135 research outputs found
Ground support data from July 10 to July 29, 1978, for HCMM thermal satellite data of the Powder River Basin, Wyoming
Radiometric and meteorological data acquired at three ground stations located approximately 150 km apart in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming, are summarized. The data were collected between July 10 and July 29, 1978, to support the HCMM thermal satellite data acquired during this time period. The parameters measured are direct solar radiance, total solar radiance, sky radiance, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. A tabulation of the measurement accuracies is presented
Geologic applications of thermal-inertia mapping from satellite
In the Powder River Basin, Wyo., narrow geologic units having thermal inertias which contrast with their surroundings can be discriminated in optimal images. A few subtle thermal inertia anomalies coincide with areas of helium leakage believed to be associated with deep oil and gas concentrations. The most important results involved delineation of tectonic framework elements some of which were not previously recognized. Thermal and thermal inertia images also permit mapping of geomorphic textural domains. A thermal lineament appears to reveal a basement discontinuity which involves the Homestake Mine in the Black Hill, a zone of Tertiary igneous activity and facies control in oil producing horizons. Applications of these data to the Cabeza Prieta, Ariz., area illustrate their potential for igneous rock type discrimination. Extension to Yellowstone National Park resulted in the detection of additional structural information but surface hydrothermal features could not be distinguished with any confidence. A thermal inertia mapping algorithm, a fast and accurate image registration technique, and an efficient topographic slope and elevation correction method were developed
Registration of Heat Capacity Mapping Mission day and night images
Neither iterative registration, using drainage intersection maps for control, nor cross correlation techniques were satisfactory in registering day and night HCMM imagery. A procedure was developed which registers the image pairs by selecting control points and mapping the night thermal image to the daytime thermal and reflectance images using an affine transformation on a 1300 by 1100 pixel image. The resulting image registration is accurate to better than two pixels (RMS) and does not exhibit the significant misregistration that was noted in the temperature-difference and thermal-inertia products supplied by NASA. The affine transformation was determined using simple matrix arithmetic, a step that can be performed rapidly on a minicomputer
The Upper Atmosphere of HD17156b
HD17156b is a newly-found transiting extrasolar giant planet (EGP) that
orbits its G-type host star in a highly eccentric orbit (e~0.67) with an
orbital semi-major axis of 0.16 AU. Its period, 21.2 Earth days, is the longest
among the known transiting planets. The atmosphere of the planet undergoes a
27-fold variation in stellar irradiation during each orbit, making it an
interesting subject for atmospheric modelling. We have used a three-dimensional
model of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere for extrasolar gas giants in order
to simulate the progress of HD17156b along its eccentric orbit. Here we present
the results of these simulations and discuss the stability, circulation, and
composition in its upper atmosphere. Contrary to the well-known transiting
planet HD209458b, we find that the atmosphere of HD17156b is unlikely to escape
hydrodynamically at any point along the orbit, even if the upper atmosphere is
almost entirely composed of atomic hydrogen and H+, and infrared cooling by H3+
ions is negligible. The nature of the upper atmosphere is sensitive to to the
composition of the thermosphere, and in particular to the mixing ratio of H2,
as the availability of H2 regulates radiative cooling. In light of different
simulations we make specific predictions about the thermosphere-ionosphere
system of HD17156b that can potentially be verified by observations.Comment: 31 pages, 42 eps figure
A 3D Monte Carlo Photoionization Code for Modeling Diffuse Ionized Gas
We have developed a three dimensional Monte Carlo photoionization code
tailored for the study of Galactic H II regions and the percolation of ionizing
photons in diffuse ionized gas. We describe the code, our calculation of
photoionization, heating & cooling, and the approximations we have employed for
the low density H II regions we wish to study. Our code gives results in
agreement with the Lexington H II region benchmarks. We show an example of a 2D
shadowed region and point out the very significant effect that diffuse
radiation produced by recombinations of helium has on the temperature within
the shadow.Comment: MNRAS accepte
Fluctuations of water near extended hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces
We use molecular dynamics simulations of the SPC-E model of liquid water to
derive probability distributions for water density fluctuations in probe
volumes of different shapes and sizes, both in the bulk as well as near
hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. To obtain our results, we introduce a
biased sampling of coarse-grained densities, which in turn biases the actual
solvent density. The technique is easily combined with molecular dynamics
integration algorithms. Our principal result is that the probability for
density fluctuations of water near a hydrophobic surface, with or without
surface-water attractions, is akin to density fluctuations at the water-vapor
interface. Specifically, the probability of density depletion near the surface
is significantly larger than that in bulk. In contrast, we find that the
statistics of water density fluctuations near a model hydrophilic surface are
similar to that in the bulk
Optical and Infrared Diagnostics of SDSS galaxies in the SWIRE Survey
We present the rest-frame optical and infrared colours of a complete sample
of 1114 z<0.3 galaxies from the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic Legacy
Survey (SWIRE) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We discuss the optical
and infrared colours of our sample and analyse in detail the contribution of
dusty star-forming galaxies and AGN to optically selected red sequence
galaxies.
