Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 30

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Ice Crystal Formation And Evolution In Five Campaigns: Start08, Hippo Global, Dc3, Predict And Torero, Minghui Diao, Joshua Digangi, Anthony O’Brien, Mark Zondlo Dec 2013

Ice Crystal Formation And Evolution In Five Campaigns: Start08, Hippo Global, Dc3, Predict And Torero, Minghui Diao, Joshua Digangi, Anthony O’Brien, Mark Zondlo

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

In order to understand the microphysical properties of cirrus clouds, it is important to understand the formation and evolution of the environments where ice crystals form and reside on the microscale (~100 m). Uncertainties remain in simulating/parameterizing the evolution of ice crystals, which require more analyses in the Lagrangian view. However, most in situ observations are in the Eulerian view and are restricted from examining the lifecycle of cirrus clouds. In this work, a new method of Diao et al. GRL (2013)* is used to separate out five phases of ice crystal evolution, using the horizontal spatial relationships between ice …


Finite-Temperature Properties Of Strongly Correlated Fermions In The Honeycomb Lattice, Baoming Tang, Thereza Paiva, Ehsan Khatami, Marchos Rigol Sep 2013

Finite-Temperature Properties Of Strongly Correlated Fermions In The Honeycomb Lattice, Baoming Tang, Thereza Paiva, Ehsan Khatami, Marchos Rigol

Faculty Publications

We study finite-temperature properties of strongly interacting fermions in the honeycomb lattice using numerical linked-cluster expansions and determinantal quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We analyze a number of thermodynamic quantities, including the entropy, the specific heat, uniform and staggered spin susceptibilities, short-range spin correlations, and the double occupancy at and away from half filling. We examine the viability of adiabatic cooling by increasing the interaction strength for homogeneous as well as for trapped systems. For the homogeneous case, this process is found to be more efficient at finite doping than at half filling. That, in turn, leads to an efficient adiabatic …


Case Studies Of Tropical Cyclones And Phytoplankton Blooms Over Atlantic And Pacific Regions, Ashley Merritt-Takeuchi, Sen Chiao Sep 2013

Case Studies Of Tropical Cyclones And Phytoplankton Blooms Over Atlantic And Pacific Regions, Ashley Merritt-Takeuchi, Sen Chiao

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

This study investigates phytoplankton blooms following the passage of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins. The variables of sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll (Chl-a), precipitation, and storm surface winds were monitored for two case studies, Typhoon Xangsane (2006) and Hurricane Earl (2010). Strong near-surface wind from tropical cyclones creates internal friction, which causes deep nutrient enriched waters to displace from the bottom of the ocean floor up toward the surface. In return, the abundance of upwelled nutrients near the surface provides an ideal environment for the growth of biological substances such as chlorophyll and phytoplankton. The inverse …


Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem In An Isolated System Of Quantum Dipolar Bosons After A Quench, Ehsan Khatami, Guido Pupillo, Mark Srednicki, Marcos Rigol Jul 2013

Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem In An Isolated System Of Quantum Dipolar Bosons After A Quench, Ehsan Khatami, Guido Pupillo, Mark Srednicki, Marcos Rigol

Faculty Publications

We examine the validity of fluctuation-dissipation relations in isolated quantum systems taken out of equilibrium by a sudden quench. We focus on the dynamics of trapped hard-core bosons in one-dimensional lattices with dipolar interactions whose strength is changed during the quench. We find indications that fluctuation-dissipation relations hold if the system is nonintegrable after the quench, as well as if it is integrable after the quench if the initial state is an equilibrium state of a nonintegrable Hamiltonian. On the other hand, we find indications that they fail if the system is integrable both before and after quenching.


