Obscured activity: AGN, quasars, starbursts and uligs observed by the infrared space observatory
(2005) 355-407
Abstract:
Some of the most 'active' galaxies in the Universe are obscured by large quantities of dust and emit a substantial fraction of their bolometric luminosity in the infrared. Observations of these infrared luminous galaxies with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) have provided a relatively unabsorbed view to the sources fuelling this active emission. The improved sensitivity, spatial resolution and spectroscopic capability of ISO over its predecessor Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) of enabled significant advances in the understanding of the infrared properties of active galaxies. ISO surveyed a wide range of active galaxies which, in the context of this review, includes those powered by intense bursts of star formation as well as those containing a dominant active galactic nucleus (AGN). Mid-infrared imaging resolved for the first time the dust enshrouded nuclei in many nearby galaxies, while a new era in infrared spectroscopy was opened by probing a wealth of atomic, ionic and molecular lines as well as broad band features in the mid-and farinfrared. This was particularly useful, since it resulted in the understanding of the power production, excitation and fuelling mechanisms in the nuclei of active galaxies including the intriguing but so far elusive ultraluminous infrared galaxies. Detailed studies of various classes of AGN and quasars greatly improved our understanding of the unification scenario. Far-infrared imaging and photometry revealed the presence of a new very cold dust component in galaxies and furthered our knowledge of the far-infrared properties of faint starbursts, ULIGs and quasars. We summarise almost nine years of key results based on ISO data spanning the full range of luminosity and type of active galaxies. © 2005 Springer.Performance implications of virtualization and hyper-threading on high energy physics applications in a grid environment
Proceedings - 19th IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium, IPDPS 2005 2005 (2005)
Abstract:
The simulations used in the field of high energy physics are compute intensive and exhibit a high level of data parallelism. These features make such simulations ideal candidates for Grid computing. We are taking as an example the GEANT4 detector simulation used for physics studies within the ATLAS experiment at CERN. One key issue in Grid computing is that of network and system security, which can potentially inhibit the wide spread use of such simulations. Virtualization provides a feasible solution because it allows the creation of virtual compute nodes in both local and remote compute clusters, thus providing an insulating layer which can play an important role in satisfying the security concerns of all parties involved. However, it has performance implications. This study provides quantitative estimates of the visualization and hyper-threading overhead for GEANT on commodity clusters. Results show that virtualization has less than 15% run-time overhead, and that the best run time (with the non-SMP licence of ESX VMware) is achieved by using one virtual machine per CPU. We also observe that hyper-threading does not provide an advantage in this application. Finally, the effect of virtualization on run-time, throughput, mean response time and utilization is estimated using simulations.The cornell/purdue TPC
LCWS 2005 - 2005 International Linear Collider Workshop (2005)
Abstract:
A prototype TPC has been completed and commissioned at Cornell for the purpose of evaluating performance and reliability of candidate gas-amplification devices and pad configurations. The TPC has an active area of 10cm square and a drift length of 64cm. The current readout electronics includes 32 channels of 14 bit, 105 MHz 14flash-ADCs. Baseline measurements have been taken with a wire gas-amplification module. The Purdue group has prepared a single GEM readout module. First results using the wire gas-amplification and single GEM are described.POINT-AGAPE pixel lensing survey of M 31
Astronomy & Astrophysics EDP Sciences 443:3 (2005) 911-928
Precision measurements of the timelike electromagnetic form factors of pion, kaon, and proton.
Physical review letters 95:26 (2005) 261803