Search

A unified algebraic interpretation of both finite families of orthogonal polynomials and biorthogonal rational functions of $q$-Hahn type is provided. The approach relies on the meta $q$-Hahn algebra and its finite-dimensional bidiagonal representations. The functions of $q$-Hahn type are identified as overlaps (up to global factors) between bases solving ordinary or generalized eigenvalue problems in the representation of the meta $q$-Hahn algebra. Moreover, (bi)orthogonality relations, recurrence relations, difference equations and some contiguity relations satisfied by these functions are recovered algebraically using the actions of the generators of the meta $q$-Hahn algebra on various bases., Comment: 27 pages

We model cloud-to-ground lightning strike impacts in the French Alps over the period 2011-2021 (approximately 1.4 million of events) using spatio-temporal point processes. We investigate first and higher-order structure for this point pattern and address the questions of homogeneity of the intensity function, first-order separability and dependence between events. The tuning of nonparametric methods and the different tests we consider in this study make the computational cost very expensive. We therefore suggest different subsampling strategies to achieve these tasks.

Only 21% of employees consider themselves engaged at work. Moreover, disengagement has been shown to be even more problematic when work is repetitive in nature. Lack of engagement has been linked to variety of negative outcomes for employees and companies (e.g., turnover, absenteeism, well-being, safety incidents, productivity). Gamification, i.e., integrating game elements into work systems, has been successfully used to increase engagement and motivation, even when work tasks were mundane and repetitive. In the current study, we focused on a commonly used game element, goal setting, through the lens of self-determination theory and goal-setting theory. We argue that goals given by an external source (e.g., company, experimenter) produce extrinsic motivation, which improves engagement and performance only in the short term. We posit that self-set goals lead to more autonomous motivation, and therefore long-term engagement and performance. One hundred two participants completed a repetitive material-handling task in one of three conditions (assigned goal, self-set goal, no goal). Results showed that perceived autonomy (autonomous motivation) and performance were best when goals were self-set. Engagement, however, was equal between self-set and assigned goals. The results indicate that self-set goals have the greatest potential to generate long-term positive outcomes both for employees and companies., Comment: in French language, CIGI QUALITA MOSIM 2023, Jun 2023, Trois Rivi{\`e}res, Canada

The ability to tailor with a high accuracy the inter-site connectivity in a lattice is a crucial tool for realizing novel topological phases of matter. Here, we report the experimental realization of photonic dimer chains with long-range hopping terms of arbitrary strength and phase, providing a rich generalization of the celebrated Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. Our experiment is based on a synthetic dimension scheme involving the frequency modes of an optical fiber loop platform. This setup provides direct access to both the band dispersion and the geometry of the Bloch wavefunctions throughout the entire Brillouin zone allowing us to extract the winding number for any possible configuration. Finally, we highlight a topological phase transition solely driven by a time-reversal-breaking synthetic gauge field associated with the phase of the long-range hopping, providing a route for engineering topological bands in photonic lattices belonging to the AIII symmetry class.

We provide a $O(k^2 \mathrm{log} k)$ vertex kernel for cograph edge editing. This improves a cubic kernel found by Guillemot, Havet, Paul and Perez [1] which involved four reduction rules. We generalize one of their rules, based on packing of induced paths of length four, by introducing t-modules, which are modules up to t edge modifications. The key fact is that large t-modules cannot be edited more than t times, and this allows to obtain a near quadratic kernel. The extra $\mathrm{log} k$ factor seems tricky to remove as it is necessary in the combinatorial lemma on trees which is central in our proof. Nevertheless, we think that a quadratic bound should be reachable.

A subset $I$ of the vertex set $V(G)$ of a graph $G$ is called a $k$-clique independent set of $G$ if no $k$ vertices in $I$ form a $k$-clique of $G$. An independent set is a $2$-clique independent set. Let $\pi_k(G)$ denote the number of $k$-cliques of $G$. For a function $w: V(G) \rightarrow \{0, 1, 2, \dots\}$, let $G(w)$ be the graph obtained from $G$ by replacing each vertex $v$ by a $w(v)$-clique $K^v$ and making each vertex of $K^u$ adjacent to each vertex of $K^v$ for each edge $\{u,v\}$ of $G$. For an integer $m \geq 1$, consider any $w$ with $\sum_{v \in V(G)} w(v) = m$. For $U \subseteq V(G)$, we say that $w$ is uniform on $U$ if $w(v) = 0$ for each $v \in V(G) \setminus U$ and, for each $u \in U$, $w(u) = \left\lfloor m/|U| \right\rfloor$ or $w(u) = \left\lceil m/|U| \right\rceil$. Katona asked if $\pi_k(G(w))$ is smallest when $w$ is uniform on a largest $k$-clique independent set of $G$. He placed particular emphasis on the Sperner graph $B_n$, given by $V(B_n) = \{X \colon X \subseteq \{1, \dots, n\}\}$ and $E(B_n) = \{\{X,Y\} \colon X \subsetneq Y \in V(B_n)\}$. He provided an affirmative answer for $k = 2$ (and any $G$). We determine graphs for which the answer is negative for every $k \geq 3$. These include $B_n$ for $n \geq 2$. Generalizing Sperner's Theorem and a recent result of Qian, Engel and Xu, we show that $\pi_k(B_n(w))$ is smallest when $w$ is uniform on a largest independent set of $B_n$. We also show that the same holds for complete multipartite graphs and chordal graphs. We show that this is not true of every graph, using a deep result of Bohman on triangle-free graphs., Comment: 14 pages, minor corrections made

This brief is the third of a four-part series that focuses on bilingual education, bilingual educators, and addressing the bilingual teacher shortage in contexts across the United States. This research was commissioned by the New Jersey State Department of Education, which is committed to providing quality bilingual education to its linguistically diverse student population. More than half of U.S. states are experiencing bilingual teacher shortages, with shortages most acute in states that provide bilingual education to the greatest numbers of English learners (ELs) and those that require teachers to obtain specific bilingual endorsements (for more information on the term "English learner," please refer to our previous brief, Bilingual Education Across the United States). These states experience a persistent tension between: (1) requiring educators to comply with certification requirements and (2) meeting the increasing demand for bilingual teachers, driven by the growing population of ELs and the increasing popularity of dual language programs. States have created various policy solutions to broaden their bilingual teacher pool by diversifying the ways in which teachers may gain certification. In this brief, we share strategies that state education agencies may use to provide more flexibility in teacher certification policies and thereby mitigate bilingual teacher shortages, including: (1) providing educators multiple pathways to certification; (2) offering prospective teachers a menu of certification requirements; (3) allowing educators to earn probationary certifications; and (4) creating flexible reciprocity policies.