Evolution Of Ice Crystal Regions On The Microscale Based On In Situ Observations, Minghui Diao, Mark Zondlo, Andrew Heymsfield, Stuart Beaton, David Rogers Jul 2013

Evolution Of Ice Crystal Regions On The Microscale Based On In Situ Observations, Minghui Diao, Mark Zondlo, Andrew Heymsfield, Stuart Beaton, David Rogers

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

[1] Microphysical properties of cirrus clouds largely influence their atmospheric radiative forcing. However, uncertainties remain in simulating/parameterizing the evolution of ice crystals. These uncertainties require more analyses in the Lagrangian view, yet most in situ observations are in the Eulerian view. Here we demonstrate a new method to separate out five phases of ice crystal evolution, using the horizontal spatial relationships between ice supersaturated regions (ISSRs) and ice crystal regions (ICRs). Based on global in situ data sets, we show that the samples of clear-sky ISSRs, ice crystal formation/growth, and evaporation/sedimentation are ~20%, 10%, and 70% of the total ISSR …


Validation Of Airs/Amsu - A Water Vapor And Temperature Data With In Situ Aircraft Observations From The Surface To Ut/Ls From 87°N–67°S, Minghui Diao, Loayeh Jumbam, Justin Sheffield, Eric Wood, Mark Zondlo Jun 2013

Validation Of Airs/Amsu - A Water Vapor And Temperature Data With In Situ Aircraft Observations From The Surface To Ut/Ls From 87°N–67°S, Minghui Diao, Loayeh Jumbam, Justin Sheffield, Eric Wood, Mark Zondlo

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

[1] Validation of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)/Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A) data set with in situ observations provides useful information on its application to climate and weather studies. However, different space/time averaging windows have been used in past studies, and questions remain on the variation of errors in space, such as between land/ocean and the Northern/Southern Hemispheres. In this study, in situ aircraft measurements of water vapor and temperature are compared with the AIRS/AMSU-A retrievals (Version 5 Level 2) from 87°N to 67°S and from the surface to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS). By using a smaller …


Electronic Spectral Properties Of The Two-Dimensional Infinite-U Hubbard Model, Ehsan Khatami, Daniel Hansen, Edward Perepelitsky, Marcos Rigol, Sriram Shastry Apr 2013

Electronic Spectral Properties Of The Two-Dimensional Infinite-U Hubbard Model, Ehsan Khatami, Daniel Hansen, Edward Perepelitsky, Marcos Rigol, Sriram Shastry

Faculty Publications

A strong-coupling series expansion for the Green's function and the extremely correlated Fermi liquid (ECFL) theory are used to calculate the moments of the electronic spectral functions of the infinite-U Hubbard model. Results from these two complementary methods agree very well at both low densities, where the ECFL solution is the most accurate, and at high to intermediate temperatures, where the series converge. We find that a modified first moment, which underestimates the contributions from the occupied states and is accessible in the series through the time-dependent Green's function, best describes the peak location of the spectral function in the …


Variation Of Instructor-Student Interactions In An Introductory Interactive Physics Course, Emily West, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Wendell Potter Mar 2013

Variation Of Instructor-Student Interactions In An Introductory Interactive Physics Course, Emily West, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Wendell Potter

Faculty Publications

The physics instruction at UC Davis for life science majors takes place in a long-standing reformed large-enrollment physics course in which the discussion or laboratory instructors (primarily graduate student teaching assistants) implement the interactive-engagement (IE) elements of the course. Because so many different instructors participate in disseminating the IE course elements, we find it essential to the instructors’ professional development to observe and document the student-instructor interactions within the classroom. Out of this effort, we have developed a computerized real-time instructor observation tool (RIOT) to take data of student-instructor interactions. We use the RIOT to observe 29 different instructors for …


A Short Introduction To Numerical Linked-Cluster Expansions, Baoming Tang, Ehsan Khatami, Marcos Rigol Mar 2013

A Short Introduction To Numerical Linked-Cluster Expansions, Baoming Tang, Ehsan Khatami, Marcos Rigol

Faculty Publications

We provide a pedagogical introduction to numerical linked-cluster expansions (NLCEs). We sketch the algorithm for generic Hamiltonians that only connect nearest-neighbor sites in a finite cluster with open boundary conditions. We then compare results for a specific model, the Heisenberg model, in each order of the NLCE with the ones for the finite cluster calculated directly by means of full exact diagonalization. We discuss how to reduce the computational cost of the NLCE calculations by taking into account symmetries and topologies of the linked clusters. Finally, we generalize the algorithm to the thermodynamic limit, and discuss several numerical resummation techniques …


