Based on an extensive redshift survey for galaxy clusters Abell 2029 and Coma, we measure the luminosity functions (LFs) and stellar mass functions (SMFs) for the entire cluster member galaxies. Most importantly, we measure the velocity dispersion functions (VDFs) for quiescent members. The MMT/Hectospec redshift survey for galaxies in A2029 identifies 982 spectroscopic members; for 838 members, we derive the central velocity dispersion from the spectroscopy. Coma is the only other cluster surveyed as densely. The LFs, SMFs, and VDFs for A2029 and Coma are essentially identical. The SMFs of the clusters are consistent with simulations. The A2029 and Coma VDFs for quiescent galaxies have a significantly steeper slope than those of field galaxies for velocity dispersion  -100 km s 1 . The cluster VDFs also exceed the field at velocity dispersion  -250 km s 1 . The differences between cluster and field VDFs are potentially important tests of simulations and of the formation of structure in the universe.

Multiarmed nonlinear optical (NLO) molecules containing triphenylamine as a core and 4-(2-ethylhexylsulfonyl)benzene-(1E)-2-vinyl group or 4-{2-[4-(2-ethylhexylsulfonyl)phenyl]-(1E)-vinyl}benzene-(1E)-2-vinyl group as arms were synthesized (STEH series and SSEH series, respectively). Because triphenylamine linked to the sulfonylated stilbenic arms provided effective push-pull NLO structure and strong 2-D charge transfer, they were capable of both two-photon absorption (TPA) and photorefraction. Effective TPA cross sections of these molecules were as high as 0.94 × 10 -46 cm 4 ‚s and significantly enhanced as the number of arms and conjugation length increased. One-and two-armed STEH molecules (STEH1 and STEH2) showed moderate two-beam coupling gain coefficients (13.4 cm -1 at 45 V/µm and 17.4 cm -1 at 55 V/µm, respectively) and distinct diffraction efficiency (0.45% at 40 V/µm and 0.55% at 55 V/µm). On the other hand, the centrosymmetric three-armed STEH molecule exhibited no photorefraction at all. It is importantly claimed that the multiarmed bifunctional molecules of this work are easily fabricated into optically clear amorphous films by themselves, which is a key advantage toward potential applications such as solid-state optical limiting devices and two-photon excited photorefractive materials.

We explore connections between brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and their host clusters. We first construct a HeCS-omnibus cluster sample including 227 galaxy clusters within 0.02 < z < 0.30; the total number of spectroscopic members from MMT/Hectospec and SDSS observations is 52325. Taking advantage of the large spectroscopic sample, we compute physical properties of the clusters including the dynamical mass and cluster velocity dispersion (σ cl ). We also measure the central stellar velocity dispersion of the BCGs (σ * ,BCG s) to examine the relation between BCG velocity dispersion and cluster velocity dispersion for the first time. The observed relation between BCG velocity dispersion and the cluster velocity dispersion is remarkably tight. Interestingly, the σ * ,BCG /σ cl ratio decreases as a function of σ cl unlike the prediction from the numerical simulation of Dolag et al. (2010). The trend in σ * ,BCG /σ cl suggests that the BCG formation is more efficient in lower mass halos.

We explore the relations between size, stellar mass and average stellar population age (indicated by D n 4000 indices) for a sample of ∼ 11000 intermediate-redshift galaxies from the SHELS spectroscopic survey (Geller et al. 2014) augmented by high-resolution Subaru Telescope Hyper Suprime-Cam imaging. In the redshift interval 0.1 < z < 0.6, star forming galaxies are on average larger than their quiescent counterparts. The mass-complete sample of ∼ 3500 M * > 10 10 M quiescent galaxies shows that the average size of a 10 11 M quiescent galaxy increases by 25% from z ∼ 0.6 to z ∼ 0.1. This growth rate is a function of stellar mass: the most massive (M * > 10 11 M ) galaxies grow significntly more slowly in size than an order of magnitude less massive quiescent systems that grow by 70% in the 0.1 z 0.3 redshift interval. For M * < 10 11 M galaxies age and size are anti-correlated at fixed mass; more massive quiescent systems show no significant trend in size with average stellar population age. The evolution in absolute and fractional abundances of quiescent systems at intermediate redshift are also a function of galaxy stellar mass. The suite of evolutionary trends suggests that galaxies more massive than ∼ 10 11 M have mostly assembled their mass by z ∼ 0.6. Quiescent galaxies with lower stellar masses show more complex evolution that is characterized by a combination of individual quiescent galaxy size growth (through mergers) and an increase in the size of newly quenched galaxies joining the population at later times (progenitor bias). The low-mass population (M * ∼ 10 10 M ) grows predominantly as a result of progenitor bias. For more massive (M * ∼ 5 × 10 10 M ) quiescent galaxies, (predominantly minor) mergers and progenitor bias make more comparable contributions to the size growth. At intermediate redshift quiescent size growth is mass-dependent; the most massive (M * > 10 11 M ) galaxies experience the least rapid increase in size from z ∼ 0.6 to z ∼ 0.1.

We analyze the Illustris-1 hydrodynamical cosmological simulation to explore the stellar velocity dispersion of quiescent galaxies as an observational probe of dark matter halo velocity dispersion and mass. Stellar velocity dispersion is proportional to dark matter halo velocity dispersion for both central and satellite galaxies. The dark matter halos of central galaxies are in virial equilibrium and thus the stellar velocity dispersion is also proportional to dark matter halo mass. This proportionality holds even when a line-of-sight aperture dispersion is calculated in analogy to observations. In contrast, at a given stellar velocity dispersion, the dark matter halo mass of satellite galaxies is smaller than virial equilibrium expectations. This deviation from virial equilibrium probably results from tidal stripping of the outer dark matter halo. Stellar velocity dispersion appears insensitive to tidal effects and thus reflects the correlation between stellar velocity dispersion and dark matter halo mass prior to infall. There is a tight relation ( 0.2 dex scatter) between line-of-sight aperture stellar velocity dispersion and dark matter halo mass suggesting that the dark matter halo mass may be estimated from the measured stellar velocity dispersion for both central and satellite galaxies. We evaluate the impact of treating all objects as central galaxies if the relation we derive is applied to a statistical ensemble. A large fraction ( 2/3) of massive quiescent galaxies are central galaxies and systematic uncertainty in the inferred dark matter halo mass is 0.1 dex thus simplifying application of the simulation results to currently available observations.