Day 555

Thursday.

1311.6473
Central galaxies in different environments: do they have similar properties?
Lacerna et al

Perform exhaustive comparison among central galaxies from SDSS catalogs in different local environments at 0.01<=z<=0.08.  The central galaxies are separated into two categories: group centrals (host halos containing satellites) and field centrals (host halos without satellites).  From the latter, select other two subsamples: isolated centrals and bright field centrals, both with the same magnitude limit.  The stellar mass (Ms) distributions of the field and group central galaxies are different, which explain why in general the field central galaxies are located in the blue cloud/SF regions, where as the group central galaxies are in the red sequence/ passive regions.  The isolated centrals occupy the same regions as the bright field centrals since both populations have similar Ms distributions.  At parity [?] of Ms, the color and sSFR distributions of the samples are similar, especially between field and group centrals.  Furthermore, find that the stellar-to-halo mass (Ms/Mh) relation of isolated galaxies does not depend on the color, sSFR and morphological type.  For systems without satellites, the Ms-Mh relation steep ends at high Mh compared to group centrals, which is explained as a condition of the Ms distribution inside the halo.  The scatter around the Ms-Mh relation of systems without satellites is <0.08 dex and roughly constant with Mh, in contrast to the scatter for group centrals which is >0.1 dex and increasing with Mh.  Results suggest that the mass growth of central galaxies is mostly driven by the halo mass.

1311.6523
First galaxy-galaxy lensing measurement of satellite halo mass in the CFHT/MegaCam stripe-82 survey
Li, … Kneib, … van den Bosch, Erbein, … et al

Measure the tangential shear around satellite galaxies, fit to truncated NFW, find mass.  [Not a very significant detection.]

1311.7035
How well do third-order aperture mass statistics separate E- and B-modes?
Shi, Joachimi, Schneider

It has been demonstrated that 2nd order aperture mass statistics suffer from E-/B-mode mixing because it is impossible to reliably estimate the shapes of close pairs of galaxies.  This finding has triggered developments of several new 2nd-order statistical measures for cosmic shear.  Whether the same developments are needed for 3rd-order shear statistics is largely determined by how severe this E-/B-mixing is for 3rd-order statistics.  Test 3rd-order aperture mass statistics against E-/B-mode mixing, and find that the level of contamination is well described by a function of theta/theta_min, with theta_min being the cut-off scale.  At angular scales of theta>10 theta_min, the decrease in the E-mode signal due to E-/B-mode mixing is smaller than 1 percent, and the leakage into B-modes is even less.  For typical small-scale cut-offs this E-/B-mixing is negligible on scales larger than a few arc minutes.  Therefore, 3rd-order aperture mass statistics can safely be used to separate E- and B-modes and infer cosmological information, for ground-based surveys as well as forthcoming space-based surveys such as Euclid.

1311.7036
Testing cosmological models with the brightness profile of distant galaxies
Olivares-Salaverri, Ribeiro

Use observed galaxy surface brightness profiles at high redshifts to determine the cosmological model based suited to interpret these observations.  Theoretical predictions of galactic surface brightness profiles are compared to observational data in two cosmological models, LCDM and Einstein-de Sitter, to calculate the evolutionary effects of different space-time geometries in these profiles in order to try to find out if the available data is capable of indicating the cosmology that best represents actual galactic brightness profiles observations.  Starting from the connection between the angular diameter distance and the galactic surface brightness as advanced by Ellis hand Perry, derive scaling relations using data from the Virgo galactic cluster in order to obtain theoretical predictions of the galactic surface brightness modeled by the Sersic profile at redshift values equal to a sample of galaxies in the range 1.5<z<2.3 composed by a subset of Szomoru+ 2012 observations.  Then calculate the difference between theory and observation in order to determine the changes required in the effective radius and effective surface brightness so that the observed galaxies may evolve to have features similar to the Virgo cluster ones.  Results show that within the data uncertainties of this particular subset of galaxies it is not possible to distinguish which of the two cosmological models used here predicts theoretical curves in better agreement with the observed ones, that is, one cannot identify a clear and detectable difference in galactic evolution incurred by the galaxies of the sample when applying each cosmology.  Conclude that the Sersic index n does not seem to play a significant effect in the evolution of these galaxies.

Day 554

Wednesday.

1311.5936
The effects of structure anisotropy on lensing observables in an exact general relativistic setting for precision cosmology
Troxel Ishak, Peel

Study of relativistic, higher order and NL effects necessary for precision cosmology; develop and apply a framework to study GL in exact models in GR that are not restricted to homogeneity and isotropy, and where full NL and relativistic effects included.  Apply framework to a specific, anisotropic galaxy cluster model based on modified NFW profile and described by Szekeres metric.  Examine the effects of increasing levels of anisotropy in the galaxy cluster on lensing observables like the convergence and shear for various lensing geometries, finding a strong NL response in both the convergence and shear for rays passing through anisotropic regions of the cluster.  Deviation from the expected values in a spherically symmetric structure are asymmetric with respect to path direction and thus will persist as a statistical effect when averaged over some ensemble of such clusters.  The resulting relative difference in various geometries can be as large as 2,8, and 24% in the measure of convergence for levels of anisotropy of 5,10, and 15%, respectively, as a fraction of total cluster mass.  FOr the total magnitude of shear, the relative difference can grow near the structure to be as large as 15,32 and 44% for the same levels of anisotropy, averaged over the two extreme geometries.  The convergence is impacted most strongly for rays which pass in directions along the axis of maximum dipole anisotropy in the structure, while the shear is most strongly impacted for rays which pass in directions orthogonal to this axis, as expected.  These effects due to anisotropic structures will affect lensing measurements and must be fully examined in an era of precision cosmology.

1311.6200
First measurement of the cross-correlation of CMB lensing and galaxy lensing
Hand, Leauthaud, Das, Sherwin, … Heymans, Devlin, Erben, Hildebrandt, Kneib, … et al

Measure the X-correlation of CMB lensing convergence maps from ACT with galaxy lensing convergence maps from CHFTLenS Stripe82 survey.  The CMB-galaxy lensing cross PS is measured for the first time with 3.2 sigma, which correspond to 16% constraint on the amplitude of density fluctuations at redshifts ~0.9.  With upcoming improved lensing data, this novel type of measurement will become a powerful cosmological probe, providing a precise measurement of the mass distribution at intermediate redshifts and serving as a calibrator for systematic biases in WL measurements.

1311.6344
The host galaxies of Type Ia supernovae discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory
Pan, … Nugent, … Cenko, .. Fakhouri, … Gal-Yam, … et al

Present spectroscopic observations of 82 host galaxies of low-z SNeIa discovered, discovered by PTF.  Strong correlations between SNIa light-curve width (stretch) and the host age/mass/metallicity found: fainter, faster-declining events tend to be hosted by older/massive/metal-rich galaxies.  There is some evidence that redder SNeIa explode in higher metallicity galaxies, but found no relation between the SN color and host galaxy extinction based on the Balmer decrement, suggesting that the color variation of these SNe does not primarily arise from [extinction].  SNeIa in higher-mass/metallicity galaxies also appear brighter after stretch/color corrections than their counterparts in lower mass hosts, and the stronger correlation is with gas-phase metallicity suggesting this may be the more important variable.  Also compared the host stellar mass distribution to that in galaxy targeted SN surveys and the high-z untargeted SNLS.  SNLS has more low mass galaxies, while the targeted searches have fewer. THis can be explained by an evolution in the galaxy stellar mass function, coupled with a SN delay-time distribution proportional to t^-1.  Finally, found no significant difference in the mass-metallicity relation of the SN Ia hosts compared to field galaxies, suggesting any metallicity effect on the SN Ia rate is small.