Leeside Boundary Layer Confluence And Afternoon Thunderstorms Over Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Mark Jury, Sen Chiao Feb 2013

Leeside Boundary Layer Confluence And Afternoon Thunderstorms Over Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Mark Jury, Sen Chiao

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

The midsummer boundary layer (BL) circulation and afternoon thunderstorm convection on the lee side of Puerto Rico is studied using observations and high-resolution models. Satellite infrared data help to identify cases on 5 and 14 June 2010 when midday surface temperatures show a 2°C gradient between land and sea and afternoon cloud-top temperatures <−60°C. Acoustic sounder profiles are analyzed for climatology, wind shear, turbulence, and diurnal cycles in the 40-300-m layer. Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations indicate that sea-breeze flow is entrained into convective cells near Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The simulated BL wind shear is too weak (0.5 × 10−2 s−1) in comparison with the acoustic sounder (2 × 10−2 s−1). Model 900-hPa winds are southeasterly and spread simulated convection too far north in comparison with radar. The pattern of near-surface winds in the island wake triggers afternoon thunderstorms near Mayaguez. A feature of the confluent circulation around Puerto Rico is opposing shear zones on the leeward corners of the island and a sea breeze of 5 m s−1 over the west coast during midday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] . Copyright of Journal of Applied Meteorology & Climatology is the property of American Meteorological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.).


Evaluation Of Wrf-Sfire Performance With Field Observations From The Fireflux Experiment, A. Kochanski, M. Jenkins, J. Mandel, J. Beezley, Craig Clements, S. Krueger Jan 2013

Evaluation Of Wrf-Sfire Performance With Field Observations From The Fireflux Experiment, A. Kochanski, M. Jenkins, J. Mandel, J. Beezley, Craig Clements, S. Krueger

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

This study uses in situ measurements collected during the FireFlux field experiment to evaluate and improve the performance of the coupled atmosphere–fire model WRF-SFIRE. The simulation by WRF-SFIRE of the experimental burn shows that WRF-SFIRE is capable of providing realistic head-fire rate of spread and vertical temperature structure of the fire plume, and fire-induced surface flow and vertical velocities within the plume up to 10 m above ground level. The simulation captured the changes in wind speed and direction before, during, and after fire front passage, along with the arrival times of wind speed, temperature, and updraft maxima, at the …


Kinematic Structure Of A Wildland Fire Plume Observed By Doppler Lidar, A. Charland, Craig Clements Jan 2013

Kinematic Structure Of A Wildland Fire Plume Observed By Doppler Lidar, A. Charland, Craig Clements

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

Wildland fires present a challenging environment to make meteorological measurements. Observations in the vicinity of wildland fires are needed to better understand fire-atmosphere interactions and to provide data for the evaluation of coupled fire-atmosphere models. An observational study was conducted during a low-intensity prescribed fire in an area of complex terrain with grass fuels east of San José, California. A ground-based scanning Doppler lidar acquired radial wind velocities and backscatter intensity in and around the fire plume from multiple horizontal and vertical scans. The development of a convergence zone was consistently observed to exist downwind of the plume and was …


Application Of Social Network Metrics To A Trust-Aware Collaborative Model For Generating Personalized User Recommendations, Iraklis Varlamis, Magdalini Eirinaki, Malamati Louta Jan 2013

Application Of Social Network Metrics To A Trust-Aware Collaborative Model For Generating Personalized User Recommendations, Iraklis Varlamis, Magdalini Eirinaki, Malamati Louta

Faculty Publications

Social network analysis has emerged as a key technique in modern sociology, but has recently gained a lot of interest in Web mining research, because of the advent and the increasing popularity of social media, such as blogs, social networks, micro-blogging, customer review sites etc. Such media often serve as platforms for information dissemination and product placement or promotion. One way to improve the quality of recommendations provided to the members of social networks is to use trustworthy resources. In this environment, community-based reputation can help estimating the trustworthiness of individual users. Consequently, influence and trust are becoming essential qualities …


