Central stellar populations of early-type galaxies in low-density environments

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 370:3 (2006) 1213-1222

Authors:

M Collobert, M Sarzi, RL Davies, H Kuntschner, M Colless

Abstract:

Following the pilot study of Kuntschner et al., we have investigated the properties of a volume-and magnitude-limited (cz > 10 000 km s-1, bJ > 16) sample of early-type galaxies that were carefully selected from the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) two-degree field galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS) to have no more than one and five companions within 1 and 2 Mpc, respectively. We used images from the Digital Sky Survey (DSS) to confirm the E/SO morphologies. We augmented this sample with field galaxies from Colbert et al. selected as having no neighbour within 1 Mpc and ±1000 km s-1. We present spectroscopic observations of 22 galaxies from the combined sample, from which central velocity dispersions and the Lick stellar population indices were measured. After carefully correcting the spectra for nebular emission, we derived luminosity-weighted ages, metallicities and α-element abundance ratios. We compare these isolated galaxies with samples of early-type galaxies in the Virgo and Coma clusters, and also with the previous sample of galaxies in low-density regions of Kuntschner et al. We find that galaxies in low-density environments are younger and have a greater spread of ages compared to cluster galaxies. They also show a wider range of metallicities at a given velocity dispersion than cluster galaxies, which display only supersolar metallicities. On average cluster, as well as, isolated galaxies show non-solar abundance ratios in α elements, suggesting that, independent of galactic environment, star formation occurred on short time-scales. However, the abundance ratios for our low-density environment sample galaxies do not scale with the stellar velocity dispersion as observed in clusters. In fact we detect a large spread at a given velocity dispersion even reaching solar abundance ratios. The metallicity of isolated early-type galaxies is found to correlate weakly with σ. We reason that early-type galaxies in low-density environments experienced merging-induced star formation episodes over a longer and more recent period of time compared to a cluster environment, and speculate that a considerable fraction of their stars formed out of low-metallicity halo gaseous material during the slow growth of a stellar disc between merging events. © 2006 RAS.

Direct search for dirac magnetic monopoles in pp̄ collisions at s=1.96TeV

Physical Review Letters 96:20 (2006)

Authors:

A Abulencia, D Acosta, J Adelman, T Affolder, T Akimoto, MG Albrow, D Ambrose, S Amerio, D Amidei, A Anastassov, K Anikeev, A Annovi, J Antos, M Aoki, G Apollinari, JF Arguin, T Arisawa, A Artikov, W Ashmanskas, A Attal, F Azfar, P Azzi-Bacchetta, P Azzurri, N Bacchetta, H Bachacou, W Badgett, A Barbaro-Galtieri, VE Barnes, BA Barnett, S Baroiant, V Bartsch, G Bauer, F Bedeschi, S Behari, S Belforte, G Bellettini, J Bellinger, A Belloni, E Ben-Haim, D Benjamin, A Beretvas, J Beringer, T Berry, A Bhatti, M Binkley, D Bisello, M Bishai, RE Blair, C Blocker, K Bloom, B Blumenfeld, A Bocci, A Bodek, V Boisvert, G Bolla, A Bolshov, D Bortoletto, J Boudreau, S Bourov, A Boveia, B Brau, C Bromberg, E Brubaker, J Budagov, HS Budd, S Budd, K Burkett, G Busetto, P Bussey, KL Byrum, S Cabrera, M Campanelli, M Campbell, F Canelli, A Canepa, D Carlsmith, R Carosi, S Carron, A Carter, M Casarsa, A Castro, P Catastini, D Cauz, M Cavalli-Sforza, A Cerri, L Cerrito, SH Chang, J Chapman, YC Chen, M Chertok, G Chiarelli, G Chlachidze, F Chlebana, I Cho, K Cho, D Chokheli, JP Chou, PH Chu, SH Chuang, K Chung

Abstract:

We search for pair-produced Dirac magnetic monopoles in 35.7pb-1 of proton-antiproton collisions at s=1.96TeV with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). We find no monopole candidates corresponding to a 95% confidence-level cross-section limit σ<0.2pb for a monopole with mass between 200 and 700GeV/c2. Assuming a Drell-Yan pair-production mechanism, we set a mass limit m>360GeV/c2. © 2006 The American Physical Society.

Evidence for the exclusive decay Bc±→J/ψπ± and measurement of the mass of the Bc± meson

Physical Review Letters 96:8 (2006)

Authors:

A Abulencia, D Acosta, J Adelman, T Affolder, T Akimoto, MG Albrow, D Ambrose, S Amerio, D Amidei, A Anastassov, K Anikeev, A Annovi, J Antos, M Aoki, G Apollinari, JF Arguin, T Arisawa, A Artikov, W Ashmanskas, A Attal, F Azfar, P Azzi-Bacchetta, P Azzurri, N Bacchetta, H Bachocou, W Badgett, A Barbaro-Galtieri, VE Barnes, BA Barnett, S Baroiant, V Bartsch, G Bauer, F Bedeschi, S Behari, S Belforte, G Bellettini, J Bellinger, A Belloni, E Ben-Haim, D Benjamin, A Beretvas, J Beringer, T Berry, A Bhatti, M Binkley, D Bisello, M Bishai, RE Blair, C Blocker, K Bloom, B Blumenfeld, A Bocci, A Bodek, V Boisvert, G Bolla, A Bolshov, D Bortoletto, J Boudreau, S Bourov, A Boveia, B Brau, C Bromberg, E Brubaker, J Budagov, HS Budd, S Budd, K Burkett, G Busetto, P Bussey, KL Byrum, S Cabrera, M Campanelli, M Campbell, F Canelli, A Canepa, D Carlsmith, R Carosi, S Carron, M Casarsa, A Castro, P Catastini, D Cauz, M Cavalli-Sforza, A Cerri, L Cerrito, SH Chang, J Chapman, YC Chen, M Chertok, G Chiarelli, G Chlachidze, F Chlebana, I Cho, K Cho, D Chokheli, JP Chou, PH Chu, SH Chuang, K Chung, WH Chung

