We present ALMA detections of the [CI] 1-0, CO J=3-2, and CO J=4-3 emission lines, as well as the ALMA band 4 continuum for a compact star-forming galaxy (cSFG) at z=2.225, 3D-HST GS30274. As is typical for cSFGs, this galaxy has a stellar mass of $1.89 \pm 0.47\,\times 10^{11}\,\rm{M}_\odot$, with a star formation rate of $214\pm44\,\rm{M}_\odot\,\rm{yr}^{-1}$ putting it on the star-forming `main-sequence', but with an H-band effective radius of 2.5 kpc, making it much smaller than the bulk of `main-sequence' star-forming galaxies. The intensity ratio of the line detections yield an ISM density (~ 6 $\times 10^{4}\,\rm{cm}^{-3}$) and a UV-radiation field ( ~2 $\times 10^4\,\rm{G}_0$), similar to the values in local starburst and ultra-luminous infrared galaxy environments. A starburst phase is consistent with the short depletion times ($t_{\rm H2, dep} \leq 140$ Myr) we find using three different proxies for the H2 mass ([CI], CO, dust mass). This depletion time is significantly shorter than in more extended SFGs with similar stellar masses and SFRs. Moreover, the gas fraction of 3D-HST GS30274 is smaller than typically found in extended galaxies. We measure the CO and [CI] kinematics and find a FWHM line width of ~$750 \pm 41 $ km s$^{-1}$. The CO and [CI] FWHM are consistent with a previously measured H$\alpha$ FWHM for this source. The line widths are consistent with gravitational motions, suggesting we are seeing a compact molecular gas reservoir. A previous merger event, as suggested by the asymmetric light profile, may be responsible for the compact distribution of gas and has triggered a central starburst event. This event gives rise to the starburst-like ISM properties and short depletion times. The centrally located and efficient star formation is quickly building up a dense core of stars, responsible for the compact distribution of stellar light in 3D-HST GS30274.
We present radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of radiatively-driven gas shells launched by bright active galactic nuclei (AGN) in isolated dark matter haloes. Our goals are (1) to investigate the ability of AGN radiation pressure on dust to launch galactic outflows and (2) to constrain the efficiency of infrared (IR) multi-scattering in boosting outflow acceleration. Our simulations are performed with the radiation-hydrodynamic code RAMSES-RT and include both single- and multi-scattered radiation pressure from an AGN, radiative cooling and self-gravity. Since outflowing shells always eventually become transparent to the incident radiation field, outflows that sweep up all intervening gas are likely to remain gravitationally bound to their halo even at high AGN luminosities. The expansion of outflowing shells is well described by simple analytic models as long as the shells are mildly optically thick to IR radiation. In this case, an enhancement in the acceleration of shells through IR multi-scattering occurs as predicted, i.e. a force dP/dt = tau_IR L/c is exerted on the gas. For high optical depths tau_IR > 50, however, momentum transfer between outflowing optically thick gas and IR radiation is rapidly suppressed, even if the radiation is efficiently confined. At high tau_IR, the characteristic flow time becomes shorter than the required trapping time of IR radiation such that the momentum flux dP/dt << tau_IR L/c. We argue that while unlikely to unbind massive galactic gaseous haloes, AGN radiation pressure on dust could play an important role in regulating star formation and black hole accretion in the nuclei of massive compact galaxies at high redshift.
Space observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope and Gaia are providing unprecedented 6D phase space information of satellite galaxies. Such measurements can shed light on the structure and assembly history of the Local Group, but improved statistical methods are needed to use them efficiently. Here we illustrate such a method using analogs of the Local Group's two most massive satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Triangulum (M33), from the Illustris dark-matter-only cosmological simulation. We use a Bayesian inference scheme combining measurements of positions, velocities, and specific orbital angular momenta ( j ) of the LMC/M33 with importance sampling of their simulated analogs to compute posterior estimates of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda's (M31) halo masses. We conclude the resulting host halo mass is more susceptible to bias when using measurements of the current position and velocity of satellites, especially when satellites are at short-lived phases of their orbits (i.e. at pericentre). Instead, the j value of a satellite is well-conserved over time and provides a more reliable constraint on host mass. The inferred virial mass of the MW (M31) using j of the LMC (M33) is $\rm M_{vir, MW}=1.02^{+0.77}_{-0.55}\times10^{12}\; M_{\odot}$ ($\rm M_{vir, M31}=1.37^{+1.39}_{-0.75}\times10^{12}\; M_{\odot}$). Choosing simulated analogs whose j values are consistent with the conventional picture of a previous (< 3 Gyr ago), close encounter (< 100 kpc) of M33 about M31 results in a very low virial mass for M31 ($\rm\sim\!10^{12}\; M_{\odot}$). This supports the new scenario put forth in Patel et al. (2017), wherein M33 is on its first passage about M31 or on a long period orbit. We conclude that this Bayesian inference scheme, utilising satellite j, is a promising method to reduce the current factor of two spread in the mass range of the MW and M31 moving forward.
We present a 0.4-8$\mu$m multi-wavelength photometric catalog in the Extended Groth Strip (EGS) field. This catalog is built on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 and ACS data from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS), and it incorporates the existing HST data from the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey (AEGIS) and the 3D-HST program. The catalog is based on detections in the F160W band reaching a depth of F160W=26.62 AB (90% completeness, point-sources). It includes the photometry for 41457 objects over an area of $\approx 206$ arcmin$^2$ in the following bands: HST ACS F606W and F814W; HST WFC3 F125W, F140W and F160W; CFHT/Megacam $u^*$, $g'$, $r'$, $i'$ and $z'$; CFHT/WIRCAM $J$, $H$ and $K_\mathrm{S}$; Mayall/NEWFIRM $J1$, $J2$, $J3$, $H1$, $H2$, $K$; Spitzer IRAC $3.6\mu$m, $4.5\mu$m, $5.8\mu$m and $8.0\mu$m. We are also releasing value-added catalogs that provide robust photometric redshifts and stellar mass measurements. The catalogs are publicly available through the CANDELS repository.
Here we statistically evaluate recent advances in determining the
Sun-Galactic Center distance (Rsun) as well as recent measures of the orbital
velocity around the Galactic Center (Vlsr), and the angular rotation parameters
of various objects. Recent statistical results point to Rsun = 8.0 +- 0.2 kpc,
Vlsr= 230 +- 3 km/s, and angular rotation at the Sun ({\omega}) near 29 +- 1
km/s/kpc for the gas and stars at the Local Standard of Rest, and near 23 +- 2
km/s/kpc for the spiral pattern itself.
This angular difference is similar to what had been predicted by density wave
models, along with the observation that the galactic longitude of each spiral
arm tracer (dust, cold CO) for each spiral arm becomes reversed across the
Galactic Meridian (Vallee 2016b).
While supermassive black holes are known to co-evolve with their host galaxy, the precise nature and origin of this co-evolution is not clear. We here explore the possible connection between star formation and black hole growth in the circumnuclear disk (CND) to probe this connection in the vicinity close to the black hole. We adopt here the circumnuclear disk model developed by Kawakatu & Wada (2008) and Wutschik et al. (2013), and explore both the dependence on the star formation recipe as well as the role of the gravitational field, which can be dominated by the central black hole, the CND itself or the host galaxy. A specific emphasis is put on the turbulence regulated star formation model by Krumholz et al. (2005) to explore the impact of a realistic star formation recipe. It is shown that this model helps to introduce realistic fluctuations in the black hole and star formation rate, without overestimating them. Consistent with previous works, we show that the final black hole masses are rather insensitive to the masses of the initial seeds, even for seed masses of up to 10^6 M_sol. In addition, we apply our model to the formation of high-redshift quasars, as well as to the nearby system NGC 6951, where a tentative comparison is made in spite of the presence of a bar in the galaxy. We show that our model can reproduce the high black hole masses of the high-redshift quasars within a sufficiently short time, provided a high mass supply rate from the host galaxy. In addition, it reproduces several of the properties observed in NGC 6951. With respect to the latter system, our analysis suggests that supernova feedback may be important to create the observed fluctuations in the star formation history as a result of negative feedback effects.
Metal mixing plays critical roles in the enrichment of metals in galaxies. The abundance of elements such as Mg, Fe, and Ba in metal-poor stars help us understand the metal mixing in galaxies. However, the efficiency of metal mixing in galaxies is not yet understood. Here we report a series of $N$-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of dwarf galaxies with different efficiencies of metal mixing using turbulence-induced mixing model. We show that metal mixing apparently occurs in dwarf galaxies from Mg and Ba abundance. We find that the scaling factor for metal diffusion larger than 0.01 is necessary to reproduce the observation of Ba abundance in dwarf galaxies. This value is consistent with the value expected from turbulence theory and experiment. We also find that timescale of metal mixing is less than 40 Myr. This timescale is shorter than that of typical dynamical times of dwarf galaxies. We demonstrate that the determination of a degree of scatters of Ba abundance by the observation will help us to constrain the efficiency of metal mixing more precisely.
We have obtained OH spectra of four transitions in the $^2\Pi_{3/2}$ ground state, at 1612, 1665, 1667, and 1720 MHz, toward 51 sightlines that were observed in the Herschel project Galactic Observations of Terahertz C+. The observations cover the longitude range of (32$^\circ$, 64$^\circ$) and (189$^\circ$, 207$^\circ$) in the northern Galactic plane. All of the diffuse OH emissions conform to the so-called 'Sum Rule' of the four brightness temperatures, indicating optically thin emission condition for OH from diffuse clouds in the Galactic plane. The column densities of the HI `halos' N(HI) surrounding molecular clouds increase monotonically with OH column density, N(OH), until saturating when N(HI)=1.0 x 10$^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$ and N (OH) $\geq 4.5\times 10^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$, indicating the presence of molecular gas that cannot be traced by HI. Such a linear correlation, albeit weak, is suggestive of HI halos' contribution to the UV shielding required for molecular formation. About 18% of OH clouds have no associated CO emission (CO-dark) at a sensitivity of 0.07 K but are associated with C$^+$ emission. A weak correlation exists between C$^+$ intensity and OH column density for CO-dark molecular clouds. These results imply that OH seems to be a better tracer of molecular gas than CO in diffuse molecular regions.
