Search

Macrogases are defined as two-component, large-scale celestial objects where the subsystems interact only via gravitation. The macrogas equation of state is formulated and compared to the van der Waals equation of state for ordinary gases. By analogy, it is assumed that real macroisothermal curves in macrogases occur as real isothermal curves in ordinary gases, where a phase transition takes place along a horisontal line in the macrovolume-macropressure (Mv-Mp) plane. A simple guidance case and two density profiles which satisfactorily fit to observations or simulations, are studied in detail. For sufficiently steep density profiles, a critical macroisothermal curve exists as shown by ordinary gases, where the critical point coincides with the horisontal inflexion point. By analogy with ordinary gases, the first quadrant of the (Mv-Mp) plane may be divided into three parts, namely (i) the G region, where only gas exists; (ii) the S region, where only stars exist; (iii) the GS region, where both gas and stars exist. An application is made to a subsample of elliptical galaxies investigated within the SAURON project. Different models characterized by equal subsystem mass ratio and different scaled truncation radii, are considered and the related position of sample objects on the (Mv-Mp) plane is determined. Tipically, fast rotators are found to lie within the S region, while slow rotators are close (from both sides) to the boundary between the S and the GS region. The net effect of the uncertainty affecting observed quantities, on the position of sample objects on the (Mv-Mp) plane, is also investigated. Finally, a principle of corresponding states is formulated for macrogases with assigned density profiles and scaled truncation radii., Comment: 72 pages, 8 tables, and 18 figures; some typos corrected; tables 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, better formatted; principle of corresponding states defined in section 2

The EROS-2 project has been designed to search for microlensing events towards any dense stellar field. The densest parts of the Galactic spiral arms have been monitored to maximize the microlensing signal expected from the stars of the Galactic disk and bulge. 12.9 million stars have been monitored during 7 seasons towards 4 directions in the Galactic plane, away from the Galactic center. A total of 27 microlensing event candidates have been found. Estimates of the optical depths from the 22 best events are provided. A first order interpretation shows that simple Galactic models with a standard disk and an elongated bulge are in agreement with our observations. We find that the average microlensing optical depth towards the complete EROS-cataloged stars of the spiral arms is $\bar{\tau} =0.51\pm .13\times 10^{-6}$, a number that is stable when the selection criteria are moderately varied. As the EROS catalog is almost complete up to $I_C=18.5$, the optical depth estimated for the sub-sample of bright target stars with $I_C.11\times 10^{-6}$) is easier to interpret. The set of microlensing events that we have observed is consistent with a simple Galactic model. A more precise interpretation would require either a better knowledge of the distance distribution of the target stars, or a simulation based on a Galactic model. For this purpose, we define and discuss the concept of optical depth for a given catalog or for a limiting magnitude., Comment: 22 pages submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics

We conduct high-resolution collisionless N-body simulations to investigate the tidal evolution of dwarf galaxies on an eccentric orbit in the Milky Way (MW) potential. The dwarfs originally consist of a low surface brightness stellar disk embedded in a cosmologically motivated dark matter halo. During 10 Gyr of dynamical evolution and after 5 pericentre passages the dwarfs suffer substantial mass loss and their stellar component undergoes a major morphological transformation from a disk to a bar and finally to a spheroid. The bar is preserved for most of the time as the angular momentum is transferred outside the galaxy. A dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy is formed via gradual shortening of the bar. This work thus provides a comprehensive quantitative explanation of a potentially crucial morphological transformation mechanism for dwarf galaxies that operates in groups as well as in clusters. We compare three cases with different initial inclinations of the disk and find that the evolution is fastest when the disk is coplanar with the orbit. Despite the strong tidal perturbations and mass loss the dwarfs remain dark matter dominated. For most of the time the 1D stellar velocity dispersion, \sigma, follows the maximum circular velocity, V_{\rm max}, and they are both good tracers of the bound mass. Specifically, we find that M_{\rm bound} \propto V_{\rm max}^{3.5} and V_{\rm max} \sim \sqrt{3} \sigma in agreement with earlier studies based on pure dark matter simulations. The latter relation is based on directly measuring the stellar kinematics of the simulated dwarf and may thus be reliably used to map the observed stellar velocity dispersions of dSphs to halo circular velocities when addressing the missing satellites problem., Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, significantly revised version with new simulations analyzed, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The hierarchical growth of dark matter haloes, in which galaxies are hosted, has been studied and modeled using various approaches. In this paper we use a modified version the Sheth & Lemson algorithm for a $\mathrm{\Lambda}$ cold dark matter power spectrum, and model the growth of a Milky-Way sized halo with microsolar mass resolution, corresponding to the typical Jeans mass for a dark matter Weakly Interacting Massive Particle with mass of 100 GeV. We then compute the \emph{unevolved} subhalo mass function and build-up a Milky-Way halo placing and evolving its satellites. This subhalo population is used to study the $\gamma$-ray emission from dark matter annihilation. In this case, the subhaloes which populate the host halo have been computed considering only progenitor haloes accreted by the main branch of the tree, so as to correctly treat the embedding of sub-subhaloes inside subhaloes. Each subhalo will indeed host atthe present-time sub-subhaloes accreted when it was an isolated system. In order to compute the sub-subhalo population of a Milky-Way dwarf galaxy, like Draco, and to study its $\gamma$-ray emission, we first estimate the Draco virial mass at merging redshift $z_m$ and then we run the merger tree from $z_m$ following the halo down to the dark matter Jeans mass. We then study the effect on the Fermi-LAT (GLAST) detectability for both subhaloes in the Milky-Way and in Draco, and we show how subhaloes cannot be responsible for the boost factor needed for detection., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS - 12 pages, 7 figures. Text improved and comments added. Name of a author fixed

