Expectations for the Difference Between Local and Global Measurements of the Hubble Constant

There are irreducible differences between the Hubble constant measured locally and the global value. They are due to density perturbations and finite sample volume (cosmic variance) and finite number of objects in the sample (sampling variance). We quantify these differences for a suite of COBE-normalized CDM models that are consistent with the observed large-scale structure. For small samples of objects that only extend out to 10,000 km/sec, the variance can approach 4%. For the largest samples of Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa), which include about 40 objects and extend out to almost 40,000 km/sec, the variance is 1-2% and is dominated by sampling variance. Sampling and cosmic variance may be an important consideration in comparing local determinations of the Hubble constant with precision determinations of the global value that will be made from high-resolution maps of CBR anisotropy.Comment: 10 pages, Latex, 2 figures, version accepted for Ap.

Effect of cluster scavenging on homogeneous nucleation

A closed‐form expression for the effect of cluster scavenging on the rate of homogeneous nucleation of a vapor in the presence of continuum regime particles is obtained by solving the kinetic equation of nucleation by the method of singular perturbation. The reduction in nucleation rate of a condensing species at a given supersaturation is shown to be dependent largely on the number concentration, the size of the sink particles, and the molecular number concentration of the background gas. The reduction in the rate of nucleation due to the cluster scavenging by transition regime particles is also discussed

Homogeneous nucleation in spatially inhomogeneous systems

Homogeneous nucleation of a vapor in the presence of the loss of clusters by diffusion and thermophoretic drift is investigated. Analytical results are obtained for the cluster size distribution and the rate of nucleation by solving the modified kinetic equation for nucleation. The implications of cluster loss by diffusion and phoretic drift on the onset of the homogeneous nucleation of silicon vapor in the horizontal epitaxial chemical vapor deposition reactor is discussed. The range of conditions under which the loss of subcritical clusters by diffusion and drift becomes important for the interpretation of diffusion cloud chamber experimental data of the onset conditions of the homogeneous nucleation of vapors is also delineated

NeIII/OII as an oxygen abundance indicator in the HII regions and HII galaxies

To calibrate the relationship between Ne3O2 (Ne3O2 = log(\neiii$\lambda3869$/\oii$\lambda3727$)) and oxygen abundances, we present a sample of $\sim$3000 \hii galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release four. They are associated with a sample from the literature intended to enlarge the oxygen abundance region. We calculated the electron temperatures ($T_e$) of 210 galaxies in the SDSS sample with the direct method, and $T_e$ of the other 2960 galaxies in SDSS sample calculated with an empirical method. Then, we use a linear least-square fitting to calibrate the Ne3O2 oxygen abundance indicator. It is found that the Ne3O2 estimator follows a linear relation with \zoh\ that holds for the whole abundance range covered by the sample, from approximately 7.0 to 9.0. The best linear relationship between the Ne3O2 and the oxygen abundance is calibrated. The dispersion between oxygen abundance and Ne3O2 index in the metal rich galaxies may come partly from the moderate depletion of oxygen onto grains. The $Ne3O2$ method has the virtue of being single-valued and not affected by internal reddening. As a result, the $Ne3O2$ method can be a good metallicity indicator in the \hii regions and \hii galaxies, especially in high-redshift galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. A&A accepte

Dust-Deficient Palomar-Green Quasars and the Diversity of AGN Intrinsic IR Emission

To elucidate the intrinsic broadband infrared (IR) emission properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we analyze the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 87 z<0.5 Palomar-Green (PG) quasars. While the Elvis AGN template with a moderate far-IR correction can reasonably match the SEDs of the AGN components in ~60% of the sample (and is superior to alternatives such as that by Assef), it fails on two quasar populations: 1) hot-dust-deficient (HDD) quasars that show very weak emission thoroughly from the near-IR to the far-IR, and 2) warm-dust-deficient (WDD) quasars that have similar hot dust emission as normal quasars but are relatively faint in the mid- and far-IR. After building composite AGN templates for these dust-deficient quasars, we successfully fit the 0.3-500 {\mu}m SEDs of the PG sample with the appropriate AGN template, an infrared template of a star-forming galaxy, and a host galaxy stellar template. 20 HDD and 12 WDD quasars are identified from the SED decomposition, including seven ambiguous cases. Compared with normal quasars, the HDD quasars have AGN with relatively low Eddington ratios and the fraction of WDD quasars increases with AGN luminosity. Moreover, both the HDD and WDD quasar populations show relatively stronger mid-IR silicate emission. Virtually identical SED properties are also found in some quasars from z = 0.5 to 6. We propose a conceptual model to demonstrate that the observed dust deficiency of quasars can result from a change of structures of the circumnuclear tori that can occur at any cosmic epoch.Comment: minor corrections to match the published versio

Current-voltage characteristics and vortex dynamics in highly underdoped La2−x_{2-x}Srx_{x}CuO4_{4}

The temperature dependence of the nonlinear current-voltage ($I$-$V$) characteristics in highly underdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ ($x=0.07$ and 0.08) thick films has been studied in both zero and perpendicular magnetic fields $H$. Power-law behavior of $V(I)$ is found for both $H=0$ and $H \neq 0$. The critical current $I_{c}$ was extracted, and its temperature and magnetic field dependences were studied in detail. The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless physics dominates the nonlinear $I$-$V$ near the superconducting transition at $H=0$, and it continues to contribute up to a characteristic temperature $T_x(H)$. Nonlinear $I$-$V$ persists up to an even higher temperature $T_{h}(H)$ due to the depinning of vortices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; Superstripes 2015 conferenc