1311.6383
Magnification bias as a novel probe for primordial magnetic fields
Camera, Fedeli, Moscardini

Intermediate to small scales would experience further substantial matter clustering, were a cosmological magnetic field present prior to recombination.  Explore the constraining potential of the density fluctuation bias induced by gravitational lensing magnification onto the galaxy-galaxy angular power spectrum.  Such an effect is known as magnification bias.  Compared to the usual galaxy clustering approach, magnification bias helps in lifting the pathological degeneracy present amongst PS normalization and galaxy bias.  This is because magnification bias cross-correlates galaxy number density fluctuations of nearby objects with WL distortions of high-z sources.  Thus, it takes advantage of the gravitational deflection of light, which is insensitive to galaxy bias but powerful in constraining the density fluctuation amplitude.  To scrutinize the potentiality of this method, adopt a deep and wide-field spectroscopic galaxy survey.  Show that magnification bias does contain important information on primordial magnetism, which will be useful in combination with galaxy clustering and shear.  Find can rule out 95.4% CL amplitudes of PMFs larger than 0.0005 nG for values of the PMF power spectral index ~0.

Day 553

Tuesday.

1311.5888
The large-scale structure of the halo of the Andromeda galaxy part I:  global stellar density, morphology and metallicity properties
Ibata et al

Analysis of the LSS of the halo of the Andromeda, based on PAndAS, currently the most complete map of the resolved stellar populations in any galactic halo.  Global halo populations hollow closely power law profiles that become steeper with increasing metallicity.  Fit a 3d halo models (divide sample into stream-like populations and smooth halo component).  The most metal-poor populations ([Fe/H]<-1.7) are distributed approximately spherically (slightly prolate with ellipticity c/a=1.09pm0.03), with only a relatively small fraction (42%) residing in discernible stream-like structures.  The sphericity of the ancient smooth component strongly hints that the DM halo is approximately spherical.  More metal-rich populations contain higher fractions of stars in stream (86% for [Fe/H]>-0.6).  The space density of the smooth metal-poor component has a global power-law slope of =3.08pm0.07, and a non-parametric fit shows that this slope remains nearly constant from 30 kpc to 300 kpc.  The total stellar mass in the halo at distances beyond 2 degrees is 1.1e10 Msun, while that of the smooth component is 3e9 Msun.  Extrapolating into the inner galaxy, the total stellar mass of the smooth halo is plausibly 8e9 Msun.  Detect a substantial metallicity gradient, which declines from [Fe/H]=-0.7 at R=30kpc to [Fe/H]=-1.5 at R=150kpc for the full sample, with the smooth halo being 0.2 dex more metal poor than the full sample at each radius.  While qualitatively in-line with expectations from cosmological simulations, these observations are of great importance as they provide a prototype template that such simulations must now be able to reproduce in quantitative detail.
1311.5893
Herschel-ATLAS: modelling the first strong gravitational lenses
Dye et al

Determine the mass-density radial profiles for the first 5 SL discovered by Herschel.  The logarithmic slope of the total mass density profile steepens with decreasing redshift; the slope is positively correlated with the average total projected mass density of the lens contained within half the effective radius and negatively correlated with the effective radius; the fraction of DM contained within half the effective radius increases with increasing effective radius and increases with redshift.

1311.5895
An improved measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations from the correlation function of galaxy clusters at z~0.3
Veropalumbo et al

Use 25k clusters from SDSS, estimate from the projected correlation function a bias of 2.06 pm 0.04.  BAO peak determined with high accuracy; s_p=108.10pm4.00 Mpc/h, in good agreement with previous estimates with similar uncertainty.

1311.5916
How galaxies become red: insights from cosmological simulations
Cen

An analysis of more than 3k galaxies resolved better than 114 pc/h at z=0.62 in a LAOZI cosmological AMR hydrosim is performed and insights gained on quenching and color migration.  The vast majority of red galaxies are found to be within 3 virial radii of a larger galaxy, at the onset of quenching.  Thus call this mechanism "environment quenching", which encompasses satellite quenching.  Two physical processes are largely responsible: ram-pressure stripping first disconnects the galaxy from the cold gas supply on large scales, followed by a longer period of cold gas starvation taking place in high velocity dispersion environment, during the early part of which the existing dense cold gas in the central region (=<10 kpc) is consumed by in situ star formation.  Quenching is found to be more efficient but not faster, on average, in denser environment.  Throughout quenching galaxies follow nearly vertical tracks in the color-stellar-mass diagram.  In contrast, individual galaxies of all masses grow most of their stellar masses in the blue cloud, prior to the onset of quenching, and progressively more massive blue galaxies with already relatively older mean stellar ages continue to enter the red sequence.  Consequently, correlations among observables of red galaxies - such as the age-mass relation - are largely inherited from their blue progenitors at the onset of quenching.  While the color makeup of the entire galaxy population strongly depends on environment, which is a direct result of environment quenching, physical properties of blue galaxies as a sub-population show little dependence on environment.  A variety of predictions from the simulation are shown to be in accord with extant observations.

Day 552

Monday.

1311.5559
CANDELS+3D-HST: compact SFGs at z~2-3, the progenitors of the first quiescent galaxies
Barro et al

Analyze the SF and structural properties of 45 massive (M/Msun>1e10) SFGs at 2<z<3 to explore thither they are progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies at z~2.  The optical/NIR and FIR colors indicate that most compact SFGs are heavily obscured.  Nearly half host an X-ray bright AGN.  In contrast, only about 10% of other massive galaxies at that time host AGNs.  Compact SFGs have centrally-concentrated light profiles and spheroidal morphologies similar to quiescent galaxies, and are thus strikingly different form other SFGs.  Most compact SFGs lie either within the SFR-M main sequence (65%) or below (30%) [what does lying below the MS mean?  more massive, less SFR], on the expected evolutionary path towards quiescent galaxies.  These results show conclusively that galaxies become more compact before they lose their gas and dust, quenching SF.  Using extensive HST photometry from CANDELS and grim spectroscopy from the 3D-HST survey, model their stellar population with either exponentially declining (tau) SFHs or physically-motivated SFHs drawn from SAMs.  SAMs predict longer formation timescales and older ages ~2 Gyr, which are nearly twice as old as the estimates of the tau models.  While both models yield good SED fits, SAM SFHs better match the observed slope and zero point of the SFR-M main sequence.  Some low-mass compact SFGs M/Msun=1e10-10.6 have younger ages but lower sSFRs than that of more massive galaxies, suggesting that the low-mass galaxies reach the red sequence faster.  If the progenitors of compact SFGs are extended SFGs, state-of-the-art SAMs show that mergers and disk instabilities are both able to shrink galaxies, but disk instabilities are more frequent (60% vs 40%) and form more concentrated galaxies.  Confirm this result via high-resolution hydrosims.

1311.5563
Geometric and dynamic distortions in anisotropic galaxy clustering
Blazek, Seljak, Vlah, Okumura

Examine the signature of dynamic (z-space) distortions and geometric distortions (including the Alcock-Paczynski effect) in the context of the galaxy PS measured in upcoming galaxy redshift surveys.  Information comes from both the BAO feature and the broadband PS shape.  Accurate modeling is required to extract this information without introducing systematic bias in the result.  Consider an analytic model for the PS of DM haloes in redshift space, based on the distribution function expansion.  To test the accuracy of the model, compare with halo clustering measured in N-body simulations.  Find that the distribution function model is sufficiently accurate to allow the inclusion of broadband information on scales down to k~0.2 h/Mpc, with somewhat better accuracy for higher bias halos.  Compared with a BAO-only analysis with reconstruction, including broadband shape information can improve unbiased constraints on distance measures H(z) and D_A(z) by ~30% and 20%, respectively, for a galaxy sample similar to the DESI luminous red galaxies.  The gains in precision are larger in the absence of BAO reconstruction.  Furthermore, including broadband shape information allows the measurement of structure growth, through redshift-space distributions.  For the same galaxy sample, find that the distribution function model is able to constrain (f*sigma_8) to ~2%, when simultaneously fitting for H(z) and D_A(z).  Discuss techniques to optimize the analysis of the PS, including removing modes near the LoS that are particularly challenging to model, and whether these approaches can improve parameter constraints.  Find that such techniques are unlikely to significantly improve constraints on geometry, although they may allow higher precision measurements of z-space distortions.

