University of Victoria

About: University of Victoria is a education organization based out in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 14994 authors who have published 41051 publications receiving 1447972 citations. The organization is also known as: Victoria College.

Volcanic ash fuels anomalous plankton bloom in subarctic northeast Pacific

Abstract: [1] Using multiple lines of evidence, we demonstrate that volcanic ash deposition in August 2008 initiated one of the largest phytoplankton blooms observed in the subarctic North Pacific. Unusually widespread transport from a volcanic eruption in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska deposited ash over much of the subarctic NE Pacific, followed by large increases in satellite chlorophyll. Surface ocean pCO2, pH, and fluorescence reveal that the bloom started a few days after ashfall. Ship-based measurements showed increased dominance by diatoms. This evidence points toward fertilization of this normally iron-limited region by ash, a relatively new mechanism proposed for iron supply to the ocean. The observations do not support other possible mechanisms. Extrapolation of the pCO2 data to the area of the bloom suggests a modest ∼0.01 Pg carbon export from this event, implying that even large-scale iron fertilization at an optimum time of year is not very efficient at sequestering atmospheric CO2.

Dynamically close galaxy pairs and merger rate evolution in the cnoc2 redshift survey

Abstract: We investigate redshift evolution in the galaxy merger and accretion rates, using a well-defined sample of 4184 galaxies with 0.12 ≤ z ≤ 0.55 and RC ≤ 21.5. We identify 88 galaxies in close (5 ≤ rp ≤ 20 h-1 kpc) dynamical (Δv ≤ 500 km s-1) pairs. These galaxies are used to compute global pair statistics, after accounting for selection effects resulting from the flux limit, k-corrections, luminosity evolution, and spectroscopic incompleteness. We find that the number of companions per galaxy (for -21 ≤ M ≤ -18) is Nc = 0.0321 ± 0.0077 at z = 0.3. The luminosity in companions, per galaxy, is Lc = 0.0294 ± 0.0084 × 1010 h2 L☉. We assume that Nc is proportional to the galaxy merger rate, while Lc is directly related to the mass accretion rate. After increasing the maximum pair separation to 50 h-1 kpc and comparing with the low-redshift SSRS2 pair sample, we infer evolution in the galaxy merger and accretion rates of (1 + z)2.3±0.7 and (1 + z)2.3±0.9, respectively. These are the first such estimates to be made using only confirmed dynamical pairs. When combined with several additional assumptions, this implies that approximately 15% of present epoch galaxies with -21 ≤ MB ≤ -18 have undergone a major merger since z = 1.

The CNOC2 Field Galaxy Luminosity Function. I. A Description of Luminosity Function Evolution

Abstract: We examine the evolution of the galaxy luminosity function (LF) using a sample of over 2000 galaxies, with 0.12 < z < 0.55 and 17.0 < RC < 21.5, drawn from the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (CNOC2), at present the largest such sample at intermediate redshifts. We use UBVRCIC photometry and the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of Coleman, Wu, and Weedman to classify our galaxies into early, intermediate, and late types, for which we compute LFs in the rest-frame B, RC, and U bandpasses. In particular, we adopt a convenient parameterization of LF evolution including luminosity and number density evolution and take care to quantify correlations among our LF evolution parameters. We also carefully measure and account for sample selection effects as functions of galaxy magnitude and color. Our principal result is a clear quantitative separation of luminosity and density evolution for different galaxy populations and the finding that the character of the LF evolution is strongly dependent on galaxy type. Specifically, we find that the early- and intermediate-type LFs show primarily brightening at higher redshifts and only modest density evolution, whereas the late-type LF is best fit by strong number density increases at higher z with little luminosity evolution. We also confirm the trend seen in previous smaller z 1 samples of the contrast between the strongly increasing luminosity density of late-type galaxies and the relatively constant luminosity density of early-type objects. Specific comparisons against the Canada-France and Autofib redshift surveys show general agreement among our LF evolution results, although there remain some detailed discrepancies. In addition, we use our number count and color distribution data to further confirm the validity of our LF evolution models to z ~0.75, and we also show that our results are not significantly affected by potential systematic effects such as surface brightness selection, photometric errors, or redshift incompleteness.

Search for direct third-generation squark pair production in final states with missing transverse momentum and two b-jets in √s = 8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

Abstract: The results of a search for pair production of supersymmetric partners of the Standard Model third-generation quarks are reported. This search uses 20.1 fb-1 of pp collisions at sqrt{s}=8 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The lightest bottom and top squarks (b1 and t1 respectively) are searched for in a final state with large missing transverse momentum and two jets identified as originating from b-quarks. No excess of events above the expected level of Standard Model background is found. The results are used to set upper limits on the visible cross section for processes beyond the Standard Model. Exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on the masses of the third-generation squarks are derived in phenomenological supersymmetric R-parity-conserving models in which either the bottom or the top squark is the lightest squark. The b1 is assumed to decay via b1->b chi0 and the t via t1->b chipm, with undetectable products of the subsequent decay of the chipm due to the small mass splitting between the chipm and the chi0.