2227030
Testing the transition layer model of quasi-periodic oscillations in neutron star X-ray binaries
We compare the theoretical predictions of the transition layer model with some observational features of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in neutron star X-ray binaries. We found that the correlation between horizontal branch oscillation (HBO) frequencies and kilohertz (kHz) QPO frequencies, the difference between the low-frequency QPOs in atoll sources and HBOs in Z sources, and the correlation between the frequencies of low-frequency QPOs and break frequencies can be well explained by the transition layer model, provided the neutron star mass is around 1.4 M☉ and the angle between magnetosphere equator and accretion disk plane is around 6°. The observed decrease of peak separation between the two kHz QPO frequencies with the increase of the kHz QPO frequencies and the increase of QPO frequencies with the increase of inferred mass accretion rate are also consistent with the theoretical predictions of the transition layer model. In addition, we derive a simple equation that can be adopted to estimate the angle (δ) between magnetosphere equator and accretion disk plane by use of the simultaneously observed QPO frequency data. We estimate this angle, in the range of 4°-8°, for five Z sources and two atoll sources. The nearly constant δ value for each source, derived from the different sets of simultaneously observed QPO frequency data, provides a strong test of the theoretical model. Finally, we suggest that similar transition layer oscillations may be responsible for the observed QPOs in accretion-powered millisecond X-ray pulsars and Galactic black hole candidates.
118517819
Quasar candidate selection and photometric redshift estimation based on SDSS and UKIDSS data
We present a sample of 8498 quasars with both SDSS ugriz optical and UKIDSS Y JHK near-IR photometric data. With this sample, we obtain the median colour-z relations based on 7400 quasars with magnitude uncertainties less than 0.1mag in all bands. By analyzing the quasar colours, we propose an empirical criterion in the Y K vs. g z colour-colour diagram to separate stars and quasars with redshift z < 4, and two other criteria for selecting high redshift quasars. Using the SDSS-UKIDSS colourz relations, we estimate the photometric redshifts of 8498 SDSS-UKIDSS quasars, and find that 85.0% of them are consistent with the spectroscopic redshifts within |�z| < 0.2, which leads to a significant increase of the photometric redshift accuracy than that based on the SDSS colour-z relations only. As two tests, we compare our colour selection criterion with a small UKIDSS/EDR quasar/star sample and a sample of 4671 variable sources in the SDSS Stripe 82 region with both SDSS and UKIDSS data. We find that they can be clearly divided into two classes (quasars and stars) by our criterion in the Y K vs. g z plot. We select 3834 quasar candidates from the variable sources with g < 20.5 in Stripe 82, 826 of them being SDSS quasars and the rest without SDSS spectroscopy. We estimate the photometric redshifts for 3519 quasar candidates with all UKIDSS Y JHK data and find an accuracy of 87.5% within |�z| < 0.2 with the spectroscopic redshifts of 819 SDSS-UKIDSS identified quasars among them. We demonstrate that even at the same spectroscopy limit as SDSS, with our criterion we can at least partially recover the missing quasars with z � 2.7 in SDSS. The SDSS identified quasars only take a small fraction (21.5%) of our quasar candidates selected from the variable sources in Stripe 82, indicating that a deeper spectroscopy is very promising in producing a much larger sample of quasars than SDSS. The implications of our current results to the future Chinese LAMOST quasar survey are also discussed.
199676816
Discovering the missing bright quasars at intermediate redshifts based on the optical/near-IR color selections
16404927
The Black Hole Fundamental Plane from a Uniform Sample of Radio and X-Ray-emitting Broad-Line AGNs
We derived the black hole fundamental plane relationship between the 1.4 GHz radio luminosity (Lr), 0.1-2.4 keV X-ray luminosity (LX), and black hole mass (M) from a uniform broad-line SDSS AGN sample including both radio-loud and radio-quiet X-ray-emitting sources. We found in our sample that the fundamental plane relation has a very weak dependence on the black hole mass, and a tight correlation also exists between the Eddington-luminosity-scaled X-ray and radio luminosities for the radio-quiet subsample. In addition, we noticed that the radio-quiet and radio-loud AGNs have different power-law slopes in the radio-X-ray nonlinear relationship. The radio-loud sample displays a slope of 1.39, which seems consistent with the jet-dominated X-ray model. However, it may also be partly due to the relativistic beaming effect. For the radio-quiet sample the slope of the radio-X-ray relationship is about 0.85, which is possibly consistent with the theoretical prediction from the accretion-flow-dominated X-ray model. We briefly discuss the reason why our derived relationship is different from some previous works and expect the future spectral studies in radio and X-ray bands on individual sources in our sample to confirm our result.