In this paper we analyze the problem of the total mass and the total mass-to-light ratio of the early-type galaxy NGC 4649 (M60). We have used two independent techniques: the X-ray methodology which is based on the temperature of the X-ray halo of NGC 4649 and the tracer mass estimator (TME) which uses globular clusters (GCs) observed in this galaxy. We calculated the mass in Newtonian and MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) approaches and found that interior to 3 effective radii (Re) there is no need for large amounts of dark matter. Beyond 3Re dark matter starts to play important dynamical role. We also discuss possible reasons for the discrepancy between the estimates of the total mass based on X-rays and TME in the outer regions of NGC 4649., Accepted by Serbian Astronomical Journal, 8 pages, 1 figure

We report the discovery of two concentric Einstein rings around the gravitational lens SDSS J0946+ 1006. The main lens is at redshift z(l) = 0.222, while the inner ring ( 1) is at redshift z(s1) 0.609 (R-Ein1 = 1.43 '' +/- 0.01 ''). The wider image separation ( R-Ein2 = 2.07 '' +/- 0.02 '') of the outer ring (2) implies a higher redshift than that of ring 1; the detection of ring 2 in the F814WACS filter implies an upper limit of z(s2) less than or similar to 6.9. The main lens can be described by a power- law total mass density profile rho(tot) proportional to r(-gamma ') with gamma ' = 2.00 +/- 0.03 and velocity dispersion sigma(SIE) = 287 +/- 5 km s(-1) ( the stellar velocity dispersion is sigma(v,*) = 284 +/- 24 km s(-1)). The strong lensing configuration is inconsistent with light traces mass. Adopting a prior on the stellar mass- to- light ratio from previous SLACS work, we infer a 73% +/- 9% dark matter fraction within the cylinder of radius equal to the effective radius of the lens. We find that, for the case of SDSS J0946+ 1006, the geometry of the two rings does not place interesting constraints on cosmography because of the suboptimal redshifts of lens and sources. We then consider the perturbing effect of the mass associated with ring 1 building a compound lens model. This introduces minor changes to the mass of the main lens and provides an estimate of z(s2) = 3.1(-1.0)(+2.0) and of the mass of the source responsible for ring 1 (sigma(SIE,s1) = 94(-47)(+27) km s(-1)). We conclude by examining the prospects of doing cosmography with a sample of 50 double rings, expected from future space- based surveys. Accounting for uncertainties in the mass profile of the lens and the effects of the perturber, we find that such a sample would constrain Omega(m) and within 10%, assuming flatness.

The nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco with its high mass to light ratio is one of the most auspicious targets for indirect dark matter searches. Annihilation of hypothetical DM particles can result in high-energy gamma-rays, e.g. from neutralino annihilation in the supersymmetric framework. With the MAGIC telescope a search for a possible DM signal originating from Draco was performed during 2007. The analysis of the data results in a flux upper limit of 1.1x10^-11 photons cm^-2 sec^-1 for photon energies above 140 GeV, assuming a point like source. Furthermore, a comparison with predictions from supersymmetric models is given. While our results do not constrain the mSUGRA phase parameter space, a very high flux enhancement can be ruled out., Comment: Accepted for publication by Astrophysical Journal

We present an algorithm for generating merger histories of dark matter haloes. The algorithm is based on the excursion set approach with moving barriers whose shape is motivated by the ellipsoidal collapse model of halo formation. In contrast to most other merger-tree algorithms, ours takes discrete steps in mass rather than time. This allows us to quantify effects which arise from the fact that outputs from numerical simulations are usually in discrete time bins. In addition, it suggests a natural set of scaling variables for describing the abundance of halo progenitors; this scaling is not as general as that associated with a spherical collapse. We test our algorithm by comparing its predictions with measurements in numerical simulations. The progenitor mass fractions and mass functions are in good agreement, as is the predicted scaling law. We also test the formation-redshift distribution, the mass distribution at formation, and the redshift distribution of the most recent major merger; all are in reasonable agreement with N-body simulation data, over a broad range of masses and redshifts. Finally, we study the effects of sampling in discrete time snapshots. In all cases, the improvement over algorithms based on the spherical collapse assumption is significant., Comment: MNRAS accepted, 15 pages, 12 figures

This paper aims to investigate what kind of density perturbations did lead to elliptical galaxies and what kind to spiral galaxies, in the context of a CDM scenario. Previous work by HP (Heavens and Peacock, 1988) is reviewed and extended; more particularly: (i) a theoreticalJ∼M ξ relation is derived for virialized configurations, with a slope increasing with the mass, in the range 5/3

