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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2021

Probing Galaxy Evolution in Massive Clusters Using ACT and DES: Splashback as a Cosmic Clock

We measure the projected number density profiles of galaxies and the splashback feature in clusters selected by the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect from the Advanced Atacama Cosmology Telescope (AdvACT) survey using galaxies observed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The splashback radius is consistent with CDM-only simulations and is located at-+-h2.4 Mpc0.40.31. We split the galaxies on color and find significant differences in their profile shapes. Red and green-valley galaxies show a splashback-like minimum in their slope profile consistent with theory, while the bluest galaxies show a weak feature at a smaller radius. We develop a mapping of galaxies to subhalos in simulations and assign colors based on infall time onto their hosts. We find that the shift in location of the steepest slope and different profile shapes can be mapped to the average time of infall of galaxies of different colors. The steepest slope traces a discontinuity in the phase space of dark matter halos. By relating spatial profiles to infall time, we can use splashback as a clock to understand galaxy quenching. We find that red galaxies have on average been in clusters over 3.2 Gyr, green galaxies about 2.2 Gyr, while blue galaxies have been accreted most recently and have not reached apocenter. Using the full radial profiles, we fit a simple quenching model and find that the onset of galaxy quenching occurs after a delay of about a gigayear and that galaxies quench rapidly thereafter with an exponential timescale of 0.6 Gyr.

Galaxy clusters↗
NASA NTRS1994

Star cluster evolution with primordial binaries. 3: Effect of the Galactic tidal field

We present the results of N-body simulations of tidally limited star clusters with an initial population of 0%-20% binaries. We find that (1) if enough binaries are initially present, the binary fraction may fall to a minimum value, then increase at late times; (2) the cluster evaporation timescale is quite insensitive to the details of the initial binary distribution; (3) the cluster core radius stabilizes at a few percent of the half-mass radius when binaries are present, just as in the case of isolated clusters; and (4) there may be a marked difference between the spatial distribution of low-energy and high-energy binaries as the cluster evolves. Specifically, the spatial distribution of the lower energy systems is often substantially more extended than that of the more tightly bound pairs. At no time are our simulated clusters well described by simple dynamical models that neglect the close coupling between the binding energies and the center-of-mass energies of the binaries they contain.

Mcmillan, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2020

Cluster Difference Imaging Photometric Survey. II. TOI 837: A Young Validated Planet in IC 2602

We report the discovery of TOI 837b and its validation as a transiting planet. We characterize the system using data from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission, the ESA Gaia mission, ground-based photometry from El Sauce and ASTEP400, and spectroscopy from CHIRON, FEROS, and Veloce. We find that TOI 837 is a T = 9.9 mag G0/F9 dwarf in the southern open cluster IC 2602. The star and planet are therefore 35(sup +11)(sub -5) million years old. Combining the transit photometry with a prior on the stellar parameters derived from the cluster color–magnitude diagram, we find that the planet has an orbital period of 8.3 days and is slightly smaller than Jupiter (R(sub p) = 0.77(sup + 0.09)(sub -0.07) R(sub Jup)). From radial velocity monitoring, we limit M(sub p) sin i to less than 1.20 M(sub Jup) (3σ). The transits either graze or nearly graze the stellar limb. Grazing transits are a cause for concern, as they are often indicative of astrophysical false-positive scenarios. Our follow-up data show that such scenarios are unlikely. Our combined multicolor photometry, high-resolution imaging, and radial velocities rule out hierarchical eclipsing binary scenarios. Background eclipsing binary scenarios, though limited by speckle imaging, remain a 0.2% possibility. TOI 837b is therefore a validated adolescent exoplanet. The planetary nature of the system can be confirmed or refuted through observations of the stellar obliquity and the planetary mass. Such observations may also improve our understanding of how the physical and orbital properties of exoplanets change in time.

Exoplanets↗
NASA NTRS1993

An H-alpha survey of cluster spirals - Comparison of star formation in clusters and the field

In an objective prism survey of eight nearby Abell clusters, we have detected H-alpha emission from 77 out of a total of 201 CGCG spiral galaxies. We find that detection of H alpha emission is approximately independent of galaxy absolute magnitude, distance to the cluster center, and the presence of a bar. However, tidally distorted spirals are much more likely to be detected than undistorted spirals. Furthermore, there is a strong tendency for tidally distorted spirals to have compact nuclear emission rather than more extended disk-wide emission. When compared to field spirals, we find that late-type (Sc and Sc-Irr) cluster spirals have less H alpha emission, while early-type (Sa and Sab) cluster spirals can have significantly enhanced emission. The enhanced emission is most likely to be due to tidally induced star formation from galaxy-galaxy interactions.