18818885
Toward Understanding the Spectral Energy Distribution of Microquasars
We report results from a systematic study of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of XTE J1550–564 and its evolution during outbursts. The work is part of an on-going effort to understand the SED of microquasars in general. The main objectives include: 1) assessing the roles of jets and accretion flows; 2) re-examining spectral states, state transitions, and spectral hysteresis; and 3) disentangling variabilities associated with the jets and accretion flows and quantifying the coupling between the two. XTE J1550–564 is the first microquasar to have its jets directly imaged at X-ray energies. We began by applying a synchrotron model to the broadband SED of the western “blob” (in the jets) that was seen in 2002, to constrain the spectral energy distribution of radiating electrons in the “blob”. Assuming that the electron distribution is the same for all “blobs” in the jets, we then applied the model to the overall radio spectrum of the source and extrapolated the best fits to higher frequencies. In spite of significant degeneracy in the fits, it seems clear that the synchrotron radiation from the jet contributes little to the observed X-ray emission, when the source is relatively bright. Assuming that the X-ray emission originated mostly from the accretion flows, we took an empirical approach to model the X-ray spectrum and study its evolution. From the compilation of the SEDs of XTE J1550–564 during various outbursts in 1998–2000, we found it straightforward to define spectral states based on the shape of SEDs and visualize transitions between various states thus defined. There is evidence for spectral hysteresis associated with the rise and fall of the 2000 outburst. Comparing outbursts of varying magnitude, we can also see that a specific state transition may occur at different fluxes. We also examined correlation between the X-ray and radio fluxes of the source. While a rough correlation seems to be present, it is a fairly loose one. The implication of the results is discussed. Email: xuey@physics.purdue.edu, cui@physics.purdue.edu On leave from the Department of Astronomy, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China; wuxb@vega.bac.pku.edu.cn
2377462
Galaxy bulge formation: Interplay with dark matter halo and central supermassive black hole
We present a simple scenario where the formation of galactic bulges was regulated by the dark halo gravity and regulates the growth of the central supermassive black hole. Assuming the angular momentum is low, we suggest that bulges form in a runaway collapse due to the "gravothermal" instability once the central gas density or pressure exceeds a certain threshold. We emphasize that the threshold is nearly universal, set by the background NFW dark matter gravity gDM ~ 1.2 × 10-8 cm s-2 in the central cusps of halos. Unlike known thresholds for gradual formation of galaxy disks, we show that the universal "halo-regulated" star formation threshold for spheroids matches the very high star formation rate and star formation efficiency seen in high-redshift observations of central starburst regions. The starburst feedback also builds up a pressure shortly after the collapse. This large pressure could act both outward to halt further infall of gas from larger scales and inward to counter the Compton-thick wind launched from the central black hole in an Eddington accretion. Assuming the feedback balances inward and outward forces, our scenario naturally gives rise to the black hole-bulge relationships observed in the local universe.
118630156
Implication on the pion distribution amplitude from the pion-photon transition form factor with the new BABAR data
The new BABAR data on the pion-photon transition form factor arouses people's interest for the determination of the pion distribution amplitude. To explain the data, we take both the leading valence quark state's and the nonvalence quark state's contributions into consideration, where the valence quark part up to next-to-leading order is presented and the nonvalence quark part is estimated by a phenomenological model based on its limiting behavior at both Q(2) -> 0 and Q(2) -> infinity. Our results show that to be consistent with the new BABAR data at the large Q(2) region, a broader amplitude other than the asymptoticlike pion distribution amplitude should be adopted. The broadness of the pion distribution amplitude is controlled by a parameter B. It has been found that the new BABAR data at low and high energy regions can be explained simultaneously by setting B to be around 0.60, in which the pion distribution amplitude is closed to the Chernyak-Zhitnitsky form.
119092405
Photoproduction of heavy quarkonium at the ILC
We study the photoproduction of the heavy quarkonium at the future International Linear Collider (ILC) within the nonrelativistic QCD theory. We focus on the production channel via the subprocess $\gamma\gamma \to |[Q\bar{Q'}]_{\bf 1}(n)>+Q'+\bar{Q}$, where $Q$ and $Q'$ stand for heavy $c$- or $b$-quark, respectively. $|[Q\bar{Q'}]_{\bf 1}(n)>$ stands for color-singlet $S$-wave quarkonium, i.e., $\eta_{c}(|[c\bar{c}]_{\bf 1}(^1S_0)>)$, $J/\psi(|[c\bar{c}]_{\bf 1}(^3S_1)>)$, $B_{c}(|[c\bar{b}]_{\bf 1}(^1S_0)>)$, $B^*_{c}(|[c\bar{b}]_{\bf 1}(^3S_1)>)$, $\eta_{b}(|[b\bar{b}]_{\bf 1}(^1S_0)>)$, and $\Upsilon(|[b\bar{b}]_{\bf 1}(^3S_1)>)$, respectively. To improve the calculation efficiency, we adopt the improved helicity amplitude approach to deal with the difficulty of calculating the expressions for the yields when the quark masses cannot be neglected. Total and differential photoproduction cross sections, together with their uncertainties, have been presented. It is noted that sizable amount of $|c\bar{c}>$-charmonium and $|c\bar{b}>$-quarkonium events can be generated at the ILC. More specifically, we predict $(2.8^{+1.0}_{-0.7})\times 10^{6}$ $\eta_c$, $(5.4^{+1.9}_{-1.3})\times 10^{6}$ $J/\psi$, $(8.3^{+2.2}_{-1.8})\times 10^{4}$ $B_c$, $(4.3^{+1.1}_{-0.9})\times 10^{5}$ $B_c^*$, $(9.0^{+1.7}_{-1.4})\times 10^{3}$ $\eta_b$, and $(1.6\pm0.3)\times 10^{4}$ $\Upsilon$ events to be generated in one operation year at the ILC under the condition of $\sqrt{S}=500$ GeV and ${\cal L}\simeq 10^{36}$cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$.