We present the first set of XMM-Newton EPIC observations in the 2 square degree COSMOS field. The strength of the COSMOS project is the unprecedented combination of a large solid angle and sensitivity over the whole multiwavelength spectrum. The XMM-Newton observations are very efficient in localizing and identifying active galactic nuclei (AGN) and clusters as well as groups of galaxies. One of the primary goals of the XMM-Newton Cosmos survey is to study the co-evolution of active galactic nuclei as a function of their environment in the Cosmic web. Here we present the log of observations, images and a summary of first research highlights for the first pass of 25 XMM-Newton pointings across the field. In the existing dataset we have detected 1416 new X-ray sources in the 0.5-2, 2-4.5 and 4.5-10 keV bands to an equivalent 0.5-2 keV flux limit of 7x10-16 erg cm-2 s-1. The number of sources is expected to grow to almost 2000 in the final coverage of the survey. From an X-ray color color analysis we identify a population of heavily obscured, partially leaky or reflecting absorbers, most of which are likely to be nearby, Compton-thick AGN., 9 pages, ApJS COSMOS Special Issue, 2007 in press. the full-resolution version is available at http://www.mpe.mpg.de/XMMCosmos/PAPERS/grh_cosmos.ps.gz

We present measurements of the two-point galaxy angular correlation function w(\theta) in the COSMOS field. Independent determinations of w(\theta) as a function of magnitude limit are presented for both the HST ACS catalog and also for the ground-based data from Subaru and the CFHT. Despite having significantly different masks, these three determinations agree well. At bright magnitudes (IAB 10 arcmin, which we attribute to a particularly rich structure known to exist at z~0.8. For fainter samples, however, the level of clustering is somewhat higher than reported by some previous studies: in all three catalogues we find w(\theta=1')~0.014 at a median IAB magnitude of 24. At these very faintest magnitudes, our measurements agree well with the latest determinations from the Canada-France Legacy Survey. This level of clustering is approximately double what is predicted by the semi-analytic catalogs (at all angles). The semi-analytic results allow an estimate of cosmic variance, which is too small to account for the discrepancy. We therefore conclude that the mean amplitude of clustering at this level is higher than previously estimated., Comment: Six pages, five figures. Accepted for publication in the ApJS COSMOS special issue, Sept. 2007

We present the results of a search for galaxy clusters in the first 36 XMM-Newton pointings on the COSMOS field. We reach a depth for a total cluster flux in the 0.5-2 keV band of 3x10-15 ergs cm-2 s-1, having one of the widest XMM-Newton contiguous raster surveys, covering an area of 2.1 square degrees. Cluster candidates are identified through a wavelet detection of extended X-ray emission. Verification of the cluster candidates is done based on a galaxy concentration analysis in redshift slices of thickness of 0.1-0.2 in redshift, using the multi-band photometric catalog of the COSMOS field and restricting the search to zS)-lg(S) distribution compares well with previous results, although yielding a somewhat higher number of clusters at similar fluxes. The X-ray luminosity function of COSMOS clusters matches well the results of nearby surveys, providing a comparably tight constraint on the faint end slope of alpha=1.93+/-0.04. For the probed luminosity range of 8x10+42 - 2x10+44 ergs s-1, our survey is in agreement with and adds significantly to the existing data on the cluster luminosity function at high redshifts and implies no substantial evolution at these luminosities to z=1.3., 15 pages, to appear in the COSMOS Special Issue, ApJS 2007. More information onf XMM-COSMOS project could be found at http://www.mpe.mpg.de/XMMCosmos/

We report on the analysis of XMM-Newton observations of RX J1347.5-1145 (z=0.451), the most X-ray-luminous galaxy cluster. We present a detailed total and gas mass determination up to large distances (~1.7 Mpc), study the scaling properties of the cluster, and explore the role of AGN heating in the cluster cool core. By means of spatially resolved spectroscopy we derive density, temperature, entropy, and cooling time profiles of the intra-cluster medium. We compute the total mass profile of the cluster in the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. If the disturbed south-east region of the cluster is excluded from the analysis, our results on shape, normalization, scaling properties of density, temperature, entropy, and cooling time profiles are fully consistent with those of relaxed, cool core clusters. We compare our total and gas mass estimates with previous X-ray, lensing, dynamical, and SZ studies. We find good agreement with other X-ray results, dynamical mass measurements, weak lensing masses and SZ results. We confirm a discrepancy of a factor ~2 between strong lensing and X-ray mass determinations and find a gross mismatch between our total mass estimate and the mass reconstructed through the combination of both strong and weak lensing. We explore the effervescent heating scenario in the core of RX J1347.5-1145 and find support to the picture that AGN outflows and heat conduction are able to quenching radiative cooling., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We present data analysis and X-ray source counts for the first season of XMM-Newton observations in the COSMOS field. The survey covers ~2 deg2 within the region of sky bounded by 09h57m30sh03m30s, 01deg27'30''deg57'30'' with a total net integration time of 504 ks. A maximum likelihood source detection was performed in the 0.5-2, 2-4.5, and 4.5-10 keV energy bands, and 1390 pointlike sources were detected in at least one band. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations were performed to fully test the source-detection method and to derive the sky coverage to be used in the computation of the logN-logS relations. These relations were then derived in the 0.5-2, 2-10, and 5-10 keV energy bands, down to flux limits of 7.2×10-16 ergs cm-2 s-1, 4.0×10-15 ergs cm-2 s-1, and 9.7×10-15 ergs cm-2 s-1, respectively. Thanks to the large number of sources detected in the COSMOS survey, the logN-logS curves are tightly constrained over a range of fluxes which were poorly covered by previous surveys, especially in the 2-10 and 5-10 keV bands. The 0.5-2 and 2-10 keV differential logN-logS relations were fitted with a broken power-law model which revealed a Euclidean slope at the bright end and a flatter slope (α~1.5) at faint fluxes. In the 5-10 keV energy band a single power law provides an acceptable fit to the observed source counts with a slope α~2.4. A comparison with the results of previous surveys shows good agreement in all the energy bands under investigation in the overlapping flux range. We also notice a remarkable agreement between our logN-logS relations and the most recent model of the X-ray background. Based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and NASA; also based on data collected at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de France, and the University of Hawaii.

