arXiv subjects

R. Taylor

Publications and source records attributed to R. Taylor.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Ram Pressure Stripping Made Easy: An Analytical Approach

The removal of gas by ram pressure stripping of galaxies is treated by a purely kinematic description. The solution has two asymptotic limits: if the duration of the ram pressure pulse exceeds the period of vertical oscillations perpendicular to the galactic plane, the commonly used quasi-static criterion of Gunn & Gott is obtained which uses the maximum ram pressure that the galaxy has experienced along its orbit. For shorter pulses the outcome depends on the time-integrated ram pressure. This parameter pair fully describes the gas mass fraction that is stripped from a given galaxy. This approach closely reproduces results from SPH simulations. We show that typical galaxies follow a very tight relation in this parameter space corresponding to a pressure pulse length of about 300 Myr. Thus, the Gunn & Gott criterion provides a good description for galaxies in larger clusters. Applying the analytic description to a sample of 232 Virgo galaxies from the GoldMine database, we show that the ICM provides indeed the ram pressures needed to explain the deficiencies. We also can distinguish current and past strippers, including objects whose stripping state was unknown.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Response of photomultiplier tubes to xenon scintillation light

We present the precision calibration of 35 Hamamatsu R11410-22 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with xenon scintillation light centred near 175 nm. This particular PMT variant was developed specifically for the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment. A room-temperature xenon scintillation cell coupled to a vacuum cryostat was used to study the full-face PMT response at both room and low temperature $\textrm{($\sim$ -100$^\circ$C)}$, in particular to determine the quantum efficiency (QE) and double photoelectron emission (DPE) probability in LZ operating conditions. For our sample with an average QE of $\textrm{(32.4$\pm$2.9)%}$ at room temperature, we find a relative improvement of $\textrm{(17.9$\pm$5.2)%}$ upon cooling (where uncertainty values refer to the sample standard deviation). The mean DPE probability in response to single vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons is $\textrm{(22.6$\pm$2.0)%}$ at low temperature; the DPE increase relative to room temperature, measured here for the first time, was $\textrm{(12.2$\pm$3.9)%}$. Evidence of a small triple photoelectron emission probability $\textrm{($\sim$0.6%)}$ has also been observed. Useful correlations are established between these parameters and the QE as measured by the manufacturer. The single VUV photon response is also measured for one ETEL D730/9829QB, a PMT with a more standard bialkali photocathode used in the ZEPLIN-III experiment, for which we obtained a cold DPE fraction of $\textrm{(9.1$\pm$0.1)%}$. Hence, we confirm that this effect is not restricted to the low-temperature bialkali photocathode technology employed by Hamamatsu. This highlights the importance of considering this phenomenon in the interpretation of data from liquid xenon scintillation and electroluminescence detectors, and from many other optical measurements in this wavelength region.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Kinematic clues to the origins of starless HI clouds : dark galaxies or tidal debris ?

Isolated HI clouds with no optical counterparts are often taken as evidence for galaxy-galaxy interactions, though an alternative hypothesis is that these are primordial 'dark galaxies' which have not formed stars. Similarly, certain kinematic features in HI streams are also controversial, sometimes taken as evidence of dark galaxies but also perhaps explicable as the result of harassment. We numerically model the passage of a galaxy through the gravitational field of cluster. The galaxy consists of SPH particles for the gas and n-bodies for the stars and dark matter, while the cluster includes the gravitational effects of substructure using 400 subhalos (the effects of the intracluster medium are ignored). We find that harassment can indeed produce long HI streams and these streams can include kinematic features resembling dark galaxy candidates such as VIRGOHI21. We also show that apparent clouds with diameter < 20 kpc and velocity widths < 50 km/s are almost invariably produced in these simulations, making tidal debris a highly probable explanation. In contrast, we show that the frequency of isolated clouds of the same size but velocity width > 100 km/s is negligible - making this a very unlikely explanation for the observed clouds in the Virgo cluster with these properties.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

