Research Articles (Physics)
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Item Promoting physics and development in Africa(American Institute of Physics, 2004) Zingu, EdmundTo excel in physics research in Africa is to conquer Mount Everest without the aid of additional oxygen. In a continent that lacks the infrastructure of research laboratories, technical support, and so forth, relatively few physicists have managed to perform at levels competitive with the best in the world. Are the challenges of physicists in Africa any different from those facing physicists elsewhere? Physicists everywhere have to convince their governments, businesses, and the public that investment in physics is beneficial and will lead to economic development and an enhanced quality of life.Item Figure rotation of dark haloes in cold dark matter simulations(Oxford University Press, 2007) Bryan, Scott E.; Cress, Christine MWe investigate the figure rotation of dark matter haloes identified in cold dark matter (CDM) simulations.We find that when strict criteria are used to select suitable haloes for study, five of the 222 haloes identified in our z = 0 simulation output undergo coherent figure rotation over a 5 h−1 Gyr period.We discuss the effects of varying the selection criteria and find that pattern speeds for a much larger fraction of the haloes can be measured when the criteria are relaxed. Pattern speeds measured over a 1 h−1 Gyr period follow a lognormal distribution, centred at p = 0.2 h rad Gyr−1 with a maximum value of 0.94 h rad Gyr−1. Over a 5 h−1 Gyr period, the average pattern speed of a halo is about 0.1 h rad Gyr−1 and the largest pattern speed found is 0.24 h rad Gyr−1. Less than half of the selected haloes showed alignment between their figure rotation axis and minor axis, the exact fraction being somewhat dependent on how one defines a halo. While the pattern speeds observed are lower than those generally thought capable of causing spiral structure, we note that coherent figure rotation is found over very long periods and argue that further simulations would be required before strong conclusions about spiral structure in all galaxies could be drawn.Item A CHANDRA STUDY OF TEMPERATURE SUBSTRUCTURES IN INTERMEDIATE-REDSHIFT GALAXY CLUSTERS(2009) Gu, Liyi; Wang, Yu; Zhang, ZhongliBy analyzing the gas temperature maps created from the Chandra archive data, we reveal the prevailing existence of temperature substructures on ∼ 100 h −1 70 kpc scales in the central regions of nine intermediate-redshift (z ≈ 0.1) galaxy clusters, which resemble those found in the Virgo and Coma Clusters. Each substructure contains a clump of hot plasma whose temperature is about 2 − 3 keV higher than the environment, corresponding to an excess thermal energy of ∼ 1058−60 erg per clump. Since if there were no significant non-gravitational heating sources, these substructures would have perished in 108−9 yrs due to thermal conduction and turbulent flows, whose velocity is found to range from about 200 to 400 km s−1 , we conclude that the substructures cannot be created and sustained by inhomogeneous radiative cooling. We also eliminate the possibilities that the temperature substructures are caused by supernova explosions, or by the non-thermal X-ray emission due to the inverse-Comptonization of the CMB photons. By calculating the rising time of AGN-induced buoyant bubbles, we speculate that the intermittent AGN outbursts (≥ 1060 erg per burst) may have played a crucial role in the forming of the high temperature substructures. Our results are supported by recent study of McNamara & Nulsen (2007), posing a tight observational constraint on future theoretical and numerical studiesItem Relativistic mean field formulation of clustering in heavy nuclei(IOP, 2010) S.M. Wyngaardt; H. W. Groenewald; T.T Ibrahim; J. Ndayishimye; S.M. PerezVery little is known about clustering in heavy nuclei and in particular the interaction between the correlated cluster nucleons and remaining core nucleons. Currently the phenomenological Saxon-Woods plus cubic Saxon-Woods core-cluster potential successfully predicts the alpha decay half-life and energy band spectra of a number of heavy nuclei. This model, however, lacks a microscopic understanding of clustering phenomenon in these heavy nuclear systems. A fully relativistic microscopic formalism is presented, which generates the core-cluster potential by means of the McNeil, Ray and Wallace based double folding procedure. The core and cluster baryon densities are calculated by using a relativistic mean field approach. The Lorentz covariant IA1 representation of the nucleon-nucleon interaction is folded with the core and cluster densities. Theoretical predictions of the ground-state decay half-life and positive