The small-scale distribution of dark matter in Galactic halos is poorly known. Several studies suggest that it could be very clumpy, which turns out to be of paramount importance when investigating the annihilation signal from exotic particles (e.g. supersymmetric or Kaluza-Klein). In this paper we focus on the annihilation signal in positrons. We estimate the associated uncertainty, due to the fact that we do not know exactly how the clumps are distributed in the Galactic halo. To this aim, we perform a statistical study based on analytical computations, as well as numerical simulations. In particular, we study the average and variance of the annihilation signal over many Galactic halos having the same statistical properties. We find that the so-called boost factor used by many authors should be handled with care, as i) it depends on energy and ii) it may be different for positrons, antiprotons and gamma rays, a fact which has not received any attention before. As an illustration, we use our results to discuss the positron spectrum measurements by the HEAT experiment., Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures, accepted in A&A

We present the first identification of large-scale structures (LSS) at z $< 1.1$ in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS). The structures are identified from adaptive smoothing of galaxy counts in the pseudo-3d space ($\alpha,\delta$,z) using the COSMOS photometric redshift catalog. The technique is tested on a simulation including galaxies distributed in model clusters and a field galaxy population -- recovering structures on all scales from 1 to 20\arcmin without {\it a priori} assumptions for the structure size or density profile. Our procedure makes {\bf no} {\it a priori} selection on galaxy spectral energy distribution (SED, for example the Red Sequence), enabling an unbiased investigation of environmental effects on galaxy evolution. The COSMOS photometric redshift catalog yields a sample of $1.5\times10^5$ galaxies with redshift accuracy, $\Delta z_{FWHM}/(1+z) \leq 0.1$ at z $< 1.1$ down to I$_{AB} \leq 25$ mag. Using this sample of galaxies, we identify 42 large-scale structures and clusters. abstract truncated for astroph 25 line limit -- see preprint, Comment: 72 pages with 29 pages of figures, for cosmos apj suppl special issue

The peculiar velocity of the Local Group of galaxies manifested in the Cosmic Microwave Background dipole is found to decompose into three dominant components. The three components are clearly separated because they arise on distinct spatial scales and are fortuitously almost orthogonal in their influences. The nearest, which is distinguished by a velocity discontinuity at ~7 Mpc, arises from the evacuation of the Local Void. We lie in the Local Sheet that bounds the void. Random motions within the Local Sheet are small. Our Galaxy participates in the bulk motion of the Local Sheet away from the Local Void. The component of our motion on an intermediate scale is attributed to the Virgo Cluster and its surroundings, 17 Mpc away. The third and largest component is an attraction on scales larger than 3000 km/s and centered near the direction of the Centaurus Cluster. The amplitudes of the three components are 259, 185, and 455 km/s, respectively, adding collectively to 631 km/s in the reference frame of the Local Sheet. Taking the nearby influences into account causes the residual attributed to large scales to align with observed concentrations of distant galaxies and reduces somewhat the amplitude of motion attributed to their pull. On small scales, in addition to the motion of our Local Sheet away from the Local Void, the nearest adjacent filament, the Leo Spur, is seen to be moving in a direction that will lead to convergence with our filament. Finally, a good distance to an isolated galaxy within the Local Void reveals that this dwarf system has a motion of at least 230 km/s away from the void center. Given the velocities expected from gravitational instability theory in the standard cosmological paradigm, the distance to the center of the Local Void must be at least 23 Mpc from our position. The Local Void is large!, Comment: Tentatively scheduled for Astrophysical Journal, 676 (March 20), 2008. 18 figures, 3 tables including web link for 2 tables, web links to 2 videos

We present the X-ray properties and scaling relations of a flux-limited morphology-unbiased sample of 12 X-ray luminous galaxy clusters at redshift around 0.2 based on XMM-Newton observations. The scaled radial profiles are characterized by a self-similar behavior at radii outside the cluster cores (>0.2 r500) for the temperature, surface brightness, entropy, gas mass and total mass. The cluster cores contribute up to 70% of the bolometric X-ray luminosity. The X-ray scaling relations and their scatter are sensitive to the presence of the cool cores. Using the X-ray luminosity corrected for the cluster central region and the temperature measured excluding the cluster central region, the normalization agrees to better than 10% for the cool core clusters and non-cool core clusters, irrelevant to the cluster morphology. No evolution of the X-ray scaling relations was observed comparing this sample to the nearby and more distant samples. With the current observations, the cluster temperature and luminosity can be used as reliable mass indicators with the mass scatter within 20%. Mass discrepancies remain between X-ray and lensing and lead to larger scatter in the scaling relations using the lensing masses (e.g. ~40% for the luminosity--mass relation) than using the X-ray masses (, 38 pages, 25 figures, 6 tables, A&A, in press (references updated)

