Physical effects on the Lyα forest flux power spectrum: damping wings, ionizing radiation fluctuations and galactic winds

We explore several physical effects on the power spectrum of the Lyα forest transmitted flux. The effects we investigate here are not usually part of hydrodynamic simulations and so need to be estimated separately. The most important effect is that of high column density absorbers with damping wings, which add power on large scales. We compute their effect using the observational constraints on their abundance as a function of column density. Ignoring their effect leads to an underestimation of the slope of the linear theory power spectrum. The second effect we investigate is that of fluctuations in the ionizing radiation field. For this purpose we use a very large high-resolution N -body simulation, which allows us to simulate both the fluctuations in the ionizing radiation and the small-scale Lyα forest within the same simulation. We find an enhancement of power on large scales for quasars and a suppression for galaxies. The strength of the effect rapidly increases with increasing redshift, allowing it to be uniquely identified in cases where it is significant. We develop templates that can be used to search for this effect as a function of quasar lifetime, quasar luminosity function and attenuation length. Finally, we explore the effects of galactic winds using hydrodynamic simulations. We find the wind effects on the Lyα forest power spectrum to be degenerate with parameters related to the temperature of the gas that are already marginalized over in cosmological fits. While more work is needed to conclusively exclude all possible systematic errors, our results suggest that, in the context of data analysis procedures, where parameters of the Lyα forest model are properly marginalized over, the flux power spectrum is a reliable tracer of cosmological information.     

Spectroscopy of Galaxies in Selected Fields of the Second Byurakan Survey

Spectroscopic data are presented for 35 galaxies from selected fields of the Second Byurakan Survey (SBS). The observations were made on the 2.6 m telescope at the BAO using the SCORPIO spectral camera. A majority of the objects were observed for the purpose of improving the classification of types in accordance with an adapted scheme presented in this paper.     

Studies of the fine structure of the object 1803+784

We have investigated the fine structure of the object 1803+784 at a wavelength of 18 cm with an angular resolution of ～0.5 mas. The structure consists of a core (injector) and a jet. The angle of the relativistic plasma outflow is equal to the angle of a conical diverging helix—the trajectory of compact components, suggesting a similar shape of the jet. The helical structure and the curvature of the jet axis are assumed to be determined by rapid and long-period precession of the rotation axis. The core radio emission at 18 cm is attenuated by absorption in the ambient ionized medium (cocoon wall) by >25 db. The bright compact component is the nearby part of the jet extending outside the dense part of the screen. Ionization variations in the medium cause low-frequency radio variability. Screen parameters are estimated.     

Spin Temperature of Ammonia Determined from NH2 in Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR)

The ortho-to-para ratio (OPR) of a cometary molecule is one of primordial character in comets. The OPR which is characterized by a spin temperature, is thought to reflect the formation conditions of the molecule. In this paper we show the high-dispersion spectrum of cometary NH₂ in Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR), from which the OPR of NH₂ is determined based on the fluorescence excitation model. Since the NH₂ is a photodissociation product of cometary ammonia, we applied the permutation group theory to the whole reaction system (i.e. the photodissociation reaction of ammonia to NH₂ and H) in order to derive the OPR of ammonia from that of NH₂. The derived OPR of ammonia is 1.12 ± 0.03 in Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR). This value corresponds to a spin temperature of 30⁺³ _-2 K. If this reflects the temperature where the comet formed in the protosolar nebula, our result indicates that thiscomet was formed in the region of the giant planets between Jupiter and Neptune.     

Star formation histories across hubble types

Using population fitting and galactic chemical evolution (GCE) models we unravel the information present in spectral line-strengths, for a sample of 32 galaxies including ellipticals, S0s and spiral bulges. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.