We present Chandra observations of hot gas structures, characteristic of gas stripping during infall, in the Virgo cluster elliptical galaxy M60 (NGC4649) located $1$ Mpc east of M87. $0.5-2$ keV Chandra X-ray images show a sharp leading edge in the surface brightness $12.4 \pm 0.1$ kpc north and west of the galaxy center in the direction of M87 characteristic of a merger cold front due to M60's motion through the Virgo ICM. We measured a temperature of $1.00 \pm 0.02$ keV for abundance $0.5 Z_\odot$ inside the edge and $1.37^{+0.35}_{-0.19}$ keV for abundance $0.1 Z_\odot$ in the Virgo ICM free stream region. We find that the observed jump in surface brightness yields a density ratio of $6.44^{+1.04}_{-0.67}$ between gas inside the edge and in the cluster free stream region. If the edge is a cold front due solely to the infall of M60 in the direction of M87, we find a pressure ratio of $4.7^{+1.7}_{-1.4}$ and Mach number $1.7 \pm 0.3$. For 1.37 keV Virgo gas we find a total infall velocity for M60 of $1030 \pm 180$ kms$^{-1}$. We calculate the motion in the plane of the sky to be $1012^{+183}_{-192}$ km$^{-1}$ implying an inclination angle $\xi = 11 \pm 3$ degrees. Surface brightness profiles show the presence of a faint diffuse gaseous tail. We identify filamentary, gaseous wing structures caused by the galaxy's motion through the ICM. The structure and dimensions of these wings are consistent with simulations of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities as expected if the gas stripping is close to inviscid.
This study aims to search for the existence of intraday variability (IDV) of BL Lac object S5 0716+714 at high radio frequencies for which the interstellar scintillation effect is not significant. Using the 21-meter radio telescope of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN), we present results of multi-epoch simultaneous dual-frequency radio observations. Single-dish observations of S5 0716+714 were simultaneously conducted at 21.7 GHz (K-band) and 42.4 GHz (Q-band), with a high cadence of 30-60 minute intervals.We observed four epochs between December 2009 and June 2010. Over the whole set of observation epochs, S5 0716+714 showed significant inter-month variations in flux density at both the K- and Q-bands, with modulation indices of approximately 19% for the K-band and approximately 36% for the Q-band. In all epochs, no clear intraday variability was detected at either frequency. The source shows monotonic flux density increase in epochs 1 and 3 and monotonic flux density decrease in epochs 2 and 4. In the flux density increasing phases, the flux densities at the Q-band increase more rapidly. In the decreasing phase, no significant flux density difference is seen at the two frequencies. The situation could be different close to flux density peaks that we did not witness in our observations. We find an inverted spectrum with mean spectral indices of -0.57+-0.13 in epoch 1 and -0.15+-0.11 in epoch 3. On the other hand, we find relatively steep indices of +0.24+-0.14 and +0.17+-0.18 in epochs 2 and 4, respectively. We conclude that the frequency dependence of the variability and the change of the spectral index are caused by source-intrinsic effects rather than by any extrinsic scintillation effect.
We addressed the so far unexplored issue of outflows induced by exponentially
growing power sources, focusing on early supermassive black holes (BHs). We
assumed that these objects grow to $10^9\;M_{\odot}$ by z=6 by
Eddington-limited accretion and convert 5% of their bolometric output into a
wind. We first considered the case of energy-driven and momentum-driven
outflows expanding in a region where the gas and total mass densities are
uniform and equal to the average values in the Universe at $z>6$. We derived
analytic solutions for the evolution of the outflow, finding that, for an
exponentially growing power with e-folding time $t_{Sal}$, the late time
expansion of the outflow radius is also exponential, with e-folding time of
$5t_{Sal}$ and $4t_{Sal}$ in the energy-driven and momentum-driven limit,
respectively.
We then considered energy-driven outflows produced by QSOs at the center of
early dark matter halos of different masses and powered by BHs growing from
different seeds. We followed the evolution of the source power and of the gas
and dark matter density profiles in the halos from the beginning of the
accretion until $z=6$. The final bubble radius and velocity do not depend on
the seed BH mass but are instead smaller for larger halo masses. At z=6, bubble
radii in the range 50-180 kpc and velocities in the range 400-1000 km s$^{-1}$
are expected for QSOs hosted by halos in the mass range
$3\times10^{11}-10^{13}\;M_{\odot}$.
By the time the QSO is observed, we found that the total thermal energy
injected within the bubble in the case of an energy-driven outflow is
$E_{th}\sim5 \times 10^{60}$ erg. This is in excellent agreement with the value
of $E_{th}=(6.2\pm 1.7)\times 10^{60}$ erg measured through the detection of
the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect around a large population of luminous QSOs
at lower redshift. [abridged]
RoadMapping is a dynamical modeling machinery developed to constrain the Milky Way's (MW) gravitational potential by simultaneously fitting an axisymmetric parametrized potential and an action-based orbit distribution function (DF) to discrete 6D phase-space measurements of stars in the Galactic disk. In this work we demonstrate RoadMapping's robustness in the presence of spiral arms by modeling data drawn from an N-body simulation snapshot of a disk-dominated galaxy of MW mass with strong spiral arms (but no bar), exploring survey volumes with radii 500pc<=r_max<=5kpc. The potential constraints are very robust, even though we use a simple action-based DF, the quasi-isothermal DF (qDF). The best-fit RoadMapping model always recovers the correct gravitational forces where most of the stars that entered the analysis are located, even for small volumes. For data from large survey volumes, RoadMapping finds axisymmetric models that average well over the spiral arms. Unsurprisingly, the models are slightly biased by the excess of stars in the spiral arms. Gravitational potential models derived from survey volumes with at least r_max=3kpc can be reliably extrapolated to larger volumes. However, a large radial survey extent, r_max~5kpc, is needed to correctly recover the halo scale length. In general, the recovery and extrapolability of potentials inferred from data sets which were drawn from inter-arm regions appear to be better than those of data sets drawn from spiral arms. Our analysis implies that building axisymmetric models for the Galaxy with upcoming Gaia data will lead to sensible and robust approximations of the MW's potential.
Aims. We aim to show how encounters with low-mass satellite galaxies may alter the bar formation in a Milky Way-like disc galaxy. Methods. We use high-resolution N-body simulations of a disc galaxy prone to mild bar instability. For realistic initial conditions of satellites, we take advantage of cosmological simulations of Milky Way-like dark matter haloes. Results. The satellites may have a significant impact on the time of bar formation. Some runs with satellites demonstrate a delay, while others show an advancement in bar formation compared to the isolated run, with such time differences reaching $\sim$ 1 Gyr. Meanwhile, the final bar configuration, including its very appearance and the bar characteristics such as the pattern speed and the exponential growth rate of its amplitude are independent of the number of encounters and their orbits. The contribution of satellites with masses below $10^9 M_{\odot}$ is insignificant, unless their pericentre distances are small. We suggest that the encounters act indirectly via inducing perturbations across the disc that evolve to delayed waves in the central part and interfere with an emerging seed bar. The predicted effect for the present-day host galaxy is expected to be even more significant at redshifts $z \gtrsim 0.5$.
Genzel et al. just published the rotation curves of six high-redshift disc galaxies ($z\sim 0.9-2.4$), which they find to be `baryon dominated' within the studies radii. While not up to the standard afforded by data available for analysis in the nearby Universe, these data are valuable in constraining cosmological evolution of either DM scenarios, or -- as I discuss here -- $z$-dependence of MOND. Indeed, these results, if taken at face value, teach us useful lessons in connection with MOND. a. The dynamical accelerations at the half-light radii, found by Genzel et al., are rather high compared with the MOND acceleration constant, as measured in the nearby Universe: $g(R_{1/2})= (3-11)a_0$. MOND then predicts fractions of `phantom matter' at $R_{1/2}$ of at most a few tens of percents, which, galaxy by galaxy, agree well with what Genzel et al. find. b. The asymptotic rotational speeds predicted by MOND from the baryonic-mass estimates of Genzel et al. are substantially lower ($0.55-0.75$) than the maximal speeds of the RCs. MOND thus predicts a substantial decline of the RCs beyond the maximum. This too is in line with what Genzel et al. find. c. The findings of Genzel et al. cast meaningful constraints on possible variation of $a_0$ with cosmic time. For example, they all but exclude a value of the MOND constant of $\sim 4a_0$ at $z\sim 2$.
We investigate interactions of stellar binaries in galactic nuclear clusters with a massive black hole (MBH). We consider binaries on highly eccentric orbits around the MBH that change due to random gravitational interactions with other stars in the nuclear stellar cluster. The pericenters of the orbits perform a random walk, and we consider cases where this random walk slowly brings the binary to the Hills tidal separation radius (the so-called empty loss-cone regime). However, we find that in a majority of cases the expected separation does not occur and instead the members of the binary merge together. This happens because the binary's eccentricity is excited by tidal interactions with the MBH, and the relative excursions of the internal eccentricity of the binary far exceed those in its internal semimajor axis. This frequently reduces the pericenter separation to values below typical stellar diameters, which induces a significant fraction of such binaries to merge ($\gtrsim 75\%$ in our set of numerical experiments). Stellar tides do not appreciably change the total rate of mergers but circularise binaries, leading to a significant fraction of low-eccentricity, low-impact-velocity mergers. Some of the stellar merger products will then be tidally disrupted by the MBH within $\sim 10^6$ years. If the merger strongly enhances the magnetic field of the merger product, this process could explain observations of prompt relativistic jet formation in some tidal disruption events.
