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Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy

The Relative Age Of The Thin And Thick Galactic Disks, Wilson M. Liu, Brian Chaboyer Dec 2000

The Relative Age Of The Thin And Thick Galactic Disks, Wilson M. Liu, Brian Chaboyer

Dartmouth Scholarship

We determine the relative ages of the open cluster NGC 188 and selected Hipparcos field stars by isochrone fitting and compare them to the age of the thick-disk globular cluster 47 Tuc. The best-fit age for NGC 188 was determined to be 6.5 ± 1.0 Gyr. The solar-metallicity Hipparcos field stars yielded a slightly older thin-disk age, 7.5 ± 0.7 Gyr. Two slightly metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -0.22) field stars whose kinematic and orbital parameters indicate that they are members of the thin disk were found to have an age of 9.7 ± 0.6 Gyr. The age for 47 Tuc was …


The Infall Region Of Abell 576: Independent Mass And Light Profiles, Kenneth Rines, Margaret J. Geller, Antonaldo Diaferio, Joseph J. Mohr, Gary A. Wegner Nov 2000

The Infall Region Of Abell 576: Independent Mass And Light Profiles, Kenneth Rines, Margaret J. Geller, Antonaldo Diaferio, Joseph J. Mohr, Gary A. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

We describe observations of the nearby (cz = 11,487 km s-1) cluster of galaxies Abell 576 beyond the virial radius and into the infall region where galaxies are on their first or second pass through the cluster. Using 1057 redshifts, we use the infall pattern in redshift space to determine the mass profile of A576 to a radius of ~4 h-1 Mpc. This mass estimation technique makes no assumptions about the equilibrium state of the cluster. Within ~1 h-1 Mpc, the mass profile we derive exceeds that determined from X-ray observations by a factor of …


Rosat Hri And Asca Observations Of The Spiral Galaxy Ngc 6946 And Its Northeast Complex Of Luminous Supernova Remnants, Eric M. Schlegel, William P. Blair, Robert A. Fesen Aug 2000

Rosat Hri And Asca Observations Of The Spiral Galaxy Ngc 6946 And Its Northeast Complex Of Luminous Supernova Remnants, Eric M. Schlegel, William P. Blair, Robert A. Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Analysis of 80 ks ASCA and 60 ks ROSAT HRI observations of the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 are presented. The ASCA image is the first observation of this galaxy above ~2 keV. Diffuse emission may be present in the inner ~4' extending to energies above ~2–3 keV. In the HRI data, 14 pointlike sources are detected, the brightest two being a source very close to the nucleus and a source to the northeast that corresponds to a luminous complex of interacting supernova remnants (SNRs). We detect a point source that lies ~30'' west of the SNR complex but with …


Enear Redshift-Distance Survey: Cosmological Constraints, Stefano Borgani, Mariangela Bernardi, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner Jul 2000

Enear Redshift-Distance Survey: Cosmological Constraints, Stefano Borgani, Mariangela Bernardi, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present an analysis of the ENEAR sample of peculiar velocities of field and cluster elliptical galaxies, obtained with Dn-σ distances. We use the velocity correlation function ψ1(r) to analyze the statistics of the field object's velocities, while the analysis of the cluster data is based on the estimate of their rms peculiar velocity Vrms. The results are compared with predictions from cosmological models using linear theory. The statistics of the model velocity field is parameterized by the amplitude η8 = σ8Ω and by the shape parameter Γ of the cold dark matter-like power spectrum. …


Grb 991216 Joins The Jet Set: Discovery And Monitoring Of Its Optical Afterglow, J. P. Halpern, R. Uglesich, N. Mirabal, S. Kassin, J. Thorstenson, W. C. Keel, A. Diercks, J. S. Bloom, F. Harrison, J. Mattox, M. Eracleous Jun 2000

Grb 991216 Joins The Jet Set: Discovery And Monitoring Of Its Optical Afterglow, J. P. Halpern, R. Uglesich, N. Mirabal, S. Kassin, J. Thorstenson, W. C. Keel, A. Diercks, J. S. Bloom, F. Harrison, J. Mattox, M. Eracleous

Dartmouth Scholarship

The optical light curve of the energetic γ-ray burst GRB 991216 is consistent with jetlike behavior in which a power-law decay steepens from t-1.22+-0.04 at early times to t-1.53 +- 0.05 in a gradual transition at around 2 days. The derivation of the late-time decay slope takes into account the constant contribution of a host or intervening galaxy, which was measured 110 days after the event at R = 24.56 +- 0.14, although the light curve deviates from a single power law whether or not a constant term is included. The early-time spectral energy distribution of the afterglow …