Moss, C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

An X-ray method for detecting substructure in galaxy clusters - Application to Perseus, A2256, Centaurus, Coma, and Sersic 40/6

We use the moments of the X-ray surface brightness distribution to constrain the dynamical state of a galaxy cluster. Using X-ray observations from the Einstein Observatory IPC, we measure the first moment FM, the ellipsoidal orientation angle, and the axial ratio at a sequence of radii in the cluster. We argue that a significant variation in the image centroid FM as a function of radius is evidence for a nonequilibrium feature in the intracluster medium (ICM) density distribution. In simple terms, centroid shifts indicate that the center of mass of the ICM varies with radius. This variation is a tracer of continuing dynamical evolution. For each cluster, we evaluate the significance of variations in the centroid of the IPC image by computing the same statistics on an ensemble of simulated cluster images. In producing these simulated images we include X-ray point source emission, telescope vignetting, Poisson noise, and characteristics of the IPC. Application of this new method to five Abell clusters reveals that the core of each one has significant substructure. In addition, we find significant variations in the orientation angle and the axial ratio for several of the clusters.

Mohr, Joseph J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

X-ray halos in galaxies and clusters of galaxies - Theory

X-ray measurements provide an excellent method to determine the amount and distribution of the dark matter in clusters. Unfortunately, accurate temperature profiles, necessary to this method, are currently not available. However, if the intracluster gas is assumed to have a monotonically decreasing temperature, one finds that the dark matter is strongly concentrated to the cluster center, and has a mass which only exceeds the known baryonic mass by a factor of about three. On a second topic, cooling flows are shown to be a very common feature of cluster central and normal elliptical galaxies. The cooling gas is probably ultimately converted into low mass stars.

Sarazin, Craig L.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Mapping the Gas Turbulence in the Coma Cluster: Predictions for Astro-H

Astro-H will be able for the first time to map gas velocities and detect turbulence in galaxy clusters. One of the best targets for turbulence studies is the Coma cluster, due to its proximity, absence of a cool core, and lack of a central active galactic nucleus. To determine what constraints Astro-H will be able to place on the Coma velocity field, we construct simulated maps of the projected gas velocity and compute the second-order structure function, an analog of the velocity power spectrum. We vary the injection scale, dissipation scale, slope, and normalization of the turbulent power spectrum, and apply measurement errors and finite sampling to the velocity field. We find that even with sparse coverage of the cluster, Astro-H will be able to measure the Mach number and the injection scale of the turbulent power spectrum-the quantities determining the energy flux down the turbulent cascade and the diffusion rate for everything that is advected by the gas (metals, cosmic rays, etc.). Astro-H will not be sensitive to the dissipation scale or the slope of the power spectrum in its inertial range, unless they are outside physically motivated intervals. We give the expected confidence intervals for the injection scale and the normalization of the power spectrum for a number of possible pointing configurations, combining the structure function and velocity dispersion data. Importantly, we also determine that measurement errors on the line shift will bias the velocity structure function upward, and show how to correct this bias.

clusters: intracluster medium↗
NASA NTRS2013

Shock Heating of the Merging Galaxy Cluster A521

A521 is an interacting galaxy cluster located at z = 0.247, hosting a low-frequency radio halo connected to an eastern radio relic. Previous Chandra observations hinted at the presence of an X-ray brightness edge at the position of the relic, which may be a shock front. We analyze a deep observation of A521 recently performed with XMM-Newton in order to probe the cluster structure up to the outermost regions covered by the radio emission. The cluster atmosphere exhibits various brightness and temperature anisotropies. In particular, two cluster cores appear to be separated by two cold fronts. We find two shock fronts, one that was suggested by Chandra and that is propagating to the east, and another to the southwestern cluster outskirt. The two main interacting clusters appear to be separated by a shock-heated region, which exhibits a spatial correlation with the radio halo. The outer edge of the radio relic coincides spatially with a shock front, suggesting that this shock is responsible for the generation of cosmic-ray electrons in the relic. The propagation direction and Mach number of the shock front derived from the gas density jump, M = 2.4 +/- 0.2, are consistent with expectations from the radio spectral index, under the assumption of Fermi I acceleration mechanism.