In this paper a unified theory of systematically rotating and peculiar motions is developed for homeoidally striated Jacobi ellipsoids, where both real and imaginary rotations are considered. The effect of positive or negative residual motion excess along the equatorial plane is considered to be equivalent either to an additional real or an imaginary rotation, respectively. The principle results consist of (i) the discovery that homeoidally striated Jacobi ellipsoids always admit an adjoint configuration i.e. a classical Jacobi ellipsoid of equal mass and axes; (ii) the establishment of further constraints on the amount of residual velocity anisotropy along the principal axes for triaxial configurations; (iii) the finding that bifurcation points from axisymmetric to triaxial configurations occur as in classical Jacobi ellipsoids, contrary to earlier findings. An interpretation of recent results from numerical simulations on stability is provided in the light of the model. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

A dark matter halo is said to have formed when at least half its mass hass been assembled into a single progenitor. With this definition, it is possible to derive a simple but useful analytic estimate of the distribution of halo formation times. The standard estimate of this distribution depends on the shape of the conditional mass function--the distribution of progenitor masses of a halo as a function of time. If the spherical collapse model is used to estimate the progenitor mass function, then the formation times one infers systematically underestimate those seen in numerical simulations of hierarchical gravitational clustering. We provide estimates of halo formation which may be related to an ellipsoidal collapse model. These estimates provide a substantially better description of the simulations. We also provide an alternative derivation of the formation time distribution which is based on the assumption that haloes increase their mass through binary mergers only. Our results are useful for models which relate halo structure to halo formation., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Replaced to match version accepted for publication in MNRAS

We examine the systematics affecting the X-ray mass estimators applied to a set of five simulated galaxy clusters. They have been processed through the X-ray Map Simulator, X-MAS, to provide Chandra-like long exposures that are analyzed to reconstruct the gas temperature, density, and mass profiles used as input. We find that at R_2500 the mass profile obtained via a direct application of the hydrostatic equilibrium equation is consistent within 1 sigma with the actual mass; although we notice this estimator shows high statistical errors due to high level of Chandra background. Instead, the poorness of the beta-model in describing the gas density profile makes the evaluated masses to be underestimated by \sim 40 per cent with respect to the true mass, both with an isothermal and a polytropic temperature profile. We also test ways to recover the mass by adopting an analytic mass model, such as those proposed by Navarro et al. (1997) and Rasia et al. (2004), and fitting the temperature profile expected from the hydrostatic equilibrium equation to the observed one. These methods and the one of the hydrostatic equilibrium equation provide a more robust mass estimation than the ones based on the beta-model. In the present work the main limitation for a precise mass reconstruction is to ascribe to the relatively high level of the background chosen to reproduce the Chandra one. After artificially reducing it by a factor of 100, we find that the estimated mass significantly underestimates the true mass profiles. This is manly due (i) to the neglected contribution of the gas bulk motions to the total energy budget and (ii) to the bias towards lower values of the X-ray temperature measurements because of the complex thermal structure of the emitting plasma., submitted to MNRAS, 12 pages

The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) was initiated with an extensive allocation (590 orbits in Cycles 12-13) using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for high resolution imaging. Here we review the characteristics of the HST imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and parallel observations with NICMOS and WFPC2. A square field (1.8$\sq$\deg) has been imaged with single-orbit ACS I-F814W exposures with 50% completeness for sources 0.5\arcsec in diameter at I$_{AB} $ = 26.0 mag. The ACS imaging is a key part of the COSMOS survey, providing very high sensitivity and high resolution (0.09\arcsec FWHM, 0.05\arcsec pixels) imaging and detecting 1.2 million objects to a limiting magnitude of 26.5 (AB). These images yield resolved morphologies for several hundred thousand galaxies. The small HST PSF also provides greatly enhanced sensitivity for weak lensing investigations of the dark matter distribution., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures -- to appear in COSMOS ApJ Suppl. special issue

The OSER project (Optical Scintillation by Extraterrestrial Refractors) is proposed to search for scintillation of extragalactic sources through the galactic -- disk or halo -- transparent $\mathrm{H\_2}$ clouds, the last unknown baryonic structures. This project should allow one to detect column density stochastic variations in cool Galactic molecular clouds of order of $\sim 3\times 10^{-5} \mathrm{g/cm^2}$ per $\sim 10 000 \mathrm{km}$ transverse distance., Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, 1 table

