2,136 research outputs found
High sensitivity low frequency radio observations of cD galaxies
We present the GMRT 235 MHz images of three radio galaxies and 610 MHz images
of two sources belonging to a complete sample of cD galaxies in rich and poor
galaxy clusters. The analysis of the spectral properties confirms the presence
of aged radio emission in two of the presented sources.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, To appear in the Proceedings of "Heating vs.
Cooling in Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies", August 2006, Garching
(Germany
Effect of modified-release methylphenidate on cognition in children with ADHD: evidence from a temporal preparation task
ADHD is associated with various cognitive deficits, including general performance decrements and specific impairments, for instance in temporal processing. However, time preparation under uncertain conditions has been under-investigated in this population. We aimed at filling this gap. We administered a variable foreperiod paradigm to children with ADHD before and after a one-month treatment with modified-release methylphenidate. Age-matched ADHD children with no treatment and healthy children were also tested as control groups with the same time-schedule. Children with ADHD had general performance deficits (longer and more variable response times), which disappeared in the experimental group after pharmacological intervention. Moreover, ADHD children showed a marked dependency on sequential foreperiod effects (i.e., slower responses for longer preceding foreperiods), especially at short current foreperiods, which were not modulated by the pharmacological treatment. In conclusion, the present findings show that methylphenidate enhances general motor processes rather than more specific time preparation processes, some of which appear deviant in ADHD
Shapley Supercluster Survey: Ram-Pressure Stripping vs. Tidal Interactions in the Shapley Supercluster
We present two new examples of galaxies undergoing transformation in the
Shapley supercluster core. These low-mass (stellar mass from 0.4E10 to 1E10
Msun) galaxies are members of the two clusters SC-1329-313 (z=0.045) and
SC-1327-312 (z=0.049). Integral-field spectroscopy complemented by imaging in
ugriK bands and in Halpha narrow-band are used to disentangle the effects of
tidal interaction (TI) and ram-pressure stripping (RPS). In both galaxies,
SOS-61086 and SOS-90630, we observe one-sided extraplanar ionized gas extending
respectively 30kpc and 41kpc in projection from their disks. The galaxies'
gaseous disks are truncated and the kinematics of the stellar and gas
components are decoupled, supporting the RPS scenario. The emission of the
ionized gas extends in the direction of a possible companion for both galaxies
suggesting a TI. The overall gas velocity field of SOS-61086 is reproduced by
ad hoc N-body/hydrodynamical simulations of RPS acting almost face-on and
starting about 250Myr ago, consistent with the age of the young stellar
populations. A link between the observed gas stripping and the cluster-cluster
interaction experienced by SC-1329-313 and A3562 is suggested. Simulations of
ram pressure acting almost edge-on are able to fully reproduce the gas velocity
field of SOS-90630, but cannot at the same time reproduce the extended tail of
outflowing gas. This suggests that an additional disturbance from a TI is
required. This study adds a piece of evidence that RPS may take place in
different environments with different impacts and witnesses the possible effect
of cluster-cluster merger on RPS.Comment: 27 pages, 28 figures, MNRAS accepte
Chemical Gradients in Galaxy Clusters and the Multiple Ways of Making a Cold Front
Cold fronts were originally interpreted as being the result of
subsonic/transonic motions of head-on merging substructures. This merger core
remnant model is theoretically justified and hold relatively well for clusters
that have clear signs of merging, such as 1E0657-56, but they do not work well
for the increasing number of cold fronts found in clusters that do not show
clear merging signs, such as A496. Here we report the results of a deeper
observation of that cluster that allowed us to produce high quality maps of the
gas parameters and to compare more closely the observations with the
predictions given by different models for cold front formation. We found for
the first time a ``cold arm'' characteristic of a flyby of a massive DM halo
near the core of the cluster. The cold arm is accompanied by an enhanced SN II
Fe mass fraction, inconsistent with the merger core remnant scenario.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of "Heating vs.
Cooling in Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies", August 2006, Garching
(Germany
The Planck Surveyor mission: astrophysical prospects
Although the Planck Surveyor mission is optimized to map the cosmic microwave
background anisotropies, it will also provide extremely valuable information on
astrophysical phenomena. We review our present understanding of Galactic and
extragalactic foregrounds relevant to the mission and discuss on one side,
Planck's impact on the study of their properties and, on the other side, to
what extent foreground contamination may affect Planck's ability to accurately
determine cosmological parameters. Planck's multifrequency surveys will be
unique in their coverage of large areas of the sky (actually, of the full sky);
this will extend by two or more orders of magnitude the flux density interval
over which mm/sub-mm counts of extragalactic sources can be determined by
instruments already available (like SCUBA) or planned for the next decade (like
the LSA-MMA or the space mission FIRST), which go much deeper but over very
limited areas. Planck will thus provide essential complementary information on
the epoch-dependent luminosity functions. Bright radio sources will be studied
over a poorly explored frequency range where spectral signatures, essential to
understand the physical processes that are going on, show up. The
Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, with its extremely rich information content, will be
observed in the direction of a large number of rich clusters of Galaxies.