We use the multi-epoch K$\rm _S$ band observations, covering a $\sim$5 years baseline to obtain milli and sub-milli arcsec precision astrometry for a sample of eighteen previously known high proper motion sources, including precise parallaxes for these sources for the first time. In this study we show the capability of the VVV project to measure high precision trigonometric parallaxes for very low mass stars (VLMS) up to distances of $\sim$250\,pc reaching farther than most other ground based surveys or space missions for these types of stars. Additionally, we used spectral energy distribution to search for evidence of unresolved binary systems and cool sub-dwarfs. We detected five systems that are most likely VLMS belonging to the Galactic halo based on their tangential velocities, and four objects within 60 pc that are likely members of the thick disk. A more comprehensive study of high proper motion sources and parallaxes of VLMS and brown dwarfs with the VVV is ongoing , including thousands of newly discovered objects.
Interstellar ubiquitous infrared spectrum (IR) due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) was observed in many astronomical dust clouds. A capable astronomical chemical evolution path from graphene to PAH was studied based on the first principles calculation. Step 1 is a nucleation of nano-carbon after supernova by super-cooling at expanding helium sphere. As a typical model, graphene molecule (C )24 having coronene skeleton with seven carbon hexagons was tried.Step 2 is a proton sputtering and passivation on ejected graphene molecule. Slow speed proton with energy less than 4.3eV makes hydrogenation, Graphene molecule (C )24 was transformed to PAH (C24H12). Higher speed proton having sufficient energy larger than 18.3 eV could make a void in a molecule as like C23H12. Resulted structure was a combination of two carbon pentagons and five hexagons. Step 3 is photo-ionization of those molecules by high energy photon. Electrons are removed to make a molecule to cation. Model molecule (C23H12) became mono-cation (C23H12)+, di-cation (C23H12)2+ and so on. Typical energy difference between such cation was 6.5 and 10.8 eV. If the light source has a nature of black-body radiation, effective temperature will be 18000K ~ 24000K, which suggested that central light source star may have 4 to 7 times heavier than our sun. Finally, theoretical IR spectrum was obtained. Especially in case of (C23H12)2+, calculated emission spectrum revealed that among 13 major peaks, 11 peaks could correlate with ubiquitous observed IR one.
We present new JVLA multi-frequency measurements of a set of stars in transition from the post-AGB to the Planetary Nebula phase monitored in the radio range over several years. Clear variability is found for five sources. Their light curves show increasing and decreasing patterns. New radio observations at high angular resolution are also presented for two sources. Among these is IRAS 18062+2410, whose radio structure is compared to near-infrared images available in the literature. With these new maps, we can estimate inner and outer radii of 0.03$"$ and 0.08$"$ for the ionised shell, an ionised mass of $3.2\times10^{-4}$ M$_\odot$, and a density at the inner radius of $7.7\times 10^{-5}$ cm$^{-3}$, obtained by modelling the radio shell with the new morphological constraints. The combination of multi-frequency data and, where available, spectral-index maps leads to the detection of spectral indices not due to thermal emission, contrary to what one would expect in planetary nebulae. Our results allow us to hypothesise the existence of a link between radio variability and non-thermal emission mechanisms in the nebulae. This link seems to hold for IRAS 22568+6141 and may generally hold for those nebulae where the radio flux decreases over time.
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Observations of the Milky Way (MW), M31, and their vicinity, known as the Local Group (LG), can provide clues about the sources of reionization. We present a suite of radiative transfer simulations based on initial conditions provided by the Constrained Local UniversE Simulations (CLUES) project that are designed to recreate the Local Universe, including a realistic MW-M31 pair and a nearby Virgo. Our box size (91 Mpc) is large enough to incorporate the relevant sources of ionizing photons for the LG. We employ a range of source models, mimicking the potential effects of radiative feedback for dark matter haloes between $10^{8}-10^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$. Although the LG mostly reionizes in an inside-out fashion, the final 40 per cent of its ionization shows some outside influence. For the LG satellites, we find no evidence that their redshift of reionization is related to the present-day mass of the satellite or the distance from the central galaxy. We find that less than 20 per cent of present-day satellites for MW and M31 have undergone any star formation prior to the end of global reionization. Approximately five per cent of these satellites could be classified as fossils, meaning the majority of star formation occurred at these early times. The more massive satellites have more cumulative star formation prior to the end of global reionization, but the scatter is significant, especially at the low-mass end. Present-day mass and distance from the central galaxy are poor predictors for the presence of ancient stellar populations in satellite galaxies.
Galaxy mergers are likely to play a role in triggering active galactic nuclei (AGN), but the conditions under which this process occurs are poorly understood. In Paper I, we constructed a sample of spatially offset X-ray AGN that represent galaxy mergers hosting a single AGN. In this paper, we use our offset AGN sample to constrain the parameters that affect AGN observability in galaxy mergers. We also construct dual AGN samples with similar selection properties for comparison. We find that the offset AGN fraction shows no evidence for a dependence on AGN luminosity, while the dual AGN fractions show stronger evidence for a positive dependence, suggesting that the merger events forming dual AGN are more efficient at instigating accretion onto supermassive black holes than those forming offset AGN. We also find that the offset and dual AGN fractions both have a negative dependence on nuclear separation and are similar in value at small physical scales. This dependence may become stronger when restricted to high AGN luminosities, though a larger sample is needed for confirmation. These results indicate that the probability of AGN triggering increases at later merger stages. This study is the first to systematically probe down to nuclear separations of <1 kpc (~0.8 kpc) and is consistent with predictions from simulations that AGN observability peaks in this regime. We also find that the offset AGN are not preferentially obscured compared to the parent AGN sample, suggesting that our selection may be targeting galaxy mergers with relatively dust-free nuclear regions.
We carry out a systematic investigation of the total mass density profile of massive (Mstar>2e11 Msun) early-type galaxies and its dependence on galactic properties and host halo mass with the aid of a variety of lensing/dynamical data and large mock galaxy catalogs. The latter are produced via semi-empirical models that, by design, are based on just a few basic input assumptions. Galaxies, with measured stellar masses, effective radii and S\'{e}rsic indices, are assigned, via abundance matching relations, host dark matter halos characterized by a typical LCDM profile. Our main results are as follows: (i) In line with observational evidence, our semi-empirical models naturally predict that the total, mass-weighted density slope at the effective radius gamma' is not universal, steepening for more compact and/or massive galaxies, but flattening with increasing host halo mass. (ii) Models characterized by a Salpeter or variable initial mass function and uncontracted dark matter profiles are in good agreement with the data, while a Chabrier initial mass function and/or adiabatic contractions/expansions of the dark matter halos are highly disfavored. (iii) Currently available data on the mass density profiles of very massive galaxies (Mstar>1e12 Msun), with Mhalo>3e14 Msun, favor instead models with a stellar profile flatter than a S\'{e}rsic one in the very inner regions (r<3-5 kpc), and a cored NFW or Einasto dark matter profile with median halo concentration a factor of ~2 or <1.3, respectively, higher than those typically predicted by N-body numerical simulations.
The galaxy M49 (NGC 4472) is the brightest early-type galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. It is located in Subcluster B and has an unusually blue, metal-poor outer halo. Planetary nebulae (PNe) are excellent tracers of diffuse galaxy and intragroup light. We present a photometric survey of PNe in the galaxy's extended halo to characterise its PN population, as well as the surrounding intragroup light (IGL) of the Subcluster B. PNe were identified based on their bright [OIII]5007 \AA\ emission and absence of a broad-band continuum. We identify 738 PNe out to a radius of 155 kpc from M49's centre from which we define a complete sample of 624 PNe within a limiting magnitude of m_5007=28.8. Comparing the PN number density to the broad-band stellar surface brightness profile, we find a variation of the PN-specific frequency (alpha-parameter) with radius. The outer halo beyond 60 kpc has a 3.2 times higher alpha-parameter compared to the main galaxy halo, which is likely due to contribution from the surrounding blue IGL. We use the Planetary Nebulae Luminosity Function (PNLF) as an indicator of distance and stellar population. Its slope, which correlates empirically with galaxy type, varies within the inner halo. In the eastern quadrant of M49, the PNLF slope is shallower, indicating an additional localised, bright PN population following an accretion event, likely that of the dwarf irregular galaxy VCC1249. We also determined a distance modulus of mu = 31.29+/-0.08 for M49, corresponding to a physical distance of 18.1+/-0.6 Mpc, which agrees with a recent surface-brightness fluctuations distance. The PN populations in the outer halo of M49 are consistent with the presence of a main Sersic galaxy halo with a slight (B-V) colour gradient of 10${}^{-4}$ mag/arcsec surrounded by intragroup light with a very blue colour of (B-V)=0.25 and a constant surface brightness mu_V=28.0 mag/arcsec${}^2$.
A particular population of galaxies have drawn much interest recently, which are as faint as typical dwarf galaxies but have the sizes as large as $L^*$ galaxies, the so called "ultra-diffuse galaxies" (UDGs). The lack of tidal features of UDGs in dense environments suggests that their host halos are perhaps as massive as that of the Milky Way. On the other hand, galaxy formation efficiency should be much higher in the halos of such masses. Here we use the model galaxy catalog generated by populating two large simulations: the Millennium-II cosmological simulation and Phoenix simulations of 9 big clusters with the semi-analytic galaxy formation model. This model reproduces remarkably well the observed properties of UDGs in the nearby clusters, including the abundance, profile, color, and morphology, etc. We search for UDG candidates using the public data and find 2 UDG candidates in our Local Group and 23 in our Local Volume, in excellent agreement with the model predictions. We demonstrate that UDGs are genuine dwarf galaxies, formed in the halos of $\sim 10^{10}M_{\odot}$. It is the combination of the late formation time and high-spins of the host halos that results in the spatially extended feature of this particular population. The lack of tidal disruption features of UDGs in clusters can also be explained by their late infall-time.
