46 research outputs found
The Evolution of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function at z= 4-8: A Steepening Low-mass-end Slope with Increasing Redshift
We present galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMFs) at 4-8 from a
rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) selected sample of 4500 galaxies, found via
photometric redshifts over an area of 280 arcmin in the CANDELS/GOODS
fields and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The deepest Spitzer/IRAC data
yet-to-date and the relatively large volume allow us to place a better
constraint at both the low- and high-mass ends of the GSMFs compared to
previous space-based studies from pre-CANDELS observations. Supplemented by a
stacking analysis, we find a linear correlation between the rest-frame UV
absolute magnitude at 1500 \AA\ () and logarithmic stellar mass
() that holds for galaxies with . We
use simulations to validate our method of measuring the slope of the - relation, finding that the bias is minimized with a hybrid
technique combining photometry of individual bright galaxies with stacked
photometry for faint galaxies. The resultant measured slopes do not
significantly evolve over 4-8, while the normalization of the trend
exhibits a weak evolution toward lower masses at higher redshift. We combine
the - distribution with observed rest-frame UV luminosity
functions at each redshift to derive the GSMFs, finding that the low-mass-end
slope becomes steeper with increasing redshift from
at to at
. The inferred stellar mass density, when integrated over
-, increases by a factor of
between and and is in good agreement with the time integral of the
cosmic star formation rate density.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, ApJ, in pres
The Science Case for an Extended Spitzer Mission
Although the final observations of the Spitzer Warm Mission are currently
scheduled for March 2019, it can continue operations through the end of the
decade with no loss of photometric precision. As we will show, there is a
strong science case for extending the current Warm Mission to December 2020.
Spitzer has already made major impacts in the fields of exoplanets (including
microlensing events), characterizing near Earth objects, enhancing our
knowledge of nearby stars and brown dwarfs, understanding the properties and
structure of our Milky Way galaxy, and deep wide-field extragalactic surveys to
study galaxy birth and evolution. By extending Spitzer through 2020, it can
continue to make ground-breaking discoveries in those fields, and provide
crucial support to the NASA flagship missions JWST and WFIRST, as well as the
upcoming TESS mission, and it will complement ground-based observations by LSST
and the new large telescopes of the next decade. This scientific program
addresses NASA's Science Mission Directive's objectives in astrophysics, which
include discovering how the universe works, exploring how it began and evolved,
and searching for life on planets around other stars.Comment: 75 pages. See page 3 for Table of Contents and page 4 for Executive
Summar
A search for high-redshift direct collapse black hole candidates in the PEARLS north ecliptic pole field
Direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) of mass - that
form in HI-cooling halos in the early Universe are promising progenitors of the
supermassive black holes that fuel the observed quasars. Efficient accretion of the surrounding gas onto such DCBH
seeds may render them sufficiently bright for detection with the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST) up to . Additionally, the very steep and
red spectral slope predicted across the -5 m wavelength range
of the JWST/NIRSpec instrument during their initial growth phase should make
them photometrically identifiable up to very high redshifts. Here, we present a
search for such DCBH candidates across the 34 arcmin in the first two
spokes of the JWST cycle-1 "Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and
Lensing Science" (PEARLS) survey of the North Ecliptic Pole Time Domain Field
(NEP), covering 8 NIRCam filters down to a maximum depth of 29 AB mag.
We identify three objects with spectral energy distributions consistent with
the Pacucci et al. (2016) DCBH models. However, we also note that even with
data in 8 NIRCam filters, objects of this type remain degenerate with dusty
galaxies and obscured active galactic nuclei over a wide range of redshifts.
Follow-up spectroscopy would be required to pin down the nature of these
objects, and two of our DCBH candidates are sufficiently bright to make this
practical. Based on our sample of DCBH candidates and assumptions on the
typical duration of the DCBH steep-slope state, we set a conservative upper
limit of comoving Mpc (cMpc) on the
comoving density of host halos capable of hosting DCBHs with spectral energy
distributions similar to the Pacucci et al. (2016) models at -13.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, submitted to A&
The Evolution of the Galaxy Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Luminosity Function Over the First Two Billion Years
We present a robust measurement and analysis of the rest-frame ultraviolet
(UV) luminosity function at z=4-8. We use deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging
over the CANDELS/GOODS fields, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and the Year 1
Hubble Frontier Field deep parallel observations. These surveys provides an
effective volume of 0.6-1.2 x 10^6 Mpc^3 over this epoch, allowing us to
perform a robust search for faint (M_UV=-18) and bright (M_UV < -21) galaxies.