Bourdin, H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Technical support for creating an artificial intelligence system for feature extraction and experimental design

Techniques for classifying objects into groups or clases go under many different names including, most commonly, cluster analysis. Mathematically, the general problem is to find a best mapping of objects into an index set consisting of class identifiers. When an a priori grouping of objects exists, the process of deriving the classification rules from samples of classified objects is known as discrimination. When such rules are applied to objects of unknown class, the process is denoted classification. The specific problem addressed involves the group classification of a set of objects that are each associated with a series of measurements (ratio, interval, ordinal, or nominal levels of measurement). Each measurement produces one variable in a multidimensional variable space. Cluster analysis techniques are reviewed and methods for incuding geographic location, distance measures, and spatial pattern (distribution) as parameters in clustering are examined. For the case of patterning, measures of spatial autocorrelation are discussed in terms of the kind of data (nominal, ordinal, or interval scaled) to which they may be applied.

Glick, B. J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Shear Instabilities as a Probe of Jupiter's Atmosphere

Linear wave patterns in Jupiter clouds with wavelengths strongly clustered around 300 km are commonly observed in the planet's equatorial atmosphere. We propose that the preferred wavelength is related to the thickness of an unstable shear layer within the clouds. We numerically analyze the linear stability of wavelike disturbances that have nonzero horizontal phase speeds in Jupiter's atmosphere and find that. if the static stability in the strongly clustered around 300 km are commonly observed in the planet's equatorial atmosphere. We propose that the preferred wavelength is related to the thickness of an unstable shear layer within the clouds. We numerically analyze the linear stability of wavelike disturbances that have nonzero horizontal phase speeds in Jupiter's atmosphere and find that. if the static stability in the shear layer is very low (but still nonnegative), a deep vertical shear layer like the one measured by the Galileo probe can generate the instabilities. The fastest growing waves grow exponentially within an hour, and their wavelengths match the observations. Close to zero values of static stability that permit the growth of instabilities are within the range of values measured by the Galileo probe in a hot spot. Our model probes Jupiter's equatorial atmosphere below the cloud deck and suggests that thick regions of wind shear and low static stability exist outside hot spots.

Bosak, Tanja↗
NASA NTRS1995

Repeating sources of classical gamma-ray bursts

From an analysis of the first catalog of the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) experiment (Fishman et al. 1993, 1994a) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), we find an excessive number of pairs of gamma-ray bursts which are clustered in both a space and time . The angular separation between the two bursts in each pair is less than their positional uncertainties, and the interval between their occurrence times is within several days. Optimizing the signal, we find that the probability of observing such a clustered excess froma Poisson ensemble is approximately 2 x 10(exp -5). We suggest that these bursts arise from repeating sources. A detailed study of the most prolific source, GBS 0855-00, is presented in a separate paper (Wang & Lingenfelter 1993a, b). Unlike most of the 'soft' gamma-ray repeaters, these repeating bursts have relatively hard spectra, complex light curves, and widely varying durations, that are indistinguishable from classical gamma-ray bursts. Although the significance of the clustered excess was optimized a posteriori, because it depends on temporal and spatial bin sized that could not be defined a priori, we can use the optimizations from the first catalog to test subsequent BATSE data sets. Unfortunately, the failure of the on-board tape recorders during the second catalog period seriously reduced the number of accurately positioned bursts (Fishman et al. 1994b), so that we can neither confirm, nor refute, the predicted repitition in that sample, and we must await the results of the third catalog.

Wang, V. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A study of the x ray environment of radio galaxies

We are currently working on a program to use extensive x-ray and radio databases to investigate the relationship between extended radio emission and environment in clusters of galaxies. The radio galaxy morphology is determined using VLA imaging and the x-ray properties are determined from Einstein IPC images. This study is motivated by the hypothesis that the key to understanding radio galaxies lies in the local environment. To test this hypothesis we have studied the detailed relationship between galaxy radio emission and the x-ray morphology of their parent clusters. In this pilot study we have used 35 radio sources found in 27 clusters. We have determined the position angle of the x-ray and radio emission, and x-ray and radio luminosities. The x-ray position was taken to be the position of peak flux of the subclump containing the radio galaxy. The radio position was taken to be the position of the galaxy. We do not find a correlation between the x-ray and radio source position angle. This remains true when the sample is divided into subsamples according to radio morphology (wide angle tail, twin jet, narrow angle tail galaxies). We find a weak correlation between the radio source luminosity and the x-ray luminosity. We have computed the distance from the radio galaxy position to the center of the x-ray clump. We find a mean distance from the x-ray clump center of 0.16 Mpc for the radio galaxies in this sample. The mean distance to the nearest clump of x-ray emission is typically half the distance to the optical cluster center. We thus find strong evidence that radio galaxies are located very close to clumps of x-ray emission. These subclumps are not always affiliated with the central cluster x-ray emission. This supports our hypothesis that x-ray emission may provide a key to understanding radio galaxy morphology. We find evidence that radio galaxies occur in clusters that contain prominent substructures. Radio galaxies may thus provide an added diagnostic of the cluster dynamical state.