We investigate the intrinsic Baldwin effect (Beff) of the broad H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ emission lines for six Type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with different broad line characteristics: two Seyfert 1 (NGC 4151 and NGC 5548), two AGNs with double-peaked broad line profiles (3C 390.3 and Arp 102B), one narrow line Seyfert 1 (Ark 564), and one high-luminosity quasar with highly red asymmetric broad line profiles (E1821+643). We found that a significant intrinsic Beff was present in all Type 1 AGNs in our sample. Moreover, we do not see strong difference in intrinsic Beff slopes in different types of AGNs which probably have different physical properties, such as inclination, broad line region geometry, or accretion rate. Additionally, we found that the intrinsic Beff was not connected with the global one, which, instead, could not be detected in the broad H$\alpha$ or H$\beta$ emission lines. In the case of NGC 4151, the detected variation of the Beff slope could be due to the change in the site of line formation in the BLR. Finally, the intrinsic Beff might be caused by the additional optical continuum component that is not part of the ionization continuum.
The common assumption that Theta-1-Ori C is the dominant ionizing source for the Orion Nebula is critically examined. This assumption underlies much of the existing analysis of the nebula. In this paper we establish through comparison of the relative strengths of emission lines with expectations from Cloudy models and through the direction of the bright edges of proplyds that Theta-2-Ori-A, which lies beyond the Bright Bar, also plays an important role. Theta-1-Ori-C does dominate ionization in the inner part of the Orion Nebula, but outside of the Bright Bar as far as the southeast boundary of the Extended Orion Nebula, Theta-2-Ori-A is the dominant source. In addition to identifying the ionizing star in sample regions, we were able to locate those portions of the nebula in 3-D. This analysis illustrates the power of MUSE spectral imaging observations in identifying sources of ionization in extended regions.
We combine Gaia DR1, PS1, SDSS and 2MASS astrometry to measure proper motions for 350 million sources across three-fourths of the sky down to a magnitude of $m_r\sim20$\,. Using positions of galaxies from PS1, we build a common reference frame for the multi-epoch PS1, single-epoch SDSS and 2MASS data, and calibrate the data in small angular patches to this frame. As the Gaia DR1 excludes resolved galaxy images, we choose a different approach to calibrate Gaia DR1 positions to this reference frame: we exploit the fact that the proper motions of stars in these patches are {\it linear}. By simultaneously fitting the positions of stars at different epochs -- Gaia DR1, PS1, SDSS, and 2MASS -- we construct an extensive catalog of proper motions, dubbed GPS1. GPS1 has a characteristic systematic error of less than 0.3 \,mas\,$\rm yr^{-1}$, and a typical precision of $ 1.5-2.0$\,mas\,$\rm yr^{-1}$. The proper motions have been validated using galaxies, open clusters, distant giant stars and QSOs. In comparison with other published faint proper motion catalogs, GPS1's systematic error ($<0.3$ \,mas\,$\rm yr^{-1}$) is $\sim$ 10 times better than that of PPMXL and UCAC4 ($>2.0$ \,mas\,$\rm yr^{-1}$). Similarly, its precision ($\sim 1.5$ \,mas\,$\rm yr^{-1}$) is an improvement by $\sim$ 4 times relative to PPMXL and UCAC4 ($\sim 6.0$ \,mas\,$\rm yr^{-1}$). For QSOs, the precision of GPS1 is found to be worse ($\sim 2.0-3.0$\,mas\,$\rm yr^{-1}$), possibly due to their particular differential chromatic refraction (DCR). The catalog will be released on-line and available via the VizieR Service.
Variation of the volume- and surface-Schmidt laws (star-formation or SF law) with the galacto-centric distance R was investigated using 3D distributions of HII regions, HI, and molecular (H_2) gases in the Milky Way. Both the power-law index and SF coefficient were found to be variable with R. The index is flatter in the inner disc than in the outer Galaxy, and the coefficient is larger in the inner disc, decreasing steeply outward. There is also a mutual anti-correlation between the index and SF coefficient, and the SF law can be expressed by a single-parameter function of the SF coefficient. The variable SF law is discussed in relation to the self-regulation star formation.
We present results from a non-cosmological, three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulation of the gas in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Ursa Minor. Assuming an initial baryonic-to-dark-matter ratio derived from the cosmic microwave background radiation, we evolved the galactic gas distribution over 3 Gyr, taking into account the effects of the types Ia and II supernovae. For the first time, we used in our simulation the instantaneous supernovae rates derived from a chemical evolution model applied to spectroscopic observational data of Ursa Minor. We show that the amount of gas that is lost in this process is variable with time and radius, being the highest rates observed during the initial 600 Myr in our simulation. Our results indicate that types Ia and II supernovae must be essential drivers of the gas loss in Ursa Minor galaxy (and probably in other similar dwarf galaxies), but it is ultimately the combination of galactic winds powered by these supernovae and environmental effects (e.g., ram-pressure stripping) that results in the complete removal of the gas content.
We are addressing the sites of isolated low mass star formation in the solar neighbourhood, i.e. small cloud cores within one kiloparsec. We aim at determining the physical parameters of the cores, i.e., temperature, volume density, column density and (radial) velocity fields, and the status of star formation, i.e., whether embedded objects are present within the cores. Surveying small dark clouds in both celestial hemispheres we study the physical conditions of low-mass star formation for detectable core masses M>0.01Msun. The target list is drawn from catalogues of optically selected dark cloud cores, where the visual extinction exceeds 5 magnitudes. The selected probe is the CS molecule that needs high densities for excitation of its rotational levels. To gauge the state of excitation, the cores were observed in two transitions. In a limited number of cases, optical depths were derived from complementing lines of the rarer isotopologue C34S for the (2-1) and (3-2) transitions. Making small (3arcmin by 3arcmin) maps, the 471 optically selected cores were searched for CS(2-1) and 315 (67%) were detected (T_A*>3sigma). In general, the position of peak CS emission does not coincide with the optically determined centre of the cores. The cores appear cold (T<10K) and, in the majority of cases, the CS emission is optically thin (tau<1). On the arcminute scales of the observations, the median column density of carbon monosulfide is N(CS)=7.E12/cm2. For an average abundance of N(CS)/N(H2)=1.E-8, the median mass of the detected cores is 1.0Msun. The line shapes are most often Gaussian with widths exceeding that due to thermal broadening of <0.1km/s. The observed median FWHM=0.7km/s, i.e. non-thermal turbulence contributes dominantly to the line widths
We recently reported a population of protostellar candidates in the 20 km s$^{-1}$ cloud in the Central Molecular Zone of the Milky Way, traced by H$_2$O masers in gravitationally bound dense cores. In this paper, we report high-angular-resolution ($\sim$3'') molecular line studies of the environment of star formation in this cloud. Maps of various molecular line transitions as well as the continuum at 1.3 mm are obtained using the Submillimeter Array. Five NH$_3$ inversion lines and the 1.3 cm continuum are observed with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. The interferometric observations are complemented with single-dish data. We find that the CH$_3$OH, SO, and HNCO lines, which are usually shock tracers, are better correlated spatially with the compact dust emission from dense cores among the detected lines. These lines also show enhancement in intensities with respect to SiO intensities toward the compact dust emission, suggesting the presence of slow shocks or hot cores in these regions. We find gas temperatures of $\gtrsim$100 K at 0.1-pc scales based on RADEX modelling of the H$_2$CO and NH$_3$ lines. Although no strong correlations between temperatures and linewidths/H$_2$O maser luminosities are found, in high-angular-resolution maps we notice several candidate shock heated regions offset from any dense cores, as well as signatures of localized heating by protostars in several dense cores. Our findings suggest that at 0.1-pc scales in this cloud star formation and strong turbulence may together affect the chemistry and temperature of the molecular gas.
We consider the formation of binary black hole mergers through the evolution of field massive triple stars. In this scenario, favorable conditions for the inspiral of a black hole binary are initiated by its gravitational interaction with a distant companion, rather than by a common-envelope phase invoked in standard binary evolution models. We use a code that follows self-consistently the evolution of massive triple stars, combining the secular triple dynamics (Lidov-Kozai cycles) with stellar evolution. After a black hole triple is formed, its dynamical evolution is computed using either the orbit-averaged equations of motion, or a high-precision direct integrator for triples with weaker hierarchies for which the secular perturbation theory breaks down. Most black hole mergers in our models are produced in the latter non-secular dynamical regime. We derive the properties of the merging binaries and compute a black hole merger rate in the range (0.3- 1.3) Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1}, or up to ~2.5Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1} if the black hole orbital planes have initially random orientation. Finally, we show that black hole mergers from the triple channel have significantly higher eccentricities than those formed through the evolution of massive binaries or in dense star clusters. Measured eccentricities could therefore be used to uniquely identify binary mergers formed through the evolution of triple stars. While our results suggest up to ~10 detections per year with Advanced-LIGO, the high eccentricities could render the merging binaries harder to detect with planned spaced based interferometers such as LISA.
The VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC) began observations in 2009 and since then, it has collected multi-epoch data at Ks and in addition multi-band data in Y and J for a wide range of stellar populations across the Magellanic system. Among them are pulsating variable stars: Cepheids, RR Lyrae, and asymptotic giant branch stars that represent useful tracers of the host system geometry.
Recent observations of scintillating pulsars' dynamic and secondary spectra show evidence for collinear compact ionized structures in the interstellar medium. One proposed explanation for these structures is that they are the crests of Alfv\'en waves propagating along current sheets closely aligned to our line-of-sight to the pulsar. Using geometric optics, we develop a simple model of these folded current sheets that makes observable predictions for how the secondary spectrum of the pulsar will vary over time and frequency. We find that caustics occur only if the current sheet is overdense compared to the interstellar medium, and that the lensed image of the pulsar appears closer to the line-of-sight image at higher frequencies if the current sheet is underdense, but at lower frequencies if the current sheet is overdense.