We select candidate galaxies using a well-tested photometric redshift technique
with careful screening of contaminants, finding a sample of 7446 galaxies at
3.51000 galaxies at z~6-8. We measure the luminosity function
using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to measure robust uncertainties. At
the faint end our results agree with previous studies, yet we find a higher
abundance of UV-bright galaxies at z>6, with M* ~ -21 at z>5, different than
that inferred based on previous trends at lower redshift. At z=8, a single
power-law provides an equally good fit to the UV luminosity function, while at
z=6 and 7, an exponential cutoff at the bright-end is moderately preferred. We
compare to semi-analytical models, and find that the lack of evolution in M* is
consistent with models where the impact of dust attenuation on the bright-end
of the luminosity function decreases at higher redshift. We measure the
evolution of the cosmic star-formation rate density, correcting for dust
attenuation, and find that it declines as (1+z)^(-4.3 +/- 0.5) at z>4,
consistent with observations at z>9. Our observations are consistent with a
reionization history that starts at z>10, completes at z>6, and reaches a
midpoint (x_HII = 0.5) at 6.7<z<9.4. Finally, our observations predict that the
abundance of bright z=9 galaxies is likely higher than previous constraints,
though consistent with recent estimates of bright z~10 galaxies. [abridged]Comment: Re-submitted to the Astrophysical Journal after first referee's
report. 34 pages, 21 figures, 7 tables. The source file includes a machine
readable table of our full galaxy sampl
EPOCHS Paper II: The Ultraviolet Luminosity Function from using 110 square arcminutes of deep, blank-field data from the PEARLS Survey and Public Science Programmes
We present an analysis of the ultraviolet luminosity function (UV LF) and
star formation rate density of distant galaxies () in the
`blank' fields of the Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization Science
(PEARLS) survey combined with Early Release Science (ERS) data from the CEERS,
GLASS and NGDEEP surveys/fields. We use a combination of SED fitting tools and
quality cuts to obtain a reliable selection and characterisation of
high-redshift () galaxies from a consistently processed set of deep,
near-infrared imaging. Within an area of 110 arcmin, we identify 214
candidate galaxies at redshifts and we use this sample to study the
ultraviolet luminosity function (UV LF) in four redshift bins between
. The measured number density of galaxies at and match
those of past observations undertaken by the em Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
However, towards higher redshifts we find that the evolution of the UV LF is
mild, resulting in higher measured number densities of UV luminous galaxies at
and compared to predictions from simulations and past HST
observations. When examining the star formation rate density of galaxies at
this time period, our observations are still consistent with a constant star
formation efficiency, are slightly lower than previous early estimations using
JWST and support galaxy driven reionization at .Comment: 28 Pages, 4 Tables, 9 Figures, Submitted to Ap
Development of an ex vivo porcine lung model for studying growth, virulence, and signaling of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Research into chronic infection by bacterial pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, uses various in vitro and live host models. While these have increased our understanding of pathogen growth, virulence, and evolution, each model has certain limitations. In vitro models cannot recapitulate the complex spatial structure of host organs, while experiments on live hosts are limited in terms of sample size and infection duration for ethical reasons; live mammal models also require specialized facilities which are costly to run. To address this, we have developed an ex vivo pig lung (EVPL) model for quantifying Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth, quorum sensing (QS), virulence factor production, and tissue damage in an environment that mimics a chronically infected cystic fibrosis (CF) lung. In a first test of our model, we show that lasR mutants, which do not respond to 3-oxo-C12-homoserine lactone (HSL)-mediated QS, exhibit reduced virulence factor production in EVPL. We also show that lasR mutants grow as well as or better than a corresponding wild-type strain in EVPL. lasR mutants frequently and repeatedly arise during chronic CF lung infection, but the evolutionary forces governing their appearance and spread are not clear. Our data are not consistent with the hypothesis that lasR mutants act as social “cheats” in the lung; rather, our results support the hypothesis that lasR mutants are more adapted to the lung environment. More generally, this model will facilitate improved studies of mi- crobial disease, especially studies of how cells of the same and different species interact in polymicrobial infections in a spatially structured environment
