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At least 145 records · Page 8

MASS SUBSTRUCTURE IN ABELL 3128

We perform a detailed two-dimensional weak gravitational lensing analysis of the nearby (z = 0.058) galaxy cluster Abell 3128 using deep ugrz imaging from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). We have designed a pipeline to remove instrumental artifacts from DECam images and stack multiple dithered observations without inducing a spurious ellipticity signal. We develop a new technique to characterize the spatial variation of the point-spread function that enables us to circularize the field to better than 0.5% and thereby extract the intrinsic galaxy ellipticities. By fitting photometric redshifts to sources in the observation, we are able to select a sample of background galaxies for weak-lensing analysis free from low-redshift contaminants. Photometric redshifts are also used to select a high-redshift galaxy subsample with which we successfully isolate the signal from an interloping z = 0.44 cluster. We estimate the total mass of Abell 3128 by fitting the tangential ellipticity of background galaxies with the weak-lensing shear profile of a Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) halo and also perform NFW fits to substructures detected in the 2D mass maps of the cluster. This study yields one of the highest resolution mass maps of a low-z cluster to date and is the first step in a larger effort to characterize the redshift evolution of mass substructures in clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A Megacam Survey of outer halo satellites. IV. Two foreground populations possibly associated with the Monoceros substructure in the direction of NGC 2419 AND KOPOSOV 2

The origin of the Galactic halo stellar structure known as the Monoceros Ring is still under debate. In this work, we study this halo substructure using deep Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope wide-field photometry obtained for the globular clusters NGC 2419 and Koposov 2, where the presence of Monoceros becomes significant because of their coincident projected position. Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry and spectroscopy in the area surrounding these globulars and beyond, where the same Monoceros population is detected, we conclude that a second feature, which is not likely to be associated with Milky Way disk stars along the line of sight, is present as a foreground population. Our analysis suggests that the Monoceros Ring might be composed of an old stellar population of age t∼9 Gyr and a new component ∼4 Gyr younger at the same heliocentric distance. Alternatively, this detection might be associated with a second wrap of Monoceros in that direction of the sky and might also indicate a metallicity spread in the ring. The detection of such a low-density feature in other sections of this halo substructure will shed light on its nature.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Chemical abundances of planetary nebulae in the substructures of M31

We present deep spectroscopy of planetary nebulae (PNe) that are associated with the substructures of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). The spectra were obtained with the Optical System for Imaging and low-intermediate-Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy spectrograph on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias. Seven targets were selected for the observations, three in the Northern Spur and four associated with the Giant Stream. The most distant target in our sample, with a rectified galactocentric distance ⩾ 100 kpc, was the first PN discovered in the outer streams of M31. The [O iii] λ4363 auroral line is well detected in the spectra of all targets, enabling electron temperature determination. Ionic abundances are derived based on the [O iii] temperatures, and elemental abundances of helium, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, sulfur, and argon are estimated. The relatively low N/O and He/H ratios, as well as abundance ratios of α-elements, indicate that our target PNe might belong to populations as old as ∼2 Gyr. Our PN sample, including the current seven and the previous three observed by Fang et al., have rather homogeneous oxygen abundances. The study of abundances and the spatial and kinematical properties of our sample leads to the tempting conclusion that their progenitors might belong to the same stellar population, which hints at a possibility that the Northern Spur and the Giant Stream have the same origin. This may be explained by the stellar orbit proposed by Merrett et al. Judging from the position and kinematics, we emphasize that M32 might be responsible for the two substructures. Deep spectroscopy of PNe in M32 will help to assess this hypothesis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SUBSTRUCTURE IN THE STELLAR HALOS OF THE AQUARIUS SIMULATIONS

We characterize the substructure in the simulated stellar halos of Cooper et al. which were formed by the disruption of satellite galaxies within the cosmological N-body simulations of galactic halos of the Aquarius project. These stellar halos exhibit a wealth of tidal features: broad overdensities and very narrow faint streams akin to those observed around the Milky Way. The substructures are distributed anisotropically on the sky, a characteristic that should become apparent in the next generation of photometric surveys. The normalized RMS of the density of stars on the sky appears to be systematically larger for our halos compared with the value estimated for the Milky Way from main-sequence turnoff stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We show that this is likely to be due in part to contamination by faint QSOs and redder main-sequence stars, and might suggest that {approx}10% of the Milky Way halo stars have formed in situ.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Constraining dark matter substructure with Gaia wide binaries

