Radio and millimeter continuum surveys and their astrophysical implications     

Gianfranco De Zotti  Marcella Massardi  Mattia Negrello  Jasper Wall 《Astronomy and Astrophysics Review》2010,18(1-2):1-65

We review the statistical properties of the main populations of radio sources, as emerging from radio and millimeter sky surveys. Recent determinations of local luminosity functions are presented and compared with earlier estimates still in widespread use. A number of unresolved issues are discussed. These include: the (possibly luminosity-dependent) decline of source space densities at high redshifts; the possible dichotomies between evolutionary properties of low- versus high-luminosity and of flat- versus steep-spectrum AGN-powered radio sources; and the nature of sources accounting for the upturn of source counts at sub-milli-Jansky (mJy) levels. It is shown that straightforward extrapolations of evolutionary models, accounting for both the far-IR counts and redshift distributions of star-forming galaxies, match the radio source counts at flux-density levels of tens of μJy remarkably well. We consider the statistical properties of rare but physically very interesting classes of sources, such as GHz Peak Spectrum and ADAF/ADIOS sources, and radio afterglows of γ-ray bursts. We also discuss the exploitation of large-area radio surveys to investigate large-scale structure through studies of clustering and the Integrated Sachs–Wolfe effect. Finally, we briefly describe the potential of the new and forthcoming generations of radio telescopes. A compendium of source counts at different frequencies is given in Supplementary Material.  相似文献   

The role of lateral boundary conditions in simulations of mineral aerosols by a regional climate model of Southwest Asia     

Marc Pace Marcella  Elfatih A. B. Eltahir 《Climate Dynamics》2012,38(1-2):109-120

The importance of specifying realistic lateral boundary conditions in the regional modeling of mineral aerosols has not been examined previously. This study examines the impact of assigning values for mineral aerosol (dust) concentrations at the lateral boundaries of Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3) and its aerosol model over Southwest Asia. Currently, the dust emission module of RegCM3 operates over the interior of the domain, allowing dust to be transported to the boundaries, but neglecting any dust emitted at these points or from outside the domain. To account for possible dust occurring at, or entering from the boundaries, mixing ratios of dust concentrations from a larger domain RegCM3 simulation are specified at the boundaries of a smaller domain over Southwest Asia. The lateral boundary conditions are monthly averaged concentration values (μg of dust per kg of dry air) resolved in the vertical for all four dust bin sizes within RegCM3’s aerosol model. RegCM3 simulations with the aerosol/dust model including lateral boundary conditions for dust are performed for a five year period and compared to model simulations without prescribed dust concentrations at the boundaries. Results indicate that specifying boundary conditions has a significant impact on dust loading across the entire domain over Southwest Asia. More specifically, a nearly 30% increase in aerosol optical depth occurs during the summer months from specifying realistic dust boundary conditions, bringing model results closer to observations such as MISR. In addition, smaller dust particles at the boundaries have a more important impact than large particles in affecting the dust loading within the interior of this domain. Moreover, increases in aerosol optical depth and dust concentrations within the interior domain are not entirely caused by inflow from the boundaries; results indicate that an increase in the gradient of concentration at the boundaries causes an increase of diffusion from the boundaries. Lastly, experiments performed using a climatology of dust concentrations yield similar results to those using actual monthly values. Therefore, using a climatology of dust mixing ratios is sufficient in implementing lateral boundary conditions for mineral aerosols. In short, this work concludes that realistic specification of lateral boundary conditions for mineral aerosols can be important in modeling the dust loading over arid regional climates such as Southwest Asia.  相似文献   

Multimass spherical structure models for N-body simulations     

Marcel Zemp  Ben Moore  Joachim Stadel  C. Marcella Carollo  Piero Madau 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,386(3):1543-1556