parity energy band of 212Po are obtained with the relativistic mean field formalism and which are compared to the results from the phenomenological Saxon-Woods plus cubic Saxon-Wood core-cluster potential and microscopic M3Y interaction.Item Clustering of HI galaxies in the HI parkes all sky survey and arecibo legacy fast alfa survey(Oxford University Press, 2011) Passmoor, S. S.; Cress, Catherine; Faltenbacher, AWe investigate the clustering of H I-selected galaxies in the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey (ALFALFA) and compare results with those obtained for the H I Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS). Measurements of the angular correlation function and the inferred 3D clustering are compared with results from direct spatial-correlation measurements. We are able to measure clustering on smaller angular scales and for galaxies with lower H I masses than was previously possible. We calculate the expected clustering of dark matter using the redshift distributions of the HIPASS and ALFALFA, and show that the ALFALFA sample is somewhat more antibiased with respect to dark matter than the HIPASS sample.Item The orbital periods of aa dor and ny vir(Oxford University Press, 2011) Kilkenny, DaveNew timings of eclipses made between 2000 and 2010 are presented for two binary systems with hot subdwarf primary stars. In the case of AA Dor, an sdOB star with a very cool secondary, the period is found to be constant at a level of about 10−14 d per orbit. In the case of NY Vir, a rapidly pulsating sdBVr with a cool companion, the period is discovered to be decreasing at a rate of −11.2 × 10−13 d per orbit. Close binary stars are particularly useful for the determination of fundamental stellar parameters. Double-lined spectroscopic binaries enable the mass ratio of the binary components to be determined and, if the inclination of the binary orbit can be measured or reasonably constrained (as in the case of an eclipsing system), then the absolute masses can be found. In addition, the light curve of an eclipsing system allows relative stellar radii to be found and even the absolute radii if the system is a double-lined binary.Item Reconstruction of dark energy and expansion dynamics using Gaussian processes(IOP Publishing, 2012) Seikel, Marina; Clarkson, ChrisAn important issue in cosmology is reconstructing the effective dark energy equation of state directly from observations. With few physically motivated models, future dark energy studies cannot only be based on constraining a dark energy parameter space, as the errors found depend strongly on the parametrisation considered. We present a new non-parametric approach to reconstructing the history of the expansion rate and dark energy using Gaussian Processes, which is a fully Bayesian approach for smoothing data. We present a pedagogical introduction to Gaussian Processes, and discuss how it can be used to robustly differentiate data in a suitable way. Using this method we show that the Dark Energy Survey - Supernova Survey (DES) can accurately recover a slowly evolving equation of state to w = ±0.05 (95% CL) at z = 0 and ±0.25 at z = 0.7, with a minimum error of ±0.025 at the sweet-spot at z 0.16, provided the other parameters of the model are known. Errors on the expansion history are an order of magnitude smaller, yet make no assumptions about dark energy whatsoever.Item Disentangling non-gaussianity, bias, and general relativistic effects in the galaxy distribution(American Physical Society, 2012) Bruni, Marco; Crittenden, Robert; Maartens, RoyLocal non-Gaussianity, parametrized by f NL , introduces a scale-dependent bias that is strongest at large scales, precisely where general relativistic (GR) effects also become significant. With future data, it should be possible to constrain f NL = O ( 1 ) with high redshift surveys. GR corrections to the power spectrum and ambiguities in the gauge used to define bias introduce effects similar to f NL = O ( 1 ) , so it is essential to disentangle these effects. For the first time in studies of primordial non-Gaussianity, we include the consistent GR calculation of galaxy power spectra, highlighting the importance of a proper definition of bias. We present observable power spectra with and without GR corrections, showing that an incorrect definition of bias can mimic non-Gaussianity. However, these effects can be distinguished by their different redshift and scale dependence, so as to extract the true primordial non-Gaussianity.Item Mining the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey: submillimetre-selected blazars in equatorial fields(Oxford University Press, 2013) Lopez-Caniego, M.; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J.; Massardi, M.; Jarvis, MattThe Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) provides