ABSTRACT We use a catalogue of stellar binaries with wide separations (up to 1 pc) identified by the Gaia satellite to constrain the presence of extended substructure within the Milky Way galaxy. Heating of the binaries through repeated encounters with substructure results in a characteristic distribution of binary separations, allowing constraints to be placed independent of the formation mechanism of wide binaries. Across a wide range of subhalo density profiles, we show that subhaloes with masses $\gtrsim 65\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$ and characteristic length scales similar to the separation of these wide binaries cannot make up 100 per cent of the Galaxy’s dark matter. Constraints weaken for subhaloes with larger length scales and are dependent on their density profiles. For such large subhaloes, higher central densities lead to stronger constraints. Subhaloes with density profiles similar to those expected from cold dark matter must be at least ∼5000 times denser than predicted by simulation to be constrained by the wide binary catalogue.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Measurement of jet substructure in boosted $t\overline{t}$ events with the ATLAS detector using 140 fb -1 of 13 TeV $pp$ collisions

Measurements of the substructure of top-quark jets are presented, using 140 fb -1 of 13 TeV pp collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Top-quark jets reconstructed with the anti-k t algorithm with a radius parameter R = 1.0 are selected in top-quark pair ($t\overline{t}$) events where one top quark decays semileptonically and the other hadronically, or where both top quarks decay hadronically. The top-quark jets are required to have transverse momentum p T > 350 GeV, yielding large samples of data events with jet p T values between 350 and 600 GeV. One- and two-dimensional differential cross sections for eight substructure variables, defined using only the charged components of the jets, are measured in a particle-level phase space by correcting for the smearing and acceptance effects induced by the detector. The differential cross sections are compared with the predictions of several Monte Carlo simulations in which top-quark pair-production quantum chromodynamic matrix-element calculations at next-to-leading-order precision in the strong coupling constant α S are passed to leading-order parton shower and hadronization generators. The Monte Carlo predictions for measures of the broadness, and also the two-body structure, of the top-quark jets are found to be in good agreement with the measurements, while variables sensitive to the three-body structure of the top-quark jets exhibit some tension with the measured distributions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Detecting dark matter substructures on small scales with fast radio bursts

The matter power spectrum is only weakly constrained on subgalactic scales, while physics beyond the Standard Model can leave unique imprints, especially on sub-parsec scales. We propose measuring the arrival-time difference of fast radio bursts (FRBs) along two adjacent sightlines as a new probe to dark matter substructures on scales down to ∼ 1 AU . We discuss two observational scenarios in which it may be possible to place interesting constraints on such models through the monitoring of repeating FRB sources: (i) By sending radio receivers to space to form a baseline of tens of AU or more and measuring the temporal variation of the arrival-time difference between receivers. (ii) By measuring the temporal variation of the arrival-time difference between two lensed images of one strongly lensed repeater. In both scenarios, obtaining interesting constraints requires correlating the voltage time series to measure the radio signal arrival time to sub-nanosecond precision. We find that two radio dishes separated by 20 AU may be sensitive to the enhancement of small-scale structures at ∼ 10 - 8 M ⊙ masses in the QCD axion dark matter scenario, or from an early epoch of matter domination with a reheating temperature up to 60 MeV. Other dark matter models, such as those composed of ∼ 10 - 13 M ⊙ primordial black holes produced during inflation, would also be probed by this method. We further show that a strong lensing situation of multiple images provides an equivalent ∼ 2000 AU ( σ v / 10 3 km s - 1 ) ( δ t / 10 yr ) baseline, for a typical velocity of dark matter substructures σ v and an observational time span δ . This is much more sensitive, but with the uncertainty that intervening decoherence from the interstellar medium may degrade the timing precision, and that spatial variation in the FRB emission spot may result in confounding signals. We show that the lensing magnifications of Type Ia supernovae constrain a similar quantity to such FRB timing, with present limits being equivalent to ruling out the same parameter space that would be probed by a 0.14 AU baseline.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Reheating effects in the matter power spectrum and implications for substructure