We compare six models (including the baryonic model, two dark matter models, two modified Newtonian dynamics models and one modified gravity model) in accounting for the galaxy rotation curves. For the dark matter models, we assume NFW profile and core-modified profile for the dark halo, respectively. For the modified Newtonian dynamics models, we discuss Milgrom's MOND theory with two different interpolation functions, i.e. the standard and the simple interpolation functions. As for the modified gravity, we focus on Moffat's MSTG theory. We fit these models to the observed rotation curves of 9 high-surface brightness and 9 low-surface brightness galaxies. We apply the Bayesian Information Criterion and the Akaike Information Criterion to test the goodness-of-fit of each model. It is found that non of the six models can well fit all the galaxy rotation curves. Two galaxies can be best fitted by the baryonic model without involving the nonluminous dark matter. MOND can fit the largest number of galaxies, and only one galaxy can be best fitted by MSTG model. Core-modified model can well fit about one half LSB galaxies but no HSB galaxy, while NFW model can fit only a small fraction of HSB galaxies but no LSB galaxy. This may imply that the oversimplified NFW and Core-modified profiles couldn't well mimic the postulated dark matter halo.
The colliding cluster, CIZA J2242.8+5301, displays a spectacular, almost 2 Mpc long shock front with a radio based Mach number M ~ 5, that is puzzlingly large compared with the X-ray estimate of M ~ 2.5. The extent to which the X-ray temperature jump is diluted by cooler unshocked gas projected through the cluster currently lacks quantification. Thus, here we apply our self-consistent N-body/hydro-dynamical code (based on FLASH) to model this binary cluster encounter. We can account for the location of the shock front and also the elongated X-ray emission by tidal stretching of the gas and dark matter between the two cluster centers. The required total mass is $8.9 \times 10^{14}$ Msun with a 1.3:1 mass ratio favoring the southern cluster component. The relative velocity we derive is $\simeq 2500$ km/s initially between the two main cluster components, with an impact parameter of 120 kpc. This solution implies that the shock temperature jump derived from the low angular resolution X-ray satellite SUZAKU is underestimated by a factor of two, due to cool gas in projection, bringing the observed X-ray and radio estimates into agreement. We propose that the complex southern relics in CIZA J2242.8+5301, have been broken up as the southerly moving "back" shocked gas impacts the gas still falling in along the collision axis. Finally, we use our model to generate Compton-y maps to estimate the reduction in radio flux caused by the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. At 30 GHz, this amounts to $\Delta S_n = -0.072$ mJy/arcmin$^2$ and $\Delta S_s = -0.075$ mJy/arcmin$^2$ at the locations of the northern and southern shock fronts respectively. Our model estimate agrees with previous empirical estimates that have inferred the measured radio spectra can be significantly affected by the SZ effect, with implications for charged particle acceleration models of the radio relics.
IC 1613 is an isolated dwarf galaxy within the Local Group. Low foreground and internal extinction, low metallicity, and low crowding make it an invaluable testbed for the calibration of the local distance ladder. We present here new, high-fidelity distance estimates to IC 1613 via its Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) and its RR Lyrae (RRL) variables as part of the Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program, which seeks an alternate local route to $H_0$ using Population II stars. We have measured an extinction-corrected $I_{ACS}^{\mathrm{TRGB}} = 20.32 \pm 0.02_{stat} \pm 0.01_{sys}$ mag using wide-field observations obtained from the IMACS camera on the Magellan-Baade telescope. We have further constructed $VIH$ RRL period-luminosity relations using archival and new observations from the ACS/WFC and WFC3/IR instruments aboard the $Hubble~Space~Telescope~(HST)$. In advance of future $Gaia$ data releases, we set provisional values for the TRGB luminosity via the Large Magellanic Cloud and Galactic RRL zero-points via $HST$ parallaxes. We find corresponding true distance moduli $\mu_{I}^{\mathrm{TRGB}} = 24.27 \pm 0.05$ mag and $\langle\mu^{\mathrm{RRL}}\rangle = 24.30 \pm 0.07$ mag. We compare our results to a body of recent publications on IC 1613 and find no statistically significant difference between the distances derived from stars of Population I and II.
This Rescaled Subset of the Alternative Data Release 1 to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Physics Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope Sky Survey (TGSS-RSADR1) modifies the initial data release of TGSS-ADR1 (Intema et al. 2017) to bring that catalogue to the same flux scale as the extragalactic catalogue from the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array survey (GLEAM: Wayth et al. 2015; Hurley-Walker et al. 2017). In this paper we motivate the derivation of correct and complementary flux scales, introduce a methodology for correction based on radial basis functions, apply it to TGSS-ADR1, and create a modified catalogue, TGSS-RSADR1. This catalogue comprises 383,589 TGSS-ADR1 sources with updated flux density and flux density uncertainty values, and covers $\mathrm{Declination}\leq+30^\circ$, $|b|\geq10^\circ$, a sky area of 18,800 deg$^2$.
We have detected [C I] 3P1-3P0 emissions in the gaseous debris disks of 49 Ceti and Beta Pictoris with the 10 m telescope of the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment, which is the first detection of such emissions. The line profiles of [C I] are found to resemble those of CO(J=3-2) observed with the same telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. This result suggests that atomic carbon (C) coexists with CO in the debris disks, and is likely formed by the photodissociation of CO. Assuming an optically thin [C I] emission with the excitation temperature ranging from 30 to 100 K, the column density of C is evaluated to be (2.2+-0.2)x10^17 and (2.5+-0.7)x10^16 cm^-2 for 49 Ceti and Beta Pictoris, respectively. The C/CO column density ratio is thus derived to be 54+-19 and 69+-42 for 49 Ceti and Beta Pictoris, respectively. These ratios are higher than those of molecular clouds and diffuse clouds by an order of magnitude. The unusually high ratios of C to CO are likely attributed to a lack of H2 molecules needed to reproduce CO molecules efficiently from C. This result implies a small number of H2 molecules in the gas disk; i.e., there is an appreciable contribution of secondary gas from dust grains.
Wide gravitationally bound pairs of stars can be formed from adjacent prestellar cores that happen to move slowly enough relative to each other. These binaries are remnants of the primordial clustering. It is shown that the expected fraction of wide bound pairs in low-density star formation regions can be larger than the fraction of wide pairs in the field. On the other hand, wide binaries do not form or survive in dense clusters. Recent works on the separation distribution of young binaries, summarized here, confirm these expectations. Alternative formation mechanisms of wide binaries such as cluster dissolution or unfolding of triple stars cannot explain the large observed fraction of young wide pairs and therefore are not dominant. The fact that more than a half of wide pairs contain subsystems matches the general multiplicity statistics and does not imply that hierarchical multiplicity and wide binaries are genetically related.
We report on a spectral study at radio frequencies of the giant radio halo in A2142 (z=0.0909), which we performed to explore its nature and origin. A2142 is not a major merger and the presence of a giant radio halo is somewhat surprising. We performed deep radio observations with the GMRT at 608 MHz, 322 MHz, and 234 MHz and with the VLA in the 1-2 GHz band. We obtained high-quality images at all frequencies in a wide range of resolutions. The radio halo is well detected at all frequencies and extends out to the most distant cold front in A2142. We studied the spectral index in two regions: the central part of the halo and a second region in the direction of the most distant south-eastern cold front, selected to follow the bright part of the halo and X-ray emission. We complemented our observations with a preliminary LOFAR image at 118 MHz and with the re-analysis of archival VLA data at 1.4 GHz. The two components of the radio halo show different observational properties. The central brightest part has higher surface brightess and a spectrum whose steepness is similar to those of the known radio halos, i.e. $\alpha^{\rm 1.78~GHz}_{\rm 118~MHz}=1.33\pm 0.08$. The ridge, which fades into the larger scale emission, is broader in size and has considerably lower surface brightess and a moderately steeper spectrum, i.e. $\alpha^{\rm 1.78~GHz}_{\rm 118~MHz}\sim 1.5$. We propose that the brightest part of the radio halo is powered by the central sloshing in A2142, similar to what has been suggested for mini-halos, or by secondary electrons generated by hadronic collisions in the ICM. On the other hand, the steeper ridge may probe particle re-acceleration by turbulence generated either by stirring the gas and magnetic fields on a larger scale or by less energetic mechanisms, such as continuous infall of galaxy groups or an off-axis merger.
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Previously, in Penner (2016a, 2016b), a theory of gravitational anti-screening was shown to lead naturally to the Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relationship. In addition, it was shown to agree with the observed rotational curve of the Galaxy, the observed features in the rotational curves of other spiral galaxies, with observations of the Coma cluster, and with a geometrically flat universe. In this paper the theory will now be applied to binary galaxies. It is shown that there is a relationship between the line-of-sight velocity difference of the pair and the individual rotational velocities of the galaxies. The resulting probability function for beta, defined as the ratio of the line-of-sight velocity difference to the rotational velocity of the larger galaxy of the pair, is in excellent agreement with the observations taken by multiple researchers for the case of the binaries being on radial orbits.
Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxies, or "Hot DOGs", are a rare, dusty, hyperluminous galaxy population discovered by the WISE mission. Predominantly at redshifts 2-3, they include the most luminous known galaxies in the universe. Their high luminosities likely come from accretion onto highly obscured super massive black holes (SMBHs). We have conducted a pilot survey to measure the SMBH masses of five z~2 Hot DOGs via broad H_alpha emission lines, using Keck/MOSFIRE and Gemini/FLAMINGOS-2. We detect broad H_alpha emission in all five Hot DOGs. We find substantial corresponding SMBH masses for these Hot DOGs (~ 10^{9} M_sun), and their derived Eddington ratios are close to unity. These z~2 Hot DOGs are the most luminous AGNs at given BH masses, suggesting they are accreting at the maximum rates for their BHs. A similar property is found for known z~6 quasars. Our results are consistent with scenarios in which Hot DOGs represent a transitional, high-accretion phase between obscured and unobscured quasars. Hot DOGs may mark a special evolutionary stage before the red quasar and optical quasar phases, and they may be present at other cosmic epochs.