This brief is the first of a four-part series that focuses on bilingual education, bilingual educators, and addressing the bilingual teacher shortage in contexts across the United States. This research was commissioned by the New Jersey State Department of Education, which is committed to providing quality bilingual education to its linguistically diverse student population. Multilingual learners and students classified as English learners (ELs), a growing population nationwide, come to school with tremendous assets, among which are proficiency in a language other than English and the potential to become bilingual. Yet without school-based opportunities to develop biliteracy--that is, literacy in both their home language and English--their linguistic potential can remain underdeveloped. Many states recognize these students' multilingual potential and have prioritized bilingual education: Some states require bilingual education, while others encourage or allow it in certain contexts. In this brief, we define some of the key terms in bilingual education and then provide an overview of the different state policies for the provision of bilingual education to English learners.

In an effort to reduce power system-caused wildfires, utilities carry out public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) in which portions of the grid are de-energized to mitigate the risk of ignition. The decision to call a PSPS must balance reducing ignition risks and the negative impact of service interruptions. In this work, we consider three PSPS scheduling scenarios, which we model as dynamic programs. In the first two scenarios, we assume that N PSPSs are budgeted as part of the investment strategy. In the first scenario, a penalty is incurred for each PSPS declared past the Nth event. In the second, we assume that some costs can be recovered if the number of PSPSs is below $N$ while still being subject to a penalty if above N. In the third, the system operator wants to minimize the number of PSPS such that the total expected cost is below a threshold. We provide optimal or asymptotically optimal policies for each case, the first two of which have closed-form expressions. Lastly, we establish the applicability of the first PSPS model's policy to critical-peak pricing, and obtain an optimal scheduling policy to reduce the peak demand based on weather observations.

This article provides new lower bounds for both Schur and weak Schur numbers by exploiting a "template"-based approach. The concept of "template" is also generalized to weak Schur numbers. Finding new templates leads to explicit partitions improving lower bounds as well as the growth rate for Schur numbers, weak Schur numbers, and multicolor Ramsey numbers $R_n(3)$. The new lower bounds include $S(9) \geq 17\,803$, $S(10) \geq 60\,948$, $\mathit{WS}(6) \geq 646$, $\mathit{WS}(9) \geq 22\,536$ and $\mathit{WS}(10) \geq 71\,256$., Comment: 20 pages, 9 tables, 3 figures

We investigate the near-wake flow of an Ahmed body which is characterized by switches between two asymmetric states that are mirrors of each other in the spanwise direction. The work focuses on the relationship between the base pressure distribution and the near-wake velocity field. Using direct numerical simulation obtained at a Reynolds number of 10000 based on incoming velocity and body height as well as Bonnavion and Cadot's experiment (Bonnavion et al. 2018), we perform Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) of the base pressure field. The signature of the switches is given by the amplitude of the most energetic, antisymmetric POD mode. However switches are also characterized by a global base suction decrease, as well as deformations in both vertical and lateral directions, which all correspond to large-scale symmetric modes. Most of the base suction reduction is due to the two most energetic symmetric modes. Using the linear stochastic estimation technique of Podvin et al. 2018, we show that the large scales of the near-wake velocity field can be recovered to some extent from the base pressure modes. Conversely, it is found that the dominant pressure modes and the base suction fluctuation can be well estimated from the POD velocity modes of the near-wake., Comment: 34 pages, 12 figures

This paper reports the experimental, analytical, and numerical study of resistive-nanoindentation tests performed on gold samples (bulk and thin film). First, the relevant contributions to electrical contact resistance are discussed and analytically described. A brief comparison of tests performed on gold and on natively oxidized metals highlights the high reproducibility and the voltage-independence of experiments on gold(thanks to its oxide-free surface). Then, the evolution of contact resistance during nanoindentation is fully explained in terms of electronic transport regimes: starting from tunneling, electronic transport is then driven by ballistic conduction before ending with pure diffusive conduction. The corresponding analytical expressions, as well as their validity domains, are determined and compared with experimental data,showing excellent agreement. From there, focus is made on the diffusive regime. Resistive-nanoindentation outputs are fully described by analytical and finite-element modeling. The developed numerical framework allows a better understanding of the main parameters: it first assesses the technique capabilities (validity domains, sensitivity to tip defect, sensitivity to rheology, effect of an oxide layer, and so on), butit also validates the different assumptions made on current line distribution. Finally, it is shown that a simple calibration procedure allows a well-resolved monitoring of the contact area during resistive-nanoindentation performed on samples with complex rheologies (ductile thin film on an elastic substrate). Comparison to analytical and numerical approaches highlights the strength of resistive-nanoindentation for continuous area monitoring.

When modeling superconducting devices based on REBCO tapes andworking near or above the critical current value (i.e. I> Ic), the power-law model is not always accurate. In our previous works, we proposed the overcritical current model, based on a combination of fast pulsed current measurements and finite elementan alysis. The overcritical current model was provided in the form of look-up tables and was validated experimentally. We showed that the overcritical current model could better reproduce experimental measurements than the power-law model, and that the power-law model predicts a faster quench than the overcritical current model. In this contribution, we propose the eta-beta model, a mathematical expression to model analytically the overcritical current model, based on measurements performed between 77 K and 90 K in self-field conditions. The proposed model is verified by comparing DC fault measurements with the results of numerical simulations using the eta-beta model to represent the electrical resistivity of the superconducting layer of REBCO tapes., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, journal paper

Cygnus OB2 provides a unique insight into the high-mass stellar content in one of the largest groups of young massive stars in our Galaxy. Although several studies of its massive population have been carried out over the last decades, an extensive spectroscopic study of the whole known O-star population in the association is still lacking. In this work, we created the most complete spectroscopic census of O stars carried out so far in Cygnus OB2 using already existing and new spectroscopy. We present the spectra for 78 O-type stars, from which we identify new binary systems, obtain the distribution of rotational velocities, and determine the main stellar parameters for all the stars in the region that have not been detected as double-line spectroscopic binaries. We also derive radii, luminosities, and masses for those stars with reliable Gaia astrometry, in addition to creating the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram to interpret the evolutionary status of the association. This work has shown the improvement reached when using accurate spectroscopic parameters and astrometry for the interpretation of the evolutionary status of a population, revealing, in the case of Cygnus OB2, at least two star-forming bursts at $\sim$3 and $\sim$5 Myr. We find an apparent deficit of very fast rotators in the distribution of rotational velocities. The inspection of the dynamical distribution of the sample has allowed us to identify nine O stars with peculiar proper motions and discuss a possible dynamical ejection scenario or past supernova explosions in the region., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 25 pages, 11 figures