Stars twinkle because their light goes through the atmosphere. The same phenomenon is expected when the light of extra-galactic stars goes through a Galactic -- disk or halo -- refractive medium. Because of the large distances involved here, the length and time scales of the optical intensity fluctuations resulting from the wave distortions are accessible to the current technology. In this paper, we discuss the different possible scintillation regimes and we focus on the so-called strong diffractive regime that is likely to produce large intensity contrasts. The critical relationship between the source angular size and the intensity contrast in optical wavelengths is also discussed in detail. We propose to monitor small extra-galactic stars every $\sim 10 \mathrm{s}$ to search for intensity scintillation produced by molecular hydrogen clouds. We discuss means to discriminate such hidden matter signal from the foreground effects on light propagation. Appropriate observation of the scintillation process described here should allow one to detect column density stochastic variations in Galactic molecular clouds of order of $\sim 3\times 10^{-5} \mathrm{g/cm^2}$, that is $10^{19} \mathrm{molecules/cm^2}$ per $\sim 10 000 \mathrm{km}$ transverse distance., 16 pages, 10 eps figures. Accepted for publication in A&A. Minor changes/additions : temporal coherence aspects; scintillation of a quasar in tables 1 (reorganized) and 4; further details on the Local Interstellar Medium

The formulation of the tensor virial equations is generalized to unrelaxed configurations, where virial equilibrium does not coincide with dynamical (or hydrostatic) equilibrium. Further investigation is devoted to special classes of homeoidally striated ellipsoids, defined as homeoidally striated, Jacobi ellipsoids. In particular, virial equilibrium configurations with constant anisotropy parameters are studied with more detail, including both flattened and elongated, triaxial configurations, and the determination of the related bifurcation points. The explicit expression of different rotation parameters is also determined. An application is made to dark matter haloes hosting giant, galaxies, with regard to assigned initial and final configuration, following and generalizing to many respects a procedure conceived by Thuan & Gott (1975). The dependence of the limiting axis ratios, below which no configuration is allowed for the sequence under consideration, on the change in mass, total energy, and angular momentum, during the evolution, is illustrated in some representative situations. The dependence of axis ratios and rotation parameters on an additional parameter, related to the initial conditions of the density perturbation, is analysed in connection with a few special cases. Within the range of Peebles (1969) rotation parameter, inferred from high-resolution numerical simulations, the shape of dark matter haloes is mainly decided by the amount of anisotropy in residual velocity distribution. On the other hand, the contribution of rotation has only a minor effect on the meridional plane, and no effect on the equatorial plane, as bifurcation points occur for larger values of Peebles (1969) rotation parameter. To this respect, dark matter haloes are found to resemble giant elliptical galaxies., 43 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables; a reduced version has been accepted for publication on AN

Analytical and geometrical properties of generalized power-law (GPL) density profiles are investigated in detail. In particular, a one-to-one correspondence is found between mathematical parameters and geometrical parameters. Then GPL density profiles are compared with simulated dark haloes (SDH) density profiles, and nonlinear least-absolute values and least-squares fits involving the above mentioned five parameters (RFSM5 method) are prescribed. More specifically, the sum of absolute values or squares of absolute logarithmic residuals is evaluated on a large number of points making a 5-dimension hypergrid, through a few iterations. The size is progressively reduced around a fiducial minimum, and superpositions on nodes of earlier hypergrids are avoided. An application is made to a sample of 17 SDHs on the scale of cluster of galaxies, within a flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model (Rasia et al. 2004). In dealing with the mean SDH density profile, a virial radius, averaged over the whole sample, is assigned, which allows the calculation of the remaining parameters. Using a RFSM5 method provides a better fit with respect to other methods. No evident correlation is found between SDH dynamical state (relaxed or merging) and asymptotic inner slope of the logarithmic density profile or (for SDH comparable virial masses) scaled radius. Mean values and standard deviations of some parameters are calculated, and a comparison with previous results is made with regard to the scaled radius. A certain degree of degeneracy is found in fitting GPL to SDH density profiles. If it is intrinsic to the RFSM5 method or it could be reduced by the next generation of high-resolution simulations, still remains an open question., Comment: 44 pages, 6 figures, updated version with recent results from high-resolution simulations (Diemand et al. 2004; Reed et al. 2005) included in the discussion; accepted for publication on SAJ (Serbian Astronomical Journal)

The thermal properties of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters are usually compared to observations by relying on the emission-weighted temperature T_ew, instead of on the spectroscopic X-ray temperature T_spec, which is obtained by actual observational data. In a recent paper Mazzotta et al. show that, if the cluster is thermally complex, T_ew fails at reproducing T_spec, and propose a new formula, the spectroscopic-like temperature, T_sl, which approximates T_spec better than a few per cent. By analyzing a set of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters, we find that T_sl is lower than T_ew by 20-30 per cent. As a consequence, the normalization of the M-T_sl relation from the simulations is larger than the observed one by about 50 per cent. If masses in simulated clusters are estimated by following the same assumptions of hydrostatic equilibrium and \beta--model gas density profile, as often done for observed clusters, then the M-T relation decreases by about 40 per cent, and significantly reduces its scatter. Based on this result, we conclude that using the observed M-T relation to infer the amplitude of the power spectrum from the X-ray temperature function could bias low \sigma_8 by 10-20 per cent. This may alleviate the tension between the value of \sigma_8 inferred from the cluster number density and those from cosmic microwave background and large scale structure., Comment: Submitted for publication in APJL; 4 pages, 3 color figures

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 359 (3), ISSN:0035-8711, ISSN:1365-2966, ISSN:1365-8711

