619 research outputs found
RASS-SDSS Galaxy Cluster Survey. VII. On the Cluster Mass to Light ratio and the Halo Occupation Distribution
We explore the mass-to-light ratio in galaxy clusters and its relation to the
cluster mass. We study the relations among the optical luminosity (),
the cluster mass () and the number of cluster galaxies within
() in a sample of 217 galaxy clusters with confirmed 3D
overdensity. We correct for projection effects, by determining the galaxy
surface number density profile in our cluster sample. This is best fitted by a
cored King profile in low and intermediate mass systems. The core radius
decreases with cluster mass, and, for the highest mass clusters, the profile is
better represented by a generalized King profile or a cuspy Navarro, Frenk &
White profile. We find a very tight proportionality between and
, which, in turn, links the cluster mass-to-light ratio to the Halo
Occupation Distribution vs. . After correcting for
projection effects, the slope of the and
relations is found to be , close, but still significantly less
than unity. We show that the non-linearity of these relations cannot be
explained by variations of the galaxy luminosity distributions and of the
galaxy M/L with the cluster mass. We suggest that the nonlinear relation
between number of galaxies and cluster mass reflects an underlying nonlinear
relation between number of subhaloes and halo mass.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Optical properties of periodic systems within the current-current response framework: pitfalls and remedies
We compare the optical absorption of extended systems using the
density-density and current-current linear response functions calculated within
many-body perturbation theory. The two approaches are formally equivalent for a
finite momentum of the external perturbation. At
, however, the equivalence is maintained only if a small
expansion of the density-density response function is used. Moreover, in
practical calculations this equivalence can be lost if one naively extends the
strategies usually employed in the density-based approach to the current-based
approach. Specifically we discuss the use of a smearing parameter or of the
quasiparticle lifetimes to describe the finite width of the spectral peaks and
the inclusion of electron-hole interaction. In those instances we show that the
incorrect definition of the velocity operator and the violation of the
conductivity sum rule introduce unphysical features in the optical absorption
spectra of three paradigmatic systems: silicon (semiconductor), copper (metal)
and lithium fluoride (insulator). We then demonstrate how to correctly
introduce lifetime effects and electron-hole interactions within the
current-based approach.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Reduced Density-Matrix Functional Theory: correlation and spectroscopy
In this work we explore the performance of approximations to electron
correlation in reduced density-matrix functional theory (RDMFT) and of
approximations to the observables calculated within this theory. Our analysis
focuses on the calculation of total energies, occupation numbers,
removal/addition energies, and spectral functions. We use the exactly solvable
Hubbard molecule at 1/4 and 1/2 filling as test systems. This allows us to
analyze the underlying physics and to elucidate the origin of the observed
trends. For comparison we also report the results of the approximation,
where the self-energy functional is approximated, but no further hypothesis are
made concerning the approximations of the observables. In particular we focus
on the atomic limit, where the two sites of the molecule are pulled apart and
electrons localize on either site with equal probability, unless a small
perturbation is present: this is the regime of strong electron correlation. In
this limit, using the Hubbard molecule at 1/2 filling with or without a
spin-symmetry-broken ground state, allows us to explore how degeneracies and
spin-symmetry breaking are treated in RDMFT. We find that, within the used
approximations, neither in RDMFT nor in the signature of strong
correlation are present in the spin-singlet ground state, whereas both give the
exact result for the spin-symmetry broken case. Moreover we show how the
spectroscopic properties change from one spin structure to the other. Our
findings can be generalized to other situations, which allows us to make
connections to real materials and experiment
Photoemission Spectra from Reduced Density Matrices: the Band Gap in Strongly Correlated Systems
We present a method for the calculation of photoemission spectra in terms of
reduced density matrices. We start from the spectral representation of the
one-body Green's function G, whose imaginary part is related to photoemission
spectra, and we introduce a frequency-dependent effective energy that accounts
for all the poles of G. Simple approximations to this effective energy give
accurate spectra in model systems in the weak as well as strong correlation
regime. In real systems reduced density matrices can be obtained from reduced
density-matrix functional theory. Here we use this approach to calculate the
photoemission spectrum of bulk NiO: our method yields a qualitatively correct
picture both in the antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases, contrary to
mean-field methods, in which the paramagnet is a metal
The metallicity dependence of the Cepheid PL-relation
A sample of 37 Galactic, 10 LMC and 6 SMC cepheids is compiled for which
individual metallicity estimates exist and BVIK photometry in almost all cases.
The Galactic cepheids all have an individual distance estimate available. For
the MC objects different sources of photometry are combined to obtain improved
periods and mean magnitudes. A multi-parameter Period-Luminosity relation is
fitted to the data which also solves for the distance to the LMC and SMC. When
all three galaxies are considered, without metallicity effect, a significant
quadratic term in log P is found, as previously observed and also predicted in
some theoretical calculations. For the present sample it is empirically
determined that for log P < 1.65 linear PL-relations may be adopted, but this
restricts the sample to only 4 LMC and 1 SMC cepheid. Considering the Galactic
sample a metallicity effect is found in the zero point in the VIWK PL-relation
(-0.6 \pm 0.4 or -0.8 \pm 0.3 mag/dex depending on the in- or exclusion of one
object), in the sense that metal-rich cepheids are brighter. The small
significance is mostly due to the fact that the Galactic sample spans a narrow
metallicity range. The error is to a significant part due to the error in the
metallicity determinations and not to the error in the fit. Including the 5 MC
cepheids broadens the observed metallicity range and a metallity effect of
about -0.27 \pm 0.08 mag/dex in the zero point is found in VIWK, in agreement
with some previous empirical estimates, but now derived using direct
metallicity determinations for the cepheids themselves.Comment: Accepted Astronomy and Astrophysics, February 20, 200
RASS-SDSS Galaxy Cluster Survey. VI. The dependence of the cluster SFR on the cluster global properties
Using a subsample of 79 nearby clusters from the RASS-SDSS galaxy cluster
catalogue of Popesso et al. (2005a), we perform a regression analysis between
the cluster integrated star formation rate (Sigma_SFR) the cluster total
stellar mass (M_star), the fractions of star forming (f_SF) and blue (f_b)
galaxies and other cluster global properties, namely its richness (N_gal, i.e.