an unprecedented opportunity to search for blazars at sub-mm wavelengths. We cross-matched the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm (FIRST) radio source catalogue with the 11 655 sources brighter than 35 mJy at 500 μm in the ∼135 deg2 of the sky covered by the H-ATLAS equatorial fields at 9h and 15h, plus half of the field at 12h.We found that 379 of the H-ATLAS sources have a FIRST counterpart within 10 arcsec, including eight catalogued blazars (plus one known blazar that was found at the edge of one of the H-ATLAS maps). To search for additional blazar candidates we have devised new diagnostic diagrams and found that known blazars occupy a region of the log(S500μm/S350μm) versus log(S500μm/S1.4 GHz) plane separated from that of sub-mm sources with radio emission powered by star formation, but shared with radio galaxies and steep-spectrum radio quasars. Using this diagnostic we have selected 12 further possible candidates that turn out to be scattered in the (r − z) versus (u − r) plane or in the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer colour–colour diagram, where known blazars are concentrated in well defined strips.Item Physical properties of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at Z ≥ 6. I. Basic characteristics of the rest-frame UV continuum and lyman-alpha emission(American Astronomical Society, 2013) Jiang, Linhua; Egami, Eiichi; Mechtley, Matthew; Fan, Xiaohui; Cohen, Seth H.; Windhorst, Rogier A.; Dave, Romeel; Finlator, Kristian; Kashikawa, Nobunari; Ouchi, Masami; Shimasaku, KazuhiroWe present deep HST near-IR and Spitzer mid-IR observations of a large sample of spectroscopically- confirmed galaxies at z ≥ 6. The sample consists of 51 Ly-alpha emitters (LAEs) at z ≃ 5.7, 6.5, and 7.0, and 16 Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at 5.9 ≤ z ≤ 6.5. The near-IR images were mostly obtained with WFC3 in the F125W and F160W bands, and the mid-IR images were obtained with IRAC in the 3.6μm and 4.5μm bands. Our galaxies also have deep optical imaging data from Subaru Suprime- Cam. We utilize the multi-band data and secure redshifts to derive their rest-frame UV properties. These galaxies have steep UV continuum slopes roughly between ≃ −1.5 and –3.5, with an average value of ≃ −2.3, slightly steeper than the slopes of LBGs in previous studies. The slope shows little dependence on UV continuum luminosity except for a few of the brightest galaxies. We find a statistically significant excess of galaxies with slopes around ≃ −3, suggesting the existence of very young stellar populations with extremely low metallicity and dust content. Our galaxies have moderately strong rest-frame Ly equivalent width (EW) in a range of ∼10 to ∼200 °A. The star- formation rates are also moderate, from a few to a few tens solar masses per year. The LAEs and LBGs in this sample share many common properties, implying that LAEs represent a subset of LBGs with strong Ly-alpha emission. Finally, the comparison of the UV luminosity functions between LAEs and LBGs suggests that there exists a substantial population of faint galaxies with weak Ly-alpha emission (EW < 20 °A) that could be the dominant contribution to the total ionizing flux at z ≥ 6.Item The preferentially magnified active nucleus in IRAS F10214+4724 - III. VLBI observations of the radio core(Oxford University Press, 2013) Deane, Roger P.; Rawlings, S.; Jarvis, Matt; Garrett, M. A.; Heywood, Ian; Klöckner, H. R.; Marshall, P. J.; McKean, J. P.We report 1.7GHz very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of IRAS F10214+4724, a lensed z = 2.3 obscured quasar with prodigious star formation. We detect what we argue to be the obscured active nucleus with an effective angular resolution of <50pc at z = 2.3. The S1.7 =210µJy (9σ) detection of this unresolved source is located within the Hubble Space Telescope rest-frame ultraviolet/optical arc, however, 100 mas northwards of the arc centre of curvature. This leads to a source-plane inversion that places the European VLBI Network detection to within milliarcseconds of the modelled cusp caustic, resulting in a very large magnification (μ ∼70), over an order of magnitude larger than the CO (1→0) derived magnification of a spatially resolved Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) map, using the same lens model. We estimate the quasar bolometric luminosity from a number of independent techniques and with our X-ray modelling find evidence that the AGN may be close to Compton thick, with an intrinsic bolometric luminosity of log10( Lbol, QSO /L ) = 11.34 ± 0.27dex. We make the first black hole mass estimate of IRAS F10214+4724 and find log10(MBH/M ) = 8.36 ± 0.56 which suggests a low