We investigate numerically the 3-D flow around a squareback Ahmed body at Reynolds number Re = 104. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) is applied to a symmetry-augmented database in order to describe and model the flow dynamics. Comparison with experiments at a higher Reynolds number in a plane section of the near-wake at mid-height shows that the simulation captures several features of the experimental flow, in particular the antisymmetric quasi-steady deviation mode. 3-D POD analysis allows us to classify the different physical processes in terms of mode contribution to the kinetic energy over the entire domain. It is found that the dominant fluctuating mode on the entire domain corresponds to the 3-D quasi-steady wake deviation, and that its amplitude is well estimated from 2-D near-wake data. The next most energetic flow fluctuations consist of vortex shedding and bubble pumping mechanisms. It is found that the amplitude of the deviation is negatively correlated with the intensity of the vortex shedding in the spanwise direction and the suction drag coefficient. Finally, we find that despite the slow convergence of the decomposition, a POD-based low-dimensional model reproduces the dynamics of the wake deviation observed experimentally, as well as the main characteristics of the global modes identified in the simulation.

SIGNALS, the Star formation, Ionized Gas, and Nebular Abundances Legacy Survey, is a large observing program designed to investigate massive star formation and HII regions in a sample of local extended galaxies. The program will use the imaging Fourier transform spectrograph SITELLE at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Over 355 hours (54.7 nights) have been allocated beginning in fall 2018 for eight consecutive semesters. Once completed, SIGNALS will provide a statistically reliable laboratory to investigate massive star formation, including over 50 000 resolved HII regions : the largest, most complete, and homogeneous database of spectroscopically and spatially resolved extragalactic HII regions ever assembled. For each field observed, three datacubes covering the spectral bands of the filters SN1 (363 -386 nm), SN2 (482 - 513 nm), and SN3 (647 - 685 nm) are gathered. The spectral resolution selected for each spectral band is 1000, 1000, and 5000, respectively. As defined, the project sample will facilitate the study of small-scale nebular physics and many other phenomena linked to star formation at a mean spatial resolution of 20 pc. This survey also has considerable legacy value for additional topics including planetary nebulae, diffuse ionized gas, andsupernova remnants. The purpose of this paper is to present a general outlook of the survey, notably the observing strategy, galaxy sample, and science requirements., Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, submitted to MNRAS

Li-ion battery (LIB) research has continuing importance for the entire range of applications from consumer products to vehicle electrification and grid stabilization. In many cases, standard electrochemical methods only provide an overall voltage or specific capacity, giving an inadequate description of parallel redox processes or chemical gradients at the particle and pack level. X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) is frequently used to augment bulk electrochemical data, as it provides element-specific changes in oxidation state and local atomic structure. Such microscopic descriptors are crucial for elucidating charge transfer and structural changes associated with bonding or site mixing, two key factors in evaluating state of charge and modes of cell failure. However, the impact of XAFS on LIB research has been significantly constrained by a logistical barrier: contemporary XAFS work is performed almost exclusively at synchrotron x-ray light sources, where beamtime is infrequent and experiment time-frames are limited. Here we show that modern laboratory based XAFS can not only be applied to, e.g., characterization of ex situ LIB electrode materials, but can also be used for operando studies at industrially-relevant charging rates in a standard pouch cell preparation. Such capability enables accelerated discovery of new materials and improved operation modes for LIBs.

This paper tackles the challenging problem of constrained hexahedral meshing. An algorithm is introduced to build combinatorial hexahedral meshes whose boundary facets exactly match a given quadrangulation of the topological sphere. This algorithm is the first practical solution to the problem. It is able to compute small hexahedral meshes of quadrangulations for which the previously known best solutions could only be built by hand or contained thousands of hexahedra. These challenging quadrangulations include the boundaries of transition templates that are critical for the success of general hexahedral meshing algorithms. The algorithm proposed in this paper is dedicated to building combinatorial hexahedral meshes of small quadrangulations and ignores the geometrical problem. The key idea of the method is to exploit the equivalence between quad flips in the boundary and the insertion of hexahedra glued to this boundary. The tree of all sequences of flipping operations is explored, searching for a path that transforms the input quadrangulation Q into a new quadrangulation for which a hexahedral mesh is known. When a small hexahedral mesh exists, a sequence transforming Q into the boundary of a cube is found; otherwise, a set of pre-computed hexahedral meshes is used. A novel approach to deal with the large number of problem symmetries is proposed. Combined with an efficient backtracking search, it allows small shellable hexahedral meshes to be found for all even quadrangulations with up to 20 quadrangles. All 54,943 such quadrangulations were meshed using no more than 72 hexahedra. This algorithm is also used to find a construction to fill arbitrary domains, thereby proving that any ball-shaped domain bounded by n quadrangles can be meshed with no more than 78 n hexahedra. This very significantly lowers the previous upper bound of 5396 n., Comment: Accepted for SIGGRAPH 2019

[ABRIDGED] AIMS. MONOS is collecting information and studying O-type spectroscopic binaries with delta > -20 deg. In this 1st paper we describe the sample and provide spectral classifications and additional information for objects with previous SB or EB orbits. In the future we will test the validity of previous solutions and calculate new SB orbits. METHODS.The spectra in this paper have 2 sources: GOSSS, which is obtaining blue-violet R~2500 spectroscopy of thousands of massive stars, and LiLiMaRlin, a library of libraries of high-resolution spectroscopy of massive stars obtained from 4 different surveys and additional data from our own observing programs and public archives. We also use lucky images from AstraLux. RESULTS. We present homogeneous spectral classifications for 92 O-type spectroscopic multiple systems and 10 optical companions. We discuss the visual multiplicity of each system with the support of AstraLux images and additional sources. For 11 O-type objects and for 6 B-type objects we present their first GOSSS spectral classifications. For 2 known EBs we detect SB2/SB1 lines for the first time, to which we add a third system already reported by us recently. For 2 previous SB1 systems we detect their SB2 nature for the first time and give their first separate spectral classifications, something we also do for a 3rd object just recently identified as a SB2. We also detect 9 new astrometric companions and provide updated information on several others. For sigma Ori AaAbB we provide spectral classifications for the 3 components with a single observation for the first time thanks to a lucky spectroscopy observation obtained close to the Aa,Ab periastron and for theta^1 Ori CaCb we add it to the class of Galactic Of?p stars, raising the number of its members to 6. Our sample of O-type spectroscopic binaries contains more triple/higher-order systems than double systems., Comment: 36 pages, accepted for publication in A&A

