Do quasar broad-line velocity widths add any information to virial black hole mass estimates?

We examine how much information measured broad-line widths add to virial BH mass estimates for flux limited samples of quasars. We do this by comparing the BH mass estimates to those derived by randomly reassigning the quasar broad-line widths to different objects and re-calculating the BH mass. For 9000 BH masses derived from the H_beta line we find that the distributions of original and randomized BH masses in the M_BH-redshift plane and the M_BH-luminosity plane are formally identical. A 2D KS test does not find a difference at >90% confidence. For the MgII line (32000 quasars) we do find very significant differences between the randomized and original BH masses, but the amplitude of the difference is still small. The difference for the CIV line (14000 quasars) is 2-3sigma and again the amplitude of the difference is small. Subdividing the data into redshift and luminosity bins we find that the median absolute difference in BH mass between the original and randomized data is 0.025, 0.01 and 0.04 dex for H_beta, MgII and CIV respectively. The maximum absolute difference is always <=0.1 dex. We investigate whether our results are sensitive to corrections to MgII virial masses (e.g. Onken & Kollmeier 2008). These corrections do not influence our results. Moreover, the mass residual - Eddington ratio correlation discussed by Onken & Kollmeier is more directly attributable to the slope of the relation between H_beta and MgII line width. Our results imply that the measured quasar broad-line velocity widths provide little extra information, after allowing for the mean velocity width. In this case virial estimates are equivalent to M_BH L^alpha, with L/L_edd L^(1-alpha) (with alpha~0.5). This leaves an unanswered question of why the accretion efficiency changes with luminosity in just the right way to keep the mean broad-line widths fixed as a function of luminosity. (abridged)Comment: 9 Pages, 9 figures. Accepted by Astrophysical Journa

Bifurcations of families of 1D-tori in 4D symplectic maps

The regular structures of a generic 4D symplectic map with a mixed phase space are organized by one-parameter families of elliptic 1D-tori. Such families show prominent bends, gaps, and new branches. We explain these features in terms of bifurcations of the families when crossing a resonance. For these bifurcations no external parameter has to be varied. Instead, the longitudinal frequency, which varies along the family, plays the role of the bifurcation parameter. As an example we study two coupled standard maps by visualizing the elliptic and hyperbolic 1D-tori in a 3D phase-space slice, local 2D projections, and frequency space. The observed bifurcations are consistent with analytical predictions previously obtained for quasi-periodically forced oscillators. Moreover, the new families emerging from such a bifurcation form the skeleton of the corresponding resonance channel.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. For videos of 3D phase-space slices see http://www.comp-phys.tu-dresden.de/supp

Catching the "Local" Bug: A Look at State Agricultural Marketing Programs

State Marketing Program, Local Foods, Consumer Awareness, State-Sponsored Logos, Mid-Atlantic Region, Marketing,

The Peacock Dress: The Language of British Imperialism in India, 1899-1905

This essay aims to discuss the actualization of the imperialist language through the Peacock Dress of Lady Mary Curzon, the new viceroy’s wife in the British colonial India. As the essay argues, the Peacock Dress holds within it a history of appropriation, not appreciation. It highlights the unique colonizing language of the British rule, the racist cloaked as ‘civilizing’ sentiments of the West, the subjugation of the Indian textile industry, and the manifold ways that the British turned their Indian subjects into a colonial Other

The Peacock Dress: The Language of British Imperialism in India, 1899-1905

Imperialism exists in tandem with colonialism. Empires seek out colonies for their resources so they can take the wealth in those countries for their own. Rarely do empires admit this, so they require a language with which to reframe their practices. The British Raj in India exemplifies this. A narrative of exploitation is at first hard to discern, because while the British drained India of its resources and broke down its industries, they appreciated Indian art and objects too, to the point of clothing themselves in Indian textiles, as in the case of the titular Peacock dress. But this appreciation was framed through the lens of British imperialist culture and without proper accreditation to the Indians who created those works, which makes it an appropriation of Indian craftsmanship, not appreciation. By the time Lord George Curzon became Viceroy of India in 1899, this imperialist program was well ingrained. But the question remains: what was the language of this program? This paper is meant to examine how the British Raj, rooted in an imperialist language of representation and civilization, used exploitative appropriation of distinct Indian craftsmanship to continue their denigration of Indian industry and culture. Thus, I will first explain how the work of postcolonial theorist Roxanne Doty offers a framework through which to view the imperialistic appropriation of the British Raj. Then, I will use Curzon’s tenure as a case study for this exploration of imperialist language because of how entrenched it had become; Curzon himself epitomizes this, since he had claimed since his days as the British Under-Secretary of State for India that Britain was on a ‘civilizing mission,’ a deeply racist perspective. Furthermore, the treatment of the textile industry by both Lord and Lady Curzon shows not only how the British took from India, but how they rationalized it

Strategic Global Mass Customization: Supporting Generic And Global Strategies

Production processes have moved beyond mass production to more customized approaches.  Global mass customization moves beyond Woodward’s models of production to create business models that allow customers to get what they want, although not quite when they want it.  This paper explores Woodward’s approaches to production processes, extends mass production to include global mass customization and discusses the process as it supports generic and global strategies