The thermal and expansion history of the Universe before big bang nucleosynthesis is unknown. We investigate the evolution of cosmological perturbations through the transition from an early matter era to radiation domination. We treat reheating as the perturbative decay of an oscillating scalar field into relativistic plasma and cold dark matter. After reheating, we find that subhorizon perturbations in the decay-produced dark matter density are significantly enhanced, while subhorizon radiation perturbations are instead suppressed. If dark matter originates in the radiation bath after reheating, this suppression may be the primary cutoff in the matter power spectrum. Conversely, for dark matter produced nonthermally from scalar decay, enhanced perturbations can drive structure formation during the cosmic dark ages and dramatically increase the abundance of compact substructures. For low reheat temperatures, we find that as much as 50% of all dark matter is in microhalos with M > or approx. 0.1M{sub +} at z{approx_equal}100, compared to a fraction of {approx}10{sup -10} in the standard case. In this scenario, ultradense substructures may constitute a large fraction of dark matter in galaxies today.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Gravitational lensing and the power spectrum of dark matter substructure: Insights from the ETHOS N -body simulations

Strong gravitational lensing has been identified as a promising astrophysical probe to study the particle nature of dark matter. In this paper we present a detailed study of the power spectrum of the projected mass density (convergence) field of substructure in a Milky Way-sized halo. This power spectrum has been suggested as a key observable that can be extracted from strongly-lensed images and yield important clues about the matter distribution within the lens galaxy. We use two different N-body simulations from the ETHOS framework: one with cold dark matter and another with self-interacting dark matter and a cutoff in the initial power spectrum. Despite earlier works that identified k ≳ 100 kpc –1 as the most promising scales to learn about the particle nature of dark matter we find that even at lower wave numbers—which are actually within reach of observations in the near future—we can gain important information about dark matter. Comparing the amplitude and slope of the power spectrum on scales 0.1 ≲ k/kpc –1 ≲ 10 from lenses at different redshifts can help us distinguish between cold dark matter and other exotic dark matter scenarios that alter the abundance and central densities of subhalos. Furthermore, by considering the contribution of different mass bins to the power spectrum we find that subhalos in the mass range 10 7 – 10 8 M ⊙ are on average the largest contributors to the power spectrum signal on scales 2 ≲ k/kpc –1 ≲ 15, despite the numerous subhalos with masses >10 8 M ⊙ in a typical lens galaxy. Lastly, by comparing the power spectra obtained from the subhalo catalogs to those from the particle data in the simulation snapshots we find that the seemingly-too-simple halo model is in fact a fairly good approximation to the much more complex array of substructure in the lens.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Jet Substructure in Fireworks Emission from Nonuniform and Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensates

Here, we show that jet emission from a Bose condensate with periodically driven interactions, also known as “Bose fireworks”, contains essential information on the condensate wave function, which is difficult to obtain using standard detection methods. We illustrate the underlying physics with two examples. When condensates acquire phase patterns from external potentials or from vortices, the jets display novel substructure, such as oscillations or spirals, in their correlations. Through a comparison of theory, numerical simulations, and experiments, we show how one can quantitatively extract the phase and the helicity of a condensate from the emission pattern. Our work, demonstrating the strong link between jet emission and the underlying quantum system, bears on the recent emphasis on jet substructure in particle physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Measurement of Hadronic Event Shapes and Jet Substructure in Proton-Proton Collisions at 7.0 TeV Center-of-Mass Energy with the ATLAS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider

This thesis presents the first measurement of 6 hadronic event shapes in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results are presented at the particle-level, permitting comparisons to multiple Monte Carlo event generator tools. Numerous tools and techniques that enable detailed analysis of the hadronic final state at high luminosity are described. The approaches presented utilize the dual strengths of the ATLAS calorimeter and tracking systems to provide high resolution and robust measurements of the hadronic jets that constitute both a background and a signal throughout ATLAS physics analyses. The study of the hadronic final state is then extended to jet substructure, where the energy flow and topology within individual jets is studied at the detector level and techniques for estimating systematic uncertainties for such measurements are commissioned in the first data. These first substructure measurements in ATLAS include the jet mass and sub-jet multiplicity as well as those concerned with multi-body hadronic decays and color flow within jets. Finally, the first boosted hadronic object observed at the LHC - the decay of the top quark to a single jet - is presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Exploring Milkyway Halo Substructures with Large-Area Sky Surveys