We present a simple and efficient method to set up spherical structure models for N -body simulations with a multimass technique. This technique reduces by a substantial factor the computer run time needed in order to resolve a given scale as compared to single-mass models. It therefore allows to resolve smaller scales in N -body simulations for a given computer run time. Here, we present several models with an effective resolution of up to  1.68 × 10⁹  particles within their virial radius which are stable over cosmologically relevant time-scales. As an application, we confirm the theoretical prediction by Dehnen that in mergers of collisionless structures like dark matter haloes always the cusp of the steepest progenitor is preserved. We model each merger progenitor with an effective number of particles of approximately 10⁸ particles. We also find that in a core–core merger the central density approximately doubles whereas in the cusp–cusp case the central density only increases by approximately 50 per cent. This may suggest that the central regions of flat structures are better protected and get less energy input through the merger process.  相似文献   

Infrared transmission spectroscopy of carbonate samples of biotic origin relevant to Mars exobiological studies     

Vincenzo Orofino  Armando Blanco  Marcella D'Elia  Domenico Licchelli  Sergio Fonti 《Icarus》2007,187(2):457-463

Because it is possible that Mars experienced an ancient climate warmer and wetter than the present one, it is reasonable to suppose that simple forms of life developed there, in the underground or at the surface, as in the terrestrial primitive biosphere. In this work we have performed infrared (IR) transmission spectroscopic analyses directed to examine the reaction to heat treatments of biotic (fresh and fossil materials) and abiotic particulate samples composed of calcium carbonate (aragonite or calcite). The aim is to check if IR spectroscopy can be a useful tool for discriminating between abiotic and biotic (fossil) carbonate samples collected on the martian surface, during in situ or sample-return missions. An important result we found is that, after thermal processing, it is possible to distinguish, by means of IR spectroscopy, abiotic aragonite from aragonite of recent biological origin. In addition we have found that the spectral behaviour of all the analysed fossil samples after heat treatment is the same as that of fresh biotic material irrespective of the original structure (whether aragonite or calcite).  相似文献   

Late-type galaxies observed with SAURON: two-dimensional stellar and emission-line kinematics of 18 spirals     

Katia Ganda  Jesús Falcón-Barroso  Reynier F. Peletier  Michele Cappellari  Eric Emsellem  Richard M. McDermid  P. Tim de Zeeuw  C. Marcella Carollo 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2006,367(1):46-78

We present the stellar and gas kinematics of a sample of 18 nearby late-type spiral galaxies (Hubble types ranging from Sb to Sd), observed with the integral-field spectrograph SAURON at the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope. SAURON covers the spectral range 4800–5380 Å, allowing us to measure the Hβ, Fe, Mg b absorption features and the emission in the Hβ line and the  [O  iii ]λλ4959, 5007 Å  and  [N  i ]λλ5198, 5200 Å  doublets over a  33 × 41-arcsec²  field of view. The maps cover the nuclear region of these late-type galaxies and in all cases include the entire bulge. In many cases the stellar kinematics suggests the presence of a cold inner region, as visible from a central drop in the stellar velocity dispersion. The ionized gas is almost ubiquitous and behaves in a complicated fashion: the gas velocity fields often display more features than the stellar ones, including wiggles in the zero-velocity lines, irregular distributions, ring-like structures. The line ratio [O  iii ]/Hβ often takes on low values over most of the field, probably indicating a wide-spread star formation.  相似文献   

A broad iron Kα line at z= 1.146     

Andrea Comastri  Marcella Brusa  Francesca Civano 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2004,351(1):L9-L13

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X-ray spectral analysis of optically faint sources in the Chandra deep fields     

Francesca Civano  rea Comastri  Marcella Brusa 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2005,358(2):693-704

We present the results of a detailed spectral analysis of optically faint hard X-ray sources in the Chandra deep fields selected on the basis of their high X-ray to optical flux ratio (X/O). The stacked spectra of high X/O sources in both Chandra deep fields, fitted with a single power-law model, are much harder than the spectrum of the X-ray background (XRB). The average slope is also insensitive to the 2–8 keV flux, being approximately constant around Γ≃ 1 over more than two decades, strongly indicating that high X/O sources represent the most obscured component of the XRB. For about half of the sample, a redshift estimate (in most of the cases a photometric redshift) is available from the literature. Individual fits of a few of the brightest objects and of stacked spectra in different redshift bins imply column densities in the range  10²²–10^23.5 cm⁻²  . A trend of increasing absorption towards higher redshifts is suggested.  相似文献   