Numerical Investigations Of Convective Initiation In Barbados, Kim Whitehall, Sen Chiao, Margarette Mayers-Als Jan 2013

Numerical Investigations Of Convective Initiation In Barbados, Kim Whitehall, Sen Chiao, Margarette Mayers-Als

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

Localized convection in Barbados accounts for hazardous conditions and a significant percentage of the island’s annual rainfall. The feature results in rainfall accumulations exceeding 50 mm in 3 hours or less, over isolated locations. Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) simulations are conducted for a rapid convective initiated and heavy precipitation event of 26 August 2008 over Barbados. The simulation results from the 1 km grid resolution domain depict that the shallow topography on the island plays a significant role in enhancing convective activity under weak synoptically disturbed conditions. The model results also demonstrate that the driving forces for the …


An Inventory Of The Stellar Initial Mass Function In Early-Type Galaxies, C. Tortora, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. R. Napolitano Jan 2013

An Inventory Of The Stellar Initial Mass Function In Early-Type Galaxies, C. Tortora, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. R. Napolitano

Faculty Publications

Given a flurry of recent claims for systematic variations in the stellar initial mass function (IMF), we carry out the first inventory of the observational evidence using different approaches. This includes literature results, as well as our own new findings from combined stellar population synthesis (SPS) and Jeans dynamical analyses of data on ~4500 early-type galaxies (ETGs) from the SPIDER project. We focus on the mass-to-light ratio mismatch relative to the Milky Way IMF, δIMF, correlated against the central stellar velocity dispersion, σsstarf. We find a strong correlation between δIMF and σsstarf, for a wide set of dark matter (DM) …


Students Talk About Energy In Project- Based Inquiry Science, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann Jan 2013

Students Talk About Energy In Project- Based Inquiry Science, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann

Faculty Publications

We examine the types of emergent language eighth grade students in rural Maine middle schools use when they discuss energy in their first experiences with Project-Based Inquiry Science: Energy, a research-based curriculum that uses a specific language for talking about energy. By comparative analysis of the language used by the curriculum materials to students’ language, we find that students’ talk is at times more aligned with a Stores and Transfer model of energy than the Forms model supported by the curriculum.


Productive Resources In Students’ Ideas About Energy: An Alternative Analysis Of Watts’ Original Interview Transcripts, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann Jan 2013

Productive Resources In Students’ Ideas About Energy: An Alternative Analysis Of Watts’ Original Interview Transcripts, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann

Faculty Publications

For over 30 years, researchers have investigated students’ ideas about energy with the intent of reforming instructional practice. In this pursuit, Watts contributed an influential study with his 1983 paper “Some alternative views of energy” [Phys. Educ. 18, 213 (1983)]. Watts’ “alternative frameworks” continue to be used for categorizing students’ non-normative ideas about energy. Using a resources framework, we propose an alternate analysis of student responses from Watts’ interviews. In our analysis, we show how students’ activated resources about energy are disciplinarily productive. We suggest that fostering seeds of scientific understandings in students’ ideas about energy may play an important …


Planetary Nebula Spectrograph Survey Of S0 Galaxy Kinematics – Ii. Clues To The Origins Of S0 Galaxies, A. Cortesi, M. R. Merrifield, L. Coccato, M. Arnaboldi, O. Gerhard, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. G. Douglass, K. Kuiijken, M. Capaccioli, K. C. Freeman, K. Saha, A. L. Chies-Santos Jan 2013

Planetary Nebula Spectrograph Survey Of S0 Galaxy Kinematics – Ii. Clues To The Origins Of S0 Galaxies, A. Cortesi, M. R. Merrifield, L. Coccato, M. Arnaboldi, O. Gerhard, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. G. Douglass, K. Kuiijken, M. Capaccioli, K. C. Freeman, K. Saha, A. L. Chies-Santos

