16286733
The Accretion Rates and Spectral Energy Distributions of BL Lacertae Objects
We investigate the relationship between accretion rates and the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of BL Lac objects using a sample of objects for which published information on the host galaxies, emission-line luminosities, and peak frequencies and luminosities of their SEDs are available. The sample is composed of 43 BL Lac objects that have a relatively continuous distribution of peak frequencies. Under the assumption that the observed emission lines are photoionized by the central accretion disk, we use the line luminosities to estimate the accretion luminosities and hence accretion rates. We find that low-frequency peaked BL Lac objects (LBLs) span a wide range of accretion rates, whereas high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects (HBLs) cover a more restricted range of lower values. There appears to be a continuous distribution of accretion rates between the two subclasses of BL Lac objects. We find that the peak frequency of the SED, nu(pk), correlates with the accretion rate, approximately with the form nu(pk) proportional to Lambda(-3) in HBLs and nu(pk) proportional to Lambda(-0.25) in LBLs, where Lambdaequivalent toL(lines)/c(2). The peak luminosity of the SED is also correlated with. These results suggest that the accretion rate influences the shape of the SED in BL Lac objects. They also support models that couple the jet and the accretion disk. We present a physical scenario to account for the empirical trends.
16433217
The afterglows of ultraluminous quasars
Quasars represent a brief phase in the life cycle of most massive galaxies, but the evolutionary connection between central black holes and their host galaxies remains unclear. While quasars are active and shining brighter than the Compton-limit luminosity, their radiation heats the surrounding medium to the Compton temperature, forming Compton spheres extending to the Stromgren radius of Fe26+/He2+. After the quasars shut off, their "afterglow" can be detected through three signatures: (1) an extended X-ray envelope, with a characteristic temperature of ~3 × 107 K, (2) Lyα and Lyβ lines and the K edge of Fe26+, and (3) nebulosity from hydrogen and helium recombination emission lines. We discuss the possibility of detecting these signatures using Chandra, the planned X-Ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy mission, and ground-based optical telescopes. The luminosity and size of quasar afterglows can be used to constrain the lifetime of quasars.
17406200
EVOLUTION OF GASEOUS DISK VISCOSITY DRIVEN BY SUPERNOVA EXPLOSIONS IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT
Motivated by Genzel et al.'s observations of high-redshift star-forming galaxies, containing clumpy and turbulent rings or disks, we build a set of equations describing the dynamical evolution of gaseous disks with inclusion of star formation and its feedback. Transport of angular momentum is due to "turbulent" viscosity induced by supernova explosions in the star formation region. Analytical solutions of the equations are found for the initial cases of a gaseous ring and the integrated form for a gaseous disk, respectively. For a ring with enough low viscosity, it evolves in a slow process of gaseous diffusion and star formation near the initial radius. For a high viscosity, the ring rapidly diffuses in the early phase. The diffusion drives the ring into a region with a low viscosity and starts the second phase undergoing pile-up of gas at a radius following the decreased viscosity torque. The third is a sharply decreasing phase because of star formation consumption of gas and efficient transportation of gas inward forming a stellar disk. We apply the model to two z similar to 2 galaxies BX 482 and BzK 6004, and find that they are undergoing a decline in their star formation activity.
119102309
Possible hard X-ray shortages in bursts from KS 1731-260 and 4U 1705-44
Aims. A hard X-ray shortage, implying the cooling of the corona, was observed during bursts of IGR J17473-272, 4U 1636-536, Aql X-1, and GS 1826-238. Apart from these four sources, we investigate here an atoll sample, in which the number of bursts for each source is larger than 5, to explore the possible additional hard X-ray shortage during Rossi X-ray timing explorer (RXTE) era. Methods. According to the source catalog that shows type-I bursts, we analyzed all the available pointing observations of these sources carried out by the RXTE proportional counter array. We grouped and combined the bursts according to their outburst states and searched for the possible hard X-ray shortage while bursting. Results. We found that the island states of KS 1731-260 and 4U 1705-44 show a hard X-ray shortage at significant levels of 4.5 and 4.7σ and a systematic time lag of 0.9 ± 2.1 s and 2.5 ± 2.0 s with respect to the soft X-rays, respectively. While in their banana branches and other sources, we did not find any consistent shortage.
