1,857 research outputs found
Discovery of a single faint AGN in a large sample of z > 5 Lyman break galaxies
As part of a large spectroscopic survey of z > 5 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs), we have identified a single source which is clearly hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Out of a sample of more than 50 spectroscopically confirmed R-band dropout galaxies at z∼ 5 and above, only J104048.6−115550.2 at z= 5.44 shows evidence for a high ionization potential emission line indicating the presence of a hard ionizing continuum from an AGN. Like most objects in our sample the rest-frame-UV spectrum shows the UV continuum breaking across a Lyα line. Uniquely within this sample of LBGs, emission from N V is also detected, a clear signature of AGN photoionization. The object is spatially resolved in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging. This, and the comparatively high Lyα/N V flux ratio indicates that the majority of the Lyα (and the UV continuum longward of it) originates from stellar photoionization, a product of the ongoing starburst in the LBG. Even without the AGN emission, this object would have been photometrically selected and spectroscopically confirmed as a Lyman break in our survey. The measured optical flux (IAB= 26.1) is therefore an upper limit to that from the AGN and is of order 100 times fainter than the majority of known quasars at these redshifts. The detection of a single object in our survey volume is consistent with the best current models of high redshift AGN luminosity function, providing a substantial fraction of such AGN is found within luminous starbursting galaxies. We discuss the cosmological implications of this discovery
Lyman break galaxies and the star formation rate of the Universe at z ~ 6
We determine the space density of UV-luminous starburst galaxies at z≈ 6 using deep HST ACS SDSS-i′ (F775W) and SDSS-z′ (F850LP) and VLT ISAAC J and Ks band imaging of the Chandra Deep Field South. We find eight galaxies and one star with (i′−z′) > 1.5 to a depth of z′AB= 25.6 (an 8σ detection in each of the 3 available ACS epochs). This corresponds to an unobscured star formation rate of ≈15 h−270 M⊙ yr−1 at z= 5.9, equivalent to L* for the Lyman-break population at z= 3–4 (ΩΛ= 0.7, ΩM= 0.3). We are sensitive to star-forming galaxies at 5.6 ≲z≲ 7.0 with an effective comoving volume of ≈1.8 × 105h−370 Mpc3 after accounting for incompleteness at the higher redshifts due to luminosity bias. This volume should encompass the primeval subgalactic-scale fragments of the progenitors of about a thousand L* galaxies at the current epoch. We determine a volume-averaged global star formation rate of (6.7 ± 2.7) × 10−4h70 M⊙ yr−1 Mpc−3 at z∼ 6 from rest-frame UV selected starbursts at the bright end of the luminosity function: this is a lower limit because of dust obscuration and galaxies below our sensitivity limit. This measurement shows that at z∼ 6 the star formation density at the bright end is a factor of ∼6 times less than that determined by Steidel et al. for a comparable sample of UV-selected galaxies at z= 3–4, and so extends our knowledge of the star formation history of the Universe to earlier times than previous work and into the epoch where reionization may have occurred
1ST MEASUREMENT OF GAMMA(D(S)(+)-]MU+NU)/GAMMA(D(S)(+)-]PHI-PI+)
Complete Author List:
ACOSTA D, ATHANAS M, MASEK G, PAAR H, BEAN A, GRONBERG J, KUTSCHKE R, MENARY S, MORRISON RJ, NAKANISHI S, NELSON HN, NELSON TK, RICHMAN JD, RYD A, TAJIMA H, SCHMIDT D, SPERKA D, WITHERELL MS, PROCARIO M, YANG S, BALEST R, CHO K, DAOUDI M, FORD WT, JOHNSON DR, LINGEL K, LOHNER M, RANKIN P, SMITH JG, ALEXANDER JP, BEBEK C, BERKELMAN K, BESSON D, BROWDER TE, CASSEL DG, CHO HA, COFFMAN DM, DRELL PS, EHRLICH R, GALIK RS, GARCIASCIVERES M, GEISER B, GITTELMAN B, GRAY SW, HARTILL DL, HELTSLEY BK, JONES CD, JONES SL, KANDASWAMY J, KATAYAMA N, KIM PC, KREINICK DL, LUDWIG GS, MASUI J, MEVISSEN J, MISTRY NB, NG CR, NORDBERG E, OGG M, PATTERSON JR, PETERSON D, RILEY D, SALMAN S, SAPPER M, WORDEN H, WURTHWEIN F, AVERY P, FREYBERGER A, RODRIGUEZ J, STEPHENS R, YELTON J, CINABRO D, HENDERSON S, KINOSHITA K, LIU T, SAULNIER