790 research outputs found
The Shape and Scale of Galactic Rotation from Cepheid Kinematics
A catalog of Cepheid variables is used to probe the kinematics of the
Galactic disk. Radial velocities are measured for eight distant Cepheids toward
l = 300; these new Cepheids provide a particularly good constraint on the
distance to the Galactic center, R_0. We model the disk with both an
axisymmetric rotation curve and one with a weak elliptical component, and find
evidence for an ellipticity of 0.043 +/- 0.016 near the Sun. Using these
models, we derive R_0 = 7.66 +/- 0.32 kpc and v_circ = 237 +/- 12 km/s. The
distance to the Galactic center agrees well with recent determinations from the
distribution of RR Lyrae variables, and disfavors most models with large
ellipticities at the solar orbit.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, 10 figure
WFI J2026-4536 and WFI J2033-4723: Two New Quadruple Gravitational Lenses
We report the discovery of two new gravitationally lensed quasars, WFI
J2026-4536 and WFI J2033-4723, at respective source redshifts of z=2.23 and
z=1.66. Both systems are quadruply imaged and have similar PG1115-like image
configurations. WFI J2026-4536 has a maximum image separation of 1.4", a total
brightness of g = 16.5, and a relatively simple lensing environment, while WFI
J2033-4723 has a maximum image separation of 2.5", an estimated total
brightness of g = 17.9, and a more complicated environment of at least six
galaxies within 20". The primary lensing galaxies are detected for both systems
after PSF subtraction. Several of the broadband flux ratios for the two lenses
show a strong (0.1-0.4 mags) trend with wavelength, suggesting either
microlensing or differential extinction through the lensing galaxy. For WFI
J2026-4536, the total quasar flux has dimmed by 0.1 mag in the blue but only
half as much in the red over three months, suggestive of microlensing-induced
variations. For WFI J2033-4723, resolved spectra of some of the quasar
components reveal emission line flux ratios that agree better with the
macromodel predictions than either the broadband or continuum ratios, also
indicative of microlensing. The predicted differential time delays for WFI
J2026-4536 are short, ranging from 1-2 weeks for the long delay, but are longer
for WFI J2033-4723, ranging from 1-2 months. Both systems hold promise for
future monitoring campaigns aimed at microlensing or time delay studies.Comment: 34 pages, including 9 postscript figures. Submitted to A
Mass Segregation in the Globular Cluster Palomar 5 and its Tidal Tails
We present the stellar main sequence luminosity function (LF) of the
disrupted, low-mass, low-concentration globular cluster Palomar 5 and its
well-defined tidal tails, which emanate from the cluster as a result of its
tidal interaction with the Milky Way. The results of our deep (B ~ 24.5)
wide-field photometry unequivocally indicate that preferentially fainter stars
were removed from the cluster so that the LF of the cluster's main body
exhibits a significant degree of flattening compared to other globular
clusters. There is clear evidence of mass segregation, which is reflected in a
radial variation of the LFs. The LF of the tidal tails is distinctly enhanced
with faint, low-mass stars. Pal 5 exhibits a binary main sequence, and we
estimate a photometric binary frequency of roughly 10%. Also the binaries show
evidence of mass segregation with more massive binary systems being more
strongly concentrated toward the cluster center.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
This paper presents the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), a one million second
exposure of an 11 square minute-of-arc region in the southern sky with the
Hubble Space Telescope. The exposure time was divided among four filters, F435W
(B435), F606W (V606), F775W (i775), and F850LP (z850), to give approximately
uniform limiting magnitudes mAB~29 for point sources. The image contains at
least 10,000 objects presented here as a catalog. Few if any galaxies at
redshifts greater than ~4 resemble present day spiral or elliptical galaxies.
