Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology

Abstract:

Recent observations suggest that the behaviour of tracer species such as N_2H+ and CS is significantly different in regions of high and low mass star formation. In the latter, N_2H+ is a good tracer of mass, while CS is not. Observations show the reverse to be true in high-mass star formation regions. We use a computational chemical model to show that the abundances of these and other species may be significantly altered by a period of accelerated collapse in high mass star forming regions. We suggest these results provide a potential explanation of the observations, and make predictions for the behaviour of other species.

Abstract:

The observed 511 keV emission from the galactic bulge could be due to very light (MeV) annihilating dark matter particles. To distinguish this hypothesis from conventional astrophysical sources, we study dwarf spheroidals in the region observed by the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory/SPI such as Sagittarius. As these galaxies have comparatively few stars, the prospects for 511 keV emission from standard astrophysical scenarios are minimal. The dwarf spheroidals do, however, contain copious amounts of dark matter. The observation of 511 keV emission from Sagittarius should be a "smoking gun" for MeV dark matter.

Abstract:

Two ground-based experiments have recently independently detected TeV γ-rays from the direction of the galactic centre. The observations made by the VERITAS and CANGAROO collaborations are unexpected, although not impossible to interpret in terms of astrophysical sources. Here we examine in detail whether the observed γ-rays may arise from the more exotic alternative of annihilations of dark matter particles clustered in the centre of the galaxy. ©2004 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

The Oxford-Dartmouth Thirty Degree Survey (ODTS) is a deep, wide, multiband imaging survey designed to cover a total of 30 deg² in BV Ri′Z, with a subset of U- and K-band data, in four separate fields of 5-10 deg² centred at 00:18:24 +34:52, 09:09:45 +40:50, 13:40:00 +02:30 and 16:39:30 +45:24. Observations have been made using the Wide Field Camera on the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) in La Palma to average limiting depths (5σ Vega, aperture magnitudes) of U = 24.8, B = 25.6, V = 25.0, R = 24.6 and i′ = 23.5, with observations taken in ideal conditions reaching the target depths of U = 25.3, B = 26.2, V = 25.7, R = 25.4 and i′ = 24.6. The INT Z-band data were found to be severely effected by fringing and, consequently, are now being obtained at the MDM observatory in Arizona. A complementary K-band survey has also been carried out at MDM, reaching an average depth of K5σ ≈ 18.5. At present, approximately 23 deg² of the ODTS have been observed, with 3.5 deg² of the K-band survey completed. This paper details the survey goals, field selection, observation strategy and data reduction procedure, focusing on the photometric calibration and catalogue construction. Preliminary photometric redshifts have been obtained for a subsample of the objects with R ≤ 23. These results are presented alongside a brief description of the photo-metric redshift determination technique used. The median redshift of the survey is estimated to be z ≈ 0.7 from a combination of the ODTS photometric redshifts and comparison with the redshift distributions of other surveys. Finally, galaxy number counts for the ODTS are presented which are found to be in excellent agreement with previous studies.