1311.5575
PAMELA positron and electron spectra re reproduced by 3-dimensional cosmic-ray modeling
Gaggero, et al

PAMELA released e+ absolute spectrum between 1 to 300 GeV in addition to the positron fraction and e- spectrum previously measured.  Use the newly developed 3d code DRAGON and the charge dependent solar modulation code HelioProp to consistently describe those data.  Obtain very good fits of all data sets if a e+ + e- hard extra-component peaked at 1TeV is added to a softer e- background and the secondary e+- produced by the spallation of CR proton and helium nuclei.  All sources are assumed to follow a realistic spiral arm spatial distribution.  PAMELA data do not display any need of charge asymmetric extra-component.  Plain diffusion, or low re-acceleration, propagation models which are tuned against nuclear data, nicely describe PAMELA lepton data with no need to introduce a low energy break in the proton and He spectra.

1311.5761
Rest-frame ultra-violet spectra of massive galaxies at z=3: evidence for high-velocity outflows
Karman et al

As the title says.  9 out of 11 have spectroscopic z > 2.5.  4 of the highest quality spectra show outflows from fitting, between 480 and 1528 km/s.  Conclude that massive galaxies are characterized by significantly higher velocity outflows than the typical Lyman break galaxies at z~3.  All but one have high stellar mass >1e10; 3 show evidence (power-law SED) for AGN.  The incidence of high-velocity outflows (~40% for this sample)  is also much higher than among massive galaxies at z<1.  

1311.5783
Review of the theory of PWNe
Bucciantini

[lots of spelling mistakes] Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) are ideal astrophysical labs where HE relativistic phenomena can be investigated.  Knowledge derived in their study have a strong impact in other fields, such as AGNs to GRBs.  Combination of high-res X-ray imaging and numerical codes to handle the outflow and dynamical properties of relativistic MHD has opened a new avenue of investigation that has lead to interesting progress in the last years.  Still do not understand yet how particles are accelerated, and the functioning of the pulsar wind and pulsar magnetosphere, that power PWNe.  Review the commonly known MHD paradigm, and will focus on various approaches that have been and are currently used to model these systems.  For each, highlight its advantages and limitations, and degree of applicability.

Day 551

Saturday.  Sunday.

1311.5092
Testing metallicity indicators at z~1.4 with the gravitationally lensed galaxy CASSOWARY 20
James, .. Steidel, et al

All 5 estimates of metallicity in agreement within factor 2 uncertainty of each mouthed; shows very low C-to-O ratio. The ISM of CSWA 20 only partially covers the SF region as viewed, in particular, absorption lines from neutrals and first ions are exceptionally weak.  Find evidence for large-scale outflows of ISM with speeds of up to 750 km/s, similar to the values measured in other high-z galaxies sustaining much higher rates of SF.


1311.5225
Generating merger trees for dark matter haloes: a comparison of methods
Jiang, van den Bosch

Halo merger trees describe the hierarchical mass assembly of dark matter haloes, and are the backbone for modeling galaxy formation and evolution.  Merger trees constructed using MC algorithms based on extended PRess-Schechter (EPS) formation are complementary to those extracted from N-body simulations, and have the advantage that they are not trammeled by limited numerical resolution and uncertainties in identifying (sub) haloes and linking theme between snapshots.  This paper compares multiple EPS-based merger tree algorithms to simulation results using 4 diagnostics: progenitor mass function (PMF), mass assembly history (MAH), merger rate per descendant halo, and the unevolved sub halo mass function (USMF).  In general, algorithms based on spherical collapse yield major-merger rates that are too high by a factor of 2, resulting in MAHs that are systematically offset.  Assuming ellipsoidal collapse solves most of these issues, but the particular algorithm investigated here that incorporates ellipsoidal collapse dramatically over predicts the minor-merger rate for massive haloes.  The only algorithm in the comparison that yields MAHs, merger rates, and USMFs in good agreement with simulations, is that by Parkinson+ 2008.  However, this is not a true EPS-based algorithm as it draws its progenitor masses from a PMF calibrated against simulations, rather than 'predicted' by EPS.  Finally, emphasize that the benchmarks used to test the EPS algorithms are obtained from simulations and are hampered by significant uncertainties themselves.  In particular, MAHs and halo merger rates obtained from simulations by different authors reveal discrepancies that easily exceed 50 percent, even when based on the same simulation.  Given this status quo, merger trees constructed using the Parkinson+ algorithm are as accurate as those extracted from N-body sims.

1311.5226
Cosmological constraints from the anisotropic clustering analysis using BOSS DR9
Linder, Oh, Okumura, Sabiu, Song

Perform a full 2-d anisotropy analysis of galaxy clustering data, fitting in a substantially model independent manner the angular diameter distance D_A, Hubble parameter H, and growth rate ddelta/dln a without assuming a DE model.  The results demonstrate consistently with lCDM expansion and growth, hence also testing GR.  Also point out the interpretation dependence of the effective redshift, and its cosmological impact for next generation surveys.

1311.5238
Evidence for high-energy extraterrestrial neutrinos at the IceCube detector
IceCube collaboration

All-sky search for high-energy neutrino events interacting within the IceCube neutrino detector conducted between May 2010 and May 2012.  Search follows up on the previous detection of two PeV neutrino events, with improved sensitivity and extended energy coverage down to approximately 30 TeV.  26 additional events observed, substantially more than expected from atmospheric backgrounds.  Combined, both searches reject a purely atmospheric origin for the 28 events at the 4 sigma level.  These 28 events, which include the highest energy neutrinos ever observed, have flavors, directions, and energies inconsistent with those expected from the atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds.  These properties are, however, consistent with generic predictions for an additional component of extraterrestrial origin.

1311.5246
2MASS photometric redshift catalog: a comprehensive three-dimensional census of the whole sky
Bilicki, .. Peacock, .. et al

Key cosmological applications require the 3d galaxy distribution on the entire celestial sphere.  These include measuring the gravitational pull on the Local Group, estimating the large-scale bulk flow and testing the Copernican principle.  However, the largest all-sky redshift surveys --- the 2MRS and IRAS PSCz --- have median redshifts of only z=0.03 and sample the very local Universe.  THere exist all-sky galaxy catalogs reaching much deeper --- SuperCOSMOS in the optical, 2MASS in the NIR and WISE in the mid-IR --- but these lack complete redshift information.  At present, the only rapid way towards larger 3d catalogs covering the whole sky is through photometric redshift techniques.  IN this paper, present the 2MASS photometric redshift catalog (2MPZ) containing 2 million galaxies, constructed by cross-matching 2MASS XSC, WISE and SuperCOSMOS all-sky samples and employing the artificial neural network approach (the ANNz algorithm), trained on such redshift surveys as SDSS, 6dFGS and 2dFGRS.  The derived photometric redshifts have errors nearly independent of distance [how far?  later it says median z ~ 0.1], with an all-sky accuracy of sigma_z=0.015 and a very small percentage of outliers.  In this way, obtain z estimates with a typical precision of 12% for all the 2MASS XSC galaxies that lack spectroscopy.  In addition, have made an easy effort towards probing the entire 3d sky beyond 2MASS, by pairing up WISE with SuperCOSMOS and training the ANNz on GAMA redshift data reaching currently to z_med~0.2.  This has yielded photo-z accuracies comparable to those in the 2MPZ.  These all-sky photo-z catalogs, with a median z~0.1 for the 2MPZ, and significantly deeper for future WISE-based samples, will be the largest and most complete of their kind for the foreseeable future.

1311.5255
The kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect from the diffuse gas i the Local Group
Rubin, Loeb

LG of galaxies moves wrt CMB; free electrons in its gaseous halo should imprint large-scale non-primordial temperature shifts in the CMB via the kSZ effect.  Model the distribution of gas in the LG halo and using its inferred velocity wrt the CMB, calculating the resulting kSZ signal from the diffuse LG medium.  Find that it is dominated by a hot spot ~10 deg in size in the direction of M31, where the optical depth of free electrons is the greatest.  By performing a correlation analysis, find no statistical evidence that the kSZ signal from model of the LG halo is embedded in the CMB temperature map measured by the Planck satellite.  Constrain the amount of mass in the LG halo by limiting the kSZ temperature shift around the host spot to be smaller than the observed temperature shift in the Planck map.  FInd the tightest constraints for models where the halo mass is highly concentrated, with the mass limited to 2-5e12 Msun depending on the value of the halo concentration parameter.

