arXiv subjects

P. Martin

Publications and source records attributed to P. Martin.

82 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

GePEToS : A Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation package for Positron Emission Tomography

GePEToS is a simulation framework developed over the last few years for assessing the instrumental performance of future PET scanners. It is based on Geant4, written in Object-Oriented C++ and runs on Linux platforms. The validity of GePEToS has been tested on the well-known Siemens ECAT EXACT HR+ camera. The results of two application examples are presented : the design optimization of a liquid Xe micro-PET camera dedicated to small animal imaging as well as the evaluation of the effect of a strong axial magnetic field on the image resolution of a Concorde P4 micro-PET camera.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2001

Object Serialization and Deserialization Using XML

Interoperability of potentially heterogeneous databases has been an ongoing research issue for a number of years in the database community. With the trend towards globalization of data location and data access and the consequent requirement for the coexistence of new data stores with legacy systems, the cooperation and data interchange between data repositories has become increasingly important. The emergence of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) as a database independent representation for data offers a suitable mechanism for transporting data between repositories. This paper describes a research activity within a group at CERN (called CMS) towards identifying and implementing database serialization and deserialization methods that can be used to replicate or migrate objects across the network between CERN and worldwide centres using XML to serialize the contents of multiple objects resident in object-oriented databases.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2001

The M 31 double nucleus probed with OASIS and HST. A natural m=1 mode?

We present observations with the adaptive optics assisted integral field spectrograph OASIS of the M 31 double nucleus at a spatial resolution better than 0.5 arcsec FWHM. These data are used to derive the two-dimensional stellar kinematics within the central 2 arcsec. Archival WFPC2/HST images are revisited to perform a photometric decomposition of the nuclear region. We also present STIS/HST kinematics obtained from the archive. The luminosity distribution of the central region is well separated into the respective contributions of the bulge, the nucleus including P1 and P2, and the so-called UV peak. We then show that the axis joining P1 and P2, the two local surface brightness maxima, does not coincide with the kinematic major-axis, which is also the major-axis of the nuclear isophotes (excluding P1). We also confirm that the velocity dispersion peak is offset by ~ 0.2 arcsec from the UV peak, assumed to mark the location of the supermassive black hole. The newly reduced STIS/HST velocity and dispersion profiles are then compared to OASIS and other published kinematics. We find significant offsets with previously published data. Simple parametric models are then built to successfully reconcile all the available kinematics. We finally interpret the observations using new N-body simulations. The nearly keplerian nuclear disk of M31 is subject to a natural m=1 mode, with a very slow pattern speed (3 km/s/pc for M_BH = 7 10^7~\Msun), that can be maintained during more than a thousand dynamical times. The resulting morphology and kinematics of the mode can reproduce the M~31 nuclear-disk photometry and mean stellar velocity, including the observed asymmetries. It requires a central mass concentration and a cold disk system representing between 20 and 40% of its mass. Abridged..

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Near-infrared probing of embedded structures in starburst and Seyfert galaxies

Surface photometry in the J and K' bands of 15 southern Seyfert or starburst galaxies is presented. The detailed central morphology and structural properties of these objects were analyzed by fitting ellipses to isophotes. New central peculiar structures have been identified like, for instance, three double-barred systems (ESO 215-G031; ESO 320-G030; ESO 443-G017), one object with a nested nuclear spiral structure at the center of a primary bar (NGC 5135), one object with a nuclear bar without evidence of a large-scale bar (NGC 4941), and one galaxy with a likely dissolved secondary bar within a primary one (ESO 508-G005). The J-K' radial profile proved to be reasonably well linked with the presence of a starburst, but not with the Seyfert activity. For significant starbursts, the central J-K' value is 0.3-1.5 magnitude larger than the disc one.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Tidal dwarf candidates in a sample of interacting galaxies

We present deep optical B, V, R images of a sample of 10 interacting systems which were selected for their resemblance to disturbed galaxies at high redshift. Photometry is performed on knots in the tidal features of the galaxies. We calculate a grid of evolutionary synthesis models with two metallicities and various burst strengths for systems consisting of some fraction of the stellar population of a progenitor spiral plus starburst. By comparison with two-color diagrams we interpret the photometric data, select from a total of about 100 condensations 36 star-forming objects that are located in the tidal features and predict their further evolution. Being more luminous by 4 mag than normal HII regions we argue that these objects could be tidal dwarf galaxies or their progenitors, although they differ in number and mean luminosity from the already known tidal dwarf galaxies typically located at the end of tidal tails in nearby giant interacting systems. From comparison with our models we note that all objects show young burst ages. The young stellar component formed in these tidal dwarf candidates contributes up to 18% to the total stellar mass at the end of the starburst and dominates the optical luminosity. This may result in fading by up to 2.5 mag in B during the next 200 Myrs after the burst.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