Faculty Publications

The stellar kinematics of the spheroids and discs of S0 galaxies contain clues to their formation histories. Unfortunately, it is difficult to disentangle the two components and to recover their stellar kinematics in the faint outer parts of the galaxies using conventional absorption line spectroscopy. This paper therefore presents the stellar kinematics of six S0 galaxies derived from observations of planetary nebulae, obtained using the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph. To separate the kinematics of the two components, we use a maximum-likelihood method that combines the discrete kinematic data with a photometric component decomposition. The results of this analysis reveal that: the …


The Planetary Nebula Spectrograph Survey Of S0 Galaxy Kinematics. Data And Overview, A. Cortesi, M. Arnaboldi, L. Coccato, M. R. Merrifield, O. Gerhard, S. Bamford, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. R. Napolitano, N. G. Douglas, K. Kuiijken, M. Capaccioli, K. C. Freeman, A. L. Chies-Santos, V. Pota Jan 2013

The Planetary Nebula Spectrograph Survey Of S0 Galaxy Kinematics. Data And Overview, A. Cortesi, M. Arnaboldi, L. Coccato, M. R. Merrifield, O. Gerhard, S. Bamford, Aaron J. Romanowsky, N. R. Napolitano, N. G. Douglas, K. Kuiijken, M. Capaccioli, K. C. Freeman, A. L. Chies-Santos, V. Pota

Faculty Publications

The origins of S0 galaxies remain obscure, with various mechanisms proposed for their formation, likely depending on environment. These mechanisms would imprint different signatures in the galaxies' stellar kinematics out to large radii, offering a method for distinguishing between them. We aim to study a sample of six S0 galaxies from a range of environments, and use planetary nebulae (PNe) as tracers of their stellar populations out to very large radii, to determine their kinematics in order to understand their origins. Using a special-purpose instrument, the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph, we observe and extract PNe catalogues for these six systems*. We …


The Sluggs Survey: Wide Field Imaging Of The Globular Cluster System Of Ngc 4278, C. Usher, D. A. Forbes, L. R. Spitler, J. P. Brodie, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. Strader, K. A. Woodley Jan 2013

The Sluggs Survey: Wide Field Imaging Of The Globular Cluster System Of Ngc 4278, C. Usher, D. A. Forbes, L. R. Spitler, J. P. Brodie, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. Strader, K. A. Woodley

Faculty Publications

We use multipointing Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys and wide field Subaru Suprime-Cam imaging to study the globular cluster system of the L* elliptical galaxy NGC 4278. We have also obtained a handful of new globular cluster spectra with the Keck Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph. We determine the globular cluster surface density profile and use it to calculate the total number of globular clusters, finding the system to be slightly more populous than average for galaxies of its luminosity. We find clear evidence for bimodality in the globular cluster colour distribution and for a colour–magnitude relation in the …


The Sluggs Survey: Probing The Supermassive Blackhole Connection With Bulges And Haloes Using Red And Blue Globular Cluster Systems, V. Pota, A. W. Graham, D. A. Forbes, Aaron J. Romanowsky, A. J. Brodie, J. Strader Jan 2013

The Sluggs Survey: Probing The Supermassive Blackhole Connection With Bulges And Haloes Using Red And Blue Globular Cluster Systems, V. Pota, A. W. Graham, D. A. Forbes, Aaron J. Romanowsky, A. J. Brodie, J. Strader

Faculty Publications

Understanding whether the bulge or the halo provides the primary link to the growth of supermassive black holes has strong implications for galaxy evolution and supermassive black hole formation itself. In this paper, we approach this issue by investigating extragalactic globular cluster (GC) systems, which can be used to probe the physics of both the bulge and the halo of the host galaxy. We study the relation between the supermassive black hole masses (MBH) and the GC system velocity dispersions (σGC) using an updated and improved sample of 21 galaxies. We exploit the dichotomy of GC system colours, to test …


Mond And Imf Variations In Early-Type Galaxies From Atlas3d, C. Tortora, Aaron J. Romanowsky, V. F. Cardone, N. R. Napolitano, Ph Jetzer Jan 2013

Mond And Imf Variations In Early-Type Galaxies From Atlas3d, C. Tortora, Aaron J. Romanowsky, V. F. Cardone, N. R. Napolitano, Ph Jetzer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