The Age Of The Inner Halo Globular Cluster Ngc 6652, Brian Chaboyer, Ata Sarajedini, Taft E. Armandroff Jan 2000

The Age Of The Inner Halo Globular Cluster Ngc 6652, Brian Chaboyer, Ata Sarajedini, Taft E. Armandroff

Dartmouth Scholarship

Hubble Space Telescope (V, I) photometry has been obtained for the inner halo globular cluster NGC 6652. The photometry reaches ~4 mag below the turnoff and includes a well-populated horizontal branch. This cluster is located close to the Galactic center, at RGC 2.0 kpc, with a reddening of E(V-I) = 0.15 ± 0.02, and has a metallicity of [Fe/H] -0.85. Based upon ΔV, NGC 6652 is 11.7 ± 1.6 Gyr old. Using ΔV, precise differential ages for 47 Tuc (a thick disk globular cluster), M107, and NGC …


The Pulsation Properties Of Procyon A, Brian Chaboyer, P. Demarque, D. B. Guenther Nov 1999

The Pulsation Properties Of Procyon A, Brian Chaboyer, P. Demarque, D. B. Guenther

Dartmouth Scholarship

A grid of stellar evolution models for Procyon A has been calculated. These models include the best physics available to us (including the latest opacities and equation of state) and are based on the revised astrometric mass of Girard et al. Models were calculated with helium diffusion and with the combined effects of helium and heavy-element diffusion. Oscillation frequencies for l = 0, 1, 2, and 3 p-modes and the characteristic period spacing for the g-modes were calculated for these models. We find that g-modes are sensitive to model parameters that effect the structure of the core, …


Large‐Scale Power Spectrum And Cosmological Parameters From Sfi Peculiar Velocities, Wolfram Freudling, Idit Zehavi, Luiz N. Da Costa, Avishai Dekel, Amiram Eldar, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, John J. Salzer, Gary Wegner, Saleem Zaroubi Sep 1999

Large‐Scale Power Spectrum And Cosmological Parameters From Sfi Peculiar Velocities, Wolfram Freudling, Idit Zehavi, Luiz N. Da Costa, Avishai Dekel, Amiram Eldar, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, John J. Salzer, Gary Wegner, Saleem Zaroubi

Dartmouth Scholarship

We estimate the power spectrum of mass density fluctuations from peculiar velocities of galaxies by applying an improved maximum likelihood technique to the new all-sky SFI catalog. Parametric models are used for the power spectrum and the errors, and the free parameters are determined by assuming Gaussian velocity fields and errors and maximizing the probability of the data given the model. It has been applied to generalized cold dark matter (CDM) models with and without COBE normalization. The method has been carefully tested using artificial SFI catalogs. The most likely distance errors are found to be similar to the original …


Gravitational Waves From Collapsing Vacuum Domains, Marcelo Gleiser, Ronald Roberts Dec 1998

Gravitational Waves From Collapsing Vacuum Domains, Marcelo Gleiser, Ronald Roberts

Dartmouth Scholarship

The breaking of an approximate discrete symmetry, the final stages of a first order phase transition, or a postinflationary biased probability distribution for scalar fields are possible cosmological scenarios characterized by the presence of unstable domain wall networks. Combining analytical and numerical techniques, we show that the nonspherical collapse of these domains can be a powerful source of gravitational waves. We compute their contribution to the stochastic background of gravitational radiation and explore their observability by present and future gravitational wave detectors.


The Motions Of Clusters Of Galaxies And The Dipoles Of The Peculiar Velocity Field, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, John J. Salzer, Gary Wegner Dec 1998

The Motions Of Clusters Of Galaxies And The Dipoles Of The Peculiar Velocity Field, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, John J. Salzer, Gary Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

In preceding papers of this series, TF relations for galaxies in 24 clusters with radial velocities between 1000 and 9200 km s-1 (SCI sample) were obtained, a Tully-Fisher (TF) template relation was constructed, and mean offsets of each cluster with respect to the template were obtained. Here, an estimate of the line-of-sight peculiar velocities of the clusters and their associated errors are given. It is found that cluster peculiar velocities in the cosmic microwave background reference frame do not exceed 600 km s-1 and that their distribution has a line-of-sight dispersion of 300 km s-1, suggesting …