119278847
Information on the Pion Distribution Amplitude from the Pion-Photon Transition Form Factor with the Belle and BaBar Data
The pion-photon transition form factor (TFF) provides strong constraints on the pion distribution amplitude (DA). We perform an analysis of all existing data (CELLO, CLEO, BaBar, Belle) on the pion-photon TFF by means of light-cone pQCD approach in which we include the next-to-leading order correction to the valence-quark contribution and estimate the non-valence-quark contribution by a phenomenological model based on the TFF's limiting behavior at both $Q^2\to 0$ and $Q^2\to\infty$. At present, the pion DA is not definitely determined, it is helpful to have a pion DA model that can mimic all the suggested behaviors, especially to agree with the constraints from the pion-photon TFF in whole measured region within a consistent way. For the purpose, we adopt the conventional model for pion wavefunction/DA that has been constructed in our previous paper \cite{hw1}, whose broadness is controlled by a parameter $B$. We fix the DA parameters by using the CELLO, CLEO, BABAR and Belle data within the smaller $Q^2$ region ($Q^2 \leq 15$ GeV$^2$), where all the data are consistent with each other. And then the pion-photon TFF is extrapolated into larger $Q^2$ region. We observe that the BABAR favors $B=0.60$ which has the behavior close to the Chernyak-Zhitnitsky DA, whereas the recent Belle favors $B=0.00$ which is close to the asymptotic DA. We need more accurate data at large $Q^2$ region to determine the precise value of $B$, and the definite behavior of pion DA can be concluded finally by the consistent data in the coming future.
197508077
Twist-3 Distribution Amplitudes of Scalar Mesons within the QCD Sum Rules and Its Application to the $B \to S$ Transition Form Factors
We investigate the twist-3 light cone distribution amplitudes (LCDAs) of the scalar mesons $a_0$, $K^{\ast}_0$ and $f_0$ within the QCD sum rules. The sum rules are improved by a consistent treatment of the sizable mass effects. Adopting the valence quark component $(\bar{q}_1 q_2)$ as the dominant structure of the scalar mesons, our estimation for their masses are close to the measured $a_0(1450)$, $K^{\ast}_0(1430)$ and $f_0(1710)$. From the sum rules, we obtain the first two non-zero moments of the twist-3 DAs $\phi^{s,\sigma}_{a_0}$: $ =0.369 (0.245)$ and $ =0.203 (0.093)$; those of the twist-3 DAs $\phi_{K^*_0}^{s,\sigma}$: $ =0.004 (0.355)$ and $ =0.018 (0.207)$; and those of the twist-3 DAs $\phi_{f_0}^{s,\sigma}$: $ =0.335 (0.212)$ and $ =0.196 (0.088)$, respectively. As an application of these twist-3 LCDAs, we study the $B \to S$ transition form factors by introducing proper chiral currents in the correlator, which is constructed such that the twist-3 DAs give dominant contribution and the twist-2 DAs make negligible contribution. Our results of the $B \to S$ form factors at the large recoil region $q^2 \simeq 0$ are consistent with those obtained in the literature.
118440734
Observational Constraints on Agegraphic Dark Energy
In this paper, we use the Type Ia supernova data as well as the CMB and LSS data to constrain the agegraphic dark energy model recently proposed by Cai. Due to its peculiar nature, the parameter $n$ of this model cannot be well constrained by the SNIa data, while the other parameter $\Omega_{m0}$ can be constrained to be $0.34\pm0.04$. When combined with CMB and LSS data, the range of $1\sigma$ confidence level for $n$ is greatly narrowed, albeit still very large. The best fit result is $\Omega_{m0}=0.28\pm0.02$, which is consistent with most observations like WMAP and SDSS, and $n=3.4$, of which a meaningful range of confidence level can not be obtained due to the fact that the contours are not closed. Despite of this result, we conclude that for $n>1$ this model is consistent with SNIa, CMB and LSS observations. Furthermore, the fitting results indicate a generalized definition for the agegraphic dark energy.