118515768
THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON SHEAR IN STRONG GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
Using new photometric and spectroscopic data in the fields of nine strong gravitational lenses that lie in galaxy groups, we analyze the effects of both the local group environment and line-of-sight (LOS) galaxies on the lens potential. We use Monte Carlo simulations to derive the shear directly from measurements of the complex lens environment, providing the first detailed independent check of the shear obtained from lens modeling. We account for possible tidal stripping of the group galaxies by varying the fraction of total mass apportioned between the group dark matter halo and individual group galaxies. The environment produces an average shear of γ = 0.08 (ranging from 0.02 to 0.17), significant enough to affect quantities derived from lens observables. However, the direction and magnitude of the shears do not match those obtained from lens modeling in three of the six four-image systems in our sample (B1422, RXJ1131, and WFI2033). The source of this disagreement is not clear, implying that the assumptions inherent in both the environment and lens model approaches must be reconsidered. If only the local group environment of the lens is included, the average shear is γ = 0.05 (ranging from 0.01 to 0.14), indicating that LOS contributions to the lens potential are not negligible. We isolate the effects of various theoretical and observational uncertainties on our results. Of those uncertainties, the scatter in the Faber-Jackson relation and error in the group centroid position dominate. Future surveys of lens environments should prioritize spectroscopic sampling of both the local lens environment and objects along the LOS, particularly those bright (I< 21.5) galaxies projected within 5' of the lens.
119217335
PRIMUS: ENHANCED SPECIFIC STAR FORMATION RATES IN CLOSE GALAXY PAIRS
Tidal interactions between galaxies can trigger star formation, which contributes to the global star formation rate (SFR) density of the universe and could be a factor in the transformation of blue, star-forming galaxies to red, quiescent galaxies over cosmic time. We investigate tidally triggered star formation in isolated close galaxy pairs drawn from the Prism Multi-Object Survey (PRIMUS), a low-dispersion prism redshift survey that has measured ∼ 120,000 robust galaxy redshifts over 9.1 deg 2 out to z ∼ 1. We select a sample of galaxies in isolated galaxy pairs at redshifts 0.25 ≤ z ≤ 0.75, with no other objects within a projected separation of 300 h ―1 kpc and Δz/(1 + z) = 0.01, and compare them to a control sample of isolated galaxies to test for systematic differences in their rest-frame FUV - r and NUV - r colors as a proxy for relative specific star formation rates (SSFRs). We find that galaxies in r p ≤ 50 h ―1 kpc pairs have bluer dust-corrected UV - r colors on average than the control galaxies by ―0.134 ± 0.045 mag in FUV - r and ―0.075 ± 0.038 mag in NUV - r, corresponding to an ∼ 15%―20% increase in SSFR. This indicates an enhancement in SSFR due to tidal interactions. We also find that this relative enhancement is greater for a subset of r p ≤ 30 h ―1 kpc pair galaxies, for which the average color offsets are ―0.193 ± 0.065 mag in FUV - r and ―0.159 ± 0.048 mag in NUV - r, corresponding to an ∼25%―30% increase in SSFR. We test for evolution in the enhancement of tidally triggered star formation with redshift across our sample redshift range and find marginal evidence for a decrease in SSFR enhancement from 0.25 ≤ z ≤ 0.5 to 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.75. This indicates that a change in enhanced star formation triggered by tidal interactions in low-density environments is not a contributor to the decline in the global SFR density across this redshift range.
15254963
Lens Galaxy Properties of SBS 1520+530: Insights from Keck Spectroscopy and AO Imaging
We report on an investigation of the SBS 1520+530 gravitational lens system. We have used archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, Keck spectroscopic data, and Keck adaptive optics (AO) imaging to study the lensing galaxy and its environment. The AO imaging has allowed us to fix the lens galaxy properties with a high degree of accuracy when performing the lens modeling, and the data indicate that the lens has an elliptical morphology and perhaps a disk. The new spectroscopic data suggest that previous determinations of the lens redshift may be incorrect, and we report an updated, although inconclusive, value z(lens) = 0.761. We have also spectroscopically confirmed the existence of several galaxy groups at approximately the redshift of the lens system. We create new models of the lens system that explicitly account for the environment of the lens, and we also include improved constraints on the lensing galaxy from our AO imaging. Lens models created with these new data can be well fit with a steeper than isothermal mass slope (α = 2.29, where ρ propto r−α) if H_0 is fixed at 72 km s^(-1) Mpc^(-1); isothermal models require H_0 similar to 50 km s^(-1) Mpc^(-1). The steepened profile may indicate that the lens is in a transient perturbed state caused by interactions with a nearby galaxy.
