set of ~70 analysis variants to explore the sensitivity of H0 to selections of
anchors, SN surveys, z range, variations in the analysis of dust, metallicity,
form of the P-L relation, SN color, flows, sample bifurcations, and
simultaneous measurement of H(z).
Our baseline result from the Cepheid-SN sample is H0=73.04+-1.04 km/s/Mpc,
which includes systematics and lies near the median of all analysis variants.
We demonstrate consistency with measures from HST of the TRGB between SN hosts
and NGC 4258 with Cepheids and together these yield 72.53+-0.99. Including
high-z SN Ia we find H0=73.30+-1.04 with q0=-0.51+-0.024. We find a 5-sigma
difference with H0 predicted by Planck+LCDM, with no indication this arises
from measurement errors or analysis variations considered to date. The source
of this now long-standing discrepancy between direct and cosmological routes to
determining the Hubble constant remains unknown.Comment: 67 pages, 31 figures, replaced to match ApJ accepted version (March
2022), Table 6 distances included here, long form of photometry tables,
fitting code, compact form of data, available from Github page,
https://pantheonplussh0es.github.i
SN 2017cfd: A Normal Type Ia Supernova Discovered Very Young
The Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2017cfd in IC 0511 (redshift z=0.01209 ± 0.00016) was discovered by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search 1.6 ± 0.7 day after the fitted first-light time (15.2 days before B-band maximum brightness). Photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations show that SN 2017cfd is a typical, normal SN Ia with a peak luminosity MB ≈ -19.2± 0.2 mag, ∆m15(B) = 1.16 mag, and reached a B-band maximum ∼16.8 days after the first light. We estimate there to be moderately strong host-galaxy extinction (AV = 0.39 ± 0.03 mag) based on MLCS2k2 fitting. The spectrum reveals a Si II λ6355 velocity of ∼11,200 km s-1 at peak brightness. SN 2017cfd was discovered very young, with multiband data taken starting 2 days after the first light, making it a valuable complement to the currently small sample (fewer than a dozen) of SNe Ia time (B-V)0 color evolution belongs to the "blue" population rather than to the distinct "red" population. Using the photometry, we constrain the companion-star radius to be ≲2.5 R☉ with the Kasen model, thus ruling out a red-giant companion
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