Image colorization achieves more and more realistic results with the increasing computation power of recent deep learning techniques. It becomes more difficult to identify the fake colorized images by human eyes. In this work, we propose a novel forensic method to distinguish between natural images (NIs) and colorized images (CIs) based on convolutional neural network (CNN). Our method is able to achieve high classification accuracy and cope with the challenging scenario of blind detection, i.e., no training sample is available from "unknown" colorization algorithm that we may encounter during the testing phase. This blind detection performance can be regarded as a generalization performance. First, we design and implement a base network, which can attain better performance in terms of classification accuracy and generalization (in most cases) compared with state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, we design a new branch, which analyzes smaller regions of extracted features, and insert it into the above base network. Consequently, our network can not only improve the classification accuracy, but also enhance the generalization in the vast majority of cases. To further improve the performance of blind detection, we propose to automatically construct negative samples through linear interpolation of paired natural and colorized images. Then, we progressively insert these negative samples into the original training dataset and continue to train the network. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can achieve stable and high generalization performance when tested against different state-of-the-art colorization algorithms., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures

We present the star cluster catalogs for 17 dwarf and irregular galaxies in the $HST$ Treasury Program "Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey" (LEGUS). Cluster identification and photometry in this subsample are similar to that of the entire LEGUS sample, but special methods were developed to provide robust catalogs with accurate fluxes due to low cluster statistics. The colors and ages are largely consistent for two widely used aperture corrections, but a significant fraction of the clusters are more compact than the average training cluster. However, the ensemble luminosity, mass, and age distributions are consistent suggesting that the systematics between the two methods are less than the random errors. When compared with the clusters from previous dwarf galaxy samples, we find that the LEGUS catalogs are more complete and provide more accurate total fluxes. Combining all clusters into a composite dwarf galaxy, we find that the luminosity and mass functions can be described by a power law with the canonical index of $-2$ independent of age and global SFR binning. The age distribution declines as a power law, with an index of $\approx-0.80\pm0.15$, independent of cluster mass and global SFR binning. This decline of clusters is dominated by cluster disruption since the combined star formation histories and integrated-light SFRs are both approximately constant over the last few hundred Myr. Finally, we find little evidence for an upper-mass cutoff ($<2\sigma$) in the composite cluster mass function, and can rule out a truncation mass below $\approx10^{4.5}$M$_{\odot}$ but cannot rule out the existence of a truncation at higher masses., Comment: 25 pages; 28 figures (Accepted to MNRAS)

LiLiMaRlin is a library of libraries of massive-star high-resolution optical spectra built by collecting data from [a] our spectroscopic surveys (OWN, IACOB. NoMaDS, and CAF\'E-BEANS) and programs and [b] searches in public archives. The current version has 18 077 spectra of 1665 stars obtained with seven different telescopes (HET 9.2 m, NOT 2.56 m, CAHA 2.2 m, MPG/ESO 2.2 m, OHP 1.93 m, Mercator 1.2 m, and Stella 1.2 m). All the spectra have been filtered to eliminate misidentifications and bad-quality ones, uniformly reprocessed, and placed on a common format. We present applications of this library of libraries to the analysis of spectroscopic binaries (OWN and MONOS, see poster by E. Trigueros P\'aez at this meeting) and the study of the interstellar medium (CollDIBs). We discuss our plans for the future., Comment: To appear in Highlights on Spanish Astrophysics X, Proceedings of the XIII Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society held on July 16-20, 2018, in Salamanca, Spain

This paper shows that constraint programming techniques can successfully be used to solve challenging hex-meshing problems. Schneiders' pyramid is a square-based pyramid whose facets are subdivided into three or four quadrangles by adding vertices at edge midpoints and facet centroids. In this paper, we prove that Schneiders' pyramid has no hexahedral meshes with fewer than 18 interior vertices and 17 hexahedra, and introduce a valid mesh with 44 hexahedra. We also construct the smallest known mesh of the octagonal spindle, with 40 hexahedra and 42 interior vertices. These results were obtained through a general purpose algorithm that computes the hexahedral meshes conformal to a given quadrilateral surface boundary. The lower bound for Schneiders' pyramid is obtained by exhaustively listing the hexahedral meshes with up to 17 interior vertices and which have the same boundary as the pyramid. Our 44-element mesh is obtained by modifying a prior solution with 88 hexahedra. The number of elements was reduced using an algorithm which locally simplifies groups of hexahedra. Given the boundary of such a group, our algorithm is used to find a mesh of its interior that has fewer elements than the initial subdivision. The resulting mesh is untangled to obtain a valid hexahedral mesh.

This paper presents a new scalable parallelization scheme to generate the 3D Delaunay triangulation of a given set of points. Our first contribution is an efficient serial implementation of the incremental Delaunay insertion algorithm. A simple dedicated data structure, an efficient sorting of the points and the optimization of the insertion algorithm have permitted to accelerate reference implementations by a factor three. Our second contribution is a multi-threaded version of the Delaunay kernel that is able to concurrently insert vertices. Moore curve coordinates are used to partition the point set, avoiding heavy synchronization overheads. Conflicts are managed by modifying the partitions with a simple rescaling of the space-filling curve. The performances of our implementation have been measured on three different processors, an Intel core-i7, an Intel Xeon Phi and an AMD EPYC, on which we have been able to compute 3 billion tetrahedra in 53 seconds. This corresponds to a generation rate of over 55 million tetrahedra per second. We finally show how this very efficient parallel Delaunay triangulation can be integrated in a Delaunay refinement mesh generator which takes as input the triangulated surface boundary of the volume to mesh.

One of the main theories for explaining the formation of spiral arms in galaxies is the stationary density wave theory. This theory predicts the existence of an age gradient across the arms. We use the stellar cluster catalogues of the galaxies NGC 1566, M51a, and NGC 628 from the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) program. In order to test for the possible existence of an age sequence across the spiral arms, we quantified the azimuthal offset between star clusters of different ages in our target galaxies. We found that NGC 1566, a grand-design spiral galaxy with bisymmetric arms and a strong bar, shows a significant age gradient across the spiral arms that appears to be consistent with the prediction of the stationary density wave theory. In contrast, M51a with its two well-defined spiral arms and a weaker bar does not show an age gradient across the arms. In addition, a comparison with non LEGUS star cluster catalogues for M51a yields similar results. We believe that the spiral structure of M51a is not the result of a stationary density wave with a fixed pattern speed. Instead, tidal interactions could be the dominant mechanism for the formation of spiral arms. We also found no offset in the azimuthal distribution of star clusters with different ages across the weak spiral arms of NGC 628.