Over the last two decades, our understanding of the Milky Way has been improved thanks to large data sets arising from large-area digital sky surveys. The stellar halo is now known to be inhabited by a variety of spatial and kinematic stellar substructures, including stellar streams and stellar clouds, all of which are predicted by hierarchical Lambda Cold Dark Matter models of galaxy formation. In this dissertation, we first present the analysis of spectroscopic observations of individual stars from the two candidate structures discovered using an M-giant catalog from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. The follow-up observations show that one of the candidates is a genuine structure which might be associated with the Galactic Anticenter Stellar Structure, while the other one is a false detection due to the systematic photometric errors in the survey or dust extinction in low Galactic latitudes. We then presented the discovery of an excess of main sequence turn-off stars in the direction of the constellations of Eridanus and Phoenix from the first-year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) – a five-year, 5,000 deg2 optical imaging survey in the Southern Hemisphere. The Eridanus-Phoenix (EriPhe) overdensity is centered around l ~ 285° and b ~ -60° and the Poisson significance of the detection is at least 9σ. The EriPhe overdensity has a cloud-like morphology and the extent is at least ~ 4 kpc by ~ 3 kpc in projection, with a heliocentric distance of about d ~ 16 kpc. The EriPhe overdensity is morphologically similar to the previously-discovered Virgo overdensity and Hercules-Aquila cloud. These three overdensities lie along a polar plane separated by ~ 120° and may share a common origin. In addition to the scientific discoveries, we also present the work to improve the photometric calibration in DES using auxiliary calibration systems, since the photometric errors can cause false detection in first the halo substructure. We present a detailed description of the two auxiliary calibration systems built at Texas A&M University. We then discuss how the auxiliary systems in DES can be used to improve the photometric calibration of the systematic chromatic errors – source color-dependent systematic errors that are caused by variations in the wavelength dependence of the atmospheric transmission and the instrumental throughput.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Target jet substructure and correlation

We discuss the reconstruction of target jet and the framework of quantifying its internal substructure. Due to momentum and charge conservation, target and current correlation can be exploited which significantly constrains the event-wide particle distributions. We demonstrate this method using Pythia simulations of electron-proton collisions in the context of determining the flavor and substructure of the struck quark jet. Extensions to electron-ion collisions and target tagging using BeAGLE simulations will be discussed. This study will provide novel physics cases for forward detector designs and promote the synergy with nuclear physics.

Chien, Yang-Ting↗

Jet Substructure Variables with the SiFCC Detector at 100 TeV

Future experiments beyond the LHC era will measure high-momentum bosons ($W$, $Z$, $H$) and top quarks with strongly collimated decay products that form hadronic jets. This paper describes the studies of the performance of jet substructure variables using the Geant4 simulation of a detector designed for high energy $pp$ collisions at a 100 TeV collider. The two-prong jets from $Z' \rightarrow WW$ and three-prong jets from $Z' \rightarrow t\bar{t}$ are compared with the background from light quark jets, assuming $Z'$ masses in the range 5 -- 40 TeV. Our results indicate that the performance of jet-substructure reconstruction improves with reducing transverse cell sizes of a hadronic calorimeter from $\Delta \eta \times \Delta \phi = 0.087\times0.087$ to $0.022\times0.022$ in most cases.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

THE NEXT GENERATION VIRGO CLUSTER SURVEY. XIX. TOMOGRAPHY OF MILKY WAY SUBSTRUCTURES IN THE NGVS FOOTPRINT

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) is a deep u*giz survey targeting the Virgo Cluster of galaxies at 16.5 Mpc. This survey provides high-quality photometry over an ∼100 deg{sup 2} region straddling the constellations of Virgo and Coma Berenices. This sightline through the Milky Way is noteworthy in that it intersects two of the most prominent substructures in the Galactic halo: the Virgo overdensity (VOD) and Sagittarius stellar stream (close to its bifurcation point). In this paper, we use deep u*gi imaging from the NGVS to perform tomography of the VOD and Sagittarius stream using main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) stars as a halo tracer population. The VOD, whose centroid is known to lie at somewhat lower declinations (α ∼ 190°, δ ∼ −5°) than is covered by the NGVS, is nevertheless clearly detected in the NGVS footprint at distances between ∼8 and 25 kpc. By contrast, the Sagittarius stream is found to slice directly across the NGVS field at distances between 25 and 40 kpc, with a density maximum at ≃35 kpc. No evidence is found for new substructures beyond the Sagittarius stream, at least out to a distance of ∼90 kpc—the largest distance to which we can reliably trace the halo using MSTO stars. We find clear evidence for a distance gradient in the Sagittarius stream across the ∼30° of sky covered by the NGVS and its flanking fields. We compare our distance measurements along the stream with those predicted by leading stream models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A SUBSTRUCTURE INSIDE SPIRAL ARMS, AND A MIRROR IMAGE ACROSS THE GALACTIC MERIDIAN