MANTIS: The Mid-Frequency Aperture Array Transient and Intensity-Mapping System

The objective of this paper is to present the main characteristics of a wide-field MFAA precursor that we envisage to be built at the SKA site in South Africa. Known as MANTIS (the Mid-Frequency Aperture Array Transient and Intensity-Mapping System), this ambitious instrument will represent the next logical step towards the MFAA based SKA telescope. The goal is to use innovative aperture array technology at cm wavelengths, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of deploying huge collecting areas at modest construction and operational cost. Such a transformative step is required in order to continue the exponential progress in radio telescope performance, and to make the ambitious scale of the SKA Phase 2 a realistic near-time proposition.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

HIRAX: A Probe of Dark Energy and Radio Transients

The Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) is a new 400-800MHz radio interferometer under development for deployment in South Africa. HIRAX will comprise 1024 six meter parabolic dishes on a compact grid and will map most of the southern sky over the course of four years. HIRAX has two primary science goals: to constrain Dark Energy and measure structure at high redshift, and to study radio transients and pulsars. HIRAX will observe unresolved sources of neutral hydrogen via their redshifted 21-cm emission line (`hydrogen intensity mapping'). The resulting maps of large-scale structure at redshifts 0.8-2.5 will be used to measure Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). HIRAX will improve upon current BAO measurements from galaxy surveys by observing a larger cosmological volume (larger in both survey area and redshift range) and by measuring BAO at higher redshift when the expansion of the universe transitioned to Dark Energy domination. HIRAX will complement CHIME, a hydrogen intensity mapping experiment in the Northern Hemisphere, by completing the sky coverage in the same redshift range. HIRAX's location in the Southern Hemisphere also allows a variety of cross-correlation measurements with large-scale structure surveys at many wavelengths. Daily maps of a few thousand square degrees of the Southern Hemisphere, encompassing much of the Milky Way galaxy, will also open new opportunities for discovering and monitoring radio transients. The HIRAX correlator will have the ability to rapidly and eXperimentciently detect transient events. This new data will shed light on the poorly understood nature of fast radio bursts (FRBs), enable pulsar monitoring to enhance long-wavelength gravitational wave searches, and provide a rich data set for new radio transient phenomena searches. This paper discusses the HIRAX instrument, science goals, and current status.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Attack of the Flying Snakes : Formation of Isolated HI Clouds By Fragmentation of Long Streams

The existence of long (> 100 kpc) HI streams and small (< 20 kpc) free-floating HI clouds is well-known. While the formation of the streams has been investigated extensively, and the isolated clouds are often purported to be interaction debris, little research has been done on the formation of optically dark HI clouds that are not part of a larger stream. One possibility is that such features result from the fragmentation of more extended streams, while another idea is that they are primordial, optically dark galaxies. We test the validity of the fragmentation scenario (via harassment) using numerical simulations. In order to compare our numerical models with observations, we present catalogues of both the known long HI streams (42 objects) and free-floating HI clouds suggested as dark galaxy candidates (51 objects). In particular, we investigate whether it is possible to form compact features with high velocity widths (> 100 km/s), similar to observed clouds which are otherwise intriguing dark galaxy candidates. We find that producing such features is possible but extremely unlikely, occurring no more than 0.2% of the time in our simulations. In contrast, we find that genuine dark galaxies could be extremely stable to harassment and remain detectable even after 5 Gyr in the cluster environment (with the important caveat that our simulations only explore harassment and do not yet include the intracluster medium, heating and cooling, or star formation). We also discuss the possibility that such objects could be the progenitors of recently discovered ultra diffuse galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey IX: The Isolated Galaxy Sample