1311.5486
Evaluation of a College freshman diversity research program
Garner et al

Since 2005, Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP) at UW has made a concentrated effort to recruit and retain underrepresented undergraduates in STEM.  Evaluate Pre-MAP in the context of larger UW student population using UW's student database.  Evaluate in terms of goals of recruiting a more diverse population than the University , and in terms of a higher fraction of students successfully completing degrees.  Find that Pre-MAP serves a higher percentage of underrepresented minorities and equal percentages of women compared to entering freshmen classes at UW.  Additionally, Pre-MAP has a higher percentage of degree completion with higher average GPA's and similar time to completing when compared to UW as a whole and other STEM majors, particularly with students that place into lower-level math courses.

1311.5489
The bright optical flash and afterglow from the Gamma-ray burst GRB 130427A
Vestrand et al

The optical light generated simultaneously with the x-rays and gamma-rays during a GRB provides clues about the nature of the explosions that occur as massive stars collapse to form BHs.  Report a bright optical flash and fading afterglow from the GRB, and present a comparison with the properties of the gamma-ray emission that show correlation of the optical and >100 MeV photon flux light curves during the first 7k seconds.  Attribute this correlation to co-generation in an external shock.  The simultaneous, multi-color, optical observations are best explained at early times by reverse shock emission generated in the relativistic burst ejecta as it collides with surrounding material and at late times by a forward shock traversing the circumburst environment.  The link between optical afterglow and >100 MeV emission suggests that nearby early peaked afterglows will be the best candidates for studying GRB emission at GeV/TeV energies.

1311.5492
The stellar-to-halo mass relation for Local Group galaxies
Brook et al

Contend that a single power law halo mass distribution is appropriate for direct matching to the stellar masses of observed LG dwarf galaxies, allowing the determination of the slope of the stellar mass-halo-mass relation for low mass galaxies.  Errors in halo masses are well defined as the Poisson noise of simulated local group realizations, which is determined using constrained local universe simulations (CLUES).  For the stellar mass range 1e7<M*<1e8 Msun, for which likely have a complete census of observed galaxies, find that the stellar mass-halo-mass relation follows a power law with slope of 3.1, significantly steeper than most values in the literature.  The steep relation between stellar and halo masses indicates that LG dwarf galaxies are hosted by dark matter haloes with a small range of mass.  Methodology is robust down to the stellar mass to which the census of observed LG galaxies is complete, highlighting the importance of pushing the completeness limit to lower masses and larger volumes.

Day 550

Thursday.  Friday.

1311.5008
Type Ia supernovae from merging white dwarfs I. Prompt Detonations
Moll, Raskin, Kasen, Woosley

Merging WDs are possible progenitor of SNe Ia.  Numerical methods suggest that a detonation might be initiated before the stars have coalesced to form a single compact object.  Study such "peri-merger" detonations by sims, molding the disruption and nucleosynthesis of the stars until the ejecta reach the coasting phase.  Synthetic light curves and spectra are generated for comparison with observations.  3 models are considered with primary masses 0.96 Msun, 1.06 Msun, and 1.2 Msun.  Of these, the 0.96 Msun dwarf merging with an 0.81 Msun companion, with a Ni56 yield of 0.58 Msun, is the most promising candidate for reproducing common SNe Ia.  The more massive mergers produce unusually luminous SNe Ia with peak luminosities approaching those attributed to "super-Chandrasekhar" mass SNe Ia.  While the synthetic light curves and spectra of some of the models resemble observed SNe Ia, the significant asymmetry of the ejecta leads to large orientation effects.  The peak bolometric luminosity varies by >2x with the viewing angle, and the velocities of the spectral absorption features are lower when observed from angles where the light curve is brightest.  The largest orientation effects are seen in the UV, where the flux varies by more than an order of magnitude.  Despite the large variation with viewing angle, the set of 3 models roughly obeys a width-luinosity relation, with the brighter light curves declining more slowly in the B-band.  Spectral features due to unburned carbon from the secondary star are also seen in some cases.

1311.5042
Exploring hot gas at junctions of galaxy filaments with Suzaku
Mitsuishi et al

Search for hot gases associated with the junctions of galaxy filaments; find X-ray sources in all 5 regions and analyzed 2 bright sources in each field (previously undetected).  Spectral analysis indicates that 3 sources originate from x-ray diffuse halos associated with optically bright galaxies or groups of galaxies with kT~0.6-0.8 keV.  Other 3 sources are possibly group- and cluster-scale X-ray haloes with temperatures of ~1 keV and ~4 keV, respectively while the others are compact object origins such as AGNs.  All the 3 observed intracluster media within the junctions of the galaxy filaments previously found are involved in ongoing mergers.  Thus, demonstrate that deep X-ray observations at the filament junctions identified by galaxy surveys are a powerful mean to explore growing haloes in a hierarchical structure undetected so far.

1311.5223
Lyman-{\alpha} forest and cosmic weak lensing in a warm dark matter universe
Markovic, Viel

Review the current state of the theory of LSS in WDM: focus on the NL modeling of the matter PS and on the mass function of DM haloes.  Describe the results of N-body sims with WDM and mention the effects that could be induced by baryonic physics.  Also examine the halo model of LSS and its recently suggested modifications for a WDM cosmology, which account for the small scale smoothness of the initial matter density field and better fit the results of N-body sims.  Having describe the theoretical models, discuss the current lower limits on the WDM particle mass, m_w, which correspond to upper limits on the WDM temperature under the assumption that the particles are thermal relics.  The best such constraints come from the Lya forest and exclude all masses below 3.3 keV at the 2 sigma confidence level.  Finally review the forecasts for future lensing surveys, which will be of the same order of magnitude as the already existing constraints from the Lya forest data but explore a different redshift regime.

1311.5224
Consistent use of Type Ia supernovae highly magnified by galaxy clusters to constrain the cosmological parameters
Zitrin, Redlich, Broadhurst

Discuss how SNe Ia strongly magnified by FG galaxy clusters should be self-consistently treated when used in samples fitted for the cosmological parameters.  While the cluster lens magnification of a SN can be well constrained from sets of multiple images of various BG galaxies with measured redshifts, its value is typically dependent on the fiducial set of cosmological parameters used to construct the mass model to begin with [yikes].  In such cases, one should not naively demagnify the observed SN luminosity by the model magnification into the expected Hubble diagram, which would then create a bias, but take into account the cosmological parameters a-priori chosen to construct the mass model.  Quantify the effect and found that a systematic error of typically a few percent, up to a few-dozen precent, per magnified SN, may be propagated onto a cosmological parameter fit, unless the cosmology assumed for the mass model is taken into account (the bias can be even larger if the SN is lying very near the critical curves).  Also simulate how such a bias propagates onto the cosmological parameter fit using the Union2.1 sample, supplemented with strongly magnified SNe.  The resulting bias on the deduced cosmological parameters is generally at the few percent level, if only few biased SNe are included, and increasing with the number of lensed SNe and their redshift.  Samples containing magnified SNe Ia, e.g., from ongoing cluster surveys, should readily account for this possible bias.

Day 549

Wednesday.

1311.3783
The dynamical fingerprint of core scouring in massive elliptical galaxies
Thomas, .. Bender, .. et al

The most massive elliptical galaxies have low density centers or cores that differ dramatically from the high-density centers of less massive ellipticals and bulges of disk galaxies.  These cores have been interpreted as the result of mergers of SMBH binaries, which depopulate galaxy centers by gravitationally slingshotting central stars towards large radii.  Sucn binaries naturally form in mergers of luminous galaxies.  Analyse the population of central stellar orbits in 11 massive elliptical galaxies observed with SINFONI at ESO-VLT.  Dynamical analysis is orbit-based and includes the effects of a central black hole, the mass distribution of the stars and DM halo.  Show that the use of integral field kinematics and the inclusion of the DM is important to conclude upon the distribution of stellar orbits in galaxy centers.  Six of the galaxies are core galaxies.  In these six galaxies, but not in the galaxies without cores, detect a coherent lack of stars on radial orbits in the core regions and a uniform excess of radial orbits outside of it: when scaled by the core radius, the radial profiles of the classical anisotropy parameter beta are nearly identical in core galaxies.  Moreover, they match quantitatively the predictions of BH binary simulations, providing the first convincing dynamical evidence for core scouring in the most massive elliptical galaxies.

