2927391
A large sample of low surface brightness disc galaxies from the SDSS – I. The sample and the stellar populations
We present the properties of a large sample (12 282) of nearly face-on low surface brightness (LSB) disc galaxies selected from the main galaxy sample of SDSS-DR4. These properties include B-band central surface brightness μ 0 (B), scalelengths h, integrated magnitudes, colours and distances D. This sample has μ 0 (B) values from 22 to 24.5 mag arcsec -2 with a median value of 22.42 mag arcsec -2 , and disc scalelengths ranging from 2 to 19 kpc. They are quite bright with M B taking values from -18 to -23 mag with a median value of -20.08 mag. There exist clear correlations between log h and M B , log h and log D, log D and M B . However, no obvious correlations are found between μ 0 (B) and log h, colours, etc. The correlation between colours and log h is weak even though it exists. Both the optical-optical and optical-NIR colour-colour diagrams indicate that most of them have a mixture of young and old stellar populations. They also satisfy colour-magnitude relations, which indicate that brighter galaxies tend generally to be redder. The comparison between the LSBGs and a control sample of nearly face-on disc galaxies with higher surface brightness (HSB) with μ 0 (B) from 18.5 to 22 mag arcsec -2 show that, at a given luminosity or distance, the observed LSB galaxies tend to have larger scalelengths. These trends could be seen gradually by dividing both the LSBGs and HSBGs into two subgroups according to surface brightness. A volume-limited subsample was extracted to check the incompleteness of surface brightness. The only one of the property relations having an obvious change is the relation of log h versus μ 0 (B), which shows a correlation in this subsample.
119237976
A large sample of low surface brightness disc galaxies from the SDSS – II. Metallicities in surface brightness bins
We study the spectroscopic properties of a large sample of low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) [with B-band central surface brightness μ0(B) > 22 mag arcsec −2 ] selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4 (SDSS-DR4) main galaxy sample. A large sample of disc-dominated high surface brightness galaxies [HSBGs, with μ0(B) < 22 mag arcsec −2 ] are also selected for comparison simultaneously. To study them in more details, these sample galaxies are further divided into four subgroups according to μ0(B) (in units of mag arcsec −2 ): very low surface brightness galaxies (vLSBGs) (24.5–22.75), intermediate low surface brightness galaxies (iLSBGs) (22.75–22.0), intermediate high surface brightness galaxies (iHSBGs) (22.0–21.25) and very high surface brightness galaxies (vHSBGs) (<21.25). The diagnostic diagram from spectral emission-line ratios shows that the active galactic nucleus fractions of all the four subgroups are small (<9 per cent). The 21 032 star-forming galaxies with good-quality spectroscopic observations are further selected for studying their dust extinction, strong-line ratios, metallicities and stellar mass–metallicity relations. The vLSBGs have lower extinction values and have less metal-rich and massive galaxies than the other subgroups. The oxygen abundances of our LSBGs are not as low as those of the H II regions in LSBGs studied in literature, which could be because our samples are more luminous, and because of the different metallicity calibrations used. We find a correlation between 12 + log(O/H) and μ0(B) for vLSBGs, iLSBGs and iHSBGs but show that this could be a result of correlation between μ0(B) and stellar mass and the well-known mass–metallicity relation. This large sample shows that LSBGs span a wide range in metallicity and stellar mass, and they lie nearly on the stellar mass versus metallicity and N/O versus O/H relations of normal galaxies. This suggests that LSBGs and HSBGs have not had dramatically different star formation and chemical enrichment histories.
