Manifold Alignment Aware Ants: A Markovian Process for Manifold Extraction

The presence of manifolds is a common assumption in many applications, including astronomy and computer vision. For instance, in astronomy, low-dimensional stellar structures, such as streams, shells, and globular clusters, can be found in the neighborhood of big galaxies such as the Milky Way. Since these structures are often buried in very large data sets, an algorithm, which can not only recover the manifold but also remove the background noise (or outliers), is highly desirable. While other works try to recover manifolds either by pushing all points toward manifolds or by downsampling from dense regions, aiming to solve one of the problems, they generally fail to suppress the noise on manifolds and remove background noise simultaneously. Inspired by the collective behavior of biological ants in food-seeking process, we propose a new algorithm that employs several random walkers equipped with a local alignment measure to detect and denoise manifolds. During the walking process, the agents release pheromone on data points, which reinforces future movements. Over time the pheromone concentrates on the manifolds, while it fades in the background noise due to an evaporation procedure. We use the Markov chain (MC) framework to provide a theoretical analysis of the convergence of the algorithm and its performance. Moreover, an empirical analysis, based on synthetic and real-world data sets, is provided to demonstrate its applicability in different areas, such as improving the performance of t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) and spectral clustering using the underlying MC formulas, recovering astronomical low-dimensional structures, and improving the performance of the fast Parzen window density estimator.

Spatially Resolved Stellar Spectroscopy of the Ultra-diffuse Galaxy Dragonfly 44. III. Evidence for an Unexpected Star Formation History under Conventional Galaxy Evolution Processes

We use the Keck Cosmic Web Imager integral field unit spectrograph to (1) measure the global stellar population parameters for the ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) Dragonfly 44 (DF44) to much higher precision than previously possible for any UDG and (2) for the first time measure spatially resolved stellar population parameters of a UDG. We find that DF44 falls below the mass–metallicity relation established by canonical dwarf galaxies both in and beyond the Local Group. We measure a flat radial age gradient ( m logage = + 0.01 − 0.08 + 0.08 log Gyr kpc−1) and a flat to positive metallicity gradient ( m [ Fe / H ] = + 0.09 − 0.12 + 0.11 dex kpc−1), which are inconsistent with the gradients measured in similarly pressure-supported dwarf galaxies. We also measure a negative [Mg/Fe] gradient ( m [ Mg / Fe ] = − 0.20 − 0.18 + 0.18 ) dex kpc−1 such that the central 1.5 kpc of DF44 has stellar population parameters comparable to metal-poor globular clusters. Overall, DF44 does not have internal properties similar to other dwarf galaxies and is inconsistent with it having been puffed up through a prolonged, bursty star formation history, as suggested by some simulations. Rather, the evidence indicates that DF44 experienced an intense epoch of “inside-out” star formation and then quenched early and catastrophically, such that star formation was cut off more quickly than in canonical dwarf galaxies.

Simulating Globular Clusters in Dark Matter Subhalos

A cosmological zoom-in simulation that develops into a Milky Way-like halo begins at redshift 7. The initial dark matter distribution is seeded with dense star clusters of median mass 5 × 105 M ⊙, placed in the largest subhalos present, which have a median peak circular velocity of 25 km s−1. Three simulations are initialized using the same dark matter distribution with the star clusters starting on approximately circular orbits having initial median radii 6.8, 0.14 kpc, and, at the exact center of the subhalos. The simulations are evolved to the current epoch at which time the median galactic orbital radii of the three sets of clusters are 30, 5, and 16 kpc, with the clusters losing about 2%, 50%, and 15% of their mass, respectively. Clusters beginning at small orbital radii have so much tidal forcing that they are often not in equilibrium. Clusters that start at larger subhalo radii have a velocity dispersion that declines smoothly to ≃20% of the central value at ≃20 half-mass radii. The clusters that begin in the subhalo centers can show a rise in velocity dispersion beyond 3–5 half-mass radii. That is, the clusters that form without local dark matter always have stellar-mass-dominated kinematics at all radii, whereas about 25% of the clusters that begin in subhalo centers have remnant local dark matter.

