Evidence for Intrinsic Redshifts in Normal Spiral Galaxies

The Tully-Fisher Relationship (TFR) is utilized to identify anomalous redshifts in normal spiral galaxies. Three redshift anomalies are identified in this analysis: (1) Several clusters of galaxies are examined in which late type spirals have significant excess redshifts relative to early type spirals in the same clusters, (2) Galaxies of morphology similar to ScI galaxies are found to have a systematic excess redshift relative to the redshifts expected if the Hubble Constant is 72 km s-1 Mpc-1, (3) individual galaxies, pairs, and groups are identified which strongly deviate from the predictions of a smooth Hubble flow. These redshift deviations are significantly larger than can be explained by peculiar motions and TFR errors. It is concluded that the redshift anomalies identified in this analysis are consistent with previous claims for large non-cosmological (intrinsic) redshifts.Comment: Accepted for publication at Astrophysics&Space Science. 36 pages including 8 tables and 7 figure

The Distribution of Redshifts in New Samples of Quasi-stellar Objects

Two new samples of QSOs have been constructed from recent surveys to test the hypothesis that the redshift distribution of bright QSOs is periodic in $\log(1+z)$. The first of these comprises 57 different redshifts among all known close pairs or multiple QSOs, with image separations $\leq$ 10\arcsec, and the second consists of 39 QSOs selected through their X-ray emission and their proximity to bright comparatively nearby active galaxies. The redshift distributions of the samples are found to exhibit distinct peaks with a periodic separation of $\sim 0.089$ in $\log(1+z)$ identical to that claimed in earlier samples but now extended out to higher redshift peaks $z = 2.63, 3.45$ and 4.47, predicted by the formula but never seen before. The periodicity is also seen in a third sample, the 78 QSOs of the 3C and 3CR catalogues. It is present in these three datasets at an overall significance level $10^{-5}$ - $10^{-6}$, and appears not to be explicable by spectroscopic or similar selection effects. Possible interpretations are briefly discussed.Comment: submitted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, 15 figure

Configurational entropy of Wigner crystals

We present a theoretical study of classical Wigner crystals in two- and three-dimensional isotropic parabolic traps aiming at understanding and quantifying the configurational uncertainty due to the presence of multiple stable configurations. Strongly interacting systems of classical charged particles confined in traps are known to form regular structures. The number of distinct arrangements grows very rapidly with the number of particles, many of these arrangements have quite low occurrence probabilities and often the lowest-energy structure is not the most probable one. We perform numerical simulations on systems containing up to 100 particles interacting through Coulomb and Yukawa forces, and show that the total number of metastable configurations is not a well defined and representative quantity. Instead, we propose to rely on the configurational entropy as a robust and objective measure of uncertainty. The configurational entropy can be understood as the logarithm of the effective number of states; it is insensitive to the presence of overlooked low-probability states and can be reliably determined even within a limited time of a simulation or an experiment.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at 10.1088/0953-8984/23/7/075302.

Intrinsic Redshifts and the Tully-Fisher Distance Scale

The Tully-Fisher relationship (TFR) has been shown to have a relatively small observed scatter of ~ +/-0.35 mag implying an intrinsic scatter < +/-0.30 mag. However, when the TFR is calibrated from distances derived from the Hubble relation for field galaxies scatter is consistently found to be +/-0.64 to +/-0.84 mag. This significantly larger scatter requires that intrinsic TFR scatter is actually much larger than +/-0.30 mag, that field galaxies have an intrinsic TFR scatter much larger than cluster spirals, or that field galaxies have a velocity dispersion relative to the Hubble flow in excess of 1000 km s-1. Each of these potential explanations faces difficulties contradicted by available data and the results of previous studies. An alternative explanation is that the measured redshifts of galaxies are composed of a cosmological redshift component predicted from the value of the Hubble Constant and a superimposed intrinsic redshift component previously identified in other studies. This intrinsic redshift component may exceed 5000 km s-1 in individual galaxies. In this alternative scenario a possible value for the Hubble Constant is 55-60 km s-1 Mpc-1.Comment: 15 pages, Astrophysics&Space Science - Accepted for publicatio

Image Analysis to Determine Intramuscular Fat in Muscle

The area of intramuscular fat in Holstein steer longissimus was determined using an image analyzing system. Slaughter weights of 500, 636 and 773 kg differed (p \u3c 0.05) for intramuscular fat area, marbling score, and ether extractable lipid . Repeated measurements of intramuscular fat area in a given section showed high accuracy . However, comparing two sections from the same sample, there was often a large difference in fat content between the sections. Fat content determined by the imaging system was correlated significantl y with marbling score (r = 0.49) and ether extractable lipid (r = 0.34). Sampling is critical, and in order to obtain a high correlation several samples would be required from each muscle

HST Observations of the Serendipitous X-ray Companion to Mrk 273: Cluster at z=0.46?