The CANDELS/SHARDS multiwavelength catalog in GOODS-N : photometry, photometric redshifts, stellar masses, emission-line fluxes, and star formation rates
We present a WFC3 F160W (H-band) selected catalog in the CANDELS/GOODS-N field containing photometry from the ultraviolet (UV) to the far-infrared (IR), photometric redshifts, and stellar parameters derived from the analysis of the multiwavelength data. The catalog contains 35,445 sources over the 171 arcmin(2) of the CANDELS F160W mosaic. The 5 sigma detection limits (within an aperture of radius 0 ''.17) of the mosaic range between H = 27.8, 28.2, and 28.7 in the wide, intermediate, and deep regions, which span approximately 50%, 15%, and 35% of the total area. The multiwavelength photometry includes broadband data from the UV (U band from KPNO and LBC), optical (HST/ACS F435W, F606W, F775W, F814W, and F850LP), near-to-mid IR (HST/WFC3 F105W, F125W, F140W, and F160W; Subaru/MOIRCS Ks; CFHT/Megacam K; and Spitzer/IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 mu m), and far-IR (Spitzer/MIPS 24 mu m, HERSCHEL/PACS 100 and 160 mu m, SPIRE 250, 350 and 500 mu m) observations. In addition, the catalog also includes optical medium-band data (R similar to 50) in 25 consecutive bands, lambda = 500-950 nm, from the SHARDS survey and WFC3 IR spectroscopic observations with the G102 and G141 grisms (R similar to 210 and 130). The use of higher spectral resolution data to estimate photometric redshifts provides very high, and nearly uniform, precision from z = 0-2.5. The comparison to 1485 good-quality spectroscopic redshifts up to z similar to 3 yields Delta z/(1 + z(spec)) = 0.0032 and an outlier fraction of eta = 4.3%. In addition to the multiband photometry, we release value-added catalogs with emission-line fluxes, stellar masses, dust attenuations, UV- and IR-based star formation rates, and rest-frame colors
The influence of learning styles on knowledge acquisition in public sector management
This research note outlines a project designed to investigate the role of training institutions in providing effective training and development programmes for managers. The investigation is being carried out in the light of recent criticisms levelled against the nature of formal learning environments prevalent in most institutional settings. The traditional role of trainers and developers as the providers of knowledge and skills for the development of competent managers runs contrary to recent findings, which suggest that managers learn more effectively in informal settings, rather than the formal settings evident in many development programmes. The idea that explicitly extracted competencies are the target every manager should aim for to improve their effectiveness is also challenged because competencies alone are no longer regarded as a sufficient criterion for success. Recent research has attached greater importance to the need for helping managers to see knowledge as a social phenomenon, and one factor that might distinguish successful managers from others is tacit knowledge (Wagner & Sternberg, 1987; Argyris, 1999). A major focus of this study is to explore the possibility that the level and content of tacit knowledge acquired by managers may be influenced by their individual learning styles, and the degree to which their dominant styles are matched with the context of their work environment
Performance of the infrared array camera (IRAC) for SIRTF during instrument integration and test
The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) is one of three focal plane instruments in the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). IRAC is a four-channel camera that obtains simultaneous images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 microns. Two adjacent 5.12x5.12 arcmin fields of view in the SIRTF focal plane are viewed by the four channels in pairs (3.6 and 5.8 microns; 4.5 and 8 microns). All four detector arrays in the camera are 256x256 pixels in size, with the two shorter wavelength channels using InSb and the two longer wavelength channels using Si:As IBC detectors. We describe here the results of the instrument functional and calibration tests completed at Ball Aerospace during the integration with the cryogenic telescope assembly, and provide updated estimates of the in-flight sensitivity and performance of IRAC in SIRTF