Rebounding Cores to Build Star Cluster Multiple Populations

We present a novel approach to the riddle of star cluster multiple populations. Stars form from molecular cores. But not all cores form stars. Following their initial compression, such “failed” cores re-expand, rather than collapsing. We propose that their formation and subsequent dispersal regulate the gas density of cluster-forming clumps and, therefore, their core and star formation rates. Clumps for which failed cores are the dominant core type experience star formation histories with peaks and troughs (i.e., discrete star formation episodes). In contrast, too few failed cores results in smoothly decreasing star formation rates. We identify three main parameters shaping the star formation history of a clump: the star and core formation efficiencies per free-fall time, and the timescale on which failed cores return to the clump gas. The clump mass acts as a scaling factor. We use our model to constrain the density and mass of the Orion Nebula Cluster progenitor clump, and to caution that the star formation histories of starburst clusters may contain close-by peaks concealed by stellar age uncertainties. Our model generates a great variety of star formation histories. Intriguingly, the chromosome maps and O–Na anticorrelations of old globular clusters also present diverse morphologies. This prompts us to discuss our model in the context of globular cluster multiple stellar populations. More massive globular clusters exhibit stronger multiple stellar population patterns, which our model can explain if the formation of the polluting stars requires a given stellar mass threshold.

Controlled synthesis of tungsten trioxide with globular clusters constructed of nanoplates by rapid breakdown anodization

Herein, the electrochamical synthesis of tungsten trioxide (WO3·H2O) with globular clusters constructed of nanoplates is demonstrated. On applying a breakdown anodization potential of 25 V at 50 °C, tungsten foil anode is efficiently electro-oxidized into WO3 globular clusters constructed of nanoplates powder, instead of a thin film structure as conventional anodization occurs. The resulting globular clusters were characterized using SEM, TEM, and XRD. The effect of the composition of electrolyte on the breakdown anodization of the W substrate is discussed. And we suggest that the growth of the nanoplates is initiated by localized anodic dielectric breakdown, followed by a effectively crystal growth in electrolyte at high breakdown field.

Evaluating Helium Varations By Modeling Red Giant Branch Bump of Large Magellanic Cluster NGC 1978

Many evidence show that the Multiple Population (MP) features ex- ist not only in the old Galactic globular clusters but also in the intermediate-age clusters in the Megallanic Clouds (MCs), which are characterized by star-to-star abundance scatter of several elements, including Helium (He). The photometric properties of the red giant branch bump (RGBB) are proved to be related to the variation in helium abundances of the member stars of the star clusters. We use the “Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics” (MESA) stellar evolution code to calculate the evolution sequences of stars along the red giant branch with changing helium content. Following the RGB sequences, we then generate a lu- minosity function of the RGB stars within the grid of input helium abundances, which are compared with the observational data of an intermediate-age MC cluster NGC 1978. The result of the current study reveals that the star to star helium abundance variation is 0.03.

Gravitational Lensing of Continuous Gravitational Waves

Continuous gravitational waves are analogous to monochromatic light and could therefore be used to detect wave effects such as interference or diffraction. This would be possible with strongly lensed gravitational waves. This article reviews and summarises the theory of gravitational lensing in the context of gravitational waves in two different regimes: geometric optics and wave optics, for two widely used lens models such as the point mass lens and the Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS). Observable effects due to the wave nature of gravitational waves are discussed. As a consequence of interference, GWs produce beat patterns which might be observable with next generation detectors such as the ground based Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, or the space-borne LISA and DECIGO. This will provide us with an opportunity to estimate the properties of the lensing system and other cosmological parameters with alternative techniques. Diffractive microlensing could become a valuable method of searching for intermediate mass black holes formed in the centres of globular clusters. We also point to an interesting idea of detecting the Poisson–Arago spot proposed in the literature.