Thanks again to its all sky coverage, Planck will provide unique information on
the structure and on the emission properties of the interstellar medium in the
Galaxy. At the same time, the foregrounds are unlikely to substantially limit
Planck's ability to measure the cosmological signals. Even measurements of
polarization of the primordial Cosmic Microwave background fluctuations appear
to be feasible.Comment: 20 pages, Latex (use aipproc2.sty, aipproc2.cls, epsfig.sty), 10
PostScript figures; invited review talk, Proc. of the Conference: "3 K
Cosmology", Roma, Italy, 5-10 October 1998, AIP Conference Proc, in press
Note: Figures 6 and 7 have been replaced by new and correct version
Photometry of the Oort Cloud comet C/2009 P1(Garradd): pre-perihelion observations at 5.7 and 2.5 AU
The aim of this paper is to contribute to the characterization of the general properties of the Long Period Comets (LPCs) family, and in particular to report on the dust environment of comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd).
The comet was observed at two epochs pre-perihelion, at ~6 AU and at ~2.5 AU: broad-band images have been used to investigate its coma morphology and properties and to model the dust production rate.
Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) is one of the most active and âdust producingâ LPCs ever observed, even at the large heliocentric distance rh~6 AU. Its coma presents a complex morphology, with subtle structures underlying the classical fan-shaped tail, and, at rh~2.5 AU, also jet-like structures and spiralling outflows. In the reference aperture of radius Ï=5°Ă104 km, the R-AfÏ is 3693±156 cm and 6368±412 cm, in August 2010 (rh~6 AU) and July 2011 (rh~2.5 AU), respectively. The application of a first order photometric model, under realistic assumptions on grain geometric albedo, power-law dust size distribution, phase darkening function and grain dust outflow velocity, yielded a measure of the dust production rate for the two epochs of observation of Qd=7.27Ă102 kg/s and Qd=1.37Ă103 kg/s, respectively, for a reference outflow dust velocity of vsmall=25 m/s for small (0.1â10 ”m) grains and vlarge=1 m/s for large (10 ”mâ1 cm) grains.
These results suggest that comet Garradd is one of the most active minor bodies observed in recent years, highly contributing to the continuous replenishment of the Interplanetary Dust Complex also in the outer Solar System, and pose important constraints on the mechanism(s) driving the cometary activity at large heliocentric distances
Radio morphology and spectral analysis of cD galaxies in rich and poor galaxy clusters
We present a radio morphological study and spectral analysis for a sample of
13 cD galaxies in rich and poor clusters of galaxies.} Our study is based on
new high sensitivity Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations at
1.28 GHz, 610 MHz and 235 MHz, and on archival data. From a statistical sample
of cluster cD galaxies we selected those sources with little information
available in the literature and promising for the detection of aged radio
emission. Beyond the high sensitivity images for all 13 radio galaxies, we
present also a detailed spectral analysis for 7 of them. We found a variety of
morphologies and linear sizes, as typical for radio galaxies in the radio power
range sampled here (low to intermediate power radio galaxies). The spectral
analysis shows that 10/13 radio galaxies have steep radio spectrum, with
spectral index . In general, the radiative ages and growth
velocities are consistent with previous findings that the evolution of radio
galaxies at the cluster centres is affected by the dense external medium (i.e.
low growth velocities and old ages. We suggest that the dominant galaxies in A
2622 and MKW 03s are dying radio sources, which at present are not fed by
nuclear activity. On the other hand, the spectacular source at the centre of A
2372 might be a very interesting example of restarted radio galaxy. For this
source we estimated a life cycle of the order of 10 yr.Comment: Accepted by A&A, 25 pages, 28 figures, 6 tables and appendix Full
version including high quality images available at
http://www.ira.inaf.it/~tventuri/pap/Venturi.pd
1WGAJ1226.9+3332: a high redshift cluster discovered by Chandra
We report the detection of 1WGAJ1226.9+3332 as an arcminute scale extended
X-ray source with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Chandra observation and R
and K band imaging strongly support the identification of 1WGAJ1226.9+3332 as a
high redshift cluster of galaxies, most probably at z=0.85 +- 0.15, with an
inferred temperature kT =10 (+4;-3) keV and an unabsorbed luminosity (in a
r=120" aperture) of 1.3 (+0.16;-0.14) x 1e45 erg/s (0.5-10 keV). This
indication of redshift is also supported by the K and R band imaging, and is in
agreement with the spectroscopic redshift of 0.89 found by Ebeling et al.
(2001). The surface brightness profile is consistent with a beta-model with
beta=0.770 +- 0.025, rc=(18.1 +-0.9)" (corresponding to 101 +- 5 kpc at
z=0.89), and S(0)=1.02 +- 0.08 counts/arcsec**2. 1WGAJ1226.9+3332 was selected
as an extreme X-ray loud source with FX/FV>60; this selection method, thanks to
the large area sampled, seems to be a highly efficient method for finding
luminous high z clusters of galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ main
journal. Uses emulateapj.st
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