1311.3926
Weak lensing using only galaxy position angles
Whittaker, Brown, Battye

Develop a method for WL analysis using only measurements of galaxy position angles [of the ellipticity??].  Analyze the statistical properties of the galaxy orientations given a known intrinsic ellipticity distribution, show that it is possible to obtain estimate of the shear by minimizing a chi sq statistic.  The method is demonstrated using simulations where the components of the intrinsic ellipticity are taken to be Gaussian distributed.  Uncertainties on the position angle measurements introduce a bias into the shear estimates which can be reduced to negligible levels by introducing a correction term into the formalism. Generalize approach by developing an algorithm to obtain direct shear estimators given any azimuthally symmetric intrinsic ellipticity distribution.  Demonstrate this technique by applying it to simulations where the ellipticities are taken to follow a log-normal distribution.  Compare the performance of the position angle only method with the standard method based on full ellipticity measurements by reconstructing lensing convergence maps from both numerical simulations and from the CFHTLenS data.  Find that the position angle only method exhibits a performance comparable with that of the standard estimator and has the potential to reduce errors on the shear estimates as compared with the standard method in the case where the intrinsic ellipticity distribution is accurately known.

1311.4169
TAPAS, a web-based service of atmospheric transmission computation for astronomy
Bertaux, et al

Transmissions of the AtmosPhere for AStronomical data (TAPAS): first purpose is to allow identification of observed spectral fixtures as being from atmospheric or astrophysical origin.  Computes the atmospheric transmission in the LoS to the target indicated by the user.  Actual atmospheric profile (temperature, pressure, humidity, ozone content) is entered, and transmission computed for a number of gases: O2, H2O, O3, CO2, and Rayleigh extinction.  The TOA (Top Of Atmosphere) spectrum may be obtained either by division of the observed spectrum by the computed transmission or other techniques developed on purpose.    Wavelength range is 500-2500nm.  Show some results for O2 and H2O atmospheric absorption.

1311.4259
Nature of H-alpha selected galaxies at z>2.1 I. Main sequence and dusty star-forming galaxies
Tadaki et al

Results from the narrow-band imaging surveys of HAEs at z=2.2 and 2.5 with NIR MORICS on Subaru.  Clean sample of 63 SF galaxies at z=2.2 and 46 at z=2.5.  For 12/13 HAEs (H-alpha emitters) at z=2.2, Ha lines successfully detected by spectra.  42% of red, massive HAEs with M*>1e1.8 Msun contain AGNs, most of the blue, less massive ones are likely to be SF galaxies.  This suggests that the AGN may play an important role in galaxy evolution at the late stage of truncation.  FOr the HAEs excluding possible GNs, estimate the gas-phase metallicities on the basis of N/Ha ratios, and find that the metallicities of the Ha selected galaxies at z=2.2 are lower than those of local SF galaxies at fixed stellar mass (consistent with previous results).  Moreover, present and discuss the so-called MS of SF galaxies at z>2 based on the sample of HAEs.  Bye correlating the level of dust extinction with the location f the MS, find that there are two kinds/modes of dusty SF galaxies: star-bursting galaxies and metal-rich normal SF galaxies.

1311.4484
Weak lensing with 21cm intensity mapping at $z \sim 2-3$
Pourtsidou, Metcalf

How 21 cm intensity mapping can be used to measure gravitational lensing over a wide range of redshift.  Can extend WL measurements to higher redshifts than are accessible with conventional galaxy surveys.  Construct a convergence estimator taking into account the discreteness of galaxies and calculate the expected noise level as a function of redshfit and telescope parameters.  At z~2-3, find that a telescope array with a clooecting area ~0.2 km&2 spread over a region with diameter ~2 km would be sufficient to measure the convergence PS to high accuracy for multiples between 10 and 1000.  Show that these measurements can be used to construing interacting DE models.

1311.4544
An environmental study of the Ultraluminous X-ray source population in early-type galaxies
Plotkin, .. Treu, et al

Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are one of the brightest phenomena found outside of a galaxy's nucleus, and their explanation typically invokes accretion of material onto a BH.  Largest population study to date in early-type galaxies; study whether a galaxy's large scale environment can affect its ULX content.  Constrain the number of ULXs per unit stellar mass (ULX specific frequency) is 0.06pm0.01 ULXs per 1e10 Msun (about 1 ULX per 1.6e11 Msun of galaxy stellar mass).  Find that the number of ULXs, the specific frequency of ULXs, and the average ULX spectral properties are all similar in both cluster and field environments.  Contrary to late-type galaxies, do not see any trend between specific ULX frequency and host galaxy stellar mass, and show that dwarf ellipticals host fewer ULXs than later-type dwarf galaxies at a statistically meaningful level.  Results are consistent with ULXs in early-type galaxies probing the luminous tail of the low-mass X-ray binary population, and are briefly discussed in context of the influence of gravitational interactions on the long-term evolution of a galaxy's (older) stellar population.

1311.4549
Chemodynamics of the Milky Way.  I.  The first year of APOGEE data
Anders et al

Choose 20,000 stars with high-quality chemistry sample; compute distances and orbital parameters for this sample, employ a number of useful subsets to formulate constraints on Galactic chemical and chemodynamical evolution processes in the Solar neighborhood and beyond (Metallicity distributions (MDFs), [alpha/Fe] vs [Fe/H] diagrams, and abundance gradients).  Red giant sample spans distances as large as 10 kpc from the Sun, increasing by at least a factor of eight the studied volume wrt the most recent chemodynamical studies.  Find remarkable agreement between the recently published local (d<100pc) high-res high-S/N HARPS sample and the local HQ sample (d<1 kpc).  The local MDF peaks slightly below solar metallicity, and exhibits and extended tail towards [Fe/H]=-1, whereas a sharper cutoff is seen at larger metallicities.  THe APOGEE data also confirm the existence of a gap in the abundance diagram.  When expanding sample to cover three different Galactocentric distance bins, find the high-[alpha/Fe] stars to be rare towards the outer zones, as previously suggested in the literature.  For the gradients in [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe], measured over a range of 6<R<11 kpc in Galactocentric distance, find a good agreement with the gradients traced by the GCS and RAVE dwarf samples.  For stars with 1.5<z<3 kpc, find a positive metallicity gradient and a negative gradient in [alpha/Fe].

1311.4562
Large scale alignments from WMAP and Planck
Copi et al

Compare data sets, the quadruple and octupole and their joint alightment with the CMB dipole direction and the geometry of SS --- they're all still there, through WMAP and Planck don't quite agree.

1311.4574
The 21-cm signal from the cosmological epoch of recombination
Fialkov, Loeb

H recombination at z~500-1100 correspond to wavelengths of 100-230 meters.  THe 21-cm line deviates from thermal equilibrium with the CMB due to the excess Lya radiation from H and He recombinations.  The resulting 21-cm signal reaches a brightness temperature of a milli-Kelvin, orders of magnitude larger than previously estimated.  Its detection by a future lumbar or space-based observatory could improve the statistical constraints on the cosmological initial conditions compared to existing 2-dimensional maps of the CMB anisotropies.

1311.4576
Metallicity evolution, metallicity gradients and gas fractions at z~3.4
Troncoso et al

NIR IFS observations for 40 SF galaxies at 3<z<5 (mostly at z~3.4) measure metallicities by strong emission line.  Find: significant fraction of SF galaxies at z~3.4 deviate from the fundamental metallicity relation (FMR), by having a metallicity up to a factor of 10 lower than expected by the FMR.  The deviation does not correlate with the dynamical properties of the galaxy or with the presence of interactions.  To further investigate the origin of the metallicity deviations, also infer information on the gas content, by inverting the Schmidt-Kennicutt relation.  In agreement with recent CO observational data, find that in contrast with the steeply rising trend at 0<z<2, the gas fraction in massive galaxies remains constant, with indication of a marginal decline, at 2<z<3.5.  When combined with the metallicity information, infer that, in order to explain both the low metallicity and gas content in z~3.4 galaxies, both prominent outflows and massive pristine gas inflows are needed.  In ten galaxies, can also spatially resolve the metallicity distribution.  Find that generally the metallicity anti correlates with the distribution of SF and with the gas surface density.  Discuss these findings, both in terms of pristine gas inflows towards the center and outflows of metal rich gas from the center towards the external regions.