We present a study of the dust-to-gas ratios in five nearby galaxies NGC 628 (M74), NGC 6503, NGC 7793, UGC 5139 (Holmberg I), and UGC 4305 (Holmberg II). Using Hubble Space Telescope broad band WFC3/UVIS UV and optical images from the Treasury program LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey) combined with archival HST/ACS data, we correct thousands of individual stars for extinction across these five galaxies using an isochrone-matching (reddening-free Q) method. We generate extinction maps for each galaxy from the individual stellar extinctions using both adaptive and fixed resolution techniques, and correlate these maps with neutral HI and CO gas maps from literature, including The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) and the HERA CO-Line Extragalactic Survey (HERACLES). We calculate dust-to-gas ratios and investigate variations in the dust-to-gas ratio with galaxy metallicity. We find a power law relationship between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity, consistent with other studies of dust-to-gas ratio compared to metallicity. We find a change in the relation when H$_2$ is not included. This implies that underestimation of $N_{H_2}$ in low-metallicity dwarfs from a too-low CO-to-H$_2$ conversion factor $X_{CO}$ could have produced too low a slope in the derived relationship between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity. We also compare our extinctions to those derived from fitting the spectral energy distribution (SED) using the Bayesian Extinction and Stellar Tool (BEAST) for NGC 7793 and find systematically lower extinctions from SED-fitting as compared to isochrone matching., Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted by ApJ

The Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) is a multiwavelength Cycle 21 Treasury program on the Hubble Space Telescope. It studied 50 nearby star-forming galaxies in five bands from the near UV to the I-band, combining new Wide Field Camera 3 observations with archival Advanced Camera for Surveys data. LEGUS was designed to investigate how star formation occurs and develops on both small and large scales, and how it relates to the galactic environments. In this paper we present the photometric catalogs for all the apparently single stars identified in the 50 LEGUS galaxies. Photometric catalogs and mosaicked images for all filters are available for download. We present optical and near UV color-magnitude diagrams for all the galaxies. For each galaxy we derived the distance from the tip of the red giant branch. We then used the NUV color-magnitude diagrams to identify stars more massive than 14 Mo, and compared their number with the number of massive stars expected from the GALEX FUV luminosity. Our analysis shows that the fraction of massive stars forming in star clusters and stellar associations is about constant with the star formation rate. This lack of a relation suggests that the time scale for evaporation of unbound structures is comparable or longer than 10 Myr. At low star formation rates this translates to an excess of mass in clustered environments as compared to model predictions of cluster evolution, suggesting that a significant fraction of stars form in unbound systems., Comment: 71 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables, Accpeted for publication on ApJS

This article answers an important theoretical question: How many different subdivisions of the hexahedron into tetrahedra are there? It is well known that the cube has five subdivisions into 6 tetrahedra and one subdivision into 5 tetrahedra. However, all hexahedra are not cubes and moving the vertex positions increases the number of subdivisions. Recent hexahedral dominant meshing methods try to take these configurations into account for combining tetrahedra into hexahedra, but fail to enumerate them all: they use only a set of 10 subdivisions among the 174 we found in this article. The enumeration of these 174 subdivisions of the hexahedron into tetrahedra is our combinatorial result. Each of the 174 subdivisions has between 5 and 15 tetrahedra and is actually a class of 2 to 48 equivalent instances which are identical up to vertex relabeling. We further show that exactly 171 of these subdivisions have a geometrical realization, i.e. there exist coordinates of the eight hexahedron vertices in a three-dimensional space such that the geometrical tetrahedral mesh is valid. We exhibit the tetrahedral meshes for these configurations and show in particular subdivisions of hexahedra with 15 tetrahedra that have a strictly positive Jacobian.

Recently acquired WFC3 UV (F275W and F336W) imaging mosaics under the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) combined with archival ACS data of M51 are used to study the young star cluster (YSC) population of this interacting system. Our newly extracted source catalogue contains 2834 cluster candidates, morphologically classified to be compact and uniform in colour, for which ages, masses and extinction are derived. In this first work we study the main properties of the YSC population of the whole galaxy, considering a mass-limited sample. Both luminosity and mass functions follow a power law shape with slope -2, but at high luminosities and masses a dearth of sources is observed. The analysis of the mass function suggests that it is best fitted by a Schechter function with slope -2 and a truncation mass at $1.00\pm0.12\times10^5\ M_\odot$. Through Monte Carlo simulations we confirm this result and link the shape of the luminosity function to the presence of a truncation in the mass function. A mass limited age function analysis, between 10 and 200 Myr, suggests that the cluster population is undergoing only moderate disruption. We observe little variation in the shape of the mass function at masses above $1\times10^4\ M_\odot$, over this age range. The fraction of star formation happening in the form of bound clusters in M51 is $\sim20\%$ in the age range 10 to 100 Myr and little variation is observed over the whole range from 1 to 200 Myr., Comment: 25 pages, 19 figures, 10 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (14 Sep. 2017)

We investigate in this paper the architecture of deep convolutional networks. Building on existing state of the art models, we propose a reconfiguration of the model parameters into several parallel branches at the global network level, with each branch being a standalone CNN. We show that this arrangement is an efficient way to significantly reduce the number of parameters without losing performance or to significantly improve the performance with the same level of performance. The use of branches brings an additional form of regularization. In addition to the split into parallel branches, we propose a tighter coupling of these branches by placing the "fuse (averaging) layer" before the Log-Likelihood and SoftMax layers during training. This gives another significant performance improvement, the tighter coupling favouring the learning of better representations, even at the level of the individual branches. We refer to this branched architecture as "coupled ensembles". The approach is very generic and can be applied with almost any DCNN architecture. With coupled ensembles of DenseNet-BC and parameter budget of 25M, we obtain error rates of 2.92%, 15.68% and 1.50% respectively on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100 and SVHN tasks. For the same budget, DenseNet-BC has error rate of 3.46%, 17.18%, and 1.8% respectively. With ensembles of coupled ensembles, of DenseNet-BC networks, with 50M total parameters, we obtain error rates of 2.72%, 15.13% and 1.42% respectively on these tasks.