We have used the Arecibo L-band Feed Array to map three regions, each of 5 square degrees, around the isolated galaxies NGC 1156, UGC 2082, and NGC 5523. In the vicinity of these galaxies we have detected two dwarf companions: one near UGC 2082, previously discovered by ALFALFA, and one near NGC 1156, discovered by this project and reported in an earlier paper. This is significantly fewer than the 15.4 $^{+1.7}_{-1.5}$ that would be expected from the field HI mass function from ALFALFA or the 8.9 $\pm$ 1.2 expected if the HI mass function from the Local Group applied in these regions. The number of dwarf companions detected is, however, consistent with a flat or declining HI mass function as seen by a previous, shallower, HI search for companions to isolated galaxies.We attribute this difference in Hi mass functions to the different environments in which they are measured. This agrees with the general observation that lower ratios of dwarf to giant galaxies are found in lower density environments.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

The ASKAP/EMU Source Finding Data Challenge

The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) is a proposed radio continuum survey of the Southern Hemisphere up to declination +30 deg., with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). EMU will use an automated source identification and measurement approach that is demonstrably optimal, to maximise the reliability, utility and robustness of the resulting radio source catalogues. As part of the process of achieving this aim, a "Data Challenge" has been conducted, providing international teams the opportunity to test a variety of source finders on a set of simulated images. The aim is to quantify the accuracy of existing automated source finding and measurement approaches, and to identify potential limitations. The Challenge attracted nine independent teams, who tested eleven different source finding tools. In addition, the Challenge initiators also tested the current ASKAPsoft source-finding tool to establish how it could benefit from incorporating successful features of the other tools. Here we present the results of the Data Challenge, identifying the successes and limitations for this broad variety of the current generation of radio source finding tools. As expected, most finders demonstrate completeness levels close to 100% at 10sigma dropping to levels around 10% by 5sigma. The reliability is typically close to 100% at 10sigma, with performance to lower sensitivities varying greatly between finders. All finders demonstrate the usual trade-off between completeness and reliability, whereby maintaining a high completeness at low signal-to-noise comes at the expense of reduced reliability, and vice-versa. We conclude with a series of recommendations for improving the performance of the ASKAPsoft source-finding tool.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey VII : A Dense Filament With Extremely Long HI Streams

We present completed observations of the NGC 7448 galaxy group and background volume as part of the blind neutral hydrogen Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES). Our observations cover a region spanning 5x4 degrees, over a redshift range of approximately -2,000 < cz < 20,000 km/s. A total of 334 objects are detected, mostly in three overdensities at cz $\sim$7,500, cz $\sim$9,600 and cz $\sim$ 11,400 km/s. The galaxy density is extremely high (15 per square degree) and many ($\sim$24%) show signs of extended HI emission, including some features as much as 800 kpc in projected length. We describe the overall characteristics of this environment : kinematics, typical galaxy colours and mass to light ratios, and substructure. To aid in the cataloguing of this data set, we present a new FITS viewer (FRELLED : Fits Realtime Explorer of Low Latency in Every Dimension). This incorporates interactive source cataloguing tools which increase our source extraction speed by approximately a factor of 50.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey VIII : Discovery of an Isolated Dwarf Galaxy in the Local Volume

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES) has detected a nearby HI source at a heliocentric velocity of +363 km/s . The object was detected through its neutral hydrogen emission and has an obvious possible optical counterpart in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data (though it does not have an optical redshift measurement). We discuss three possible scenarios for the object : 1) It is within the Local Group, in which case its HI properties are comparable with recently discovered ultra-compact high velocity clouds; 2) It is just behind the Local Group, in which case its optical characteristics are similar to the newly discovered Leo P galaxy; 3) It is a blue compact dwarf galaxy within the local volume but not associated with the Local Group. We find the third possibility to be the most likely, based on distance estimates from the Tully-Fisher relation and its velocity relative to the Local Group.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

Structural Origin of Light Emission in Germanium Quantum Dots

The origin of visible light emission from nanostructures has been a subject of an intense debate since the early work by L. E. Brus and A. P. Alivisatos in 1980s. The intense research that followed has paved the way towards applications of quantum structures in optoelectronics and in bio-sensing and contributed to the development of nanotechnology. The major new challenge is in accessing the structural, electronic and optical properties of quantum dots on a nanoparticle scale in order to understand complex relationships between structural motifs and their contributions to the relevant physical (e. g. optical and electronic) properties. Here we demonstrate that a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and optically-detected x-ray absorption spectroscopy shows sufficient sensitivity to distinguish between regions contributing to the luminescence signal in oxygen and hydrogen terminated Ge quantum dots, thus potentially providing a sub-nanoparticle resolution.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