1311.4608
Jumping the energetics queue: modulation of pulsar signals by extraterrestrial civilizations
Chennamangalam et al

Discuss the possibility of a civilization using naturally occurring radio transmitters (radio pulsars) to overcome the Kardashcev limit of their developmental stage and transmit super-Kardashev power.  This is achieved by the use of a modulator situated around a pulsar, that modulates the pulsar signal, encoding information onto its natural emission  Discuss a simple modulation mode using pulse nulling and considerations for detecting such a signal.  Find that a pulsar with a nulling modulator will exhibit an excess of thermal emission peaking in the UV during its null phases, revealing the existence of a modulator.

1311.4870
The Sloan digital sky survey quasar catalog: tenth data release
Paris et al

DR10Q from BOSS, first 2.5 years of survey, confirmed quasars via visual inspection of the spectra.  The catalog also includes known quasars from earlier SDSS data also observed by BOSS.  Contains 166k quasars (74k are new discoveries since DR9) detected over 6373 sq deg with robust identification and redshift measured by a combination of principal component eigenspectra.  Number of quasars with z>2.15 is ~5x greater than the number of z>2.15 quasars known prior to BOSS.  Z and FWHMs are provided from the strongest emission lines (CIV, CIII, MgII).  the catalog identifies 16k broad absorption line quasars and gives their characteristics.  For each object, the catalog presents 5-band photometry with 0.03mag accuracy and information on the optical morphology and selection method.  Also contains X-ray, UV, NIR and radio emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys.  The calibrated digital spectra cover the wavelength region 3600-10,500A at a spectra resolution in the range 1300<R<2500; the spectra can be retrieved from the SDSS Catalog Archive Server.  Also provide a supplemental list of an additional 2376 quasars that have been identified among the galaxy targets of the SDSS-III/ BOSS.

Day 548

Tuesday.

1311.2910
Low-mass galaxy assembly in simulations: regulation of early star formation by radiation from massive stars
Trujillo-Gomez, Klypin, Colin, Ceverino, Arraki, Primack

Disk galaxy sims at z=0 still form the bulk of their stars prematurely.  Investigate the process of stellar mass assembly in low-mass simulated galaxies, a dwarf and a typical spiral, focusing on the effects of radiation from young stellar clusters.  Employ a novel model of SF in which stars form deterministically with a small efficiency from SN explosions and stellar winds.  In galaxies with masses up to those of typical spirals, radiation efficiently suppresses SF by dispersing and heating high density gas, mostly in the central regions, preventing the formation of a massive bulge.  Once the galaxies reach this radiation-regulated growth regime, their global properties are robust to the specific choice of model parameters.  Only when radiative feedback is included do galaxies exhibit constant or even rising star formation histories, forming more tan 50% of their stars at z<1, an observed phenomenon that has so far eluded analytical and numerical models.  Low-mass galaxies with radiation pressure have a factor of ~100 reduction in the star formation rate at z=2, and a factor of ~10 at z=0.5.  Conclude that radiation feedback is the main mechanism that effectively decouples the growth of the galaxy from that of the DM halo.  Radiation does not affect the total baryon content of galaxies ,but instead maintains gas in a warm, low density phase where it cannot fuel star formation.  Find that the fraction of cold baryons within the simulated dwarf galaxy is 20-30%, in agreement with THINGS.  Unlike SN energy, radiation from massive stars reduces the central density of the DM halo of a galaxy with M*~1e8 Msun, in support of recent observations.

1311.2934
R144: a very massive binary likely ejected from R136 through a binary-binary encounter
Oh, Kroupa, Banerjee

R144: very massive, spectroscopic binary, appears isolated from the core of the massive young star cluster R136.  The dynamical ejection hypothesis as an origin for its location is claimed improbable by Sana+ due to its binary nature and high mass.  Demonstrate by means of direct N-body sims that a very massive binary system can be readily dynamically ejected from a R136-like cluster, through a close encounter with a very massive system.  One out of four N-body cluster models produces a dynamically ejected very massive binary system wit ha mass comparable to R144.  The system has a system mass of ~355 Msun [the binary system is this massive?] and is located at 36.8 pc from the center of its parent cluster, moving away from the cluster with a velocity of 57 km/s at 2 Myr as a result of a binary-binary interaction.  This implies that R144 could have been ejected from R136 through a strong encounter with another massive binary or single star.  In addition, discuss all massive binaries and single stars which are ejected dynamically from their parent cluster in the N-body models.

1311.2937
Constraining dark matter-baryon scattering with linear cosmology
Dvorkin, Bum, Kamionkowski

Derive constraints on elastic scattering between baryons and DM using Planck CMB data and Lya forest data from SDSS.  Elastic scattering allows baryons and DM to exchange momentum, affecting the dynamics of linear density perturbations in the early Universe.  Derive constraints to scattering cross sections of the form sigma propto v^n, allowing for a wide range of velocity dependencies with n between -4 and 2.  Improve and correct previous estimates where they exist, including velocity-independent cross section as well as DM millicharge and EM dipole moments.  Ly-a forest data dominates the constraints for n>-3, where the improvement over CMB data alone can be several orders of magnitude.  Dark matter-baryon scattering cannot affect the halo mass function on mass scales M>1e12 Msun.  Results imply, model-independently, that a baryon in the halo of a galaxy like MW does not scatter from DM particles during the age of the galaxy.

1311.2956
The evolution of the dust temperatures of galaxies in the SFR$-M_{\ast}$ plane up to $z$$\,\thicksim\,$$2$
Magnelli et al

Evolution of dust temperatures of galaxies in the SFR-M* plane up to z~2 using observations from Herschel.  From galaxies with reliably SFRs, M* and z estimates, grid the SFR-M* parameter space in several z ranges and estimate the many T_dust of each SFR-M*-z bin.  Dust temperatures are inferred using the stacked FIR flux densities of the bins.  At all z, T-dust increases with L_IR, sSFR==SFR/M*, and distances with respect to the MS (main sequence) of the SFR-M* plane (==log[sSFR(galaxy)/sSFR_MS(M*,z)]).  The T-dust-sSFR and t_dust-D_sSFR_MS correlations are statistically more significant than the T-dust-L_IR one.  While the slopes of these 3 correlations are z-independent, their normalization evolve from z=0 and z~2.  Convert these results into a recipe to derive T-dust from SFR, M* and z.  The existence of a strong T-dust-D_sSFR_MS correlation provides information on the dust and gas content of galaxies.  (i) The slope of the T-dust-D_sSFR_MS correlation can be explained by the increase of the SFE==SFR/Mgas with D_sSFR_MS as found locally by molecular gas studies.  (ii) At fixed D_sSFR_MS, the constant T-dust observed in galaxies probing large ranges in SFR and M* can be explained by an increase or decrease of the number of SF regions with comparable SFE enclosed in them.  (iii) At high redshift, the normalization towards hotter temperature of the T-dust-D_sSFR_MS correlation can be explained by the decrease of the metallicities of galaxies or by the increase of the SFE of MS galaxies [how about increasing CMB temp?].  All these results support the hypothesis that the conditions prevailing in the SF regions of MS and far-above-MS galaxies are different.

1311.3039
On the radius of habitable planets
Alibert

Drive a radius above which a planet is likely not habitable, based on the presence of a C-cycle as a necessary condition for long-term habitability.  Must fulfill two constraints: surface conditions compatible wit the existence of liquid water, and no ice layer at the bottom of a putative global ocean.  Above a given radius, these two constraints cannot be met.  Use 5-layer model (core, inner mantle, outer mantle, ocean, and atmosphere), for different masses and composition of the planets (Fe/Si ratio in particular).  Results show that for planets in the Super-Earth mass range (1-12 Mearth), the maximum that a planet, with a composition similar to that of the Earth, can have varies between 1.7 and 2.2 Rearth.  This radius is reduced when considering planets with higher Fe/Si ratios and taking radiation into account when computing the gas envelope structure.  These results can be used to infer, from radius and mass determinations using high-precision transit observations like those that will soon be performed by the CHaracterizing ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS), which planets are likely not habitable, and therefore which ones should be considered as best targets for further habitability studies. 