Indirect hex-dominant meshing methods rely on the detection of adjacent tetrahedra an algorithm that performs this identification and builds the set of all possible combinations of tetrahedral elements of an input mesh T into hexahedra, prisms, or pyramids. All identified cells are valid for engineering analysis. First, all combinations of eight/six/five vertices whose connectivity in T matches the connectivity of a hexahedron/prism/pyramid are computed. The subset of tetrahedra of T triangulating each potential cell is then determined. Quality checks allow to early discard poor quality cells and to dramatically improve the efficiency of the method. Each potential hexahedron/prism/pyramid is computed only once. Around 3 millions potential hexahedra are computed in 10 seconds on a laptop. We finally demonstrate that the set of potential hexes built by our algorithm is significantly larger than those built using predefined patterns of subdivision of a hexahedron in tetrahedral elements., Comment: Preprint submitted to CAD (26th IMR special issue)

We report the large effort which is producing comprehensive high-level young star cluster (YSC) catalogues for a significant fraction of galaxies observed with the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) Hubble treasury program. We present the methodology developed to extract cluster positions, verify their genuine nature, produce multiband photometry (from NUV to NIR), and derive their physical properties via spectral energy distribution fitting analyses. We use the nearby spiral galaxy NGC628 as a test case for demonstrating the impact that LEGUS will have on our understanding of the formation and evolution of YSCs and compact stellar associations within their host galaxy. Our analysis of the cluster luminosity function from the UV to the NIR finds a steepening at the bright end and at all wavelengths suggesting a dearth of luminous clusters. The cluster mass function of NGC628 is consistent with a power-law distribution of slopes $\sim -2$ and a truncation of a few times $10^5$ M$_\odot$. After their formation YSCs and compact associations follow different evolutionary paths. YSCs survive for a longer timeframe, confirming their being potentially bound systems. Associations disappear on time scales comparable to hierarchically organized star-forming regions, suggesting that they are expanding systems. We find mass-independent cluster disruption in the inner region of NGC628, while in the outer part of the galaxy there is little or no disruption. We observe faster disruption rates for low mass ($\leq$ $10^4$ M$_\odot$) clusters suggesting that a mass-dependent component is necessary to fully describe the YSC disruption process in NGC628., Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ; 27 pages; complete stellar cluster catalogues will be released in June 2017 at https://legus.stsci.edu

We present a study of the hierarchical clustering of the young stellar clusters in six local (3--15 Mpc) star-forming galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope broad band WFC3/UVIS UV and optical images from the Treasury Program LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey). We have identified 3685 likely clusters and associations, each visually classified by their morphology, and we use the angular two-point correlation function to study the clustering of these stellar systems. We find that the spatial distribution of the young clusters and associations are clustered with respect to each other, forming large, unbound hierarchical star-forming complexes that are in general very young. The strength of the clustering decreases with increasing age of the star clusters and stellar associations, becoming more homogeneously distributed after ~40--60 Myr and on scales larger than a few hundred parsecs. In all galaxies, the associations exhibit a global behavior that is distinct and more strongly correlated from compact clusters. Thus, populations of clusters are more evolved than associations in terms of their spatial distribution, traveling significantly from their birth site within a few tens of Myr whereas associations show evidence of disruption occurring very quickly after their formation. The clustering of the stellar systems resembles that of a turbulent interstellar medium that drives the star formation process, correlating the components in unbound star-forming complexes in a hierarchical manner, dispersing shortly after formation, suggestive of a single, continuous mode of star formation across all galaxies., Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

The nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC5253 hosts a number of young, massive star clusters, the two youngest of which are centrally concentrated and surrounded by thermal radio emission (the `radio nebula'). To investigate the role of these clusters in the starburst energetics, we combine new and archival Hubble Space Telescope images of NGC5253 with wavelength coverage from 1500 Ang to 1.9 micron in 13 filters. These include H-alpha, P-beta, and P-alpha, and the imaging from the Hubble Treasury Program LEGUS (Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey). The extraordinarily well-sampled spectral energy distributions enable modeling with unprecedented accuracy the ages, masses, and extinctions of the 9 optically brightest clusters (M_V < -8.8) and the two young radio nebula clusters. The clusters have ages ~1-15 Myr and masses ~1x10^4 - 2.5x10^5 M_sun. The clusters' spatial location and ages indicate that star formation has become more concentrated towards the radio nebula over the last ~15 Myr. The most massive cluster is in the radio nebula; with a mass 2.5x10^5 M_sun and an age ~1 Myr, it is 2-4 times less massive and younger than previously estimated. It is within a dust cloud with A_V~50 mag, and shows a clear nearIR excess, likely from hot dust. The second radio nebula cluster is also ~1 Myr old, confirming the extreme youth of the starburst region. These two clusters account for about half of the ionizing photon rate in the radio nebula, and will eventually supply about 2/3 of the mechanical energy in present-day shocks. Additional sources are required to supply the remaining ionizing radiation, and may include very massive stars., Comment: 67 pages; 11 figures; 7 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We present a detailed clustering analysis of the young stellar population across the star-forming ring galaxy NGC 6503, based on the deep HST photometry obtained with the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS). We apply a contour-based map analysis technique and identify in the stellar surface density map 244 distinct star-forming structures at various levels of significance. These stellar complexes are found to be organized in a hierarchical fashion with 95% being members of three dominant super-structures located along the star-forming ring. The size distribution of the identified structures and the correlation between their radii and numbers of stellar members show power-law behaviors, as expected from scale-free processes. The self-similar distribution of young stars is further quantified from their autocorrelation function, with a fractal dimension of ~1.7 for length-scales between ~20 pc and 2.5 kpc. The young stellar radial distribution sets the extent of the star-forming ring at radial distances between 1 and 2.5 kpc. About 60% of the young stars belong to the detected stellar structures, while the remaining stars are distributed among the complexes, still inside the ring of the galaxy. The analysis of the time-dependent clustering of young populations shows a significant change from a more clustered to a more distributed behavior in a time-scale of ~60 Myr. The observed hierarchy in stellar clustering is consistent with star formation being regulated by turbulence across the ring. The rotational velocity difference between the edges of the ring suggests shear as the driving mechanism for this process. Our findings reveal the interesting case of an inner ring forming stars in a hierarchical fashion., Comment: MNRAS Accepted 2015 June 11; in original form 2015 May 04 (21 pages, 21 figures, 4 tables)

So far the highly unstable phase of luminous blue variables (LBVs) has not been understood well. It is still uncertain why and which massive stars enter this phase. Investigating the variabilities by looking for a possible regular or even (semi-)periodic behaviour could give a hint at the underlying mechanism for these variations and might answer the question of where these variabilities originate. Finding out more about the LBV phase also means understanding massive stars better in general, which have (e.g. by enriching the ISM with heavy elements, providing ionising radiation and kinetic energy) a strong and significant influence on the ISM, hence also on their host galaxy. Photometric and spectroscopic data were taken for the LBV Var C in M33 to investigate its recent status. In addition, scanned historic plates, archival data, and data from the literature were gathered to trace Var C's behaviour in the past. Its long-term variability and periodicity was investigated. Our investigation of the variability indicates possible (semi-)periodic behaviour with a period of 42.3 years for Var C. That Var C's light curve covers a time span of more than 100 years means that more than two full periods of the cycle are visible. The critical historic maximum around 1905 is less strong but discernible even with the currently rare historic data. The semi-periodic and secular structure of the light curve is similar to the one of LMC R71. Both light curves hint at a new aspect in the evolution of LBVs., Comment: 13 pages plus 14 pages appendix, 8 figures (1 figure in appendix with reduced resolution); A&A, in press