56333569
PRIMUS: OBSCURED STAR FORMATION ON THE RED SEQUENCE
We quantify the fraction of galaxies at moderate redshifts (0.1 < z < 0.5) that appear red-and-dead in the optical, but in fact contain obscured star formation detectable in the infrared (IR), with the PRIsm MUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS). PRIMUS has measured {approx}120,000 robust redshifts with a precision of {sigma}{sub z}/(1 + z) {approx} 0.5% over 9.1 deg{sup 2} of the sky to the depth of i {approx} 23 (AB), up to redshift z {approx} 1. We specifically targeted 6.7 deg{sup 2} fields with existing deep IR imaging from the Spitzer Space Telescope from the SWIRE and S-COSMOS surveys. We select in these fields an i-band flux-limited sample (i < 20 mag in the SWIRE fields and i < 21 mag in the S-COSMOS field) of 3310 red-sequence galaxies at 0.1 < z < 0.5 for which we can reliably classify obscured star-forming (SF) and quiescent galaxies using IR color. Our sample constitutes the largest galaxy sample at intermediate redshift to study obscured star formation on the red sequence, and we present the first quantitative analysis of the fraction of obscured SF galaxies as a function of luminosity. We find that on average, at L {approx} L*, about 15% of red-sequencemore » galaxies have IR colors consistent with SF galaxies. The percentage of obscured SF galaxies increases by {approx}8% per mag with decreasing luminosity from the highest luminosities to L {approx} 0.2 L*. Our results suggest that a significant fraction of red-sequence galaxies have ongoing star formation and that galaxy evolution studies based on optical color therefore need to account for this complication.« less
18491679
Galaxy Number Counts and Implications for Strong Lensing
We compare galaxy number counts in Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) fields containing moderate-redshift (0.2 <z <1.0) strong gravitational lenses with those in two control samples: (1) the first square degree of the COSMOS survey, comprising 259 ACS fields and (2) 20 ‘pure-parallel’ fields randomly located on the sky. Through a Bayesian analysis we determine the expectation values (μ0) and confidence levels of the underlying number counts for a range of apertures and magnitude bins. Our analysis has produced the following results: (i) we infer that our control samples are not consistent, with the number counts in the COSMOS sample being significantly higher than in the pure-parallel sample for 21 ≤F814W≤ 23. This result matches those found in previous analyses of COSMOS data using different techniques. (ii) We find that small-sized apertures, centred on strong lenses, are overdense compared with randomly placed apertures in the control samples, even compared to the COSMOS sample. Correcting for the local clustering of elliptical galaxies, based on the average two-point correlation function, reduces this overdensity to the 1-2σ level. Thus, the overdensity of galaxies seen along a typical line of sight to a lens can be explained mostly by the natural clustering of galaxies, rather than being due to lenses lying along otherwise biased lines of sight. However, a larger sample of lenses is needed to see if the remaining bias persists when the lens-field uncertainties are smaller. (iii) There is considerable scatter in the lines of sight to individual lens systems, but quantities that are linearly dependent on the external convergence (e.g. H0) should become unbiased if the extra galaxies that cause the bias can be accounted for in the lens models either through direct modelling or via an informed prior on the external convergence. The number counts can be used to set such an informed prior.