Abstract:

We report the first evidence for a fully reconstructed decay mode of the Bc± meson in the channel Bc±→J/ψπ±, with J/ψ→μ+μ-. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 360pb-1 in pp̄ collisions at 1.96 TeV center of mass energy collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We observe 14.6±4.6 signal events with a background of 7.1±0.9 events, and a fit to the J/ψπ± mass spectrum yields a Bc± mass of 6285.7±5.3(stat)±1. 2(syst)MeV/c2. The probability of a peak of this magnitude occurring by random fluctuation in the search region is estimated as 0.012%. © 2006 The American Physical Society.

Experimental study of χb(2P)→ππχb(1P)

Physical Review D American Physical Society (APS) 73:1 (2006) 012003

Authors:

C Cawlfield, BI Eisenstein, I Karliner, D Kim, N Lowrey, P Naik, C Sedlack, M Selen, EJ White, J Williams, J Wiss, DM Asner, KW Edwards, D Besson, TK Pedlar, D Cronin-Hennessy, KY Gao, DT Gong, J Hietala, Y Kubota, T Klein, BW Lang, SZ Li, R Poling, AW Scott, A Smith, S Dobbs, Z Metreveli, KK Seth, A Tomaradze, P Zweber, J Ernst, K Arms, H Severini, SA Dytman, W Love, S Mehrabyan, JA Mueller, V Savinov, Z Li, A Lopez, H Mendez, J Ramirez, GS Huang, DH Miller, V Pavlunin, B Sanghi, IPJ Shipsey, GS Adams, M Anderson, JP Cummings, I Danko, J Napolitano, Q He, H Muramatsu, CS Park, EH Thorndike, TE Coan, YS Gao, F Liu, M Artuso, C Boulahouache, S Blusk, J Butt, O Dorjkhaidav, J Li, N Menaa, R Mountain, K Randrianarivony, R Redjimi, R Sia, T Skwarnicki, S Stone, JC Wang, K Zhang, SE Csorna, G Bonvicini, D Cinabro, M Dubrovin, A Lincoln, A Bornheim, SP Pappas, AJ Weinstein, RA Briere, GP Chen, J Chen, T Ferguson, G Tatishvili, H Vogel, ME Watkins, JL Rosner, NE Adam, JP Alexander, K Berkelman, DG Cassel, JE Duboscq, KM Ecklund, R Ehrlich, T Engelmore, L Fields, RS Galik, L Gibbons, R Gray, SW Gray, DL Hartill, BK Heltsley, D Hertz, CD Jones, J Kandaswamy, DL Kreinick, VE Kuznetsov, H Mahlke-Krüger, TO Meyer, PUE Onyisi, JR Patterson, D Peterson, EA Phillips, J Pivarski, D Riley, A Ryd, AJ Sadoff, H Schwarthoff, X Shi, MR Shepherd, S Stroiney, WM Sun, KM Weaver, T Wilksen, M Weinberger, SB Athar, P Avery, L Breva-Newell, R Patel, V Potlia, H Stoeck, J Yelton, P Rubin

GridPP: Development of the UK computing Grid for particle physics

Journal of Physics G Nuclear and Particle Physics 32:1 (2006) N1-N20

Authors:

PJW Faulkner, LS Lowe, CLA Tan, PM Watkins, DS Bailey, TA Barrass, NH Brook, RJH Croft, MP Kelly, CK Mackay, S Metson, OJE Maroney, DM Newbold, FF Wilson, PR Hobson, A Khan, P Kyberd, JJ Nebrensky, M Bly, C Brew, S Burke, R Byrom, J Coles, LA Cornwall, A Djaoui, L Field, SM Fisher, GT Folkes, NI Geddes, JC Gordon, SJC Hicks, JG Jensen, G Johnson, D Kant, DP Kelsey, G Kuznetsov, J Leake, RP Middleton, GN Patrick, G Prassas, BJ Saunders, D Ross, RA Sansum, T Shah, B Strong, O Synge, R Tam, M Thorpe, S Traylen, JF Wheeler, NGH White, AJ Wilson, I Antcheva, E Artiaga, J Beringer, IG Bird, J Casey, AJ Cass, R Chytracek, MV Gallas Torreira, J Generowicz, M Girone, G Govi, F Harris, M Heikkurinen, A Horvath, E Knezo, M Litmaath, M Lubeck, J Moscicki, I Neilson, E Poinsignon, W Pokorski, A Ribon, Z Sekera, DH Smith, WL Tomlin, JE van Eldik, J Wojcieszuk, FM Brochu, S Das, K Harrison, M Hayes, JC Hill, CG Lester, MJ Palmer, MA Parker, M Nelson, MR Whalley, EWN Glover, P Anderson, PJ Clark, AD Earl, A Holt, A Jackson, B Joo, RD Kenway, CM Maynard, J Perry, L Smith

Abstract:

The GridPP Collaboration is building a UK computing Grid for particle physics, as part of the international effort towards computing for the Large Hadron Collider. The project, funded by the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), began in September 2001 and completed its first phase 3 years later. GridPP is a collaboration of approximately 100 researchers in 19 UK university particle physics groups, the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils and CERN, reflecting the strategic importance of the project. In collaboration with other European and US efforts, the first phase of the project demonstrated the feasibility of developing, deploying and operating a Grid-based computing system to meet the UK needs of the Large Hadron Collider experiments. This note describes the work undertaken to achieve this goal. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.