The Sluggs Survey: Outer Triaxiality In The Fast Rotator Elliptical Ngc 4473, C. Foster, J. A. Arnold, D. A. Forbes, N. Pastorello, Aaron J. Romanowsky, L. R. Spitler, J. Strader, J. P. Brodie Jan 2013

The Sluggs Survey: Outer Triaxiality In The Fast Rotator Elliptical Ngc 4473, C. Foster, J. A. Arnold, D. A. Forbes, N. Pastorello, Aaron J. Romanowsky, L. R. Spitler, J. Strader, J. P. Brodie

Faculty Publications

Systematic surveys of nearby early-type galaxies using integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph data have revealed that galaxies can hide interesting structures only visible through kinematic studies. As part of their pioneering work, the ATLAS3D team have shown that most morphologically elliptical galaxies are centrally kinematically disc like. Hence, while global morphology suggests that ellipticals are ellipsoidal/triaxial in shape, their central kinematics may be consistent with (inclined) oblate systems. Here, we study the fast rotator elliptical galaxy: NGC 4473. Using slitlets, we obtain galaxy light kinematics out to unprecedentedly large galactocentric radii (2.5 effective radii). While we confirm the IFU results …


The Densest Galaxy, J. Strader, A. C. Seth, J. P. Brodie, D. A. Forbes, G. Fabbiano, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. Conroy, N. Caldwell, V. Pota, C. Usher, J. A. Arnold Jan 2013

The Densest Galaxy, J. Strader, A. C. Seth, J. P. Brodie, D. A. Forbes, G. Fabbiano, Aaron J. Romanowsky, C. Conroy, N. Caldwell, V. Pota, C. Usher, J. A. Arnold

Faculty Publications

We report the discovery of a remarkable ultra-compact dwarf galaxy around the massive Virgo elliptical galaxy NGC 4649 (M60), which we call M60-UCD1. With a dynamical mass of 2.0 × 108 M ☉ but a half-light radius of only ~24 pc, M60-UCD1 is more massive than any ultra-compact dwarfs of comparable size, and is arguably the densest galaxy known in the local universe. It has a two-component structure well fit by a sum of Sérsic functions, with an elliptical, compact (rh = 14 pc; n ~ 3.3) inner component and a round, exponential, extended (rh = 49 pc) outer component. …


Filling The Gap: A New Class Of Old Star Cluster?, D. A. Forbes, V. Pota, C. Usher, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. Strader, J. P. Brodie, J. A. Arnold, L. R. Spitler Jan 2013

Filling The Gap: A New Class Of Old Star Cluster?, D. A. Forbes, V. Pota, C. Usher, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. Strader, J. P. Brodie, J. A. Arnold, L. R. Spitler

Faculty Publications

It is not understood whether long-lived star clusters possess a continuous range of sizes and masses (and hence densities) or if rather, they should be considered as distinct types with different origins. Utilizing the Hubble Space Telescope to measure sizes and long exposures on the Keck 10 m telescope to obtain distances, we have discovered the first confirmed star clusters that lie within a previously claimed size–luminosity gap dubbed the ‘avoidance zone’ by Hwang et al. The existence of these star clusters extends the range of sizes, masses and densities for star clusters, and argues against current formation models that …


The Sluggs Survey: The Globular Cluster Systems Of Three Early-Type Galaxies Using Wide-Field Imaging, S. S. Kartha, D. A. Forbes, L. R. Spitler, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. A. Arnold, J. P. Brodie Jan 2013

The Sluggs Survey: The Globular Cluster Systems Of Three Early-Type Galaxies Using Wide-Field Imaging, S. S. Kartha, D. A. Forbes, L. R. Spitler, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. A. Arnold, J. P. Brodie

Faculty Publications

We present the results from a wide-field imaging study of globular cluster (GC) systems in three early-type galaxies. Combinations of Subaru/Suprime-Cam, CFHT/MegaCam and HST/WFPC2/ACS data were used to determine the GC system properties of three highly flattened galaxies NGC 720, NGC 1023 and NGC 2768. This work is the first investigation of the GC system in NGC 720 and NGC 2768 to very large galactocentric radius (∼ 100 kpc). The three galaxies have clear blue and red GC subpopulations. The radial surface densities of the GC systems are fitted with Sersic profiles, and detected out to 15, 8 and 10 …


