Unified schemes of radio sources, which account for different types of radio AGN in terms of anisotropic radio and optical emission, together with different orientations of the ejection axis to the line of sight, have been invoked for many years. Rec
ently, large samples of optical quasars, mainly from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, together with large radio samples, such as FIRST, have become available. These hold the promise of providing more stringent tests of unified schemes but, compared to previous samples, lack high resolution radio maps. Nevertheless they have been used to investigate unified schemes, in some cases yielding results which appear inconsistent with such theories. Here we investigate using simulations how the selection effects to which such investigations are subject can influence the conclusions drawn. In particular, we find that the effects of limited resolution do not allow core-dominated radio sources to be fully represented in the samples, that the effects of limited sensitivity systematically exclude some classes of sources and the lack of deep radio data make it difficult to decide to what extent closely separated radio sources are associated. Nevertheless, we conclude that relativistic unified schemes are entirely compatible with the current observational data. For a sample selected from SDSS and FIRST which includes weak-cored triples we find that the equivalent width of the [OIII] emission line decreases as core-dominance increases, as expected, and also that core-dominated quasars are optically brighter than weak-cored quasars.
{Abridged} We show that the surface brightness (SB) profiles of elliptical galaxies can be parametrized using a linear superposition of 2-3 components, described by functions developed in Dhar & Williams as the 2D projections of a 3D Einasto profile.
For a sample of 23 ellipticals with -24 < Mv < -15, our multi-component models span a range of up to 10^6 in SB and 10^5 in radius, have a median rms of 0.032 mag arcsec^-2, and are statistically justified at >3{sigma}. Our models indicate that i) the central component is more concentrated than the outer component; and ii) the central component of core galaxies is much more luminous, extended and concentrated than that of cuspy galaxies, with their near exponential central profiles indicating disk-like systems whose existence must be verified spectroscopically. While such central excess components are not necessarily contrary to the notion of a mass deficit in core galaxies, we show that the existence, amount, radial extent and sign of mass deficits disagree substantially in the literature, both for a given galaxy and on an average over a sample. We discuss possible implications and suggest that SMBH binaries are unlikely to be the sole mechanism for producing the large cores. We also deduce conditions under which the 3D light density can be described with a multi-component Einasto model for both cuspy and core galaxies; indicating an universality in the functional form of the 3D density of light in galaxies and dark matter in LCDM N-body haloes. Finally, we show that our result - the outer component of the SB profiles of massive galaxies has 5 < n < 8 - could imply i) a common feature of collisionless systems; and ii) that galaxies with such n for their outer component are dark matter dominated.
Recent advances in N-body simulations of dark matter halos have shown that three-parameter models, in particular the Einasto profile characterized by d ln {rho}(r)/d ln r / r with a shape parameter {alpha} < 0.3, are able to produce better fits to th
e 3D spatial density profiles than two-parameter models like the Navarro, Frenk and White (NFW), and Moore et al. profiles. In this paper, we present for the first time an analytically motivated form for the 2D surface mass density of the Einasto family of dark matter haloes, in terms of the 3D spatial density parameters for a wide range of the shape parameter 0.1 < {alpha} < 1. Our model describes a projected (2D) Einasto profile remarkably well between 0 and (3 - 5) r_{200}, with errors less than 0.3 per cent for {alpha} < 0.3 and less than 2 per cent for {alpha} as large as 1. This model (in 2D) can thus be used to fit strong and weak lensing observations of galaxies and clusters whose total spatial (3D) density distributions are believed to be Einasto-like. Further, given the dependence of our model on the 3D parameters, one can reliably estimate structural parameters of the spatial (3D) density from 2D observations. We also consider a Sersic-like parametrization for the above family of projected Einasto profiles and observe that fits with a Sersic profile are sensitive to whether one fits the projected density in linear scale or logarithmic scale and yield widely varying results. Structural parameters of Einasto-like systems, inferred from fits with a Sersic profile, should be used with caution.
We present the relatively less known thermodynamic concept of exergy in the context of ecology and sustainability. To this end, we first very briefly outline thermodynamics as it arose historically via engineering studies. This enables us to define e
xergy as available energy. An example of applying the concept of exergy to a simple human process is next described. Then we present an exergy analysis of Earth as a flow system, also concurrently describing other necessary concepts. Finally, we briefly comment on the applicability of exergy analysis to ecology and sustainability. Keywords: exergy - energy - work - thermodynamics - heat transfer - flow processes
We present the first experimental study of mesoscopic fluctuations of Coulomb drag in a system with two layers of composite fermions, which are seen when either the magnetic field or carrier concentration are varied. These fluctuations cause an alter
nating sign of the average drag. We study these fluctuations at different temperatures to establish the dominant dephasing mechanism of composite fermions.
I make publicly available my literature study into carbon isotope ratios in the Solar System, which formed a part of Woods & Willacy (2009). As far as I know, I have included here all measurements of 12C/13C in Solar System objects (excluding those o
f Earth) up to and including 1 February 2010. Full references are given. If you use the any of the information here, please reference the paper Woods & Willacy (2009) and this publication.