119270494
Multiwavelength study of nearly face-on low surface brightness disk galaxies
We study the ages of a large sample (1802) of nearly face-on disk low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) using the evolutionary population synthesis (EPS) model PEGASE with an exponentially decreasing star formation rate to fit their multiwavelength spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from far-ultraviolet (FUV) to near-infrared (NIR). The derived ages of LSBGs are 1–5 Gyr for most of the sample no matter if constant or varying dust extinction is adopted, which are similar to most of the previous studies on smaller samples. This means that these LSBGs formed the majority of their stars quite recently. However, a small part of the sample (~2%–3%) has larger ages of 5–8 Gyr, meaning their major star forming process may have occurred earlier. At the same time, a large sample (5886) of high surface brightness galaxies (HSBGs) are selected and studied using the same method for comparisons. The derived ages are 1–5 Gyr for most of the sample (97%) as well. These results probably mean that these LSBGs have not much different star formation histories from their HSBGs counterparts. However, we should notice that the HSBGs are generally about 0.2 Gyr younger, which could mean that the HSBGs may have undergone more recent star forming activities than the LSBGs.
1567381
The structure of the Galactic halo : SDSS versus SuperCOSMOS
The halo structure at high Galactic latitudes near both the north and south poles is studied using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and SuperCOSMOS data. For the south cap halo, the archive of the SuperCOSMOS photographic photometry sky survey is used. The coincident source rate between SuperCOSMOS data in B J band from 16.5 to 20.5 mag and SDSS data is about 92 per cent, in a common sky area in the south. While that in the R F band is about 85 per cent from 16.5 to 19.5 mag. Transformed to the SuperCOSMOS system and downgraded to the limiting magnitudes of SuperCOSMOS, the star counts in the North Galactic Cap from SDSS show up to an 16.9±6.3 per cent asymmetric ratio (defined as relative fluctuations over the rotational symmetry structure) in the B J band, and up to 13.5 ± 6.7 per cent asymmetric ratio in the R F band. From SuperCOSMOS Bj and R F bands, the structure of the Southern Galactic hemisphere does not show the same obvious asymmetric structures as the northern sky does in both the original and downgraded SDSS star counts. An axisymmetric halo model with n = 2.8 and q = 0.7 can fit the projected number density from SuperCOSMOS fairly well, with an average error of about 9.17 per cent. By careful analysis of the difference of star counts between the downgraded SDSS northern halo data and SuperCOSMOS southern halo data, it is shown that no asymmetry can be detected in the South Galactic Cap at the accuracy of SuperCOSMOS, and the Virgo overdensity is likely a foreign component in the Galactic halo.
14830508
SDSS J121811.0+465501.2: A New Low Surface Brightness Galaxy with Low Metallicity
We have serendipitously found a new nearby low surface brightness (LSB) galaxy from the SDSS database. We estimate the oxygen abundance of its H II region SDSS J121811.0+465501.2 from its electron temperature, as well as that of another H II region, SDSS J135440.5+535309.6, located in the irregular LSB galaxy UGC 8837. These two extragalactic H II regions were classified as stars in the SDSS DR4 database and were found occasionally by us in the automatic recognition and classification of stellar spectra. Their optical spectra show obvious emission lines, i.e., strong [O III] λλ4959, 5007 and Balmer emission lines, but very weak [N II] λλ6548, 6583 and [S II] λλ6317, 6731, which could indicate that they are metal-poor star-forming regions. The derived oxygen abundances of the two objects are 12 + log(O/H) ~ 7.88 ± 0.30 and 7.70 ± 0.30, respectively. The host of the H II region SDSS J121811.0+465501.2 is identified as a new nearly edge-on LSB disk galaxy (almost without a bulge), with a B-band central surface brightness μ0(B) of 23.68 mag arcsec-2 and an inclination angle of ~75° by using the GIM2D software to analyze its g- and r-band images independently. It is a nearby dwarf galaxy with redshift z ~ 0.00157, disk scale length ~0.40 kpc, and B-band absolute magnitude MB ~ -13.51 mag. The very low oxygen abundances of these two objects confirm the low metallicities of LSB galaxies.
16379990
A high peculiarity rate for Type Ia SNe
We have compiled a sample of 90 SNe Ia from 1997 to 1999 (up to SN 1999da) and studied the peculiarity rate of SN 1991T, SN 1991bg and SN 1986G-like objects. A Monte Carlo code was written to study the observational biases involved in the evaluation of the intrinsic peculiarity rate of SNe Ia. We find that SNe Ia have a high peculiarity rate (>30%) and a flat luminosity function.