Context: It appears that most (if not all) massive stars are born in multiple systems. At the same time, the most massive binaries are hard to find due to their low numbers throughout the Galaxy and the implied large distances and extinctions. AIMS: We want to study: [a] LS III +46 11, identified in this paper as a very massive binary; [b] another nearby massive system, LS III +46 12; and [c] the surrounding stellar cluster, Berkeley 90. Methods: Most of the data used in this paper are multi-epoch high-S/N optical spectra though we also use Lucky Imaging and archival photometry. The spectra are reduced with devoted pipelines and processed with our own software, such as a spectroscopic-orbit code, CHORIZOS, and MGB. Results: LS III +46 11 is identified as a new very-early-O-type spectroscopic binary [O3.5 If* + O3.5 If*] and LS III +46 12 as another early O-type system [O4.5 V((f))]. We measure a 97.2-day period for LS III +46 12 and derive minimum masses of 38.80$\pm$0.83 M_Sol and 35.60$\pm$0.77 M_Sol for its two stars. We measure the extinction to both stars, estimate the distance, search for optical companions, and study the surrounding cluster. In doing so, a variable extinction is found as well as discrepant results for the distance. We discuss possible explanations and suggest that LS III +46 12 may be a hidden binary system, where the companion is currently undetected., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

CAF\'E-BEANS is an on-going survey running on the 2.2 m telescope at Calar Alto. For more than two years, CAF\'E-BEANS has been collecting high-resolution spectra of early-type stars with the aim of detecting and characterising spectroscopic binaries. The main goal of this project is a thorough characterisation of multiplicity in high-mass stars by detecting all spectroscopic and visual binaries in a large sample of Galactic O-type stars, and solving their orbits. Our final objective is eliminating all biases in the high-mass-star IMF created by undetected binaries., Comment: 6 pages. To appear in Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VIII, Proceedings of the XI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society held on September 8 - 12, 2014, in Teruel, Spain. A. J. Cenarro, F. Figueras, C. Hern\'andez-Monteagudo, J. Trujillo, and L. Valdivielso (eds.)

We provide a complete characterization of the astrophysical properties of the $\sigma$ Ori Aa,Ab,B hierarchical triple system, and an improved set of orbital parameters for the highly eccentric $\sigma$ Ori Aa,Ab spectroscopic binary. We compiled a spectroscopic dataset comprising 90 high-resolution spectra covering a total time span of 1963 days. We applied the Lehman-Filh\'es method for a detailed orbital analysis of the radial velocity curves and performed a combined quantitative spectroscopic analysis of the {$\sigma$ Ori Aa,Ab,B} system by means of the stellar atmosphere code FASTWIND. We used our own plus other available information on photometry and distance to the system for measuring the radii, luminosities, and spectroscopic masses of the three components. We also inferred evolutionary masses and stellar ages using the Bayesian code BONNSAI. The orbital analysis of the new radial velocity curves led to a very accurate orbital solution of the $\sigma$ Ori Aa,Ab pair. We provided indirect arguments indicating that $\sigma$ Ori B is a fast rotating early-B dwarf. The FASTWIND+BONNSAI analysis showed that the Aa,Ab pair contains the hottest and most massive components of the triple system while $\sigma$ Ori B is a bit cooler and less massive. The derived stellar ages of the inner pair are intriguingly younger than the one widely accepted for the $\sigma$ Orionis cluster, at 3$\pm$1 Ma. The outcome of this study will be of key importance for a precise determination of the distance to the $\sigma$ Orionis cluster, the interpretation of the strong X-ray emission detected for $\sigma$ Ori Aa,Ab,B, and the investigation of the formation and evolution of multiple massive stellar systems and substellar objects., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 6 tables, 7 figures

The Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) is a Cycle 21 Treasury program on the Hubble Space Telescope, aimed at the investigation of star formation and its relation with galactic environment in nearby galaxies, from the scales of individual stars to those of ~kpc-size clustered structures. Five-band imaging, from the near-ultraviolet to the I-band, with the Wide Field Camera 3, plus parallel optical imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys, is being collected for selected pointings of 50 galaxies within the local 12 Mpc. The filters used for the observations with the Wide Field Camera 3 are: F275W(2,704 A), F336W(3,355 A), F438W(4,325 A), F555W(5,308 A), and F814W(8,024 A); the parallel observations with the Advanced Camera for Surveys use the filters: F435W(4,328 A), F606W(5,921 A), and F814W(8,057 A). The multi-band images are yielding accurate recent (<~50 Myr) star formation histories from resolved massive stars and the extinction-corrected ages and masses of star clusters and associations. The extensive inventories of massive stars and clustered systems will be used to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of star formation within galaxies. This will, in turn, inform theories of galaxy evolution and improve the understanding of the physical underpinning of the gas-star formation relation and the nature of star formation at high redshift. This paper describes the survey, its goals and observational strategy, and the initial science results. Because LEGUS will provide a reference survey and a foundation for future observations with JWST and with ALMA, a large number of data products are planned for delivery to the community., Comment: 67 pages, 9 figures; accepted for publication on the Astronomical Journal

This paper examines the use of mobile technologies such as iPods and tablets in promoting the development of oral competencies and literacy skills in early French immersion classrooms in Canada. The paper is based on a two-year collaborative action research project involving 16 teachers in two schools. Data collection involved digital ethnographic observation in the classroom, students' artifacts (examples of the use of iPods and tablets by students), teacher interviews, and student interviews. The findings demonstrate that the young language learners use these mobile devices as tools to practice not only their oral skills in the target language through individual and group activities, but also their literacy skills (reading and writing). In addition, by providing more authentic and frequent experiences in using the target language, the use of the iPods and tablets has positive outcomes on the development of oral language skills. The young learners also demonstrate an increase in their motivation to use the target language following the use of the mobile devices. The results indicate the potential of the use of oral language and iPods/tablets in promoting the development of early literacy skills (reading and writing). The iPods/tablets also provide a kind of scaffolding to the writing process by linking the oral language with the written form. Finally, the use of the oral language with the support of mobile technologies promotes new forms of assessment tools for the teachers; it also promotes self-assessment by the learners, as well as peer assessment. [For the complete volume, see ED574893.]

