An Inversion Method for Measuring Beta in Large Redshift Surveys

A precision method for determining the value of Beta= Omega_m^{0.6}/b, where b is the galaxy bias parameter, is presented. In contrast to other existing techniques that focus on estimating this quantity by measuring distortions in the redshift space galaxy-galaxy correlation function or power spectrum, this method removes the distortions by reconstructing the real space density field and determining the value of Beta that results in a symmetric signal. To remove the distortions, the method modifies the amplitudes of a Fourier plane-wave expansion of the survey data parameterized by Beta. This technique is not dependent on the small-angle/plane-parallel approximation and can make full use of large redshift survey data. It has been tested using simulations with four different cosmologies and returns the value of Beta to +/- 0.031, over a factor of two improvement over existing techniques.Comment: 16 pages including 6 figures Submitted to The Astrophysical Journa

A terahertz polarization insensitive dual band metamaterial absorber

Metamaterial absorbers have attracted considerable attention for applications in the terahertz range. In this Letter, we report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a terahertz dual band metamaterial absorber that shows two distinct absorption peaks with high absorption. By manipulating the periodic patterned structures as well as the dielectric layer thickness of the metal–dielectric–metal structure, significantly high absorption can be obtained at specific resonance frequencies. Finite-difference time-domain modeling is used to design the structure of the absorber. The fabricated devices have been characterized using a Fourier transform IR spectrometer. The experimental results show two distinct absorption peaks at 2.7 and 5.2 THz, which are in good agreement with the simulation. The absorption magnitudes at 2.7 and 5.2 THz are 0.68 and 0.74, respectively

The Canada-France deep fields survey-I: 100,000 galaxies, 1 deg^2: a precise measurement of \omega(\theta) to IAB~25

(abridged) Using the UH8K mosaic camera, we have measured the angular correlation function \omega(\theta) for 100,000 galaxies over four widely separated fields totalling ~1\deg^2 and reaching IAB~25.5. With this sample we investigate the dependence of \omega(\theta) at 1', A_\omega(1'), on sample median IAB magnitude in the range 19.5<I(AB-med)<24. Our results show that A_\omega(1') decreases monotonically to IAB~25. At bright magnitudes, \omega(\theta) is consistent with a power-law of slope \delta = -0.8 for 0.2'<\theta<3.0' but at fainter magnitudes we find \delta ~ -0.6. At the 3\sigma level, our observations are still consistent with \delta=-0.8. Furthermore, in the magnitude ranges 18.5<IAB<24.0 and 18.5<IAB<23.0 we find galaxies with 2.6<(V-I)AB<2.9 have A_\omega(1')'s which are ~10x higher than field values. We demonstrate that our model redshift distributions for the faint galaxy population are in good agreement with current spectroscopic observations. Using these predictions, we find that for low-omega cosmologies and assuming r_0=4.3/h Mpc, in the range 19.5<I(AB-med)<22, the growth of galaxy clustering is \epsilon~0. However, at 22<I(AB-med)<24.0, our observations are consistent with \epsilon>1. Models with \epsilon~0 cannot simultaneously match both bright and faint measurements of A_\omega(1`). We show how this result is a natural consequence of the ``bias-free'' nature of the \epsilon formalism and is consistent with the field galaxy population in the range 22.0<IAB<24.0 being dominated by galaxies of low intrinsic luminosity.Comment: 20 pages, 21 figures, requires natbib.sty, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Optimal measurement of visual motion across spatial and temporal scales

Sensory systems use limited resources to mediate the perception of a great variety of objects and events. Here a normative framework is presented for exploring how the problem of efficient allocation of resources can be solved in visual perception. Starting with a basic property of every measurement, captured by Gabor's uncertainty relation about the location and frequency content of signals, prescriptions are developed for optimal allocation of sensors for reliable perception of visual motion. This study reveals that a large-scale characteristic of human vision (the spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity function) is similar to the optimal prescription, and it suggests that some previously puzzling phenomena of visual sensitivity, adaptation, and perceptual organization have simple principled explanations.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, 2 appendices; in press in Favorskaya MN and Jain LC (Eds), Computer Vision in Advanced Control Systems using Conventional and Intelligent Paradigms, Intelligent Systems Reference Library, Springer-Verlag, Berli

Loose Groups of Galaxies in the Las Campanas Redshift Survey

A ``friends-of-friends'' percolation algorithm has been used to extract a catalogue of dn/n = 80 density enhancements (groups) from the six slices of the Las Campanas Redshift Survey (LCRS). The full catalogue contains 1495 groups and includes 35% of the LCRS galaxy sample. A clean sample of 394 groups has been derived by culling groups from the full sample which either are too close to a slice edge, have a crossing time greater than a Hubble time, have a corrected velocity dispersion of zero, or contain a 55-arcsec ``orphan'' (a galaxy with a mock redshift which was excluded from the original LCRS redshift catalogue due to its proximity to another galaxy -- i.e., within 55 arcsec). Median properties derived from the clean sample include: line-of-sight velocity dispersion sigma_los = 164km/s, crossing time t_cr = 0.10/H_0, harmonic radius R_h = 0.58/h Mpc, pairwise separation R_p = 0.64/h Mpc, virial mass M_vir = (1.90x10^13)/h M_sun, total group R-band luminosity L_tot = (1.30x10^11)/h^2 L_sun, and R-band mass-to-light ratio M/L = 171h M_sun/L_sun; the median number of observed members in a group is 3.Comment: 32 pages of text, 27 figures, 7 tables. Figures 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8 are in gif format. Tables 1 and 3 are in plain ASCII format (in paper source) and are also available at http://www-sdss.fnal.gov:8000/~dtucker/LCLG . Accepted for publication in the September 2000 issue of ApJ