M, SHEN F, WILSON R, YAMAMOTO H, ONG B, SELEN M, SADOFF AJ, AMMAR R, BALL S, BARINGER P, COPPAGE D, COPTY N, DAVIS R, HANCOCK N, KELLY M, KWAK N, LAM H, KUBOTA Y, LATTERY M, NELSON JK, PATTON S, PERTICONE D, POLING R, SAVINOV V, SCHRENK S, WANG R, ALAM MS, KIM IJ, NEMATI B, ONEILL JJ, SEVERINI H, SUN CR, ZOELLER MM, CRAWFORD G, DAUBENMIER CM, FULTON R, FUJINO D, GAN KK, HONSCHEID K, KAGAN H, KASS R, LEE J, MALCHOW R, MORROW F, SKOVPEN Y, SUNG M, WHITE C, WHITMORE J, WILSON P, BUTLER F, FU X, KALBFLEISCH G, LAMBRECHT M, ROSS WR, SKUBIC P, SNOW J, WANG PL, WOOD M, BORTOLETTO D, BROWN DN, FAST J, MCILWAIN RL, MIAO T, MILLER DH, MODESITT M, SCHAFFNER SF, SHIBATA EI, SHIPSEY IPJ, WANG PN, BATTLE M, ERNST J, KROHA H, ROBERTS S, SPARKS K, THORNDIKE EH, WANG CH, DOMINICK J, SANGHERA S, SHELKOV V, SKWARNICKI T, STROYNOWSKI R, VOLOBOUEV I, ZADOROZHNY P, ARTUSO M, HE D, GOLDBERG M, HORWITZ N, KENNETT R, MONETI GC, MUHEIM F, MUKHIN Y, PLAYFER S, ROZEN Y, STONE S, THULASIDAS M, VASSEUR G, ZHU G, BARTELT J, CSORNA SE, EGYED Z, JAIN V, SHELDON P, AKERIB DS, BARISH B, CHADHA M, CHAN S, COWEN DF, EIGEN G, MILLER JS, OGRADY C, URHEIM J, WEINSTEIN A
Inclusive decays B->DX and B->D*X
Complete Author List: Gibbons L, Johnson SD, Kwon Y, Roberts S, Thorndike EH, Jessop CP, Lingel K, Marsiske H, Perl ML, Schaffner SF, Ugolini D, Wang R, Zhou X, Coan TE, Fadeyev V, Korolkov I, Maravin Y, Narsky I, Shelkov V, Staeck J, Stroynowski R, Volobouev I, Ye J, Artuso M, Efimov A, Frasconi F, Gao M, Goldberg M, He D, Kopp S, Horwitz N, Moneti GC, Mountain R, Mukhin Y, Schuh S, Skwarnicki T, Stone S, Thulasidas M, Viehhauser G, Xing X, Bartelt J, Csorna SE, Jain V, Marka S, Freyberger A, Godang R, Kinoshita K, Lai IC, Pomianowski P, Schrenk S, Bonvicini G, Cinabro D, Greene R, Perera LP, Barish B, Chadha M, Chan S, Eigen G, Miller JS, OGrady C, Schmidtler M, Urheim J, Weinstein AJ, Wurthwein F, Asner DM, Bliss DW, Brower WS, Masek G, Paar HP, Sharma V, Gronberg J, Kutschke R, Lange DJ, Menary S, Morrison RJ, Nelson HN, Nelson TK, Qiao C, Richman JD, Roberts D, Ryd A, Witherell MS, Balest R, Behrens BH, Cho K, Ford WT, Park H, Rankin P, Roy J, Smith JG, Alexander JP, Bebek C, Berger BE, Berkelman K, Bloom K, Cassel DG, Cho HA, Coffman DM, Crowcroft DS, Dickson M, Drell PS, Ecklund KM, Ehrlich R, Elia R, Foland AD, Gaidarev P, Gittelman B, Gray SW, Hartill DL, Heltsley BK, Kandaswamy J, Katayama N, Kim PC, Kreinick DL, Lee T, Liu Y, Ludwig GS, Masui J, Mevissen J, Mistry NB, Ng CR, Nordberg E, Ogg M, Patterson JR, Peterson D, Riley D, Soffer A, Ward C, Athanas M, Avery P, Jones CD, Lohner M, Prescott C, Yang S, Yelton J, Zheng J, Brandenburg G, Briere RA, Gao YS, Kim DYJ, Wilson R, Yamamoto H, Browder TE, Li F, Li Y, Rodriguez JL, Bergfeld T, Eisenstein BI, Ernst J, Gladding GE, Gollin GD, Hans RM, Johnson E, Karliner I, Marsh MA, Palmer M, Selen M, Thaler JJ, Edwards KW, Bellerive A, Janicek R, MacFarlane DB, McLean KW, Patel PM, Sadoff AJ, Ammar R, Baringer P, Bean A, Besson D, Coppage D, Darling C, Davis R, Hancock N, Kotov S, Kravchenko I, Kwak N, Anderson S, Kubota Y, Lattery M, ONeill JJ, Patton S, Poling R, Riehle T, Savinov V, Smith A, Alam MS, Athar SB, Ling Z, Mahmood AH, Severini H, Timm S, Wappler F, Anastassov A, Blinov S, Duboscq JE, Fisher KD, Fujino D, Fulton R, Gan KK, Hart T, Honscheid K, Kagan H, Kass R, Lee J, Spencer MB, Sung M, Undrus A, Wanke R, Wolf A, Zoeller MM, Nemati B, Richichi SJ, Ross WR, Skubic P, Wood M, Bishai M, Fast J, Gerndt E, Hinson JW, Menon N, Miller DH, Shibata EI, Shipsey IPJ, Yurko M</p
Environment and self-regulation in galaxy formation