(abridged) We investigate the properties of feedback-driven shocks in 8 nearby starburst galaxies using narrow-band imaging data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We identify the shock--ionized component via the line diagnostic diagram \oiii/\hb vs. \sii (or \nii)/\ha, applied to resolved regions 3--15 pc in size. We divide our sample into three sub-samples: sub-solar (Holmberg II, NGC 1569, NGC 4214, NGC 4449, and NGC 5253), solar (He 2-10, NGC 3077) and super-solar (NGC 5236) for consistent shock measurements. For the sub-solar sub-sample, we derive three scaling relations: (1) $L_{shock} \propto {SFR}^{~0.62}$, (2) $L_{shock} \propto {\Sigma_{SFR,HL}}^{~0.92}$, and (3) $L_{shock}/L_{tot} \propto {(L_H/L_{\odot,H})}^{-0.65}$, where $L_{shock}$ is the \ha luminosity from shock--ionized gas, ${\Sigma_{SFR,HL}}$ the SFR per unit half-light area, $L_{tot}$ the total \ha luminosity, and $L_H/L_{\odot,H}$ the absolute H-band luminosity from 2MASS normalized to solar luminosity. The other two sub--samples do not have enough number statistics, but appear to follow the first scaling relation. The energy recovered indicates that the shocks from stellar feedback in our sample galaxies are fully radiative. If the scaling relations are applicable in general to stellar feedback, our results are similar to those by Hopkins et al. (2012) for galactic super winds. This similarity should, however, be taken with caution at this point, as the underlying physics that enables the transition from radiative shocks to gas outflows in galaxies is still poorly understood., Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ

The goal of this paper is to study the family of snake polyominoes. More precisely, we focus our attention on the class of partially directed snakes. We establish functional equations and length generating functions of two dimensional, three dimensional and then $N$ dimensional partially directed snake polyominoes. We then turn our attention to partially directed snakes inscribed in a $b\times k$ rectangle and we establish two-variable generating functions, with respect to height $k$ and length $n$ of the snakes. We include observations on the relationship between snake polyominoes and self-avoiding walks. We conclude with a discussion on inscribed snakes polyominoes of maximal length which lead us to the formulation of a conjecture encountered in the course of our investigations., Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures

We are using five different surveys to compile the largest sample of diffuse interstellar band (DIB) measurements ever collected. GOSSS is obtaining intermediate-resolution blue-violet spectroscopy of ~2500 OB stars, of which 60% have already been observed and processed. The other four surveys have already collected multi-epoch high-resolution optical spectroscopy of 700 OB stars with different telescopes, including the 9 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope in McDonald Observatory. Some of our stars are highly-extinguished targets for which no good-quality optical spectra have ever been published. For all of the targets in our sample we have obtained accurate spectral types, measured non-DIB ISM lines, and compiled information from the literature to calculate the extinction. Here we present the first results of the project, the properties of twenty DIBs in the 4100-5500 {\AA} range. We clearly detect a couple of previously elusive DIBs at 4170 {\AA} and 4591 {\AA}; the latter could have coronene and ovalene cations as carriers., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 297 on The Diffuse Interstellar Bands

A precise and accurate determination of the Hubble constant based on Cepheid variables requires proper characterization of many sources of systematic error. One of these is stellar blending, which biases the measured fluxes of Cepheids and the resulting distance estimates. We study the blending of 149 Cepheid variables in M33 by matching archival Hubble Space Telescope data with images obtained at the WIYN 3.5-m telescope, which differ by a factor of 10 in angular resolution. We find that 55+-4% of the Cepheids have no detectable nearby companions that could bias the WIYN V-band photometry, while the fraction of Cepheids affected below the 10% level is 73+-4%. The corresponding values for the I band are 60+-4% and 72+-4%, respectively. We find no statistically significant difference in blending statistics as a function of period or surface brightness. Additionally, we report all the detected companions within 2 arcseconds of the Cepheids (equivalent to 9 pc at the distance of M33) which may be used to derive empirical blending corrections for Cepheids at larger distances., Comment: v2: Fixed incorrect description of Figure 2 in text. Accepted for publication in AJ. Full data tables can be found in ASCII format as part of the source distribution. A version of the paper with higher-resolution figures can be found at http://faculty.physics.tamu.edu/lmacri/papers/chavez12.pdf

This paper presents a first observational investigation of the faint Of?cp star NGC 1624-2, yielding important new constraints on its spectral and physical characteristics, rotation, magnetic field strength, X-ray emission and magnetospheric properties. Modeling the spectrum and spectral energy distribution, we conclude that NGC 1624-2 is a main sequence star of mass M {\simeq} 30 M{\odot}, and infer an effective temperature of 35 {\pm} 2 kK and log g = 4.0 {\pm} 0.2. Based on an extensive time series of optical spectral observations we report significant variability of a large number of spectral lines, and infer a unique period of 157.99 {\pm} 0.94 d which we interpret as the rotational period of the star. We report the detection of a very strong - 5.35 {\pm} 0.5 kG - longitudinal magnetic field , coupled with probable Zeeman splitting of Stokes I profiles of metal lines confirming a surface field modulus of 14 {\pm} 1 kG, consistent with a surface dipole of polar strength >~ 20 kG. This is the largest magnetic field ever detected in an O-type star, and the first report of Zeeman splitting of Stokes I profiles in such an object. We also report the detection of reversed Stokes V profiles associated with weak, high-excitation emission lines of O iii, which we propose may form in the close magnetosphere of the star. We analyze archival Chandra ACIS-I X-ray data, inferring a very hard spectrum with an X-ray efficiency log Lx/Lbol = -6.4, a factor of 4 larger than the canonical value for O-type stars and comparable to that of the young magnetic O-type star {\theta}1 Ori C and other Of?p stars. Finally, we examine the probable magnetospheric properties of the star, reporting in particular very strong magnetic confinement of the stellar wind, with {\eta}* {\simeq} 1.5 {\times} 10^4, and a very large Alfven radius, RAlf = 11.4 R*., Comment: 17 pages, MNRAS accepted and in press

There are several ongoing massive-star (mostly of spectral type O) surveys that are significantly increasing the quality and quantity of the spectroscopic information about these objects. Here we discuss and present results for two of them, GOSSS and NoMaDS. We also discuss recent and future developments on the Galactic O-Star Catalog and announce the upcoming availability of Marxist Ghost Buster, an IDL code that attacks spectral classification (hence the name) by using an interactive comparison with spectral libraries., Comment: 7 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the conference in honor of Tony Moffat that took place at Lac Taureau in July 2011