HTC Scientific Computing in a Distributed Cloud Environment

This paper describes the use of a distributed cloud computing system for high-throughput computing (HTC) scientific applications. The distributed cloud computing system is composed of a number of separate Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds that are utilized in a unified infrastructure. The distributed cloud has been in production-quality operation for two years with approximately 500,000 completed jobs where a typical workload has 500 simultaneous embarrassingly-parallel jobs that run for approximately 12 hours. We review the design and implementation of the system which is based on pre-existing components and a number of custom components. We discuss the operation of the system, and describe our plans for the expansion to more sites and increased computing capacity.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2012

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey VI : The Virgo Cluster (II)

We present 21 cm observations of a 5 x degree region in the Virgo cluster, obtained as part of the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey. 13 cluster members are detected, together with 36 objects in the background. We compare and contrast the results from this area with a larger 10 x degree region. We combine the two data sets to produce an HI mass function, which shows a higher detection rate at low masses (but finds fewer massive galaxies) than less sensitive wider-area surveys, such as ALFALFA. We find that the HI-detected galaxies are distributed differently to the non-detections, both spatially and in velocity, providing further evidence that the cluster is still assembling. We use the Tully-Fisher relation to examine the possibility of morphological evolution. We find that highly deficient galaxies, as well as some early-type galaxies, have much lower velocity widths than the Tully-Fisher relation predicts, indicating gas loss via ram pressure stripping. We also find that HI detections without optical counterparts do not fit the predictions of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, implying that they are not primordial objects.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

The Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS): survey definition and goals

We present the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS), an 18 square degrees medium-deep survey at 3.6 and 4.5 microns with the post-cryogenic Spitzer Space Telescope to ~2 microJy (AB=23.1) depth of five highly observed astronomical fields (ELAIS-N1, ELAIS-S1, Lockman Hole, Chandra Deep Field South and XMM-LSS). SERVS is designed to enable the study of galaxy evolution as a function of environment from z~5 to the present day, and is the first extragalactic survey both large enough and deep enough to put rare objects such as luminous quasars and galaxy clusters at z>1 into their cosmological context. SERVS is designed to overlap with several key surveys at optical, near- through far-infrared, submillimeter and radio wavelengths to provide an unprecedented view of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies. In this paper, we discuss the SERVS survey design, the data processing flow from image reduction and mosaicing to catalogs, as well as coverage of ancillary data from other surveys in the SERVS fields. We also highlight a variety of early science results from the survey.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey V : The Virgo Cluster (I)

We present 21 cm observations of a 10 $\times$ 2 degree region in the Virgo cluster, obtained as part of the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey. 289 sources are detected over the full redshift range (-2,000 $<$ $v$$_{hel}$ $<$ + 20,000 km/s) with 95 belonging to the cluster ($v$$_{hel}$ $<$ 3,000 km/s). We combine our observations with data from the optically selected Virgo Cluster Catalogue (VCC) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Most of our detections can be clearly associated with a unique optical counterpart, and 30% of the cluster detections are new objects fainter than the VCC optical completeness limit. 7 detections may have no optical counterpart and we discuss the possible origins of these objects. 7 detections appear associated with early-type galaxies. We perform HI stacking on the HI-undetected galaxies listed in the VCC in this region and show that they must have significantly less gas than those actually detected in HI. Galaxies undetected in HI in the cluster appear to be really devoid of gas, in contrast to a sample of field galaxies from ALFALFA.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2011

The Arecibo Galaxy Environments survey IV: the NGC7448 region and the HI mass function