Using the Lyman break dropout method, we find 504 B-dropouts, 204 V-dropouts,
and 54 i-dropouts. Using these samples that are at different redshifts but
derived from the same data, we find no evidence for a change in the
characteristic luminosity of galaxies but some evidence for a decrease in their
number densities between redshifts of 4 and 7. The ultraviolet luminosity
density of these samples is dominated by galaxies fainter than the
characteristic luminosity, and the HUDF reveals considerably more luminosity
than shallower surveys. The apparent ultraviolet luminosity density of galaxies
appears to decrease from redshifts of a few to redshifts greater than 6. The
highest redshift samples show that star formation was already vigorous at the
earliest epochs that galaxies have been observed, less than one billion years
after the Big Bang.Comment: 44 pages, 18 figures, to appear in the Astronomical Journal October
200
Constraints on Cosmic Strings due to Black Holes Formed from Collapsed Cosmic String Loops
The cosmological features of primordial black holes formed from collapsed
cosmic string loops are studied. Observational restrictions on a population of
primordial black holes are used to restrict , the fraction of cosmic string
loops which collapse to form black holes, and , the cosmic string
mass-per-unit-length. Using a realistic model of cosmic strings, we find the
strongest restriction on the parameters and is due to the energy
density in photons radiated by the black holes. We also find that
inert black hole remnants cannot serve as the dark matter. If earlier, crude
estimates of are reliable, our results severely restrict , and
therefore limit the viability of the cosmic string large-scale structure
scenario.Comment: (Plain Tex, uses tables.tex -- wrapped lines corrected), 11 pages,
FERMILAB-Pub-93/137-
A beamforming video recorder for integrated observations of dolphin behavior and vocalizations
Author Posting. © Acoustical Society of America, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of Acoustical Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117 (2005): 1005-1008, doi:10.1121/1.1831284.In this Letter we describe a beamforming video recorder consisting of a video camera at the center of a 16 hydrophone array. A broadband frequency-domain beamforming algorithm is used to estimate the azimuth and elevation of each detected sound. These estimates are used to generate a visual cue indicating the location of the sound source within the video recording, which is synchronized to the acoustic data. The system provided accurate results in both lab calibrations and a field test. The system allows researchers to correlate the acoustic and physical behaviors of marine mammals during studies of social interactions.This research was funded by NSF Ocean Sciences
CAREER award 9733391
Dry Mergers in GEMS: The Dynamical Evolution of Massive Early-Type Galaxies
We have used the 28'x 28' HST image mosaic from the GEMS (Galaxy Evolution
from Morphology and SEDs) survey in conjunction with the COMBO-17 photometric
redshift survey to constrain the incidence of major mergers between
spheroid-dominated galaxies with little cold gas (dry mergers) since z = 0.7. A
set of N-body merger simulations was used to explore the morphological
signatures of such interactions: they are recognizable either as < 5kpc
separation close pairs or because of broad, low surface brightness tidal
features and asymmetries. Data with the depth and resolution of GEMS are
sensitive to dry mergers between galaxies with M_V < -20.5 for z < 0.7; dry
mergers at higher redshifts are not easily recovered in single-orbit HST
imaging. Six dry mergers (12 galaxies) with luminosity ratios between 1:1 and
4:1 were found from a sample of 379 red early-type galaxies with M_V < -20.5
and 0.1 < z < 0.7. The simulations suggest that the morphological signatures of
dry merging are visible for ~250Myr and we use this timescale to convert the
observed merger incidence into a rate. On this basis we find that present day
spheroidal galaxies with M_V < -20.5 on average have undergone between 0.5 and
2 major dry mergers since z ~ 0.7. We have compared this result with the
predictions of a Cold Dark Matter based semi-analytic galaxy formation model.
The model reproduces the observed declining major merger fraction of bright
galaxies and the space density of luminous early-type galaxies reasonably well.
The predicted dry merger fraction is consistent with our observational result.
Hence, hierarchical models predict and observations now show that major dry
mergers are an important driver of the evolution of massive early-type galaxies
in recent epochs.Comment: ApJ, in press. The paper has been extensively modified, detailing the
automated+visual selection and dry merger classification. 11 pages emulateapj
with 9 reduced-quality figures. A high quality copy is available at
http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/homes/bell/papers/dry.ps.g
Lunar Lander Offloading Operations Using a Heavy-Lift Lunar Surface Manipulator System
This study investigates the feasibility of using a heavy-lift variant of the Lunar Surface Manipulator System (LSMS-H) to lift and handle a 12 metric ton payload. Design challenges and requirements particular to handling heavy cargo were examined. Differences between the previously developed first-generation LSMS and the heavy-lift version are highlighted. An in-depth evaluation of the tip-over risk during LSMS-H operations has been conducted using the Synergistic Engineering Environment and potential methods to mitigate that risk are identified. The study investigated three specific offloading scenarios pertinent to current Lunar Campaign studies. The first involved offloading a large element, such as a habitat or logistics module, onto a mobility chassis with a lander-mounted LSMS-H and offloading that payload from the chassis onto the lunar surface with a surface-mounted LSMS-H. The second scenario involved offloading small pressurized rovers with a lander-mounted LSMS-H. The third scenario involved offloading cargo from a third-party lander, such as the proposed ESA cargo lander, with a chassis-mounted LSMS-H. In all cases, the analyses show that the LSMS-H can perform the required operations safely. However, Chariot-mounted operations require the addition of stabilizing outriggers, and when operating from the Lunar surface, LSMS-H functionality is enhanced by adding a simple ground anchoring system
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