Rhee, George F.↗
NASA NTRS2020

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Weighing Distant Clusters with the Most Ancient Light

We use gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to measure the mass of the most distant blindly selected sample of galaxy clusters on which a lensing measurement has been performed to date. In CMB data from the the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the Planck satellite, we detect the stacked lensing effect from 677 near-infrared-selected galaxy clusters from the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS), which have a mean redshift of (z)=1.08. There are currently no representative optical weak lensing measurements of clusters that match the distance and average mass of this sample. We detect the lensing signal with a significance of . We model the signal with a halo model framework to find the mean mass of the population from which these clusters are drawn. Assuming that the clusters follow Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) density profiles, we infer a mean mass of (M(500c))=(1.7 ± 0.4) x 10^14M(ʘ). We consider systematic uncertainties from cluster redshift errors, centering errors, and the shape of the NFW profile. These are all smaller than 30% of our reported uncertainty. This work highlights the potential of CMB lensing to enable cosmological constraints from the abundance of distant clusters populating ever larger volumes of the observable universe, beyond the capabilities of optical weak lensing measurements.

Mathew S. Madhavacheril↗
NASA NTRS2002

Is There a Cosmological Constant?

The grant contributed to the publication of 18 refereed papers and 5 conference proceedings. The primary uses of the funding have been for page charges, travel for invited talks related to the grant research, and the support of a graduate student, Charles Keeton. The refereed papers address four of the primary goals of the proposal: (1) the statistics of radio lenses as a probe of the cosmological model (#1), (2) the role of spiral galaxies as lenses (#3), (3) the effects of dust on statistics of lenses (#7, #8), and (4) the role of groups and clusters as lenses (#2, #6, #10, #13, #15, #16). Four papers (#4, #5, #11, #12) address general issues of lens models, calibrations, and the relationship between lens galaxies and nearby galaxies. One considered cosmological effects in lensing X-ray sources (#9), and two addressed issues related to the overall power spectrum and theories of gravity (#17, #18). Our theoretical studies combined with the explosion in the number of lenses and the quality of the data obtained for them is greatly increasing our ability to characterize and understand the lens population. We can now firmly conclude both from our study of the statistics of radio lenses and our survey of extinctions in individual lenses that the statistics of optically selected quasars were significantly affected by extinction. However, the limits on the cosmological constant remain at lambda < 0.65 at a 2-sigma confidence level, which is in mild conflict with the results of the Type la supernova surveys. We continue to find that neither spiral galaxies nor groups and clusters contribute significantly to the production of gravitational lenses. The lack of group and cluster lenses is strong evidence for the role of baryonic cooling in increasing the efficiency of galaxies as lenses compared to groups and clusters of higher mass but lower central density. Unfortunately for the ultimate objective of the proposal, improved constraints on the cosmological constant, the next large survey for gravitational lenses did not release its results during the term of the proposal. The research supported the career development. of six graduate students (polar, Fletcher, Herold, Keeton, Deng and Rusin) and two post-docs (Labor and Munoz).

Kochanek, Christopher↗
NASA NTRS1998

Radio Sources in Galaxy Clusters at 28.5 GHz

We present serendipitous observations of radio sources at 28.5 GHz (1 cm), which resulted from our program to image thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect in 56 galaxy clusters. In a total area of about 0.8 degrees sq., we find 64 radio sources with fluxes down to - 0.4 mJy (> 4sigma,), and within 250" from the pointing centers. The spectral indices (S varies as v(sup -alpha) of 54 sources with published low frequency flux densities range from -0.6 approximately < alpha and alpha approximately < 2 with a mean of 0.77 +/- 0.06, and a median of 0.84. Extending low frequency surveys of radio sources towards galaxy clusters CL 0016+16, Abell 665, and Abell 2218 to 28.5 GHz, and selecting sources with S(sub l.4GHz) >/= 7 mJy to form an unbiased sample, we find a mean spectral index of 0.71 +/- 0.08 and a median of 0.71. We find 4 to 7 times more sources predicted from a low frequency survey in areas without galaxy clusters. This excess cannot be accounted for by gravitational lensing of a background radio population by cluster potentials, indicating most of the detected sources are associated with galaxy clusters. The differential source count slope, gamma is approximately 1.96 (dN/dS varies as S(exp -gamma)), is flatter than what is expected for a nonevolving Euclidean population (gamma = 2.5). For the cluster Abell 2218, the presence of unsubtracted radio sources with S(sub 28.5GHz) is approximately < 0.5 mJy (- 5 sigma), can only contribute to temperature fluctuations at a level of DeltaT is approximately 10 to 25 microK. The corresponding error due to radio point source contamination in the Hubble constant derived through a combined analysis of 28.5 GHz SZ images and X-ray emission observations ranges from 1% to 6%.