Changes in the wind-wave field and related salt-marsh lateral erosion: inferences from the evolution of the Venice Lagoon in the last four centuries     

Laura Tommasini  Luca Carniello  Massimiliano Ghinassi  Marcella Roner  Andrea D'Alpaos 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2019,44(8):1633-1646

Salt marshes are crucially important ecosystems at the boundary between the land and the sea, that are experiencing significant losses worldwide mainly dictated by the erosion of their margins. Improving our understanding of the mechanisms controlling marsh edge erosion is a key step to address conservation issues and salt-marsh response to changes in the environmental forcing. Here we have employed a complete, coupled Wind-Wave Tidal Model (WWTM) to analyse the temporal evolution of the wave field, and in particular of the mean wave-power density, in the Venice Lagoon over the past four centuries (from 1611 to 2012). We have then related wave-field changes to the observed erosion patterns determined by comparing recent aerial photographs (1978–2010) and historical bathymetric data. The results of our analyses from the Venice Lagoon show that, while wave-fields did not significantly change from 1611 to 1901, a rapid increase in wave-power densities occurred in the last century. This is suggested to depend on the positive feedback between relevant morphological evolutions and changes in the wave field, both influenced by natural forcing and anthropogenic pressures. We also emphasize the existence of a strong positive linear relationship between the volumetric marsh erosion rate and mean wave-power density. We thus suggest that relating salt-marsh lateral erosion rates to properly computed mean wave-power densities provides a valuable tool to address long-term tidal morphodynamics. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Supernova remnants, planetary nebulae and the distance to NGC 4214     

Michael A. Dopita  Daniela Calzetti  Jesús Maíz Apellániz  William P. Blair  Knox S. Long  Max Mutchler  Bradley C. Whitmore  Howard E. Bond  John MacKenty  Bruce Balick  Marcella Carollo  Michael Disney  Jay A. Frogel  Robert O’Connell  Donald Hall  Jon A. Holtzman  Randy A. Kimble  Patrick McCarthy  Francesco Paresce  Abhijit Saha  Alistair R. Walker  Joe Silk  Marco Sirianni  John Trauger  Rogier Windhorst  Erick Young 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2010,330(1):123-131

We present narrow band, continuum subtracted Hα, [S ii], Hβ, [O iii] and [O ii] data taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope in the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4214. From these images, we identify seventeen new planetary nebula candidates, and seven supernova remnant candidates. We use the observed emission line luminosity function of the planetary nebulae to establish a new velocity-independent distance to NGC 4214. We conclude that the PNLF technique gives a reddening independent distance to NGC 4214 of 3.19±0.36 Mpc, and that our current best-estimate of the distance to this galaxy ids 2.98±0.13 Mpc.  相似文献   

The SAURON project – I. The panoramic integral-field spectrograph     

R. Bacon  Y. Copin  G. Monnet  Bryan W. Miller  J.R. Allington-Smith  M. Bureau  C. Marcella Carollo  Roger L. Davies  Eric Emsellem  Harald Kuntschner  Reynier F. Peletier  E.K. Verolme  P. Tim de Zeeuw 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,326(1):23-35

A new integral-field spectrograph, SAURON, is described. It is based on the TIGER principle, and uses a lenslet array. SAURON has a large field of view and high throughput, and allows simultaneous sky subtraction. Its design is optimized for studies of the stellar kinematics, gas kinematics, and line-strength distributions of nearby early-type galaxies. The instrument design and specifications are described, as well as the extensive analysis software which was developed to obtain fully calibrated spectra, and the associated kinematic and line-strength measurements. A companion paper will report on the first results obtained with SAURON on the William Herschel Telescope.  相似文献