Supermassive black holes are found at the centre of massive galaxies. During the growth of these black holes they light up to become visible as active galactic nuclei (AGN) and release extraordinary amounts of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum. This energy is widely believed to regulate the rate of star formation in the black holes' host galaxies via so-called "AGN feedback". However, the details of how and when this occurs remains uncertain from both an observational and theoretical perspective. I review some of the observational results and discuss possible observational signatures of the impact of super-massive black hole growth on star formation.
Globular clusters (GCs) are amongst the oldest objects in the Galaxy and play a pivotal role in deciphering its early history. We present the first spectroscopic study of the GC ESO452-SC11 using the AAOmega spectrograph at medium resolution. Given the sparsity of this object and high degree of foreground contamination due to its location toward the bulge, few details are known for this cluster: there is no consensus of its age, metallicity, or its association with the disk or bulge. We identify 5 members based on radial velocity, metallicity, and position within the GC. Using spectral synthesis, accurate abundances of Fe and several $\alpha$-, Fe-peak, neutron-capture elements (Si,Ca,Ti,Cr,Co,Ni,Sr,Eu) were measured. Two of the 5 cluster candidates are likely non-members, as they have deviant Fe abundances and [$\alpha$/Fe] ratios. The mean radial velocity is 19$\pm$2 km s$^{-1}$ with a low dispersion of 2.8$\pm$3.4 km s$^{-1}$, in line with its low mass. The mean Fe-abundance from spectral fitting is $-0.88\pm0.03$, with a spread driven by observational errors. The $\alpha$-elements of the GC candidates are marginally lower than expected for the bulge at similar metallicities. As spectra of hundreds of stars were collected in a 2 degree field around ESO452-SC11, detailed abundances in the surrounding field were measured. Most non-members have higher [$\alpha$/Fe] ratios, typical of the nearby bulge population. Stars with measured Fe-peak abundances show a large scatter around Solar values, though with large uncertainties. Our study provides the first systematic measurement of Sr in a Galactic bulge GC. The Eu and Sr abundances of the GC candidates are consistent with a disk or bulge association. Our calculations place ESO452 on an elliptical orbit in the central 3 kpc of the bulge. We find no evidence of extratidal stars in our data. (Abridged)
Our Cycle 0 ALMA observations confirmed that the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest known object in the Universe, with a massive high-speed outflow that has cooled significantly below the cosmic background temperature. Our new CO 1-0 data reveal heretofore unseen distant regions of this ultra-cold outflow, out to $\gtrsim120,000$ AU. We find that in the ultra-cold outflow, the mass-loss rate (dM/dt) increases with radius, similar to its expansion velocity ($V$) - taking $V\propto r$, we find $dM/dt \propto r^{0.9-2.2}$. The mass in the ultra-cold outflow is $\gtrsim3.3$ Msun, and the Boomerang's main-sequence progenitor mass is $\gtrsim4$ Msun. Our high angular resolution ($\sim$0".3) CO J=3-2 map shows the inner bipolar nebula's precise, highly-collimated shape, and a dense central waist of size (FWHM) $\sim$1740 AU$\times275$ AU. The molecular gas and the dust as seen in scattered light via optical HST imaging show a detailed correspondence. The waist shows a compact core in thermal dust emission at 0.87-3.3 mm, which harbors $(4-7)\times10^{-4}$ Msun~of very large ($\sim$mm-to-cm sized), cold ($\sim20-30$ K) grains. The central waist (assuming its outer regions to be expanding) and fast bipolar outflow have expansion ages of $\lesssim1925$ yr and $\le1050$ yr: the "jet-lag" (i.e., torus age minus the fast-outflow age) in the Boomerang supports models in which the primary star interacts directly with a binary companion. We argue that this interaction resulted in a common-envelope configuration while the Boomerang's primary was an RGB or early-AGB star, with the companion finally merging into the primary's core, and ejecting the primary's envelope that now forms the ultra-cold outflow.
Signal estimates for direct axion dark matter searches have used the isothermal sphere halo model for the last several decades. While insightful, the isothermal model does not capture effects from a halo's infall history nor the influence of baryonic matter, which has been shown to significantly influence a halo's inner structure. The high resolution of cavity axion detectors can make use of modern cosmological structure-formation simulations, which begin from realistic initial conditions, incorporate a wide range of baryonic physics, and are capable of resolving detailed structure. This letter uses a state-of-the-art cosmological N-body+Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics simulation to develop an improved signal model for axion cavity searches. Signal shapes from a class of galaxies encompassing the Milky Way are found to depart significantly from the isothermal sphere. A new signal model for axion detectors is proposed and projected sensitivity bounds on the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment data are presented.
We discuss the effect of ram pressure on the cold clouds in the centers of cool-core galaxy clusters, and in particular, how it reduces cloud velocity and sometimes causes an offset between the cold gas and young stars. The velocities of the molecular gas in both observations and our simulations fall in the range of $100-400$ km/s, much lower than expected if they fall from a few tens of kpc ballistically. If the intra-cluster medium (ICM) is at rest, the ram pressure of the ICM only slightly reduces the velocity of the clouds. When we assume that the clouds are actually "fluffier" because they are co-moving with a warm-hot layer, the velocity becomes smaller. If we also consider the AGN wind in the cluster center by adding a wind profile measured from the simulation, the clouds are further slowed down at small radii, and the resulting velocities are in general agreement with the observations and simulations. Because ram pressure only affects gas but not stars, it can cause a separation between a filament and young stars that formed in the filament as they move through the ICM together. This separation has been observed in Perseus and also exists in our simulations. We show that the star-filament offset combined with line-of-sight velocity measurements can help determine the true motion of the cold gas, and thus distinguish between inflows and outflows.
Are the initial conditions for clustered star formation the same as for non-clustered star formation? To investigate the initial gas properties in young proto-clusters we carried out a comprehensive and high-sensitivity study of the internal structure, density, temperature, and kinematics of the dense gas content of the NGC1333 region in Perseus, one of the nearest and best studied embedded clusters. The analysis of the gas velocities in the Position-Position-Velocity space reveals an intricate underlying gas organization both in space and velocity. We identified a total of 14 velocity-coherent, (tran-)sonic structures within NGC1333, with similar physical and kinematic properties than those quiescent, star-forming (aka fertile) fibers previously identified in low-mass star-forming clouds. These fibers are arranged in a complex spatial network, build-up the observed total column density, and contain the dense cores and protostars in this cloud. Our results demonstrate that the presence of fibers is not restricted to low-mass clouds but can be extended to regions of increasing mass and complexity. We propose that the observational dichotomy between clustered and non-clustered star-forming regions might be naturally explained by the distinct spatial density of fertile fibers in these environments.
We present the spectroscopic and photometric late-time follow-up of the host galaxy of the long-duration \textit{Swift} $\gamma$-ray burst GRB\,140506A at $z=0.889$. The optical/near-infrared afterglow of this GRB had a peculiar spectral energy distribution (SED) with a strong flux-drop at 8000\,\AA~(4000\,\AA~rest-frame) suggesting an unusually steep extinction curve. By analyzing the contribution and physical properties of the host galaxy, we here aim at providing additional information on the properties and origin of this steep, non-standard extinction. We find that the strong flux-drop in the GRB afterglow spectrum at $< 8000$\,\AA~and rise at $< 4000$\,\AA~is well explained by the combination of a steep extinction curve along the GRB line of sight and contamination by the host galaxy light so that the scenario with an extreme 2175\,\AA~extinction bump can be excluded. We localize the GRB to be at a projected distance of approximately 4 kpc from the centre of the host galaxy. Based on emission-line diagnostics of the four detected nebular lines, H$\alpha$, H$\beta$, [O\,\textsc{ii}] and [O\,\textsc{iii}], we find the host to be a modestly star forming (SFR = $1.34\pm 0.04~M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$) and relatively metal poor ($Z=0.35^{+0.15}_{-0.11}~Z_{\odot}$) galaxy with a large dust content, characterized by a measured visual attenuation of $A_V=1.74\pm 0.41$ mag, thus unexceptional in all its physical properties. We model the extinction curve of the host-corrected afterglow and show that the standard dust properties causing the reddening seen in the Local Group are inadequate in describing the steep drop. We thus conclude that the steep extinction curve seen in the afterglow towards the GRB is of exotic origin, is sightline-dependent only and thus solely a consequence of the circumburst environment.
We present new high-resolution ALMA (13CO J=1-0 and J= 2-1) and CARMA (12CO and 13CO J=1-0) observations of two Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs): Arp 55 and NGC 2623. The new data are complementary to published and archival Submillimeter Array observations of 12CO J=2-1 and J=3-2. We perform a Bayesian likelihood non-local thermodynamic equilibrium analysis to constrain the molecular gas physical conditions such as temperature, column and volume densities and the [12CO]/[13CO] abundance ratio. For Arp 55, an early/intermediate staged merger, the line measurements are consistent with cold (~10-20 K), dense (>10$^{3.5}$ cm$^{-3}$) molecular gas. For NGC 2623, the molecular gas is warmer (~110 K) and less dense (~10$^{2.7}$ cm$^{-3}$). Since Arp 55 is an early/intermediate stage merger while NGC 2623 is a merger remnant, the difference in physical conditions may be an indicator of merger stage. Comparing the temperature and volume density of several LIRGs shows that the molecular gas, averaged over ~kpc scale, of advanced mergers is in general warmer and less dense than early/intermediate stage mergers. We also find that the [12CO]/[13CO] abundance ratio of NGC 2623 is unusually high (>250) when compared to the Milky Way; however, it follows a trend seen with other LIRGs in literature. This high [12CO]/[13CO] value is very likely due to stellar nucleosynthesis enrichment of the interstellar medium. On the other hand, Arp 55 has a more Galactic [12CO]/[13CO] value with the most probable [12CO]/[13CO] value being 20-30. We measure the CO-to-H2 conversion factor, $\alpha_{CO}$, to be ~0.1 and ~0.7 (3x10$^{-4}$/x$_{CO}$) M$_{\odot}$ (K km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{2}$)$^{-1}$ for Arp 55 and NGC 2623, respectively. Since Arp 55 is an early/intermediate , this suggests that the transition from a Galactic conversion factor to a LIRG value happens at an even earlier merger stage.