black hole accretion rate (λ = ˙M/ ˙ MEdd ∼3±7 2 percent). We find evidence for an MBH/Mspheroid ratio that is one to two orders of magnitude larger than that of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) at z ∼ 2. At face value, this suggests that IRAS F10214+4724 has undergone a different evolutionary path compared to SMGs at the same epoch. A primary result of this work is the demonstration that emission regions of different sizes and positions can undergo significantly different magnification boosts (>1dex) and therefore distort our view of high-redshift, gravitationally lensed galaxies.Item Inelastic scattering of 9Li and excitation mechanism of its first excited state(Elsevier, 2013) Al Falou, H.; Kanungo, R.; Orce, J.N.The first measurement of inelastic scattering of 9Li from deuterons at the ISAC facility is reported. The measured angular distribution for the first excited state confirms the nature of excitation to be an E2 transition. The quadrupole deformation parameter is extracted from an analysis of the angular distribution.Item Sample variance, source clustering and their influence on the counts of faint radio sources(Oxford University Press, 2013) Heywood, Ian; Jarvis, Matt; Condon, James J.The shape of the curves defined by the counts of radio sources per unit area as a function of their flux density was one of the earliest cosmological probes. Radio source counts continue to be an area of astrophysical interest as they can be used to study the relative populations of galaxy types in the Universe (as well as investigate any cosmological evolution in their respective luminosity functions). They are also a vital consideration for determining howsource confusion may limit the depth of a radio interferometer observation, and are essential for characterizing the extragalactic foregrounds in cosmicmicrowave background experiments. There is currently no consensus as to the relative populations of the faintest (sub-mJy) source types, where the counts show a turn-up. Most of the source count data in this regime are gathered from multiple observations that each use a deep, single pointing with an interferometric radio telescope. These independent count measurements exhibit large amounts of scatter (factors of the order of a few) that significantly exceeds their respective stated uncertainties. In this paper, we use a simulation of the extragalactic radio continuum emission to assess the level at which sample variance may be the cause of the scatter. We find that the scatter induced by sample variance in the simulated counts decreases towards lower flux density bins as the raw source counts increase. The field-to-field variations make significant contributions to the scatter in the measurements of counts derived from deep observations that consist of a single pointing, and could even be the sole cause at >100 μJy. We present a method for evaluating the flux density limit that a radio survey must reach in order to reduce the count uncertainty induced by sample variance to a specific value. We also derive a method for correcting Poisson errors on source counts from existing and future deep radio surveys in order to include the uncertainties due to the cosmological clustering of sources. A conclusive empirical constraint on the effect of sample variance at these low luminosities is unlikely to arise until the completion of future large-scale radio surveys with next-generation radio telescopes.Item The host haloes of O I absorbers in the reionization epoch(Oxford University Press, 2013) Finlator, Kristian; Muñoz, Joseph A.; Dave, Romeel; Oppenheimer, B. D.; Peng Oh, S.; Özel, FeryalWe use a radiation hydrodynamic simulation of the hydrogen reionization epoch to study OI absorbers at z ∼ 6. The intergalactic medium (IGM) is reionized before it is enriched; hence, OI absorption originates within dark matter haloes. The predicted abundance of OI absorbers is in reasonable agreement with observations. At z = 10, ≈70 per cent of sightlines through atomically cooled haloes encounter a visible (NOI > 1014cm−2) column. Reionization ionizes and removes gas from haloes less massive than 108.4M , but 20 per cent of sightlines through more massive haloes encounter visible columns even at z = 5. The mass scale of absorber host haloes is 10–100 times smaller than the haloes of Lyman-break galaxies and Lyman α emitters, hence absorption probes the dominant ionizing sources more directly. OI absorbers have neutral hydrogen columns of 1019–1021 cm−2, suggesting a close resemblance between objects selected in OI and HI absorption. Finally, the absorption in the foreground of the z = 7.085 quasar ULAS J1120+0641 cannot originate in a dark matter halo because halo gas at the observed HI column density is enriched