Cooray, Asantha R.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Using Statistical Multivariable Models to Understand the Relationship Between Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejecta and Magnetic Flux Ropes

In-situ measurements of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) display a wide range of properties. A distinct subset, "magnetic clouds" (MCs), are readily identifiable by a smooth rotation in an enhanced magnetic field, together with an unusually low solar wind proton temperature. In this study, we analyze Ulysses spacecraft measurements to systematically investigate five possible explanations for why some ICMEs are observed to be MCs and others are not: i) An observational selection effect; that is, all ICMEs do in fact contain MCs, but the trajectory of the spacecraft through the ICME determines whether the MC is actually encountered; ii) interactions of an erupting flux rope (PR) with itself or between neighboring FRs, which produce complex structures in which the coherent magnetic structure has been destroyed; iii) an evolutionary process, such as relaxation to a low plasma-beta state that leads to the formation of an MC; iv) the existence of two (or more) intrinsic initiation mechanisms, some of which produce MCs and some that do not; or v) MCs are just an easily identifiable limit in an otherwise corntinuous spectrum of structures. We apply quantitative statistical models to assess these ideas. In particular, we use the Akaike information criterion (AIC) to rank the candidate models and a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to uncover any intrinsic clustering of the data. Using a logistic regression, we find that plasma-beta, CME width, and the ratio O(sup 7) / O(sup 6) are the most significant predictor variables for the presence of an MC. Moreover, the propensity for an event to be identified as an MC decreases with heliocentric distance. These results tend to refute ideas ii) and iii). GMM clustering analysis further identifies three distinct groups of ICMEs; two of which match (at the 86% level) with events independently identified as MCs, and a third that matches with non-MCs (68 % overlap), Thus, idea v) is not supported. Choosing between ideas i) and iv) is more challenging, since they may effectively be indistinguishable from one another by a single in-situ spacecraft. We offer some suggestions on how future studies may address this.

Riley, P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Dynamic Harris current sheet thickness from Cluster current density and plasma measurements

We use the first accurate measurements of current densities in the plasma sheet to calculate the half-thickness and position of the current sheet as a function of time. Our technique assumes a Harris current sheet model, which is parameterized by lobe magnetic field B(o), current sheet half-thickness h, and current sheet position z(sub o). Cluster measurements of magnetic field, current density, and plasma pressure are used to infer the three parameters as a function of time. We find that most long timescale (6-12 hours) current sheet crossings observed by Cluster cannot be described by a static Harris current sheet with a single set of parameters B(sub o), h, and z(sub o). Noting the presence of high-frequency fluctuations that appear to be superimposed on lower frequency variations, we average over running 6-min intervals and use the smoothed data to infer the parameters h(t) and z(sub o)(t), constrained by the pressure balance lobe magnetic field B(sub o)(t). Whereas this approach has been used in previous studies, the spatial gnuhen& now provided by the Cluster magnetometers were unavailable or not well constrained in earlier studies. We place the calculated hdf&cknessa in a magnetospheric context by examining the change in thickness with substorm phase for three case study events and 21 events in a superposed epoch analysis. We find that the inferred half-thickness in many cases reflects the nominal changes experienced by the plasma sheet during substorms (i.e., thinning during growth phase, thickening following substorm onset). We conclude with an analysis of the relative contribution of (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X to the cross-tail current density during substorms. We find that (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X can contribute a significant portion of the cross-tail c m n t around substorm onset.

Thompson, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Evolutionary Computational Methods for Identifying Emergent Behavior in Autonomous Systems

A technique based on Evolutionary Computational Methods (ECMs) was developed that allows for the automated optimization of complex computationally modeled systems, such as autonomous systems. The primary technology, which enables the ECM to find optimal solutions in complex search spaces, derives from evolutionary algorithms such as the genetic algorithm and differential evolution. These methods are based on biological processes, particularly genetics, and define an iterative process that evolves parameter sets into an optimum. Evolutionary computation is a method that operates on a population of existing computational-based engineering models (or simulators) and competes them using biologically inspired genetic operators on large parallel cluster computers. The result is the ability to automatically find design optimizations and trades, and thereby greatly amplify the role of the system engineer.

Terrile, Richard J.↗