We have used HST I-band images to identify Mrk 273X, the very unusual high-redshift X-ray-luminous Seyfert 2 galaxy found by ROSAT in the same field-of-view as Mrk 273. We have measured the photometric properties of Mrk 273X and have also analyzed the luminosity distribution of the faint galaxy population seen in the HST image. The luminosity of the galaxy and the properties of the surrounding environment suggest that Mrk 273X is the brightest galaxy in a relatively poor cluster at a redshift near 0.46. Its off-center location in the cluster and the presence of other galaxy groupings in the HST image may indicate that this is a dynamically young cluster on the verge of merging with its neighboring clusters. We find that Mrk 273X is a bright featureless elliptical galaxy with no evidence for a disk. It follows the de Vaucouleurs (r^{1/4}) surface brightness law very well over a range of 8 magnitudes. Though the surface brightness profile does not appear to be dominated by the AGN, the galaxy has very blue colors that do appear to be produced by the AGN. Mrk 273X is most similar to the IC 5063 class of active galaxies --- a hybrid Sy 2 / powerful radio galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 8 pages, including 4 postscript figures. Uses emulateapj.sty and psfig.sty. Higher quality version of Figure 1 is available at http://rings.gsfc.nasa.gov/~borne/fig1-markgals.gi

QSOs Associated with Messier 82

The starburst / AGN galaxy M82 was studied by Dahlem, Weaver and Heckman using X-ray data from ROSAT and ASCA, as part of their X-ray survey of edge-on starburst galaxies. They found seventeen unresolved hard-X-ray sources around M82, in addition to its strong nuclear source, and other X-rays within the main body of M82. We have measured optical point sources at these positions, and have obtained redshifts of six candidates at the Keck I 10-m telescope, using the low-resolution imaging spectrograph (LRIS). All six are highly compact optical and X-ray objects with redshifts ranging from 0.111 to 1.086. They all show emission lines. The three with the highest redshifts are clearly QSOs. The others with lower redshifts may either be QSOs or compact emission-line galaxies. In addition to these six there are nine QSOs lying very close to M82 which were discovered many years ago. There is no difference between optical spectra of these latter QSOs, only two of which are known to be X-ray sources, and the X-ray emitting QSOs. The redshifts of all fifteen range between 0.111 and 2.05. The large number of QSOs and their apparent association with ejected matter from M82 suggest that they are physically associated with the galaxy, and have large intrinsic redshift components. If this is correct, the absolute magnitudes lie in the range -8 < M_v < -10. Also we speculate that the luminous variable X-ray source which has been detected by Chandra in the main body of M82 some 9 arcseconds from the center is another QSO in the process of ejection from the nucleus, and propose some observational tests of this hypothesis.Comment: 16 pages aastex, 3 eps figures, accepted for publication on Ap

Apneic Oxygenation in Diagnosis and Treatment of Lung Tumours in an Experimental Porcine Model

Objectives: Respiratory movements may complicate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as biopsies and stereotactic irradiation therapy in lung cancer patients. An attempt to avoid respiratory movements, up to 30 minutes, long enough for procedures was performed in an animal study.Methods: Ten anaesthetized minipigs ~30 kg were intubated in the trachea and small NiTi-stents were placed in various parts of the lungs. Using a muscle relaxing drug, the pigs were deprived of the ability to breathe for 30 minutes, a longer time than normally used for positioning and irradiation or for biopsies. No attempt to hyperventilate the animals was made prior to the apneic period. After a lung recruitment manoeuvre, a constant oxygen pressure of 20 cm water was applied to the airways. Using X-ray fluoroscopy, the position of the stents and thereby the movements of the lung, were monitored. Arterial gas analyses were performed every 5 minutes during the apneic period.Results: All animals survived 30 minutes of apneic oxygenation. The median arterial oxygen partial pressure actually rose from 11.8 to 54.3 kPa and there were no changes in oxygen saturation. The median arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure rose from 6.9 to 18.7 kPa and the median pH fell from 7.41 to 7.04 during 30 minutes of apneic oxygenation. Our setup, or our strategy of anaesthesia, did not immobilise the internal parts of the lungs satisfactorily, and must be improved before it can be used in a clinical situation. Conclusion: Physiologically, it is possible to stop respiration using apneic oxygenation for periods long enough to perform biopsies or stereotactic radiation therapy

Blue Straggler Stars: Early Observations that Failed to Solve the Problem

In this chapter, I describe early ideas on blue stragglers, and various observations (some published, some not) that promised but failed to resolve the question of their origin. I review the data and ideas that were circulating from Allan Sandage's original discovery in 1953 of "anomalous blue stars" in the globular cluster M3, up until about 1992, when what seems to have been the only previous meeting devoted to Blue Straggler Stars (BSSs) was held at the Space Telescope Science Institute.Comment: Chapter 2, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G. Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springe

Binary Galaxies in the Local Supercluster and Its Neighborhood

We report a catalog of 509 pairs identified among 10403 nearby galaxies with line-of-sight velocities V_LG < 3500 km/s.We selected binary systems in accordance with two criteria (bounding and temporal), which require the physical pair of galaxies to have negative total energy and its components to be located inside the zero-velocity surface. We assume that individual galaxy masses are proportional to their total K-band luminosities, M = L_K x 6M/L. The catalog gives the magnitudes and morphological types of galaxies and also the projected (orbital) masses and pair isolation indices. The component line-of-sight velocity differences and projected distances of the binary systems considered have power-law distributions with the median values of 35 km/s and 123 kpc, respectively. The median mass-to-K-band luminosity ratio is equal to 11 M/L, and its uncertainty is mostly due to the errors of measured velocities. Our sample of binary systems has a typical density contrast of d ro/ro_c ~ 500 and a median crossing time of about 3.5 Gyr. We point out the substantial fraction of binary systems consisting of late-type dwarf galaxies, where the luminosities of both components are lower than that of the Small Magellanic Cloud. The median projected distance for 41 such pairs is only 30 kpc, and the median difference of their line-of-sight velocities is equal to 14 km/s which is smaller than the typical error for radial-velocity (30 km/s). This specific population of gas-rich dwarf binary galaxies such as I Zw 18 may be at the stage immediately before merging of its components. Such objects, which are usually lost in flux-limited (and not distance-limited) samples deserve a thorough study in the HI radio line with high spatial and velocity resolution.Comment: published in Astrophysical Bulletin, 2008, Vol. 63, No. 4, pp. 299-34