1311.3101
Possible climates on terrestrial exoplanets
Forget, Leconte

To first order, climate primarily depends on 1) the atmospheric composition and the volatile inventory; 2) the incident stellar flux; 3) the tidal evolution of the planetary spin, which can notably lock a planet with a permanent night side.  [more content skipped]

1311.3246
Lithium abundance and surface magnetic fields: new constraints in magnetic models of M dwarfs
MacDonald, Mullan

Precise values of masses and radii, recently made available by eclipsing binary studies, makes modeling of M dwarfs worthwhile.  Measured radii consistently larger than standard stellar models.  Previously: magnetic fields inhibit the onset of convection according to physics-based prescription.  New constraints on the models of M dwarfs now provide measurements of Li abundance: key aspect of Li in terms of setting constraints on magnetic modeling is that Li burning starts at T=2.5 MK, and temperatures of just such magnitude are associated with the base of the convection zone: magnetic inhibition of convective onset can shift this base slightly closer to the surface, i.e. to slightly lower temperatures, thereby reducing the amount of Li depletion compared to a non-magnetic model.  In the present paper, consider how the magneto-convection models handle the new test of stellar structure provided by Li measurements.  Among the prime systems listed, find that plausible magnetic models work well for 2 systems but not for one (the fourth system on the list does not have enough info to warrant magnetic modeling).  For the one that doesn't fit, suggest that the observed Li may have been accreted from a circumstellar disk.  Find that the magneto-convection models of the 3 yield results which are consistent with the observed correlation between magnetic flux and X-ray luminosity.  

1311.3317
Velocity dispersions and dynamical masses of a large sample of quiescent galaxies at z>1: improved measures of the growth in mass and size
Belli, Newman, Ellis

Spectroscopy of 103 massive galaxies, 0.9<z<1.6; 56 are quiescent with high S/N absorption one spectra, gives robust stellar velocity dispersions for largest sample at z>1.  Effective radii from HST images; calculate dynamical masses and address key questions relating to the size growth of quiescent galaxies over 0<z<2.  Examine the relationship between stellar and dynamical masses at high z, finding that it closely follows that determined locally. Also confirm the utility of the locally-established empirical calibration which enables high-z velocity dispersions to be estimated photometrically, and determine its accuracy to be 35%.  To address recent suggestions that progenitor bias (continued arrival of recently-quenched larger galaxies) can largely explain the size evolution of quiescent galaxies, examine the growth at fixed velocity dispersion assuming this quantity is largely unaffected by the merger history.  Demonstrate that significant size and mass growth have clearly occurred in individual systems.  Parameterizing the relation between mass and size growth over 0<z<1.5 as R propto M^alpha, find alpha = 1.6pm0.3, in agreement with theoretical expectations from simulations of minor mergers.  Relaxing the assumption that the velocity dispersion is unchanging, examine growth assuming a constant ranking in galaxy velocity dispersion.  This approach is applicable only to the large-dispersion tail of the distribution, but yields a consistent growth rate of alpha=1.4pm0.2.  Both methods confirm that progenitor bias alone is insufficient to explain new observations and that quiescent galaxies have grown in both size and stellar mass over 0<z<1.6.  

1311.3372
Predictions for the detection of Earth and Mars Trojan asteroids by the Gaia satellite
Todd et al

Solar system objects down to V=20 mag observed, including Near-Eath Asteroids and objects at Solar elongations as low as 45 degrees, which are difficult to observe with ground-based telescopes.  Simulation show that Gaia will not detect the Earth trojan 2010 TK7, although it will detect any Earth Trojans with diameters larger than 600m.  Also find that Gaia will detect the currently known Mars Trojans and could discover more than 100 new Mars Trojans as small as 400m in diameter.  The results of the Gaia mission will tsp the predictions about the Mars Trojan asteroid population and lead to greater understanding about the evolution of the Solar System.

1311.3461
H0 revisited
Efstathiou

[short title!]  Reanalysis of Riess+2011 (R11) Cephid data using revised geometric maser distance to NGC 4258 of Humphreys+2013.  Explore different outlier rejection criteria designed to give a reduced chi-sq of unity and compare the results with the R11 rejection algorithm, which produces a reduced chi-squared that is substantially less than unity and, in some cases, seems to underestimate the errors on parameters.  Show the there are sub-luminous low metallicity Cepheids in the R11 sample that skew the global fits of the period-luinosity relation.  This has a small but non-negligible impact on the global fits using NGC 4258 as a distance scale anchor, but adds a poorly constrained source of systematic error when using the LMC as an anchor.  Also show that the MW Cepheid sample with accurate parallax measurements leads to a distance to NGC 4258 that is in tension with the maser distance.  Conclude that H0 based on NGC 4258 maser distance is H0=70.6 pm 3.3 km/s/Mpc, compatible within 1 sigma with the current determination from Planck for the base six-parameter LCDM cosmology.  If the H-band period-luminosity relation is assumed to be independent of metallicity and the three distance anchors are combined, Find H0=72.5pm2.5 km/s/Mpc, which differs by 1.9 sigma from the Planck values.  The differences between the Planck results and these estimates of H0 are not large enough to provide compelling evidence for new physics at this stage. 

1311.3467
A possible resolution of tension between {\it Planck} and Type Ia supernova observations
Li et al

Tension between Planck and SNIa can be alleviated if the light-curve fitting parameters are first calibrated with the help of the distance-duality relation in the distance estimation in SNe Ia observations with the angular diameter distance data of the galaxy clusters and then re-estimate the distances for the SNe Ia with the corrupted fitting parameters.  This was used to explore their cosmological implications in the context of the spatially flat cosmology.  Find a higher value for the matter density parameter, Omega_m, as compared to that from the original SNLS3, which is in agreement with Planck at 68.3% CL.  With absolute magnitude of SNe Ia determined first, obtain constraint on H0 with SNLS3 alone, also consistent with Planck.

1311.3662
Rotation of the cosmic microwave background polarization from weak gravitational lensing
Dai

When CMB photon travels from LSS through space-time metric perturbations, the polarization vector may rotate about its direction of propagation.  This gravitational rotation is distinct from, and occurs in addition to, the lensing deflection of the photon trajectory.  This rotation can be sourced by vector or tensor metric perturbations at linear order and is fully coherent with the curl deflection field.  It modifies the lensed CMB polarization power spectra as well as the temperature-polirzation cross-correlations.  Present complete results for WL of the full-sky CMB PS by general linear metric perturbations, taking into account both deflection of the photon trajectory and rotation of the polarization.  For the case of lensing by gravitational waves, show that the B modes induced by the rotation largely cancel those induced by the curl component of deflection.

1311.3666
Discovery of three z>6.5 quasars in the VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey
Venemans et al

Optical surveys have to date discovered >60 quasars up to z~6.4, a limit set by the use of the z-band and CCD detectors.  Only z>6.4 quasar discovered at z=7.08, using NIR imaging. Report 3 new z>6.4 quasars in 332 sq deg of VIKING, thus extending the number from 1 to 4.  The newly discovered quasars have z=6.61, 6.75, and 6.89.  The absolute magnitudes are between -26.0 and -25.5, 0.6-1.1 mag fainter than the other z>6.4 quasar.  NIR spectroscopy revealed the MGII emission line in all three objects.  The quasars are powered by black holes with masses of ~(1-2)e9 Msun.  In the probed range 6.44<z<7.44, can set a lower limit on the space density of supermassive BHs of rho(M_BH>1e9 Msun)>1.1e-9 Mpc^-3.  The discovery of 3 quasars in the survey area is insistent with the z=6 quasar luminosity function when extrapolated to z~7.  Do not find evidence for a steeper decline in the space density of quasars with increasing redshift from z=6 to 7.  