Cluster Versus Field Elliptical Galaxies And Clues On Their Formation, Mariangela Bernardi, Alvio Renzini, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner Dec 1998

Cluster Versus Field Elliptical Galaxies And Clues On Their Formation, Mariangela Bernardi, Alvio Renzini, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

Using new observations for a sample of 931 early-type galaxies, we investigate whether the Mg20 relation shows any dependence on the local environment. The galaxies have been assigned to three different environments depending on the local overdensity (clusters, groups, and field); we used our complete redshift database to guide the assignment of galaxies. It is found that cluster, group, and field early-type galaxies follow almost identical Mg20 relations, with the largest Mg2 zero-point difference (clusters minus field) being only 0.007±0.002 mag. No correlation of the residuals is found with the morphological type or …


Flows On Scales Of 150 Mpc?, K. R. Müller, W. Freudling, R. Watkins, G. Wegner Nov 1998

Flows On Scales Of 150 Mpc?, K. R. Müller, W. Freudling, R. Watkins, G. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

In order to investigate the reality of large-scale streaming motion on scales of up to 150 Mpc, we have studied the peculiar motions of ~200 early-type galaxies in three directions of the South Equatorial Strip at distances out to ~20,000 km s-1. The new Automatic Plate Measuring Facility South Equatorial Strip Catalog (-175<δ<+25) was used to select the sample of field galaxies in three directions: (1) 15h10m-16h10m; (2) 20h30m-21h50m; (3) 00h10m-01h30m. New R-band CCD photometry and spectroscopic data for the galaxies are used. The fundamental plane distance-indicator …


A Photometric And Kinematic Study Of Awm 7, Daniel M. Koranyi, Margaret Geller, Joseph J. Mohr, Gary Wegner Nov 1998

A Photometric And Kinematic Study Of Awm 7, Daniel M. Koranyi, Margaret Geller, Joseph J. Mohr, Gary Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

We have measured redshifts and Kron-Cousins R-band magnitudes for a sample of galaxies in the poor cluster AWM 7. We have measured redshifts for 172 galaxies; 106 of these are cluster members. We determine the luminosity function (LF) from a photometric survey of the central 1.2 × 1.2 h-1 Mpc. The LF has a bump at the bright end and a faint-end slope of α = -1.37 ± 0.16, populated almost exclusively by absorption-line galaxies. The cluster velocity dispersion is lower in the core (~530 km s-1) than at the outskirts (~680 km s-1), …


Peculiar Velocity Dipoles Of Field Galaxies, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, Wolfram Freudling, Luiz N. Da Costa, John J. Salzer, Gary Wegner Oct 1998

Peculiar Velocity Dipoles Of Field Galaxies, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, Wolfram Freudling, Luiz N. Da Costa, John J. Salzer, Gary Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Tully-Fisher (TF) relation is applied to obtain peculiar velocities of field spiral galaxies and to calculate dipoles of the peculiar velocity field to cz8000 km s-1. The field galaxy sample is spatially coextensive with and completely independent of a cluster sample, for which dipole characteristics are given in a separate paper. Dipoles of the peculiar velocity field are obtained separately by applying (1) an inverse version of the TF relation and selecting galaxies by redshift windowing and (2) a direct TF relation, with velocities corrected for the inhomogeneous Malmquist bias and windowing galaxies by TF distance. …


The Century Survey: A Deeper Slice Of The Universe, Margaret J. Geller, Michael J. Kurtz, Gary Wegner, John R. Thorstensen Dec 1997

The Century Survey: A Deeper Slice Of The Universe, Margaret J. Geller, Michael J. Kurtz, Gary Wegner, John R. Thorstensen

Dartmouth Scholarship

The "Century Survey" (CS hereafter) is a complete redshift survey of a 1° wide strip. It covers 0.03 steradians to a limiting mR = 16.13. The survey is 98.4% complete and contains 1762 galaxies. Large-scale features in the survey are qualitatively similar to those in other surveys: there are large voids surrounded or nearly surrounded by thin dense regions which are sections of structures like (and including) the Great Wall. The survey crosses the classical Corona Borealis supercluster. The galaxy density enhancement associated with this system extends for <˜100h-1 Mpc-1 (the Hubble constant is H0 = 100h …