We present candidate members of the Pal 5, GD-1, Cetus Polar, and Orphan tidal stellar streams found in LAMOST DR3, SDSS DR9 and APOGEE catalogs. In LAMOST DR3, we find 20, 4, 24 high confidence candidates of tidal streams GD-1, Cetus Polar and Orphan respectively. We also list from the SDSS DR9 spectroscopic catalog 59, 118, 10 high confidence candidates of tidal streams Cetus Polar, Orphan and Pal 5, respectively. Furthermore, we find 7 high confidence candidates of the Pal 5 tidal stream in APOGEE data. Compared with SDSS, the new candidates from LAMOST DR3 are brighter, so that together, more of the color-magnitude diagram, including the giant branch can be explored. Analysis of SDSS data shows that there are 3 metallicity peaks of the Orphan stream and also shows some spatial separation. LAMOST data confirms multiple metallicities in this stream. The metallicity, given by the higher resolution APOGEE instrument, of the Pal 5 tidal stream is [Fe/H] $\sim -1.2$, higher than that given earlier by SDSS spectra. Many previously unidentified stream members are tabulated here for the first time, along with existing members, allowing future researchers to further constrain the orbits of these objects as they move within the Galaxy's dark matter potential.
The efforts for comparing polarization measurements with synthetic observations from MHD models has previously concentrated on the scale of molecular clouds. Here we extend the model comparisons to kiloparsec scales, also taking into account the hot shocked gas generated by supernova activity, and a non-uniform dynamo-generated magnetic field. Radiative transfer calculations are used to model dust emission and polarization on top of the MHD simulations. We compute synthetic maps of column density, polarization fraction, and polarization angle dispersion function and study their dependencies on the key system parameters. Similar filamentary structure of polarization angle dispersion function as seen in the Planck all-sky maps is visible in our synthetic results, although the smallest scale structures are still absent from our maps. These filaments can clearly be attributed to the distribution of the small-scale magnetic field. We also find that the large-scale magnetic field influences the polarization fraction in the sense that a strong plane-of-sky mean field will weaken the observed polarization fraction for a given magnetic fluctuation strength. We witness the anticorrelation of polarization fraction and angle dispersion, and the decrease of polarization fraction as a function of column density. We find evidence supporting the view that the magnetic fields in and around molecular clouds are highly coherent and oriented with the ambient mean field in which they are located. The observed polarization properties and column density are sensitive to the line-of-sight distance over which the emission is integrated. Studying synthetic maps as function of maximum integration length will further help in the interpretation of observations.
Aims. We investigate the effect of chemistry on the stability of starless
cores against gravitational collapse.
Methods. We combine chemical and radiative transfer simulations in the
context of a modified Bonnor-Ebert sphere to model the effect of chemistry on
the gas temperature, and study the effect of temperature changes on core
stability.
Results. We find that chemistry has in general very little effect on the
nondimensional radius $\xi_{\rm out}$ which parametrizes the core stability.
Cores that are initially stable or unstable tend to stay near their initial
states, in terms of stability (i.e., $\xi_{\rm out} \sim$ constant), as the
chemistry develops. This result is independent of the initial conditions. We
can however find solutions where $\xi_{\rm out}$ decreases at late times ($t
\gtrsim 10^6 \, \rm yr$) which correspond to increased stabilization caused by
the chemistry. Even though the core stability is unchanged by the chemistry in
most of the models considered here, we cannot rule out the possibility that a
core can evolve from an unstable to a stable state owing to chemical evolution.
The reverse case, where an initially stable core becomes ultimately unstable,
seems highly unlikely.
Conclusions. Our results indicate that chemistry should be properly accounted
for in studies of star-forming regions, and that further investigations of core
stability especially with hydrodynamical models are warranted.
Molecular clouds are to a great extent influenced by turbulent motions in the gas. Numerical and observational studies indicate that the star formation rate and efficiency crucially depend on the mixture of solenoidal and compressive modes in the turbulent acceleration field, which can be quantified by the turbulent driving parameter b. For purely solenoidal (divergence-free) driving previous studies showed that b=1/3 and for entirely compressive (curl-free) driving b=1. In this study, we determine the evolution of the turbulent driving parameter b in magnetohydrodynamical simulations of molecular cloud formation and evolution. The clouds form due to the convergence of two flows of warm neutral gas. We explore different scenarios by varying the magnitude of the initial turbulent perturbations in the flows. We show that the driving mode of the turbulence within the cloud strongly fluctuates with time and exhibits no clear correlation with typical cloud properties, such as the cloud mass and the (Alfven) Mach number. We specifically find that $b$ strongly varies from b=0.3 to b=0.8 on timescales t<5 Myr, where the timescale and range of variation can change from cloud to cloud. This rapid change of b from solenoidal to compressive driving is primarily associated with global contraction of the cloud and subsequent onset of star formation. We conclude that the effective turbulence driving parameter should be treated as a free parameter that can vary from solenoidal to compressive in both time and space.
Aims: We resolve the small-scale structure around the high-mass hot core
region G351.77-0.54 to investigate its disk and fragmentation properties.
Methods: Using ALMA at 690GHz with baselines exceeding 1.5km, we study the
dense gas, dust and outflow emission at an unprecedented spatial resolution of
0.06" (130AU@2.2kpc).
Results: Within the inner few 1000AU, G351.77 fragments into at least four
cores (brightness temperatures between 58 and 197K). The central structure
around the main submm source #1 with a diameter of ~0.5" does not show
additional fragmentation. While the CO(6-5) line wing emission shows an outflow
lobe in the north-western direction emanating from source #1, the dense gas
tracer CH3CN shows a velocity gradient perpendicular to the outflow that is
indicative of rotational motions. Absorption profile measurements against the
submm source #2 indicate infall rates on the order of 10^{-4} to
10^{-3}M_sun/yr which can be considered as an upper limit of the mean accretion
rates. The position-velocity diagrams are consistent with a central rotating
disk-like structure embedded in an infalling envelope, but they may also be
influenced by the outflow. Using the CH_3CN(37_k-36_k) k-ladder with excitation
temperatures up to 1300K, we derive a gas temperature map of source #1
exhibiting temperatures often in excess of 1000K. Brightness temperatures of
the submm continuum never exceed 200K. This discrepancy between gas
temperatures and submm dust brightness temperatures (in the optically thick
limit) indicates that the dust may trace the disk mid-plane whereas the gas
could be tracing a hotter gaseous disk surface layer. In addition, we conduct a
pixel-by-pixel Toomre gravitational stability analysis of the central rotating
structure. The derived high Q values throughout the structure confirm that this
central region appears stable against gravitational instability.
We report the identification of a bright hard X-ray source dominating the M31 bulge above 25 keV from a simultaneous NuSTAR-Swift observation. We find that this source is the counterpart to Swift J0042.6+4112, which was previously detected in the Swift BAT All-sky Hard X-ray Survey. This Swift BAT source had been suggested to be the combined emission from a number of point sources; our new observations have identified a single X-ray source from 0.5 to 50 keV as the counterpart for the first time. In the 0.5-10 keV band, the source had been classified as an X-ray binary candidate in various Chandra and XMM studies; however, since it was not clearly associated with Swift J0042.6+4112, the previous E < 10 keV observations did not generate much attention. This source has a spectrum with a soft X-ray excess (kT~ 0.2 keV) plus a hard spectrum with a power law of Gamma ~ 1 and a cutoff around 15-20 keV, typical of the spectral characteristics of accreting pulsars. Unfortunately, any potential pulsation was undetected in the NuSTAR data, possibly due to insufficient photon statistics. The existing deep HST images exclude high-mass (>3 Msun) donors at the location of this source. The best interpretation for the nature of this source is an X-ray pulsar with an intermediate-mass (<3 Msun) companion or a symbiotic X-ray binary. We discuss other possibilities in more detail.
We study the merging and evolution of isolated supernovae (SNe) remnants in a stellar cluster into a collective superbubble, with the help of 3-D hydrodynamic simulations. We particularly focus on the transition stage when the isolated SNe remnants gradually combine to form a superbubble. We find that when the SN rate is high ($\nu_{\rm sn}\sim 10^{-9}$ pc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$), the merging phase lasts for $\sim 10^4$ yr, for $n=1\hbox{--}10$ cm$^{-3}$, and the merging phase lasts for a longer time ($\sim 0.1$ Myr or more) for lower SN rates ($\nu_{\rm sn}\le 10^{-10}$ pc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$). During this transition phase, the growing superbubble is filled with dense and cool fragments of shells and most of the energy is radiated away during this merging process. After passing through the intermediate phase, the superbubble eventually settles on to a new power-law wind asymptote that is smaller than estimated in a continuous wind model. This results in a significant (more than {\it several times}) underestimation of the mechanical luminosity needed to feed the bubble. We determine the X-ray and H$\alpha$ surface brightnesses as functions of time for such merging SNe in a stellar cluster and find that clusters with high SN rate shine predominantly in soft X-rays and H$\alpha$. In particular, a low value of the volume averaged H$\alpha$ to H$\beta$ ratio and its large spread can be a good indicator of the transition phase of merging SNe.