1311.3670
The evolution of the dust and gas content in galaxies
Santini, … Genzel, et al

Herschel PACS and SPIRE observations on GOODSS, GOODSN and COSMOS to estimate the average Mdust of galaxies on a M*-SFR grid.  Study the scaling relations between Mdust, M* and SFR at z<=2.5.  No clear evolution of Mdust is observed at fixed SFR and M*.  Find a  tight correlation between SFR and Mdust, likely a consequence of the SK law.  The M*-Mdust correlation observed by previous works flattens or sometimes disappears when fixing the SFR.  Most if ti likely derives from the combination of the Mdust-SFR and M*-SFR correlations.  Investigate the gas content as inferred by converting Mdust by assuming that the dust/gas ratio scales linearly with the gas metallicity.  All galaxies in the sample follow, within uncertainties, the same SFR-Mgas relation (integrated S-K law), which broadly agrees with CO-based results for the bulk of the population, despite the completely different approaches.  The majority of galaxies at z~2 from stars with an efficiency (SFE==SFR/Mgas) ~5 times higher than at z~0.  It is not clear what fraction of such variation is an intrinsic redshift evolution and what fraction arises from selection effect.  The gas fraction (fgas) decreases with M* and increases with SFR, and does not evolve with z at fixed M* and SFR.  Explain these trends by introducing a universal relation between fgas, M* and SFR, non-evolving out to z~2.5.  Galaxies move across this relation as their gas content evolves in time.  Use the 3d fundamental fgas-M*-SFR relation and the z evolution of the Main Sequence to estimate the evolution of fgas in the average population of galaxies as a function of z and M*, and find evidence a downsizing scenario.

Day 547

Monday.  A full week behind.

1311.1888
D3PO - Denoising, deconvolving, and decomposing photon observations
Selig, Enßlin

[no matter how many times I read the abstract, I cannot understand what's going on]  D3PO algorithm addresses the inference problem of denoting, deconvolving, and decomposing photon observations.  Goal: simultaneous reconstruction of the diffuse and point-like photon flux from a given photon count image.  In order to discriminate between these morphologically different signal components, a probabilistic algorithm is derived in the language of information field theory based on a hierarchical Bayesian parameter model.  The signal inference exploits prior information on the spatial correlation structure of the diffuse component and the brightness distribution of the spatially uncorrelated point-like sources.  A maximum a posteriori solution and a solution minimizing the Gibbs free energy of the inference problem using variational Bayesian methods are discussed.  Since the derivation of the solution does not depend on the underlying position space, the implementation of the D3PO algorithm uses the NIFTY package [?] to ensure operationally on various spatial grids and at any resolution.  The fidelity of the algorithm is validated by the analysis of simulated data, including a realistic high energy photon count image showing a 32x32 arcmin^2 observation with a spatial resolution of 0.1 arcmin.  In all tests the D3PO algorithm successfully denoised, deconvolved, and decomposed the data into a diffuse and a point-like signal estimate for the respective photon flux components.

1311.2073
Galaxies on FIRE (Feedback in Realistic Environments): stellar feedback explains cosmologically inefficient star formation
Hopkints, Keres, Onorbe, Faucher-Giguere, Quataert, Murray, Bullock

[77 votes!  highest I've ever seen]  High-res cosmo sim of galaxy formation to z=0, spanning halo masses 1e8 to 13 Msun, and stellar masses 1e4-11 Msun.  Include both multi-phase ISM (molecular through hot) and stellar feedback (energy, momentum, mass, and metal fluxes), taken directly from stellar population models.  These sources of feedback, with zero adjusted parameters, reproduce the observed relation between stellar and halo mass up to M_halo~1e12 Msun (including dwarfs, satellites, MW-mass disks, and small groups).  By extension, this leads to reasonable agreement with the stellar mass function for M*<1e11 Msun.  Predict weak redshift evolution in the M*-M_halo relation, consistent with current constraints to z>6.  Find that the M*-M_halo relation is insensitive to numerical details, but is sensitive to the feedback physics.  Simulations with only SN feedback fail to reproduce the observed stellar masses, particularly in dwarf and high-z galaxies: radiative feedback (photo-heating and radiation pressure) is necessary to disrupt GMCs and enable efficient coupling of later SNe to the gas.  SFRs agree well with the observed Kennicutt relation at all redshifts.  THe galaxy-averaged Kennicutt relation is very different from the numerically imposed law for converting gas into stars in the simulation, and is instead determined by self-regulation via stellar feedback.  Feedback reduces SFRs considerably and produces a reservoir of gas that leads to rising late-time SFHs significantly different from the halo accretion history.  Fieedback also produces large short-timescale variability in galactic SFRs, especially in dwarfs.  Many of these properties are not captured by common 'sub-grid' galactic wind models.

1311.2583
Mapping compound cosmic telescopes containing multiple, projected cluster-scale halos
Ammons, Wong, Zabludoff, Keeton

"Compound cosmic telescopes": cluster-scale haloes along the line of sight with boosted magnification (entendue) makes detection of faint BG sources more likely than elsewhere.  Identified LoS with highest integrated mass densities (>3e15Msun along the LoS), as traced by LRGs.  2-3 group- and cluster-scale halos in 0.1<z<0.7, all of which are well-traced by LRGs.  Find V-dropout source at z=5.03.  ...

1311.2597
Sloan Digital Sky Survey III photometric quasar clustering: probing the initial conditions of the universe using the largest volume
Ho, et al

Clustering of 1.6M quasars in ~11k sq. deg, between 0.5<z<2.5, classified from imaging.  Measure angular clustering using an optimal quadratic estimator in four redshift slices with accuracy of ~25% over delta(l)~10-15 on scales corresponding to matter-radiation equality and larger (ell~2-30).  Observational systematics can strongly bias clustering measurements on large scales, which can mimic cosmologically relevant signals such as deviations from Gaussianity in the spectrum of primordial perturbations.  Constrain local primordial non-Gaussianity to f_NL=2pm65 (1 sigma) after removing systematics from data and removing angular bins that are contaminated by unknown systematics.

1311.2603
Short-duration gamma-ray bursts
Berger

GRB display a bimodal duration distribution, with separation between short- and long-duration bursts at about 2 sec.  The progenitors of long GRBs have been identified as massive stars based on their association with Type Ic core-collapse SNe, their exclusive location in SF galaxies, and their strong correlation with bright UV regions within their host galaxies.  Short GRBs have long been suspected on theoretical grounds to arise from compact object binary mergers (NS-NS or NS-BH).  The discovery of short GRB after glows in 2005, provided the first insight into their energy scale and environments, established a cosmological origin, a mix of host galaxy types, and an absence of associated SNe.  In this review review, summarize nearly a decade of short GRB afterglow and host galaxy observations, and use this information to shed light on the nature and properties of their progenitors, the energy scale and collimation of the relativistic outflow, and the properties of the circumburst [?] environments.  The preponderance of the evidence points to compact object binary progenitors, although some open questions remain.  Based on this association, observations of short GRBs and their afterglows can shed light on the on- and off-axis EM counterparts of GW sources from the Advanced LIGO/Virgo experiments.

1311.2896
A tale of cosmic rays narrated in gamma rays by Fermi
Tibaldo, Fermi LAT collaboration

CRs: charged particles scrambled by B-fields, combining direct measurements with other observations necessary to understand their origin and propagation.  As energetic particles traverse matter and EM fields, they leave marks in the form of neutral interaction products.  Among those, gamma rays trace interactions of nuclei that inelastically collide with interstellar gas, as well as of leptons that undergo Bremsstrahlung and inverse-Compton scattering.  Data collected by the Fermi LAT tell story of CRs along their path from sources through their home galaxies.  SN remnants emerge as a notable gamma-ray source population, and older remnants interacting with interstellar matter show strong evidence of the presence of accelerated nuclei.  Yet the maximum energy attained by shock accelerators is poorly constrained.  Cygnus X, a massive SF region established by the LAT as housing CR sources, provides a test case to study the impact of wind-driven turbulence on the early propagation.  Interstellar emission resulting from the large-scale propagation of CRs in the MW is revealed in unprecedented detail that challenges some of the simple assumptions used for the modeling.  Moreover, the CR induced gamma-ray luminosities of galaxies scale quasi-linearly with their massive-star formation rates, and suggests that for most systems a substantial fraction of energy in CRs escapes into the intergalactic medium.  The nuclear production models and the distribution of target gas and radiation fields, not determined precisely enough yet, are key to exploiting the full potential of gamma-ray data.  Nevertheless, data being collected by Fermi and complementary observations are bringing us closer to solving the CR mystery.