The environment is known to affect the formation and evolution of galaxies considerably best visible through the well-known morphology–density relationship. It is less clear, though, whether the environment is equally important at a given galaxy morphology. In this paper, we study the effect of environment on the evolution of early-type galaxies as imprinted in the fossil record by analysing the stellar population properties of 3360 galaxies morphologically selected by visual inspection from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in a narrow redshift range ( 0.05 ≤z≤ 0.06 ). The morphological selection algorithm is critical, as it does not bias against recent star formation. We find that the distribution of ages is bimodal with a strong peak at old ages and a secondary peak at young ages around ∼2.5 Gyr containing about 10 per cent of the objects. This is an analogue to 'red sequence' and 'blue cloud' identified in galaxy populations usually containing both early- and late-type galaxies. The fraction of the young, rejuvenated galaxies increases with both decreasing galaxy mass and decreasing environmental density up to about 45 per cent, which implies that the impact of environment increases with decreasing galaxy mass. The rejuvenated galaxies have lower α/Fe ratios than the average and most of them show signs of ongoing star formation through their emission line spectra. All objects that host active galactic nuclei in their centres without star formation are part of the red sequence population. We confirm and statistically strengthen earlier results that luminosity weighted ages, metallicities and α/Fe element ratios of the red sequence population correlate well with velocity dispersion and galaxy mass. Most interestingly, however, these scaling relations are not sensitive to environmental densities and are only driven by galaxy mass. We infer that early-type galaxy formation has undergone a phase transition a few billion years ago around z∼ 0.2 . A self-regulated formation phase without environmental dependence has recently been superseded by a rejuvenation phase, in which the environment plays a decisive role possibly through galaxy mergers and interactions
Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture
Approaches exploiting trait distribution extremes may be used to identify loci associated with common traits, but it is unknown whether these loci are generalizable to the broader population. In a genome-wide search for loci associated with the upper versus the lower 5th percentiles of body mass index, height and waist-to-hip ratio, as well as clinical classes of obesity, including up to 263,407 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 4 new loci (IGFBP4, H6PD, RSRC1 and PPP2R2A) influencing height detected in the distribution tails and 7 new loci (HNF4G, RPTOR, GNAT2, MRPS33P4, ADCY9, HS6ST3 and ZZZ3) for clinical classes of obesity. Further, we find a large overlap in genetic structure and the distribution of variants between traits based on extremes and the general population and little etiological heterogeneity between obesity subgroups
Testing the evolutionary link between submillimetre galaxies and quasars: CO observations of QSOs at z~2
We have used the IRAM Plateau de Bure millimetre interferometer and the UKIRT 1–5 μm Imager Spectrometer (UIST) to test the connection between the major phases of spheroid growth and nuclear accretion by mapping CO emission in nine submillimetre-detected QSOs at z= 1.7–2.6 with black hole (BH) masses derived from near-infrared spectroscopy. When combined with one QSO obtained from the literature, we present sensitive CO(3–2) or CO(2–1) observations of 10 submillimetre-detected QSOs selected at the epoch of peak activity in both QSOs and submillimetre (submm) galaxies (SMGs). CO is detected in 5/6 very optically luminous (MB∼−28) submm-detected QSOs with BH masses MBH≃ 109–1010 M⊙, confirming the presence of large gas reservoirs of Mgas≃ 3.4 × 1010 M⊙. Our BH masses and dynamical mass constraints on the host spheroids suggest, at face value, that these optically luminous QSOs at z= 2 lie about an order of magnitude above the local BH–spheroid relation, MBH/Msph, although this result is dependent on the size and inclination of the CO-emitting region. However, we find that their BH masses are ∼30 times too large and their surface density is ∼300 times too small to be related to typical SMGs in an evolutionary sequence. Conversely, we measure weaker CO emission in four fainter (MB∼−25) submm-detected QSOs with properties, BH masses (MBH≃ 5 × 108 M⊙), and surface densities similar to SMGs. These QSOs appear to lie near the local MBH/Msph relation, making them plausible ‘transition objects’ in the proposed evolutionary sequence linking QSOs to the formation of massive young galaxies and BHs at high redshift. We show that SMGs have a higher incidence of bimodal CO line profiles than seen in our QSO sample, which we interpret as an effect of their relative inclinations, with the QSOs seen more face-on. Finally, we find that the gas masses of the four fainter submm-detected QSOs imply that their star formation episodes could be sustained for ∼10 Myr, and are consistent with representing a phase in the formation of massive galaxies which overlaps a preceding SMG starburst phase, before subsequently evolving into a population of present-day massive ellipticals