Angular Momentum And Galaxy Formation Revisited: Effects Of Variable Mass-To-Light Ratios, S. M. Fall, Aaron J. Romanowsky Jan 2013

Angular Momentum And Galaxy Formation Revisited: Effects Of Variable Mass-To-Light Ratios, S. M. Fall, Aaron J. Romanowsky

Faculty Publications

We rederive the relation between the specific angular momentum j sstarf and the mass M sstarf of the stellar matter in galaxies of different morphological types. This is a revision of the j sstarf-M sstarf diagram presented in our recent comprehensive study of galactic angular momentum. In that work, we estimated j sstarf from kinematic and photometric data that extended to large radii and M sstarf from near-infrared luminosities LK with an assumed universal mass-to-light ratio M sstarf/LK . However, recent stellar population models show large variations in M sstarf/LK correlated with B – V color. In the present work, …


The Sluggs Survey: Wide-Field Stellar Kinematics Of Early-Type Galaxies, J. A. Arnold, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. P. Brodie, D. A. Forbes, J. Strader, C. Foster, S. S. Kartha, N. Pastorello, V. Pota, C. Usher, K. A. Woodley Jan 2013

The Sluggs Survey: Wide-Field Stellar Kinematics Of Early-Type Galaxies, J. A. Arnold, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. P. Brodie, D. A. Forbes, J. Strader, C. Foster, S. S. Kartha, N. Pastorello, V. Pota, C. Usher, K. A. Woodley

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


The Paucity Of Globular Clusters Around The Field Elliptical Ngc 7507, J. P. Caso, T. Richtler, L. P. Bassino, R. Salinas, R. R. Lane, Aaron J. Romanowsky Jan 2013

The Paucity Of Globular Clusters Around The Field Elliptical Ngc 7507, J. P. Caso, T. Richtler, L. P. Bassino, R. Salinas, R. R. Lane, Aaron J. Romanowsky

Faculty Publications

There is strong evidence that globular cluster systems (GCSs) of massive galaxies are largely assembled by infall/accretion processes. Therefore, we expect the GCSs of isolated elliptical galaxies to be poor. Alhough not completely isolated, NGC 7507 is a massive field elliptical galaxy with an apparently very low dark matter content. Aims: We determine the richness, the colour distribution, and the structural properties of the GCS of NGC 7507. Methods: We perform wide-field Washington photometry with data obtained with the MOSAIC II camera at the 4m-Blanco telescope, CTIO. Results: The GCS is very poor with S_N ~ 0.6. We identify three …


The Sluggs Survey: Kinematics For Over 2500 Globular Clusters In Twelve Early-Type Galaxies, V. Pota, D. A. Forbes, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. P. Brodie, L. R. Spitler, J. Strader, C. Foster, J. A. Arnold, A. Benson, C. Blom, J. R. Hargis, K. L. Rhode, C. Usher Jan 2013

The Sluggs Survey: Kinematics For Over 2500 Globular Clusters In Twelve Early-Type Galaxies, V. Pota, D. A. Forbes, Aaron J. Romanowsky, J. P. Brodie, L. R. Spitler, J. Strader, C. Foster, J. A. Arnold, A. Benson, C. Blom, J. R. Hargis, K. L. Rhode, C. Usher

Faculty Publications

We present a spectrophotometric survey of 2522 extragalactic globular clusters (GCs) around 12 early-type galaxies, nine of which have not been published previously. Combining space-based and multicolour wide-field ground-based imaging, with spectra from the Keck/DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS) instrument, we obtain an average of 160 GC radial velocities per galaxy, with a high-velocity precision of ∼15 km s−1 per GC. After studying the photometric properties of the GC systems, such as their spatial and colour distributions, we focus on the kinematics of metal-poor (blue) and metal-rich (red) GC subpopulations to an average distance of ∼8 effective radii from the …