814448
The Sequential Empirical Bayes Method: An Adaptive Constrained-Curve Fitting Algorithm for Lattice QCD
We introduce the ``Sequential Empirical Bayes Method'', an adaptive constrained-curve fitting procedure for extracting reliable priors. These are then used in standard augmented-$\chi^2$ fits on separate data. This better stabilizes fits to lattice QCD overlap-fermion data at very low quark mass where {\it a priori} values are not otherwise known. Lessons learned (including caveats limiting the scope of the method) from studying artificial data are presented. As an illustration, from local-local two-point correlation functions, we obtain masses and spectral weights for ground and first-excited states of the pion, give preliminary fits for the $a_0$ where ghost states (a quenched artifact) must be dealt with, and elaborate on the details of fits of the Roper resonance and $S_{11}(N^{1/2-})$ previously presented elsewhere. The data are from overlap fermions on a quenched $16^3\times 28$ lattice with spatial size $La=3.2 {\rm fm}$ and pion mass as low as $\sim 180 {\rm MeV}$.
119107777
The Roper Puzzle
We carried out a calculation of the Roper state with the Sequential Empirical Bayesian (SEB) method with overlap valence fermion on 2+1-flavor domain-wall fermion configurations on the 24^3 x 64 lattice with a^{-1} = 1.73 GeV. The light sea quark mass corresponds to a pion mass of 330 MeV. The mass of the Roper, chirally extrapolated to the physical pion mass, is 1404(112) MeV which is consistent with the experimental value at 1440 MeV. When compared to the Roper state calculation with variational method for Clover and twisted mass fermions, it is found that the Roper states from SEB with overlap fermion are systematically lower by 400 - 800 MeV for all the quark masses ranging from light to the strange mass region. We study the origin of the difference by exploring the size of the interpolation field in relation to the radial wavefunction of the Roper and also the dynamical influence of the higher Fock space.
15542603
Sulphur abundances in disk stars: A correlation with silicon
We have performed new determinations of sulphur and silicon abundances for a sample of 26 disk stars based on high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra. The results indicate a solar (S/Fe) for (Fe/H) > 0:3, below which (S/Fe) increases to0.25 dex at (Fe/H) = 1:0. We find that there is a good correlation between (S/H) and (Si/H), indicating the same nucleosynthetic origin of the two elements. It seems that the ratio of sulphur to silicon does not depend on metallicity for (Fe/H)> 1:0. The implications of these results on models for the nucleosynthesis of-capture elements and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy are discussed.
118466086
Autocorrelations of stellar light and mass at z∼ 0 and ∼1: from SDSS to DEEP2
We present measurements of projected autocorrelation functions wp(rp) for the stellar mass of galaxies and for their light in the U, B and V bands, using data from the third data release of the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey and the final data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We investigate the clustering bias of stellar mass and light by comparing these to projected autocorrelations of dark matter estimated from the Millennium Simulations (MS) at z = 1 and 0.07, the median redshifts of our galaxy samples. All of the autocorrelation and bias functions show systematic trends with spatial scale and waveband which are impressively similar at the two redshifts. This shows that the well-established environmental dependence of stellar populations in the local Universe is already in place at z = 1. The recent MS-based galaxy formation simulation of Guo et al. (2011) reproduces the scale-dependent clustering of luminosity to an accuracy better than 30% in all bands and at both redshifts, but substantially overpredicts mass autocorrelations at separations below about 2 Mpc. Further comparison of the shapes of our stellar mass bias functions with those predicted by the model suggests that both the SDSS and DEEP2 data prefer a fluctuation amplitude of σ8 � 0.8 rather than the σ8 = 0.9 assumed by the MS.