Deletion of vitamin D receptor leads to premature emphysema/COPD by increased matrix metalloproteinases and lymphoid aggregates formation
Deficiency of vitamin D is associated with accelerated decline in lung function. Vitamin D is a ligand for nuclear hormone vitamin D receptor (VDR), and upon binding it modulates various cellular functions. The level of VDR is reduced in lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which led us to hypothesize that deficiency of VDR leads to significant alterations in lung phenotype that are characteristics of COPD/emphysema associated with increased inflammatory response. We found that VDR knock-out (VDR(-/-)) mice had increased influx of inflammatory cells, phospho-acetylation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) associated with increased proinflammatory mediators, and up-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) MMP-2, MMP-9, and MMP-12 in the lung. This was associated with emphysema and decline in lung function associated with lymphoid aggregates formation compared to WT mice. These findings suggest that deficiency of VDR in mouse lung can lead to an early onset of emphysema/COPD because of chronic inflammation, immune dysregulation, and lung destruction
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Identifying idiolect in forensic authorship attribution: an n-gram textbite approach
Forensic authorship attribution is concerned with identifying authors of disputed or anonymous documents, which are potentially evidential in legal cases, through the analysis of linguistic clues left behind by writers. The forensic linguist “approaches this problem of questioned authorship from the theoretical position that every native speaker has their own distinct and individual version of the language [. . . ], their own idiolect” (Coulthard, 2004: 31). However, given the diXculty in empirically substantiating a theory of idiolect, there is growing concern in the Veld that it remains too abstract to be of practical use (Kredens, 2002; Grant, 2010; Turell, 2010). Stylistic, corpus, and computational approaches to text, however, are able to identify repeated collocational patterns, or n-grams, two to six word chunks of language, similar to the popular notion of soundbites: small segments of no more than a few seconds of speech that journalists are able to recognise as having news value and which characterise the important moments of talk. The soundbite oUers an intriguing parallel for authorship attribution studies, with the following question arising: looking at any set of texts by any author, is it possible to identify ‘n-gram textbites’, small textual segments that characterise that author’s writing, providing DNA-like chunks of identifying material
A star-forming galaxy at z= 5.78 in the Chandra Deep Field South
We report the discovery of a luminous z = 5.78 star-forming galaxy in the Chandra Deep Field South. This galaxy was selected as an ‘i-drop’ from the GOODS public survey imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys (object 3 in the work of Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003). The large colour of (i′−z′)AB = 1.6 indicated a spectral break consistent with the Lyman α forest absorption shortward of Lyman α at z≈ 6. The galaxy is very compact (marginally resolved with ACS with a half-light radius of 0.08 arcsec, so rhl 5. Our spectroscopic redshift for this object confirms the validity of the i′-drop technique of Stanway et al. to select star-forming galaxies atz≈ 6
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