enough to violate the upper limits on the OI column. By contrast, gas at less than one-third the cosmic mean density satisfies the constraints. Hence, the foreground absorption likely originates in the IGM.Item Gama/H-Atlas: The dust opacity-stellar mass surface density relation for spiral galaxies(IOP Science, 2013) Grootes, M.W.; Tuffs, R.J.; Jarvis, MattWe report the discovery of a well-defined correlation between B-band face-on central optical depth due to dust and the stellar mass surface density of nearby spiral galaxies. This relation was derived from a sample of spiral galaxies taken from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, which were detected in the FIR/submm in the Herschel -ATLAS science demonstration phase field. Using a quantitative analysis of the NUV attenuation-inclination relation for complete samples of GAMA spirals categorized according to stellar mass surface density we demonstrate that this correlation can be used to statistically correct for dust attenuation purely on the basis of optical photometry and S´ersic-profile morphological fits.Item Herschel-atlas/Gama: a difference between star formation rates in strong-line and weak-line radio galaxies(OUP, 2013) Hardcastle, M.J.; Ching, J.H.Y.; Jarvis, MattWe have constructed a sample of radio-loud objects with optical spectroscopy from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) project over the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (Herschel-ATLAS) Phase 1 fields. Classifying the radio sources in terms of their optical spectra, we find that strong-emission-line sources (‘high-excitation radio galaxies’) have, on average, a factor of ∼4 higher 250-μm Herschel luminosity than weak-line (‘lowexcitation’) radio galaxies and are also more luminous than magnitude-matched radio-quiet galaxies at the same redshift. Using all five H-ATLAS bands, we show that this difference in luminosity between the emission-line classes arises mostly from a difference in the average dust temperature; strong-emission-line sources tend to have comparable dust masses to, but higher dust temperatures than, radio galaxies with weak emission lines. We interpret this as showing that radio galaxies with strong nuclear emission lines are much more likely to be associated with star formation in their host galaxy, although there is certainly not a one-to-one relationship between star formation and strong-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity. The strong-line sources are estimated to have star formation rates at least a factor of 3–4 higher than those in the weak-line objects. Our conclusion is consistent with earlier work, generally carried out using much smaller samples, and reinforces the general picture of high-excitation radio galaxies as being located in lower-mass, less evolved host galaxies than their low-excitation counterparts.Item Mind the gap: Science and engineering education at the secondary–tertiary interface(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2013) Case, Jenni; Marshall, Delia; Grayson, DianeIn the South African higher education sector, there is increasing concern about the poor retention and throughput rates of undergraduate students. There is also concern that the participation rates in higher education, relative to population demographics, remain extremely racially skewed. With the quality of schooling unlikely to change dramatically in the short term, universities need to look for ways to improve student success, particularly in science and engineering, where graduates are needed for a range of key roles in society. Here we review the research presented at a forum held by the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2010, which sought to bring together the latest expert thinking in this area. The major focus of academic development to date has been the establishment of extended degree programmes. However, it is clear that this model has limited capacity to deal with what is, in fact, a much broader problem. We summarise existing interventions aimed at reducing the ‘gap’ between secondary and tertiary education, and describe key innovations in mainstream programmes that are possible at the levels of pedagogy, curriculum and institutional environment, some of which are also becoming established internationally in science and engineering. Driving such initiatives will demand visionary university leadership in order to effect the integrated and holistic change that is needed.Item Stacked reverberation mapping(Oxford University Press, 2013) Fine, Stephen; Shanks, T.; Green, P.; Kelly, B.; Croom, S. M.; Webster, R. L.; Berger, E.; Chornock, R.; Burgett, W. S.; Chambers, K. C.; Kaiser, N.; Price, P. A.Over the past 20 years reverberation mapping has proved one of the most