17396076
INTEGRAL and RXTE/ASM observations on IGR J17098−3628
To probe further the possible nature of the unidentified source IGR J17098-3628, we have carried out a detailed analysis of its long-term time variability as monitored by RXTE/ASM, and of its hard X-ray properties as observed by INTEGRAL. INTEGRAL has monitored this sky region over years and significantly detected IGR J17098-3628 only when the source was in this dubbed active state. In particular, at $\ge$ 20 keV, IBIS/ISGRI caught an outburst in March 2005, lasting for $\sim$5 days with detection significance of 73$\sigma$ (20-40 keV) and with the emission at $ $20 keV) outburst by $\sim$2 days. This resembles the behavior of X-ray novae like XN 1124-683, hence it further suggests a LMXB nature for IGR J17098-3628. While the quality of the ASM data prevents us from drawing any definite conclusions, these discoveries are important clues that, coupled with future observations, will help to resolve the as yet unknown nature of IGR J17098-3628.
15715110
Suppressed star formation in circumnuclear regions in seyfert galaxies
Feedback from black hole activity is widely believed to play a key role in regulating star formation and black hole growth. A long-standing issue is the relation between star formation and the fueling of the supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We compile a sample of 57 Seyfert galaxies to tackle this issue. We estimate the surface densities of gas and star formation rates in circumnuclear regions (CNRs). Comparing them with the well-known Kennicutt-Schmidt (K-S) law, we find that the star formation rates (SFRs) in the CNRs of most Seyfert galaxies are suppressed in this sample. Feedback is suggested to explain the suppressed SFRs.
122184067
A Jet Deceleration Model on TeV BL Lacertae Objects
The current understanding of the kinetics of known TeV BL Lac objects' jets is that they substantially decelerate from a subparsec scale with a large Lorentz factor, emitting TeV radiation to a parsec scale, where the observed radio component is predominantly subluminal or mildly relativistic. A decelerating jet model of TeV BL Lac objects including jet dynamics and particle injection is proposed. The jet plasma is assumed to be continuously injected at the base of the jet and to dissipate at some distance from the central core. It is found that the deceleration profile of the jet depends on the density distribution of the external medium, showing slower variation in an external medium with a fast-falling density profile. The dissipated kinetic energy of the jet is assumed to be transferred to electron acceleration. The relativistic electrons are injected along the jet and then produce synchrotron and inverse Compton emission. The general characteristics of the physical quantities of the jet are discussed. It is shown that the resulting spectral energy distributions (SEDs) mainly depend on the energy distribution of injected electrons in the dissipation region, the magnetic structure, and the viewing angle of the jet. The model describes the underlying undisturbed jet and is applied to fit the quiescent infrared to X-ray spectra of several TeV BL Lac objects. In this scenario, the dissipated bulk kinetic energy of TeV BL Lac objects can provide relativistic electrons for radiation, and their initial magnetic fields are under equipartition with the emitting electrons.
118455503
Construction of the Conserved Non-linear Zeta via the Effective Action for Perfect Fluids
We consider the problem of how to construct the curvature perturbation $\zeta$ to nonlinear levels, which is expected to evolve time independently on super-horizon scales; in particular we concentrate on the situation where the universe is dominated by a perfect fluid. We have used a low energy/long wavelength effective action to model the fluid sector. Different from previous work, our approach assumes neither the absence of vector and tensor perturbations nor ``local homogeneity and isotropy''. As a corollary, we also show that the nonlinearly defined graviton field $\gamma_{ij}$ is conserved outside the horizon in the same manner as $\zeta$ is.
199676084
Measurement of the differential q**2 spectrum and forward-backward asymmetry for B ---> K* l+ l-
18198918
Two extreme double-peaked line emitters in the sloan digital sky survey
Double-peaked Balmer lines have been observed in about 150 active galactic nuclei and were interpreted preferentially as emission from relativistic accretion disks. We report the discovery of extreme double-peaked lines in SDSS J0942+0900 and SDSS J1417+6141. The FWHM of the Hα line, 40,600 km s-1, in the first object is almost twice as large as the broadest previously known. By comparing the line profile with accretion disk models, we find that most of the line flux is emitted from a narrow annulus around 100rg in SDSS J0942+0900, and from a disk with radii between 100rg and 400rg in SDSS J1417+6141. This is the first time that an accretion disk at radii below 100rg has been directly probed through optical emission lines. A certain asymmetry in the disk is required for both objects. Another, much weaker, broad Hα component (Wλ ~ 20 A and FWHM ~ 4000 km s-1) is also detected in both objects. Both objects show weak radio emission and strong high-ionization narrow lines.
121992013
DESCRIPTION OF THE BTEV DETECTOR
BTeV is an experiment being constructed at the Fermilab collider, designed to study mixing, CP violation, and rare decays of beauty and charm hadrons. The detector covers the forward region (10-300 mrad), components include silicon pixels, tracking, RICH, PdWO4 electromagnetic calorimeter, and muon system. Brief description of individual detector elements are presented.