We propose that the optical (g-r) colour and infrared log(L_{24}/L_{3.6})
colour of galaxies in our sample are determined primarily by a bulge-to-disk
ratio. The (g-r) colour is found to be sensitive to the bulge-to-disk ratio for
disk-dominated galaxies, whereas the log(L_{24}/L_{3.6}) colour is more
sensitive for bulge-dominated systems.
We identify ~18% (195 sources) of our sample as having red optical colours
and infrared excess. Typically, the infrared luminosities of these galaxies are
found to be at the high end of star-forming galaxies with blue optical colours.
Using emission line diagnostic diagrams, 78 are found to have an AGN
contribution, and 117 are identified as star-forming systems. The red (g-r)
colour of the star-forming galaxies could be explained by extinction. However,
their high optical luminosities cannot. We conclude that they have a
significant bulge component.
The number densities of optically red star-forming galaxies are found to
correspond to ~13% of the total number density of our sample. In addition,
these systems contribute ~13% of the total optical luminosity density, and 28%
of the total infrared luminosity density of our SWIRE/SDSS sample. These
objects may reduce the need for "dry-mergers".Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
PMAS Optical Integral Field Spectroscopy of Luminous Infrared Galaxies. II.-- Spatially resolved stellar populations and excitation conditions
The general properties of luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs
and ULIRGs) in the local universe are well known since large samples of these
objects have been the subject of numerous spectroscopic works. There are,
however, relatively few studies of large samples of LIRGs and ULIRGs using
integral field spectroscopy (IFS). We analyze optical (3800-7200A) IFS data
taken with the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) of the central
few kiloparsecs of 11 LIRGs. To study the stellar populations we fit the
optical stellar continuum and the hydrogen recombination lines of selected
regions. We analyze the excitation conditions of the gas using the spatially
resolved properties of the brightest optical emission lines. The optical
continua of the selected regions are well fitted with a combination of evolved
(~0.7-10Gyr) and ionizing (1-20Myr) stellar populations. The latter is more
obscured than the evolved population, and has visual extinctions in good
agreement with those obtained from the Balmer decrement. Except for NGC 7771,
there is no clear evidence for an important contribution to the optical light
from an intermediate-aged population (~100-500Myr). Even after correcting for
the presence of stellar absorption, a large fraction of spaxels with low
observed equivalent widths of Halpha in emission still show enhanced
[NII]/Halpha and [SII]/Halpha ratios. These ratios are likely to be produced by
a combination of photoionization in HII regions and diffuse emission. These
regions of enhanced ratios are generally coincident with low surface brightness
HII regions and diffuse emission detected in the Halpha and Pa-alpha images.
Using the PMAS line ratios and the NICMOS Pa-alpha photometry of HII regions we
find that the fraction of diffuse emission in LIRGs varies from galaxy to
galaxy, and it is generally less than 60% as found in other starburst galaxies.
(Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Is IRAS 01072+4954 a True-Seyfert 2? Hints from Near Infrared Integral Field Spectroscopy
In contrast to the predictions of the unified model, some X-ray unobscured
Seyfert 2 galaxies have been discovered in the last decade. One of them, the
starburst/Seyfert composite galaxy IRAS 01072+4954 (z=0.0236), has a typical
Type~1 X-ray emission, while its optical spectrum resembles an HII galaxy and
lacks the expected broad lines. We performed near-infrared integral-field
observations of this object with the aim to determine the nature of its nuclear
emission and to find indications for the existence or absence of a broad-line
region. Several reasons have been proposed to explain such peculiar emission.
We studied the validity of such hypotheses, including the possibility for it to
be True-Seyfert~2. We found little obscuration towards the nucleus A_V = 2.5
mag, and a nuclear star-formation rate Sigma_SFR < 11.6 Msun yr^{-1} kpc^{-2},
which is below the average in Seyferts. Unresolved hot-dust emission with T ~
1150 K seems to indicate the presence of a torus with its axis close to the
line of sight. We found that IRAS 01072+4954 hosts a low mass black hole with
an estimated mass of M_BH ~ 10^5 Msun and an upper limit of 2.5x10^6 Msun. Its
bolometric luminosity is L_bol ~ 2.5x10^{42} erg/s, which yields a high
accretion rate with an Eddington ratio ~ 0.2. If the relations found in more
massive systems also apply to this case, then IRAS 01072+4954 should show broad
emission lines with FWHM_{broad} ~(400-600) km/s. Indeed, some indications for
such narrow broad-line components are seen in our data, but the evidence is not
yet conclusive. This source thus seems not to be a True-Seyfert 2, but an
extreme case of a narrow line Seyfert 1, which, due to the faintness of the
active nucleus, does not have strong FeII emission in the optical.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures. A&A Accepted versio
Effects of plasma magnesium and prolactin on quantitative ultrasound measurements of heel bone among schizophrenic patients
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteoporosis is a bone disease that can reduce both bone mass and bone strength. It can cause serious fractures of bones, along with causing significant and even devastating physical, psychological and financial consequences for patients and their family members. Many reports have revealed that the prevalence of decreased bone density is higher in schizophrenic patients than in the non-psychological diseased population. The previous report of our group revealed that chronic schizophrenia patients have poorer BUA levels since they were young as compared to the general community population. Hyperprolactinemia and antipsychotics are reported to be among the risk factors for osteoporosis in chronic schizophrenic patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>93 schizophrenic patients with severely poor adjusted BUA values and 93 age and gender matched patients with normal adjusted BUA values from a previous survey study were selected. Data were collected via questionnaires and via reviews of antipsychotic medications. Blood samples were drawn, and serum levels of prolactin, estradiol, testosterone, magnesium, calcium, phosphate, osteocalcin, Cross-linked N-teleopeptide of type I collagen (NTX), thyroid hormone and parathyroid hormone were checked. The association between BUA levels and serum levels of the above items, along with the type of received antipsychotic medication, was evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was no significant association found between reduced BUA levels and serum prolactin, calcium, phosphate, osteocalcin, NTX, thyroid stimulating hormone and parathyroid hormone levels. There was also no association between BUA levels and types of currently received antipsychotics. There was no association between BUA levels and menstruation condition in female patients. Hypermagnesemia had a borderline association with classical and combined (classical and atypical) antipsychotic medications in male patients. Nevertheless, hypermagnesemia is a significant protective factor of reduced BUA levels in female patients. Hyperprolactinemia had a significant association with classical and combined antipsychotic medications in female patients. Hyperprolactinemia, however, provides a protective effect on reduced BUA levels in male patients. There was no significant association found between serum prolactin level and the type of antipsychotic medication received.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study are in contrast with literature that has reported an association between bone mass and serum prolactin levels, serum magnesium levels and type of received antipsychotics. Further study to investigate the pathophysiological process and the association between bone mass and serum prolactin level, serum magnesium level and specific antipsychotics is necessary.</p
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