Though the galactic density wave theory is over 50 years old and is well known in science, it has been difficult to say whether it fits our own Milky Way disk. Here we show a substructure inside the spiral arms. This substructure is reversing with respect to the Galactic Meridian (longitude zero), and crosscuts of the arms at negative longitudes appear as mirror images of crosscuts of the arms at positive longitudes. Four lanes are delineated: a mid-arm (extended {sup 12}CO gas at the mid-arm, H i atoms), an in-between offset by about 100 pc (synchrotron, radio recombination lines), an in-between offset by about 200 pc (masers, colder dust), and an inner edge (hotter dust seen in mid-IR and near-IR)

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cold dark matter substructures in early-type galaxy halos

We present initial results from the “Ponos” zoom-in numerical simulations of dark matter substructures in massive ellipticals. Two very highly resolved dark matter halos with M {sub vir} = 1.2 × 10{sup 13} M{sub ⊙} and M {sub vir} = 6.5 × 10{sup 12} M{sub ⊙} and different (“violent” versus “quiescent”) assembly histories have been simulated down to z = 0 in a ΛCDM cosmology with a total of 921,651,914 and 408,377,544 particles, respectively. Within the virial radius, the total mass fraction in self-bound M {sub sub} > 10{sup 6} M{sub ⊙} subhalos at the present epoch is 15% for the violent host and 16.5% for the quiescent one. At z = 0.7, these fractions increase to 19% and 33%, respectively, as more recently accreted satellites are less prone to tidal destruction. In projection, the average fraction of surface mass density in substructure at a distance of R/R {sub vir} = 0.02 (∼5–10 kpc) from the two halo centers ranges from 0.6% to ≳2%, significantly higher than that measured in simulations of Milky Way-sized halos. The contribution of subhalos with M {sub sub} < 10{sup 9} M{sub ⊙} to the projected mass fraction is between one-fifth and one-third of the total, with the smallest share found in the quiescent host. We assess the impact of baryonic effects via twin, lower-resolution hydrodynamical simulations that include metallicity-dependent gas cooling, star formation, and a delayed-radiative-cooling scheme for supernova feedback. Baryonic contraction produces a super-isothermal total density profile and increases the number of massive subhalos in the inner regions of the main host. The host density profiles and projected subhalo mass fractions appear to be broadly consistent with observations of gravitational lenses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Gaia EDR3 Reveals the Substructure and Complicated Star Formation History of the Greater Taurus-Auriga Star-forming Complex

The Taurus-Auriga complex is the prototypical low-mass star-forming region, and provides a unique testbed of the star formation process, which left observable imprints on the spatial, kinematic, and temporal structure of its stellar population. Taurus’s rich observational history has uncovered peculiarities that suggest a complicated star-forming event, such as members at large distances from the molecular clouds and evidence of an age spread. With Gaia, an in-depth study of the Taurus census is possible, to confirm membership, identify substructure, and reconstruct its star formation history. We have compiled an expansive census of the greater Taurus region, identifying spatial subgroups and confirming that Taurus is substructured across stellar density. There are two populations of subgroups: clustered groups near the clouds and sparse groups spread throughout the region. The sparse groups comprise Taurus’s distributed population, which is on average older than the population near the clouds, and hosts subpopulations up to 15 Myr old. The ages of the clustered groups increase with distance, suggesting that the current star formation was triggered from behind. Still, the region is kinematically coherent, and its velocity structure reflects an initial turbulent spectrum similar to Larson’s Law that has been modified by dynamical relaxation. Overall, Taurus has a complicated star formation history, with at least two epochs of star formation featuring both clustered and distributed modes. Given the correlations between age and spatial distribution, Taurus might be part of a galaxy-scale star-forming event that can only begin to be understood in the Gaia era.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