10522140
Evolution of the most massive galaxies to z ∼ 0.6 – II. The link between radio AGN activity and star formation
We analyze the optical spectra of massive (log M∗/M⊙ > 11.4) radio-loud galaxies at z � 0.2 and z � 0.6. Our samples are generated by crossmatching the SDSS DR7 and BOSS spectroscopic galaxy catalogues with the FIRST and NVSS radio continuum surveys. By comparing stellar population parameters of these radio-loud samples with radio-quiet control samples matched in stellar mass, velocity dispersion and redshift, we investigate how the presence of a radio-emitting jet relates to the recent star formation history of the host galaxy. We also investigate how the emissionline properties of the radio galaxies evolve with redshift by stacking their spectra. Our main results are the following. (1) Both at low and at high redshift, half as many radio-loud as radio-quiet galaxies have experienced significant star formation in the past Gyr. This difference in star formation history is independent of the luminosity of the radio AGN, except at radio luminosities greater than 10 25.5 W Hz −1 , where it disappears. (2) The Balmer absorption line properties of massive galaxies that have experienced recent star formation show that star formation occurred as a burst in many of these systems. (3) Both the radio and the emission-line luminosity of radio AGN evolve significantly with redshift. The average [O iii] rest equivalent width increases by 1 dex from z = 0.2 to z = 0.6, and emission line ratios change from LINER-like at low redshift to Seyfert-like at high redshift. However, radio galaxies with similar stellar population parameters, have similar emission-line properties both at high- and at low-redshift. These results suggest that massive galaxies experience cyclical episodes of gas accretion, star formation and black hole growth, followed by the production of a radio jet that shuts down further activity. The behaviour of galaxies with log M∗/M⊙ > 11.4 is the same at z = 0.6 as it is at z = 0.2, except that higher redshift galaxies experience more star formation and black hole growth and produce more luminous radio jets during each accretion cycle.
119299152
Spectral Classification and Redshift Measurement for the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
We describe the automated spectral classification, redshift determination, and parameter measurement pipeline in use for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) as of the survey's ninth data release (DR9), encompassing 831,000 moderate-resolution optical spectra. We give a review of the algorithms employed, and describe the changes to the pipeline that have been implemented for BOSS relative to previous SDSS-I/II versions, including new sets of stellar, galaxy, and quasar redshift templates. For the color-selected "CMASS" sample of massive galaxies at redshift 0.4 ≲ z ≲ 0.8 targeted by BOSS for the purposes of large-scale cosmological measurements, the pipeline achieves an automated classification success rate of 98.7% and confirms 95.4% of unique CMASS targets as galaxies (with the balance being mostly M stars). Based on visual inspections of a subset of BOSS galaxies, we find that approximately 0.2% of confidently reported CMASS sample classifications and redshifts are incorrect, and about 0.4% of all CMASS spectra are objects unclassified by the current algorithm which are potentially recoverable. The BOSS pipeline confirms that ~51.5% of the quasar targets have quasar spectra, with the balance mainly consisting of stars and low signal-to-noise spectra. Statistical (as opposed to systematic) redshift errors propagated from photon noise are typically a few tens of km s–1 for both galaxies and quasars, with a significant tail to a few hundreds of km s–1 for quasars. We test the accuracy of these statistical redshift error estimates using repeat observations, finding them underestimated by a factor of 1.19-1.34 for galaxies and by a factor of two for quasars. We assess the impact of sky-subtraction quality, signal-to-noise ratio, and other factors on galaxy redshift success. Finally, we document known issues with the BOSS DR9 spectroscopic data set and describe directions of ongoing development.
13993648
The Absolute Magnitudes of Red Horizontal Branch Stars in the ugriz System
Based on photometric data of the central parts of eight globular clusters and one open cluster presented by An and his collaborators, we select red horizontal branch (RHB) stars in the (g – r)0-g 0 diagram and make a statistical study of the distributions of their colors and absolute magnitudes in the SDSS ugriz system. Meanwhile, absolute magnitudes in the Johnson VRI system are calculated through the translation formulae between gri and VRI in the literature. The calibrations of absolute magnitude as functions of metallicity and age are established by linear regressions of the data. It is found that metallicity coefficients in these calibrations decrease, while age coefficients increase, from the blue u filter to the red z filter. The calibration of M i = 0.06[Fe/H] + 0.040t + 0.03 has the smallest scatter of 0.04 mag, and thus i is the best filter in the ugriz system when RHB stars are used for distance indicators. The comparison of the M I calibration from our data with that from red clump stars indicates that the previous suggestion that the I filter is better than the V filter in distance determination may not be true because of its significant dependence on age.