An Empirical Test and Calibration of H II Region Diagnostics

We present spectrophotometry in the 3600-9700 A region for a sample of 39 H II regions in the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds, for which independent information is available on the spectral types and effective temperatures of the ionizing stars. The spectra have been used to evaluate nebular diagnostics of stellar temperature, metal abundance, and ionization parameter, and compare the observed behavior of the line indices with predictions of nebular photoionization models. We observe a strong degeneracy between forbidden-line sequences produced by changes in stellar Teff and metal abundance, which severely complicates the application of many forbidden-line diagnostics to extragalactic H II regions. Our data confirm however that the Edmunds and Pagel [O II]+[O III] abundance index and the Vilchez and Pagel `eta' index provide more robust diagnostics of metal abundance and stellar effective temperature, respectively. A comparison of the fractional helium ionization of the H II regions with stellar temperature confirms the reliability of the spectral type vs Teff calibration for the relevant temperature range Teff < 38000 K. We use empirical relations between the nebular hardness indices and Teff to reinvestigate the case for systematic variations in the stellar effective temperatures and the upper IMFs of massive stars in extragalactic H II regions. The data are consistent with a significant softening of the ionizing spectra (consistent with cooler stellar temperatures) with increasing metal abundance, especially for Z less than solar. However unresolved degeneracies between Z and Teff still complicate the interpretation of this result.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

Star formation in bar environments. II. Physical properties, age and abundances of HII regions

The nebular properties (electronic density, extinction, age, O/H abundances) of HII regions found along the bars of the sample of barred spiral galaxies studied by Martin & Friedli (1997) are examined. From line ratio diagnostic diagrams, it is showed that regions located along the major axis of the bars have a normal photoionization spectrum, that is, line ratios reproductible from nebular conditions and ionizing star radiation field normally encountered in extragalactic HII regions. There is an indication, however, that their degree of ionization might be somewhat different. Another ionization mechanism (high-velocity shocks or hard UV radiation) is clearly present for regions found nearby the centers of the galaxies. The electronic density of the regions along the bars is very close to that of disc regions ($ \sim 80 cm^{-3}$). On average, bar and disc regions have a similar visual extinction ($A_V \sim 1$ mag) with exceptions for some regions located near the bar dust lanes of the earlier types of galaxies in our sample. Although the average H$α$ equivalent width of bar HII regions ($\sim$250 Å) is half that of disc regions, this disparity could be due to uncertainties in the galactic continuum and does not translate into a significant age difference. The oxygen abundance distribution was also investigated in the bar of these galaxies. The O/H scatter was found to be very small (<0.1 dex) indicating that mixing of the chemical composition by gas flows is very efficient in a barred structure.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1997

Prospects for and Implications of Measuring the Higgs to Photon-Photon Branching Ratio at the Next Linear $e^+e^-$ Collider

We evaluate the prospects for measuring $BR(h\toγγ)$ for a Standard-Model-like Higgs boson at the Next Linear $e^+e^-$ Collider in the $e^+e^-\to Z^*\to Z h$ and $e^+e^-\toν_e\antiν_e h$ production modes. Relative merits of different machine energy/luminosity strategies and different electromagnetic calorimeter designs are evaluated. We emphasize the importance of measuring $BR(h\toγγ)$ in order to obtain the total width of a light Higgs boson and thereby the $b\anti b$ partial width that will be critical in discriminating between the SM Higgs and the Higgs bosons of an extended model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

The Luminosity-Metallicity Relation for Bulges of Spiral Galaxies

Optical integrated spectra of bulges have been obtained for 28 spiral galaxies. By applying an appropriate aperture size for each galaxy, the unavoidable contamination of disk starlight has been carefully minimized and set to $\sim$ 1/7 of the total stellar light. The sample covers a wide range in bulge luminosity and morphology. The Mg$_2$ index shows a tight correlation with the bulge intrinsic luminosity, similar - and extended at fainter magnitudes - to the relationship known for ellipticals. Other features such as CaIIK, CN, G-band, and TiO show similar trend with the bulge luminosity. On the contrary, the Fe5270 and Fe5335 iron lines show a constant equivalent width - within some dispersion - for all bulges. A simple application of a stellar population synthesis model suggests that magnesium should be most enhanced with respect to iron in the brightest bulges. Concerning the structural parameters, bulges do occupy the same region in the fundamental plane as ellipticals. In conclusion, the present study favors the idea that the bulk of stars in bulges have formed with only moderate or negligible influence of the disk material, likely by very similar processes as those driving the formation of elliptical galaxies.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1992

On an algebraic approach to higher dimensional statistical mechanics

We study representations of Temperley-Lieb algebras associated with the transfer matrix formulation of statistical mechanics on arbitrary lattices. We first discuss a new hyperfinite algebra, the Diagram algebra $D_{\underline{n}}(Q)$, which is a quotient of the Temperley-Lieb algebra appropriate for Potts models in the mean field case, and in which the algebras appropriate for all transverse lattice shapes $G$ appear as subalgebras. We give the complete structure of this subalgebra in the case ${\hat A}_n$ (Potts model on a cylinder). The study of the Full Temperley Lieb algebra of graph $G$ reveals a vast number of infinite sets of inequivalent irreducible representations characterized by one or more (complex) parameters associated to topological effects such as links. We give a complete classification in the ${\hat A}_n$ case where the only such effects are loops and twists.

hep-th↗