Generalized power-law (GPL) density profiles are compared with simulated dark haloes (SDH) density profiles, and nonlinear least-squares fits are prescribed, involving five parameters which specify the fitting profile (RFSM5 method). More specifically, the validity of a necessary condition for the occurrence of an extremal point, is related to the existence of an intersection between three surfaces in a 3-dimension space. An application is made to a sample of 17 SDHs on the scale of cluster of galaxies, within a flat /\CDM cosmological model. In dealing with the averaged SDH density profile (ADP), a virial radius, equal to the mean over the whole sample, is assigned, which allows the calculation of the remaining parameters. The exponents of both the best fitting GPL density profile to ADP and related averages calculated over the whole halo sample, are far from their NFW counterparts. Values of asymptotic inner slope of fitting logarithmic density profiles, are consistent with results from recent high-resolution simulations., Comment: 47 pages, 2 figures

We present a detailed gravitational mass measurement based on the XMM-Newton imaging spectroscopy analysis of the lensing cluster of galaxies CL0024+17 at z=0.395. The emission appears approximately symmetric. However, on the scale of r~3.3' some indication of elongation is visible in the northwest-southeast (NW-SE) direction from the hardness ratio map (HRM). Within 3', we measure a global gas temperature of 3.52\pm0.17 keV, metallicity of 0.22\pm0.07, and bolometric luminosity of 2.9\pm0.1 \times 10^{44} h^{-2}_{70} erg/s. We derive a temperature distribution with an isothermal temperature of 3.9 keV to a radius of 1.5' and a temperature gradient in the outskirts (1.3, Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, to appear in A&A

We investigate the supercluster MS0302+17 (z~0.42) using weak lensing analysis and deep wide field CFH12k BVR photometry. Using (B-V) - (V-R) evolution tracks we identify supercluster early-types members. We derive a R band weak lensing background galaxies sample. We compute the correlations functions of light and mass and show that "light traces mass on supercluster scales". The zeta-statistics applied in cluster centers and global correlation analyses over the whole field converge toward the simple relation M/L_B=300+/-30. This independently confirms the earlier results obtained by Kaiser et al.(1998). We model dark matter halos around each galaxy by truncated isothermal spheres and find the linear relation M L still holds. However, their averaged halo truncation radius is s* ~< 200 kpc close to clusters cores, whereas it reaches a lower limit of ~ 300 kpc at the periphery. This change of s_* as function of radial distance gives indications on tidal stripping but the lack of informations on the late-type galaxies sample prevents us to separate contributions. Though all the data at hands are consistent with "mass is traced by light from early-type galaxies", we are not able to describe in details the contributions of late type galaxies. We however found it to be small., Final version accepted for publication by A&A gzipped postscript version with higher resolution figures also available at ftp://ftp.iap.fr/pub/from_users/gavazzi/ms0302.ps.gz

In this Letter we present a detailed study of the lensing configuration in the cluster Abell 2218. Four multiple-images systems with measured spectroscopic redshifts have been identified in this cluster. These multiple images are very useful to constrain accurately the mass distribution in the cluster core, but they are also sensitive to the value of the geometrical cosmological parameters of the Universe. Using a simplified maximum likelihood analysis we find 0 < Omega_M < 0.30 assuming a flat Universe, and 0 < Omega_M < 0.33 and w < -0.85 for a flat Universe with dark energy. Interestingly, an Einstein-de Sitter model is excluded at more than 4sigma. These constraints are consistent with the current constraints derived with CMB anisotropies or supernovae studies. The proposed method constitutes an independent test of the geometrical cosmological parameters of the Universe and we discuss the limits of this method and this particular application to Abell 2218. Application of this method with more sophisticated tools and to a larger number of clusters or with more multiple images constraints, will put stringent constraints on the geometrical cosmological parameters., 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysics

We present the AGAPE astrometric and photometric catalogue of 1579 variable stars in a 14'x10' field centred on M31. This work is the first survey devoted to variable stars in the bulge of M31. The R magnitudes of the objects and the B-R colours suggest that our sample is dominated by red long-period variable stars (LPV), with a possible overlap with Cepheid-like type II stars. Twelve nova candidates are identified. Correlations with other catalogues suggest that 2 novae could be recurrent novae and provide possible optical counterparts for 2 supersoft X-ray sources candidates observed with Chandra., Comment: 11 pages, Latex, accepted for publication in A&A

We analyse the properties of substructures within dark matter halos (subhalos) using a set of high-resolution numerical simulations of the formation of structure in a Lambda-CDM Universe. Our simulation set includes 11 high-resolution simulations of massive clusters as well as a region of mean density, allowing us to study the spatial and mass distribution of substructures down to a mass resolution limit of 10^9 h^(-1)Mo. We also investigate how the properties of substructures vary as a function of the mass of the `parent' halo in which they are located. We find that the substructure mass function depends at most weakly on the mass of the parent halo and is well described by a power-law. The radial number density profiles of substructures are steeper in low mass halos than in high mass halos. More massive substructures tend to avoid the centres of halos and are preferentially located in the external regions of their parent halos. We also study the mass accretion and merging histories of substructures, which we find to be largely independent of environment. We find that a significant fraction of the substructures residing in clusters at the present day were accreted at redshifts z < 1. This implies that a significant fraction of present-day `passive' cluster galaxies should have been still outside the cluster progenitor and more active at z~1., 13 pages, 15 figure. Accepted to MNRAS