119254962
PRIMUS: THE DEPENDENCE OF AGN ACCRETION ON HOST STELLAR MASS AND COLOR
We present evidence that the incidence of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and the distribution of their accretion rates do not depend on the stellar masses of their host galaxies, contrary to previous studies. We use hard (2-10 keV) X-ray data from three extragalactic fields (XMM-LSS, COSMOS, and ELAIS-S1) with redshifts from the Prism Multi-object Survey to identify 242 AGNs with L{sub 2-10keV} = 10{sup 42-44} erg s{sup -1} within a parent sample of {approx}25,000 galaxies at 0.2 < z < 1.0 over {approx}3.4 deg{sup 2} and to i {approx} 23. We find that although the fraction of galaxies hosting an AGN at fixed X-ray luminosity rises strongly with stellar mass, the distribution of X-ray luminosities is independent of mass. Furthermore, we show that the probability that a galaxy will host an AGN can be defined by a universal Eddington ratio distribution that is independent of the host galaxy stellar mass and has a power-law shape with slope -0.65. These results demonstrate that AGNs are prevalent at all stellar masses in the range 9.5< log M{sub *}/M{sub sun}<12 and that the same physical processes regulate AGN activity in all galaxies in this stellar mass range. While a higher AGN fraction maymore » be observed in massive galaxies, this is a selection effect related to the underlying Eddington ratio distribution. We also find that the AGN fraction drops rapidly between z {approx} 1 and the present day and is moderately enhanced (factor {approx}2) in galaxies with blue or green optical colors. Consequently, while AGN activity and star formation appear to be globally correlated, we do not find evidence that the presence of an AGN is related to the quenching of star formation or the color transformation of galaxies.« less
971110
Static potential and local color fields in unquenched three-dimensional lattice QCD
Abstract String breaking by dynamical quarks in (2+1)-d lattice QCD is demonstrated in this project, by measuring the static potential and the local color-electric field strength between a heavy quark and antiquark pair at large separations. Simulations are done for unquenched SU(2) color with two flavors of staggered quarks. An improved gluon action is used which allows simulations to be done on coarse lattices, providing an extremely efficient means to access the quark separations and propagation times at which string breaking occurs. The static quark potential is extracted using only Wilson loop operators and hence no valence quarks are present in the trial states. Results give unambiguous evidence for string breaking as the static quark potential completely saturates at twice the heavy-light meson mass at large separations. It is also shown that the local color-electric field strength between the quark pair tends toward vacuum values at large separations. Implications of these results for unquenched simulations of QCD in 4-d are drawn.
118395102
One Monopole-Antimonopole Pair Solutions
We present new classical generalized one monopole-antimonopole pair solutions of the SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs theory with the Higgs field in the adjoint representation. We show that in general the one monopole-antimonopole solution need not be solved by imposing mtheta-winding number to be integer greater than one. We also show that this solution can be solved when m = 1 by transforming the large distance asymptotic solutions to general solutions that depend on a parameter p. Secondly we show that these large distance asymptotic solutions can be further generalized to the Jacobi elliptic functions. We focus our numerical calculation on the Jacobi elliptic functions solution when the nphi-winding number is one and show that this generalized Jacobi elliptic 1-MAP solution possesses lower energy. All these solutions are numerical finite energy non-BPS solutions of the Yang-Mills-Higgs field theory.
119199675
Comments on the Monopole-Antimonopole Pair Solutions
Recently, the monopole-antimonopole pair and monopole-antimonopole chain solutions are solved with internal space coordinate system of -winding number m greater than one. However, we notice that it is also possible to solve these solutions numerically in terms of -winding number m = 1 instead. When m = 1, the exact asymptotic solutions at small and large distances are parameterized by a single integer parameter s. Here we once again study the monopole-antimonopole pair solution of the SU(2) YangMills-Higgs theory which belongs to the topological trivial sector numerically in its new form. This solution with -winding and -winding number one is parameterized by s = 0 at small r and s = 1 at large r.
118083317
The Axially Symmetric One-Monopole
We present new classical generalized one‐monopole solution of the SU(2) Yang‐Mills‐Higgs theory with the Higgs field in the adjoint representation. We show that this solution with θ‐winding number m = 1 and φ‐winding number n = 1 is an axially symmetric generalization of the ’t Hooft‐Polyakov one‐monopole. We construct this axially symmetric one‐monopole solution by generalizing the large distance asymptotic solutions of the ’t Hooft‐Polyakov one‐monopole to the Jacobi elliptic functions and solving the second order equations of motion numerically when the Higgs potential is vanishing. This solution is a non‐BPS solution.
118580751
Weyl fluid dark matter model tested on the galactic scale by weak gravitational lensing
The higher-dimensional Weyl curvature induces on the brane a new source of gravity. This Weyl fluid of geometrical origin (reducing in the spherically symmetric, static configuration to a dark radiation and dark pressure) modifies spacetime geometry around galaxies and has been shown to explain the flatness of galactic rotation curves. Independent observations for discerning between the Weyl fluid and other dark matter models are necessary. Gravitational lensing could provide such a test. Therefore we study null geodesics and weak gravitational lensing in the dark radiation dominated region of galaxies in a class of spherically symmetric braneworld metrics. We find that the lensing profile in the braneworld scenario is distinguishable from dark matter lensing, despite both the braneworld scenario and dark matter models fitting the rotation curve data. In particular, in the asymptotic regions, light deflection is 18% enhanced as compared to dark matter halo predictions. For a linear equation of state of the Weyl fluid, we further find a critical radius below which braneworld effects reduce, while above it they amplify light deflection. This is in contrast to any dark matter model, the addition of which always increases the deflection angle.