the total number of cluster members within the cluster virial radius), velocity
dispersion (sigma_v), virial mass (M_200), and X-ray luminosity (L_X). All
cluster global quantities are corrected for projection effects before the
analysis. Galaxy SFRs and stellar masses are taken from the catalog of
Brinchmann et al. (2004), which is based on SDSS spectra. We only consider
galaxies with M_r <= -20.25 in our analysis, and exclude AGNs. We find that
both Sigma_SFR and M_star are correlated with all the cluster global
quantities. A partial correlation analysis show that all the correlations are
induced by the fundamental one between Sigma_SFR and N_gal, hence there is no
evidence that the cluster properties affect the mean SFR or M_star per galaxy.
The relations between Sigma_SFR and M_star, on one side, and both N_gal and
M_200, on the other side, are linear, i.e. we see no evidence that different
clusters have different SFR or different M_star per galaxy and per unit mass.
The fraction f_SF does not depend on any cluster property considered, while f_b
does depend on L_X. We note that a significant fraction of star-forming cluster
galaxies are red (~25% of the whole cluster galaxy population). We conclude
that the global cluster properties are unable to affect the SF properties of
cluster galaxies, but the presence of the X-ray luminous intra-cluster medium
can affect their colors, perhaps through the ram-pressure stripping mechanism.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication on A&A; corrected
coefficient in Tab.
The peculiar horizontal branch morphology of the Galactic globular clusters NGC 6388 and NGC 6441: new insights from UV observations
Context. In this paper we present multiband optical and UV Hubble Space Telescope photometry of the two Galactic globular clusters NGC 6388 and NGC 6441.
Aims. We investigate the properties of their anomalous horizontal branches in different photometric planes in order to shed light on the nature of the physical mechanism(s) responsible for the existence of an extended blue tail and of a slope in the horizontal branch, visible in all the color-magnitude diagrams.
Methods. New photometric data have been collected and carefully reduced. Empirical data have been compared with updated stellar models of low-mass, metal-rich, He-burning structures, transformed to the observational plane with appropriate model atmospheres.
Results. We have obtained the first UV color-magnitude diagrams for NGC 6388 and NGC 6441. These diagrams confirm previous results, obtained in optical bands, about the presence of a sizeable stellar population of extremely hot horizontal branch stars. At least in NGC 6388, we find a clear indication that at the hot end of the horizontal branch the distribution of stars forms a hook-like feature, closely resembling those observed in NGC 2808 and Omega Cen. We briefly review the theoretical scenarios that have been suggested for interpreting this observational feature. We also investigate the tilted horizontal branch morphology and provide further evidence that supports early suggestions that this feature cannot be interpreted as an effect of differential reddening. We show that a possible solution of the puzzle is to assume that a small fraction - ranging between 10-20% - of the stellar population in the two clusters is strongly helium-enriched (Y ~ 0.40 in NGC 6388 and Y ~ 0.35 in NGC 6441). The occurrence of a spread in the He abundance between the canonical value (Y ~ 0.26) and the quoted upper limits can significantly help in explaining the "whole" morphology of the horizontal branch and the pulsational properties of the variable stars in the target clusters
Galactic abundance gradients from Cepheids : On the iron abundance gradient around 10-12 kpc
Context: Classical Cepheids can be adopted to trace the chemical evolution of
the Galactic disk since their distances can be estimated with very high
accuracy. Aims: Homogeneous iron abundance measurements for 33 Galactic
Cepheids located in the outer disk together with accurate distance
determinations based on near-infrared photometry are adopted to constrain the
Galactic iron gradient beyond 10 kpc. Methods: Iron abundances were determined
using high resolution Cepheid spectra collected with three different
observational instruments: ESPaDOnS@CFHT, Narval@TBL and [email protected] ESO/MPG
telescope. Cepheid distances were estimated using near-infrared (J,H,K-band)
period-luminosity relations and data from SAAO and the 2MASS catalog. Results:
The least squares solution over the entire data set indicates that the iron
gradient in the Galactic disk presents a slope of -0.052+/-0.003 dex/kpc in the
5-17 kpc range. However, the change of the iron abundance across the disk seems
to be better described by a linear regime inside the solar circle and a
flattening of the gradient toward the outer disk (beyond 10 kpc). In the latter
region the iron gradient presents a shallower slope, i.e. -0.012+/-0.014
dex/kpc. In the outer disk (10-12 kpc) we also found that Cepheids present an
increase in the spread in iron abundance. Current evidence indicates that the
spread in metallicity depends on the Galactocentric longitude. Finally, current
data do not support the hypothesis of a discontinuity in the iron gradient at
Galactocentric distances of 10-12 kpc. Conclusions: The occurrence of a spread
in iron abundance as a function of the Galactocentric longitude indicates that
linear radial gradients should be cautiously treated to constrain the chemical
evolution across the disk.Comment: 5 tables, 8 figures, Accepted in A&
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