We analyze the internal dynamics of 43 non-interacting clusters which are selected from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey 100k public release. We join together the 43 clusters into an ensemble cluster by appropriately scaling their galaxy velocities and clustercentric distances. We solve the Jeans equation for the hydrostatic equilibrium for the member galaxies within the virial radius of the ensemble cluster, assuming isotropic orbits. We constrain the cluster mass profile within the virial radius by exploring parameterized models for the cluster mass-density profile. We find that both cuspy profiles and profiles with a core are acceptable. In particular, the concentration parameter of the best fit NFW model is as predicted from numerical simulations in a LambdaCDM cosmology. Density profiles with very large core-radii are ruled out. Beyond the virial radius, dynamical equilibrium cannot be taken for granted, and the Jeans equation may not be applicable. In order to extend our dynamical analysis out to ~2 virial radii, we rely upon the method which uses the amplitude of caustics in the space of galaxy clustercentric distances and velocities. We find very good agreement between the mass profile determined with the caustic method and the extrapolation to ~2 virial radii of the best-fit mass profile determined by the Jeans analysis in the virialized inner region. We determine the mass-to-number density profile, and find it is fully consistent with a constant within the virial radius. The mass-to-number density profile is however inconsistent with a constant when the full radial range from 0 to ~2 virial radii is considered, unless the sample used to determine the number density profile is restricted to the early-type galaxies., To be published in ApJ - 20 pages, 9 figures

We investigate how the probability of the formation of giant arcs in galaxy clusters is expected to change in cosmological models dominated by dark energy with an equation of state p=w rho c^2 compared to cosmological-constant or open models. To do so, we use a simple analytic model for arc cross sections based on the Navarro-Frenk-White density profile which we demonstrate reproduces essential features of numerically determined arc cross sections. Since analytic lens models are known to be inadequate for accurate absolute quantifications of arc probabilities, we use them only for studying changes relative to cosmological-constant models. Our main results are (1) the order of magnitude difference between the arc probabilities in low density, spatially flat and open CDM models found numerically is reproduced by our analytic model, and (2) dark-energy cosmologies with w>-1 increase the arc optical depth by at most a factor of two and are thus unlikely to reconcile arc statistics with spatially flat cosmological models with low matter density., 8 pages, accepted by A&A

We combine weak lensing measurements from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey and the VIRMOS-DESCART survey, and present the first direct measurements of the bias parameter b and the galaxy-mass cross-correlation coefficient r on scales ranging from 0.2 to 9.3 h_{50}^{-1} Mpc at a lens redshift z~0.35. We find strong evidence that both b and r change with scale for our sample of lens galaxies (19.5, Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ 11 pages, 6 figures

The nature and the location of the lenses discovered in the microlensing surveys done so far towards the LMC remain unclear. Motivated by these questions we compute the optical depth and particularly the number of expected events for self-lensing for both the MACHO and EROS2 observations. We calculate these quantities also for other possible lens populations such as thin and thick disk and galactic spheroid. Moreover, we estimate for each of these components the corresponding average event duration and mean mass using the mass moment method. By comparing the theoretical quantities with the values of the observed events it is possible to put some constraints on the location and the nature of the MACHOs. Clearly, given the large uncertainties and the few events at disposal it is not possible to draw sharp conclusions, nevertheless we find that certainly at least 3-4 MACHO events are due to lenses in LMC, which are most probably low mass stars, but that hardly all events can be due to self-lensing. This conclusions is even stronger when considering the EROS2 events, due to their spatial distribution. The most plausible solution is that the events observed so far are due to lenses belonging to different intervening populations: low mass stars in the LMC, in the thick disk, in the spheroid and possibly some true MACHOs in the halo., Comment: To appear in A&A, 20 pages with 7 figures

We present a maximum likelihood analysis of cosmological parameters from measurements of the aperture mass up to 35 arcmin, using simulated and real cosmic shear data. A four-dimensional parameter space is explored which examines the mean density \Omega_M, the mass power spectrum normalization \sigma_8, the shape parameter \Gamma and the redshift of the sources z_s. Constraints on \Omega_M and \sigma_8 (resp. \Gamma and z_s) are then given by marginalizing over \Gamma and z_s (resp. \Omega_M and \sigma_8). For a flat LCDM cosmologies, using a photometric redshift prior for the sources and \Gamma \in [0.1,0.4], we find \sigma_8=(0.57\pm0.04) \Omega_M^{(0.24\mp 0.18) \Omega_M-0.49} at the 68% confidence level (the error budget includes statistical noise, full cosmic variance and residual systematic). The estimate of \Gamma, marginalized over \Omega_M \in [0.1,0.4], \sigma_8 \in [0.7,1.3] and z_s constrained by photometric redshifts, gives \Gamma=0.25\pm 0.13 at 68% confidence. Adopting h=0.7, a flat universe, \Gamma=0.2 and \Omega_m=0.3 we find \sigma_8=0.98 \pm0.06 . Combined with CMB, our results suggest a non-zero cosmological constant and provide tight constraints on \Omega_M and \sigma_8. We finaly compare our results to the cluster abundance ones, and discuss the possible discrepancy with the latest determinations of the cluster method. In particular we point out the actual limitations of the mass power spectrum prediction in the non-linear regime, and the importance for its improvement., Comment: 11 pages, submitted to A&A