The I Band Tully-Fisher Relation For Cluster Galaxies: Data Presentation., Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, Terry Herter, Nicole P. Vogt, Gary Wegner, John J. Salzer, Luiz N. Da Costa, Wolfram Freudling Oct 1997

The I Band Tully-Fisher Relation For Cluster Galaxies: Data Presentation., Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, Terry Herter, Nicole P. Vogt, Gary Wegner, John J. Salzer, Luiz N. Da Costa, Wolfram Freudling

Dartmouth Scholarship

Observational parameters which can be used for redshift-independent distance determination using the Tully-Fisher (TF) technique are given for 782 spiral galaxies in the fields of 24 clusters or groups. I band photometry for the full sample was either obtained by us or compiled from published literature. Rotational velocities are derived either from 21 cm spectra or optical emission line long--slit spectra, and converted to a homogeneous scale. In addition to presenting the data, a discussion of the various sources of error on TF parameters is introduced, and the criteria for the assignment of membership to each cluster are given.


Far-Ultraviolet Absorption Lines In The Remnant Of Sn 1006, Chi-Chao Wu, D. Michael Crenshaw, Andrew J. S. Hamilton, Robert A. Fesen Mar 1997

Far-Ultraviolet Absorption Lines In The Remnant Of Sn 1006, Chi-Chao Wu, D. Michael Crenshaw, Andrew J. S. Hamilton, Robert A. Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

We have obtained a far-ultraviolet spectrum (1150-1600 Å) of a hot subdwarf star behind the remnant of supernova 1006 with the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. The high-quality spectrum is used to test previous identifications of the strong absorption features discovered with the International Ultraviolet Explorer. These features have FWHM = 4000 (±300) km s-1 and are not at the rest wavelengths of known interstellar lines, as opposed to the broader (~8000 km s-1 FWHM) Fe II lines from the remnant centered at 0 km s-1 in near-UV FOS spectra. We …


The Mass Distribution In The Nearby Universe, Luiz N. Da Costa, Wolfram Freudling, Gary Wegner, Riccardo Giovanelli Sep 1996

The Mass Distribution In The Nearby Universe, Luiz N. Da Costa, Wolfram Freudling, Gary Wegner, Riccardo Giovanelli

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present a new reconstruction of the mass density and the peculiar velocity fields in the nearby universe using recent measurements of Tully-Fisher distances for a sample of late spirals. We find significant differences between our reconstructed fields and those obtained in earlier work: overdensities tend to be more compact while underdense regions, consisting of individual voids, are more abundant. Our results suggest that voids observed in redshift surveys of galaxies represent real voids in the underlying matter distribution. While we detect a bulk velocity of ~300 km s-1, within a top-hat window 6000 km s-1 in …


A Test Of The Lauer-Postman Bulk Flow, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, Gary Wegner, Luiz N. Da Costa Jun 1996

A Test Of The Lauer-Postman Bulk Flow, Riccardo Giovanelli, Martha P. Haynes, Gary Wegner, Luiz N. Da Costa

Dartmouth Scholarship

We use Tully-Fisher distances for a sample of field late spiral galaxies to test the Lauer & Postman result suggestive of a bulk flow with respect to the cosmic microwave background reference frame, of amplitude of +689 km s-1 in the direction l = 343°, b = +52°. A total of 432 galaxies are used, subdivided between two cones, of 30° semiaperture each and pointed toward the apex and antapex of the LP motion, respectively. The peculiar velocities in the two data sets are inconsistent with a bulk flow of the amplitude claimed by Lauer & Postman. When combined …


Determination Of Malmquist Bias And Selection Effects From Monte Carlo Simulations, Wolfram Freudling, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner, Riccardo Giovanelli Aug 1995

Determination Of Malmquist Bias And Selection Effects From Monte Carlo Simulations, Wolfram Freudling, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner, Riccardo Giovanelli

Dartmouth Scholarship

Maps of the peculiar velocity field derived from distance relations are affected by Malmquist type bias and selection effects. Because of the large number of interdependent effects, they are in most cases difficult to treat analytically. Monte Carlo simulations are used to understand and evaluate these effects. In these simulations the "true" spatial distribution and relevant properties of galaxies as well as selection effects and observational uncertainties are realistically modeled. The results of the simulation can be directly applied to correct observed peculiar velocity maps. The simulation is used to investigate biases in samples of measured peculiar velocities by Lynden-Bell …