123336656
The importance of pion and extended Brueckner–Hartree–Fock theory
Abstract The pion is important in nuclear physics. The fact that the pion is a pseudoscalar particle makes it very difficult to treat explicitly in the nuclear many-body problem. Matrix elements of the tensor component in the pion exchange interaction vanish in the spin-saturated Hartree–Fock (HF) state. Hence, we are forced to include 2 p − 2 h excitations from the HF state in the model space and use the variational principle to get an extended differential equation for single particle states in the HF state. The structure of this differential equation resembles to that of the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock (BHF) theory and we name the new many-body framework as extended BHF (EBHF) theory. We discuss the similarity and difference between the BHF and EBHF theories. We apply the EBHF theory to nuclear matter and study the equation of state (EOS) and the occupation probability of high momentum states.
17626951
Time expansion chamber system for characterization of TWIST low energy muon beams
A low-mass time expansion chamber (TEC) has been developed to measure distributions of position and angle of the TRIUMF low-energy surface muon beam used for the TRIUMF Weak Interaction Symmetry Test (TWIST) experiment. The experiment is a high-precision measurement of muon decay and is dominated by systematic uncertainties, including the stability, reproducibility, and characterization of the beam. The distributions measured by two TEC modules are one essential ingredient of an accurate simulation of TWIST. The uncertainties, which are extracted through comparisons of data and simulation, must be known to assess potential systematic uncertainties of the TWIST results. The design criteria, construction, alignment, calibration, and operation of the TEC system are discussed, including experiences from initial beam studies. A brief description of the use of TEC data in the TWIST simulation is also included.
118614193
Reexamination of reaction rates for a key stellar reaction of $^{14}$O($\alpha$,p)$^{17}$F
The reaction rates of the key stellar reaction of O(α,p)F have been reexamined. The previous conclusion, the 6.15-MeV state (Jπ=1−) dominating this reaction rate, has been overthrown by a careful reanalysis of the previous experimental data [J. Gómez del Campo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 43 (2001)]. According to the present R-matrix analysis, the previous 1− assignment for the 6.15MeV state is definitely wrong. Most probably, the 6.286-MeV state is the 1− state and the 6.15-MeV state is a 3− one, and hence the resonance at Ex=6.286 MeV (J π=1−) dominates the reaction rates in the temperature region of astrophysical interests. The newly calculated reaction rates for the O(α,p)F reaction are quite different from the previous ones, for instance, it’s only about 1/6 of the previous value around 0.4 GK, while it’s about 2.4 times larger than the previous value around 2 GK. The astrophysical implications have been discussed based on the present conclusions.
32197965
Optical Afterglow Observations of the Unusual Short-Duration Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 040924
The 1 m telescope at Lulin Observatory and the 0.76 m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope at Lick Observatory were used to observe the optical afterglow of the short-duration (1.2-1.5 s) gamma-ray burst GRB 040924. This object has a soft high-energy spectrum, thus making it an exceptional case, perhaps actually belonging to the short-duration tail of the long-duration GRBs. Our data, combined with other reported measurements, show that the early R-band light curve can be described by two power laws with index α = -0.7 (at t = 16-50 minutes) and α = -1.06 (at later times). The rather small difference in the spectral indices can be explained more easily by an afterglow model invoking a cooling break than by one with a jet break.
119402342
ROSAC: Studying the clustering properties of X-ray selected AGNs
We present the first ROSAC results of an AGN clustering analysis. This study comprises a sample of 200 AGNs, 75% of which being at low redshifts z<0.5, in the Ursa Major constellation. The spatial 2-point-correlation function (SCF) as well as the minimal spanning tree (MST) technique were applied. Some evidence for clustering is found in the SCF, although with low significance. Using the MST technique, we could find two AGN groups. This result is preliminary and the exact significance will be tested with careful simulations.