successful techniques for studying the local (<1 pc) environment of supermassive black holes that drive active galactic nuclei. Key successes of reverberation mapping have been direct black hole mass estimates, the radius–luminosity relation for the Hβ line and the calibration of single-epoch mass estimators commonly employed up to z ∼ 7. However, observing constraints mean that few studies have been successful at z > 0.1, or for the more-luminous quasars that make up the majority of current spectroscopic samples, or for rest-frame ultraviolet emission lines available in optical spectra ofz>0.5 objects. Previously,we described a technique for stacking cross-correlations to obtain reverberation mapping results at high z. Here, we present the first results from a campaign designed for this purpose. We construct stacked cross-correlation functions for the C IV and Mg II lines and find a clear peak in both. We find that the peak in the Mg II correlation is at longer lags than C IV consistent with previous results at low redshift. For the C IV sample, we are able to bin by luminosity and find evidence for increasing lags for more-luminous objects. This C IV radius–luminosity relation is consistent with previous studies but with a fraction of the observational cost.Item The neutral hydrogen content of galaxies in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations(Oxford University Press, 2013) Dave, Romeel; Katz, Neal; Oppenheimer, Benjamin D.; Kollmeier, Juna A.; Weinberg, David H.We examine the global HI properties of galaxies in quarter billion particle cosmological simulations using GADGET-2, focusing on howgalactic outflows impactHI content.We consider four outflow models, including a new one (ezw) motivated by recent interstellar medium simulations in which the wind speed and mass loading factor scale as expected for momentumdriven outflows for larger galaxies and energy-driven outflows for dwarfs (σ <75 km s−1). To obtain predicted HI masses, we employ a simple but effective local correction for particle selfshielding and an observationally constrained transition from neutral to molecular hydrogen. Our ezw simulation produces an HI mass function whose faint-end slope of −1.3 agrees well with observations from the Arecibo Fast Legacy ALFA survey; other models agree less well. Satellite galaxies have a bimodal distribution in HI fraction versus halo mass, with smaller satellites and/or those in larger haloes more often being HI deficient. At a given stellar mass, HI content correlates with the star formation rate and inversely correlates with metallicity, as expected if driven by stochasticity in the accretion rate. To higher redshifts, massive HI galaxies disappear and the mass function steepens. The global cosmic HI density conspires to remain fairly constant from z ∼ 5→0, but the relative contribution from smaller galaxies increases with redshift.Item Herschel-ATLAS/GAMA: What determines the far-infrared properties of radio galaxies?(OUP, 2013) Virdee, J.S.; Hardcastle, M.J.; Jarvis, MattWe perform a stacking analysis of Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) data in order to obtain isothermal dust temperatures and rest-frame luminosities at 250 µm (L250), for a well-defined sample of 1599 radio sources over the H-ATLAS Phase 1/Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) area. The radio sample is generated using a combination of NRAO VLA Sky Survey data and K-band United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Deep Sky Survey–Large Area Survey data, over the redshift range 0.01 30 kpc) counterparts. The higher dust temperature suggests that this may be attributed to enhanced SFRs in compact radio galaxies, but whether this is directly or indirectly due to radio activity (e.g. jet-induced or merger-driven star formation) is as yet unknown. For matched samples in LK and g –r , sub-1.5L∗ K and super-1.5L∗ K radio-detected galaxies have 0.89±0.18 and 0.49±0.12 times the 250μm luminosity of their non-radio-detected counterparts. Thus, while no difference in L250 is observed in sub-1.5L∗ K radio-detected galaxies, a strong deficit is observed in super-1.5L∗ K radio-detected galaxies. We explain these results in terms of the hotter, denser and richer halo environments massive radio galaxies maintain and are embedded in. These environments are expected to quench the cold gas and dust supply needed for further star formation and therefore dust production. Our results indicate that all massive radio galaxies (>1.5L∗ K) may have systematically lower FIR luminosities (∼25 per cent) than their colour-matched non-radio-detected counterparts. Finally, no relation between radio spectral index and L250 is found for the subset of 1.4-GHz radio sources with detections at 330 MHz.