In this paper we describe results from the Arecibo Galaxy Environments Survey (AGES). The survey reaches column densities of ~3x10^18 cm^-2 and masses of ~10^7 M_O, over individual regions of order 10 sq deg in size, out to a maximum velocity of 18,000 km s^-1. Each surveyed region is centred on a nearby galaxy, group or cluster, in this instance the NGC7448 group. Galaxy interactions in the NGC7448 group reveal themselves through the identification of tidal tails and bridges. We find ~2.5 times more atomic gas in the inter-galactic medium than in the group galaxies. We identify five new dwarf galaxies, two of which appear to be members of the NGC7448 group. This is too few, by roughly an order of magnitude, dwarf galaxies to reconcile observation with theoretical predictions of galaxy formation models. If they had observed this region of sky previous wide area blind HI surveys, HIPASS and ALFALFA, would have detected only 5% and 43% respectively of the galaxies we detect, missing a large fraction of the atomic gas in this volume. We combine the data from this paper with that from our other AGES papers (370 galaxies) to derive a HI mass function with the following Schechter function parameters alpha=-1.52+/-0.05, M^*=5.1+/-0.3x10^9 h_72^-2 M_O, phi=8.6+/-1.1x10-3 h_72^3 Mpc^-3 dex-1. Integrating the mass function leads to a cosmic mass density of atomic hydrogen of Omega_HI=5.3+/-0.8x10^-4 h_72^-1. Our mass function is steeper than that found by both HIPASS and ALFALFA (alpha=1.37 and 1.33 respectively), while our cosmic mass density is consistent with ALFALFA, but 1.7 times larger than found by HIPASS.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey III: Observations Toward the Galaxy Pair NGC 7332/7339 and the Isolated Galaxy NGC 1156

Two 5 square degree regions around the NGC 7332/9 galaxy pair and the isolated galaxy NGC 1156 have been mapped in the 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen (HI) with the Arecibo L-band Feed Array out to a redshift of ~0.065$ (~20,000$ km/s) as part of the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey. One of the aims of this survey is to investigate the environment of galaxies by identifying dwarf companions and interaction remnants; both of these areas provide the potential for such discoveries. The neutral hydrogen observations were complemented by optical and radio follow-up observations with a number of telescopes. A total of 87 galaxies were found, of which 39 (45 per cent) were previously cataloged and 15 (17 per cent) have prior redshifts. Two dwarf galaxies have been discovered in the NGC 7332 group and a single dwarf galaxy in the vicinity NGC 1156 . A parallel optical search of the area revealed one further possible dwarf galaxy near NGC 7332.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

The ZEPLIN-III Anti-Coincidence Veto Detector

The design, optimisation and construction of an anti-coincidence veto detector to complement the ZEPLIN-III direct dark matter search instrument is described. One tonne of plastic scintillator is arranged into 52 bars individually read out by photomultipliers and coupled to a gadolinium-loaded passive polypropylene shield. Particular attention has been paid to radiological content. The overall aim has been to achieve a veto detector of low threshold and high efficiency without the creation of additional background in ZEPLIN-III, all at a reasonable cost. Extensive experimental measurements of the components have been made, including radioactivity levels and performance characteristics. These have been used to inform a complete end-to-end Monte Carlo simulation that has then been used to calculate the expected performance of the new instrument, both operating alone and as an anti-coincidence detector for ZEPLIN-III. The veto device will be capable of rejecting over 65% of coincident nuclear recoil events from neutron background in the energy range of interest in ZEPLIN-III. This will reduce the background in ZEPLIN-III from ~0.4 to ~0.14 events per year in the WIMP acceptance region, a significant factor in the event of a non-zero observation. Furthermore, in addition to providing valuable diagnostic capabilities, the veto is capable of tagging over 15% for gamma-ray rejection, all whilst contributing no significant additional background. In conjunction with the replacement of the internal ZEPLIN-III photomultiplier array, the new veto is expected to improve significantly the sensitivity of the ZEPLIN-III instrument to dark matter, allowing spin independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections below 1E-8 pb to be probed.

hep-ex↗