7,021 research outputs found
The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury. VI. The reliability of far-ultraviolet flux as a star formation tracer on sub-kpc scales
We have used optical observations of resolved stars from the Panchromatic
Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) to measure the recent (< 500 Myr) star
formation histories (SFHs) of 33 FUV-bright regions in M31. The region areas
ranged from ~ to pc, which allowed us to test the reliability
of FUV flux as a tracer of recent star formation on sub-kpc scales. The star
formation rates (SFRs) derived from the extinction-corrected observed FUV
fluxes were, on average, consistent with the 100-Myr mean SFRs of the SFHs to
within the 1 scatter. Overall, the scatter was larger than the
uncertainties in the SFRs and particularly evident among the smallest regions.
The scatter was consistent with an even combination of discrete sampling of the
initial mass function and high variability in the SFHs. This result
demonstrates the importance of satisfying both the full-IMF and the
constant-SFR assumptions for obtaining precise SFR estimates from FUV flux.
Assuming a robust FUV extinction correction, we estimate that a factor of 2.5
uncertainty can be expected in FUV-based SFRs for regions smaller than
pc, or a few hundred pc. We also examined ages and masses derived from UV
flux under the common assumption that the regions are simple stellar
populations (SSPs). The SFHs showed that most of the regions are not SSPs, and
the age and mass estimates were correspondingly discrepant from the SFHs. For
those regions with SSP-like SFHs, we found mean discrepancies of 10 Myr in age
and a factor of 3 to 4 in mass. It was not possible to distinguish the SSP-like
regions from the others based on integrated FUV flux.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Virtual Forestry Generation: Evaluating Models for Tree Placement in Games
A handful of approaches have been previously proposed to generate procedurally virtual forestry for virtual worlds and computer games, including plant growth models and point distribution methods. However, there has been no evaluation to date which assesses how effective these algorithms are at modelling real-world phenomena. In this paper, we tackle this issue by evaluating three algorithms used in the generation of virtual forests—a randomly uniform point distribution method (control), a plant competition model, and an iterative random point distribution technique. Our results show that a plant competition model generated more believable content when viewed from an aerial perspective. Interestingly, however, we also found that a randomly uniform point distribution method produced forestry which was rated higher in playability and photorealism, when viewed from a first-person perspective. We conclude that the objective of the game designer is important to consider when selecting an algorithm to generate forestry, as the algorithms produce forestry that is perceived differently
The Singular Hydrodynamic Interactions Between Two Spheres In Stokes Flow
We study exact solutions for the slow viscous flow of an infinite liquid
caused by two rigid spheres approaching each either along or parallel to their
line of centres, valid at all separations. This goes beyond the applicable
range of existing solutions for singular hydrodynamic interactions (HIs) which,
for practical applications, are limited to the near-contact or far field region
of the flow. For the normal component of the HI, by use of a bipolar coordinate
system, we derive the stream function for the flow as and a formula
for the singular (squeeze) force between the spheres as an infinite series. We
also obtain the asymptotic behaviour of the forces as the nondimensional
separation between the spheres goes to zero and infinity, rigorously confirming
and improving upon known results relevant to a widely accepted lubrication
theory. Additionally, we recover the force on a sphere moving perpendicularly
to a plane as a special case. For the tangential component, again by using a
bipolar coordinate system, we obtain the corresponding infinite series
expression of the (shear) singular force between the spheres. All results hold
for retreating spheres, consistent with the reversibility of Stokes flow. We
demonstrate substantial differences in numerical simulations of colloidal
fluids when using the present theory compared with existing multipole methods.
Furthermore, we show that the present theory preserves positive definiteness of
the resistance matrix in a number of situations in which
positivity is destroyed for multipole/perturbative methods.Comment: 28 pages, 12 Figure
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Para-Selective C-H Borylation of Common Arene Building Blocks Enabled by Ion-Pairing with a Bulky Countercation.
The selective functionalization of C-H bonds at the arene para position is highly challenging using transition metal catalysis. Iridium-catalyzed borylation has emerged as a leading technique for arene functionalization, but there are only a handful of strategies for para-selective borylation, which operate on specific substrate classes and use bespoke ligands or catalysts. We describe a remarkably general protocol which results in para-selectivity on some of the most common arene building blocks (anilines, benzylamines, phenols, benzyl alcohols) and uses standard borylation ligands. Our strategy hinges upon the facile conversion of the substrates into sulfate or sulfamate salts, wherein the anionic arene component is paired with a tetrabutylammonium cation. We hypothesize that the bulk of this cation disfavors meta-C-H borylation, thereby promoting the challenging para-selective reaction
Measuring Galaxy Star Formation Rates From Integrated Photometry: Insights from Color-Magnitude Diagrams of Resolved Stars
We use empirical star formation histories (SFHs), measured from HST-based
resolved star color-magnitude diagrams, as input into population synthesis
codes to model the broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of ~50 nearby
dwarf galaxies (6.5 < log M/M_* < 8.5, with metallicities ~10% solar). In the
presence of realistic SFHs, we compare the modeled and observed SEDs from the
ultraviolet (UV) through near-infrared (NIR) and assess the reliability of
widely used UV-based star formation rate (SFR) indicators. In the FUV through i
bands, we find that the observed and modeled SEDs are in excellent agreement.
In the Spitzer 3.6micron and 4.5micron bands, we find that modeled SEDs
systematically over-predict observed luminosities by up to ~0.2 dex, depending
on treatment of the TP-AGB stars in the synthesis models. We assess the
reliability of UV luminosity as a SFR indicator, in light of independently
constrained SFHs. We find that fluctuations in the SFHs alone can cause factor
of ~2 variations in the UV luminosities relative to the assumption of a
constant SFH over the past 100 Myr. These variations are not strongly
correlated with UV-optical colors, implying that correcting UV-based SFRs for
the effects of realistic SFHs is difficult using only the broadband SED.
Additionally, for this diverse sample of galaxies, we find that stars older
than 100 Myr can contribute from <5% to100% of the present day UV luminosity,
highlighting the challenges in defining a characteristic star formation
timescale associated with UV emission. We do find a relationship between UV
emission timescale and broadband UV-optical color, though it is different than
predictions based on exponentially declining SFH models. Our findings have
significant implications for the comparison of UV-based SFRs across
low-metallicity populations with diverse SFHs.Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures, ApJ accepte
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