We perform a spectroscopic survey of the foreground population in Orion A with MMT/Hectospec. We use these data, along with archival spectroscopic data and photometric data, to derive spectral types, extinction values, and masses for 691 stars. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope data, we characterize the disk properties of these sources. We identify 37 new transition disk (TD) objects, one globally depleted disk candidate, and 7 probable young debris disks. We discover an object with a mass less than 0.018-0.030 M$_{\odot}$, which harbors a flaring disk. Using the H$\alpha$ emission line, we characterize the accretion activity of the sources with disks, and confirm that fraction of accreting TDs is lower than that of optically thick disks (46$\pm$7% versus 73$\pm$9%, respectively). Using kinematic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and APOGEE INfrared Spectroscopy of Young Nebulous Clusters program (IN-SYNC), we confirm that the foreground population shows similar kinematics to their local molecular clouds and other young stars in the same regions. Using the isochronal ages, we find that the foreground population has a median age around 1-2 Myr, which is similar to the one of other young stars in Orion A. Therefore, our results argue against the presence of a large and old foreground cluster in front of Orion A.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/ sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of V883 Ori, an FU Ori object. We describe the molecular outflow and envelope of the system based on the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO emissions, which together trace a bipolar molecular outflow. The C$^{18}$O emission traces the rotational motion of the circumstellar disk. From the $^{12}$CO blue-shifted emission, we estimate a wide opening angle of $\sim$ 150$^{^{\circ}}$ for the outflow cavities. Also, we find that the outflow is very slow (characteristic velocity of only 0.65 km~s$^{-1}$), which is unique for an FU Ori object. We calculate the kinematic properties of the outflow in the standard manner using the $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO emissions. In addition, we present a P Cygni profile observed in the high-resolution optical spectrum, evidence of a wind driven by the accretion and being the cause for the particular morphology of the outflows. We discuss the implications of our findings and the rise of these slow outflows during and/or after the formation of a rotationally supported disk.
Imaging studies with the VLA have revealed HI emission associated with the extended circumstellar shells of red giants. We analyse the spectral map obtained on Y CVn, a J-type carbon star on the AGB. The HI line profiles can be interpreted with a model of a detached shell resulting from the interaction of a stellar outflow with the local interstellar medium. We reproduce the spectral map by introducing a distortion along a direction corresponding to the star's motion in space. We then use this fitting to simulate observations expected from the FAST radiotelescope, and discuss its potential for improving ourdescription of the outer regions of circumstellar shells.
Current astrophysical models of the interstellar medium assume that small scale variation and noise can be modelled as Gaussian random fields or simple transformations thereof, such as lognormal. We use topological methods to investigate this assumption for three regions of the southern sky. We consider Gaussian random fields on two-dimensional lattices and investigate the expected distribution of topological structures quantified through Betti numbers. We demonstrate that there are circumstances where differences in topology can identify differences in distributions when conventional marginal or correlation analyses may not. We propose a non-parametric method for comparing two fields based on the counts of topological features and the geometry of the associated persistence diagrams. When we apply the methods to the astrophysical data, we find strong evidence against a Gaussian random field model for each of the three regions of the interstellar medium that we consider. Further, we show that there are topological differences at a local scale between these different regions.
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The collapse of a collisionless self-gravitating system, with the fast achievement of a quasi-stationary state, is driven by violent relaxation, with a typical particle interacting with the time-changing collective gravitational potential. It is traditionally assumed that this evolution is described by the (time-reversible) Vlasov-Poisson equation, in which case entropy must be conserved. We use N-body simulations to follow the evolution of an isolated self-gravitating system, estimating the (fine-grained) distribution function and the corresponding Shannon entropy. We do this with three different codes: NBODY-6 (direct summation without softening), NBODY-2 (direct summation with softening) and GADGET-2 (tree code with softening), for different numbers of particles and initial conditions. We find that during violent relaxation entropy increases in a way that cannot be described by 2-body relaxation as modeled by the Fokker-Planck approximation. On the other hand, the long-term evolution is very well described by this model. Our results imply that the violent relaxation process must be described by a kinetic equation other than the Vlasov-Poisson, even if the system is collisionless. Our estimators provide a general method for testing any proposed kinetic equation. We also study the dependence of the 2-body relaxation time-scale $\tau_{col}$ on the number of particles N, obtaining $\tau_{col}\propto \sqrt{N}$, and the dependence of $\tau_{col}$ on the softening length $\varepsilon$, which can be fit by a function of the form $\tau_{col} \propto \sqrt{\varepsilon}\cdot e^{c\varepsilon}$, for a fixed number of particles.
The Milky Way bulge shows a box/peanut or X-shaped bulge (hereafter BP/X) when viewed in infrared or microwave bands. We examine orbits in an N-body model of a barred disk galaxy that is scaled to match the kinematics of the Milky Way (MW) bulge. We generate maps of projected stellar surface density, unsharp masked images, 3D excess-mass distributions (showing mass outside ellipsoids), line-of-sight number count distributions, and 2D line-of-sight kinematics for the simulation as well as co-added orbit families, in order to identify the orbits primarily responsible for the BP/X shape. We estimate that between 19-23\% of the mass of the bar is associated with the BP/X shape and that most bar orbits contribute to this shape which is clearly seen in projected surface density maps and 3D excess mass for non-resonant box orbits, "banana" orbits, "fish/pretzel" orbits and "brezel" orbits. {We find that nearly all bar orbit families contribute some mass to the 3D BP/X-shape. All co-added orbit families show a bifurcation in stellar number count distribution with heliocentric distance that resembles the bifurcation observed in red clump stars in the MW. However, only the box orbit family shows an increasing separation of peaks with increasing galactic latitude $|b|$, similar to that observed.} Our analysis shows that no single orbit family fully explains all the observed features associated with the MW's BP/X shaped bulge, but collectively the non-resonant boxes and various resonant boxlet orbits contribute at different distances from the center to produce this feature. We propose that since box orbits have three incommensurable orbital fundamental frequencies, their 3-dimensional shapes are highly flexible and, like Lissajous figures, this family of orbits is most easily able to adapt to evolution in the shape of the underlying potential.
The discovery of gamma-ray emission from radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies has questioned the need for large black hole masses (> 10^8 solar masses) to launch relativistic jets. We present near-infrared data of the gamma-ray emitting NLSy1 FBQS J1644+2619 which were collected using the camera CIRCE at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias to investigate the structural properties of its host galaxy and to infer the black hole mass. The 2D surface brightness profile is modelled by the combination of a nuclear and a bulge component with a Sersic profile with index n = 3.7, indicative of an elliptical galaxy. The structural parameters of the host are consistent with the correlations of effective radius and surface brightness against absolute magnitude measured for elliptical galaxies. From the bulge luminosity we estimated a black hole mass of (2.1+/-0.2)x10^8 solar masses, consistent with the values characterizing radio-loud active galactic nuclei.
We present the WiFeS Atlas of Galactic Globular cluster Spectra, a library of integrated spectra of Milky Way and Local Group globular clusters. We used the WiFeS integral field spectrograph on the Australian National University 2.3 m telescope to observe the central regions of 64 Milky Way globular clusters and 22 globular clusters hosted by the Milky Way's low mass satellite galaxies. The spectra have wider wavelength coverage (3300 {\AA} to 9050 {\AA}) and higher spectral resolution (R = 6800) than existing spectral libraries of Milky Way globular clusters. By including Large and Small Magellanic Cloud star clusters, we extend the coverage of parameter space of existing libraries towards young and intermediate ages. While testing stellar population synthesis models and analysis techniques is the main aim of this library, the observations may also further our understanding of the stellar populations of Local Group globular clusters and make possible the direct comparison of extragalactic globular cluster integrated light observations with well understood globular clusters in the Milky Way. The integrated spectra are publicly available via the project website.
Dwarf galaxies are known to have remarkably low star formation efficiency due to strong feedback. Adopting the dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way as a laboratory, we explore a flexible semi-analytic galaxy formation model to understand how the feedback processes shape the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Using Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo, we exhaustively search a large parameter space of the model and rigorously show that the general wisdom of strong outflows as the primary feedback mechanism cannot simultaneously explain the stellar mass function and the mass--metallicity relation of the Milky Way satellites. An extended model that assumes that a fraction of baryons is prevented from collapsing into low-mass halos in the first place can be accurately constrained to simultaneously reproduce those observations. The inference suggests that two different physical mechanisms are needed to explain the two different data sets. In particular, moderate outflows with weak halo mass dependence are needed to explain the mass--metallicity relation, and prevention of baryons falling into shallow gravitational potentials of low-mass halos (e.g. "pre-heating") is needed to explain the low stellar mass fraction for a given subhalo mass.
We present the first discoveries from a survey of $z\gtrsim6$ quasars using imaging data from the DECam Legacy Survey (DECaLS) in the optical, the UKIRT Deep Infrared Sky Survey (UKIDSS) and a preliminary version of the UKIRT Hemisphere Survey (UHS) in the near-IR, and ALLWISE in the mid-IR. DECaLS will image 9000 deg$^2$ of sky down to $z_{\rm AB}\sim23.0$, and UKIDSS and UHS, which will map the northern sky at $0<DEC<+60^{\circ}$, reaching $J_{\rm VEGA}\sim19.6$ (5-$\sigma$). The combination of these datasets allows us to discover quasars at redshift $z\gtrsim7$ and to conduct a complete census of the faint quasar population at $z\gtrsim6$. In this paper, we report on the selection method of our search, and on the initial discoveries of two new, faint $z\gtrsim6$ quasars and one new $z=6.63$ quasar in our pilot spectroscopic observations. The two new $z\sim6$ quasars are at $z=6.07$ and $z=6.17$ with absolute magnitudes at rest-frame wavelength 1450 \AA\ being $M_{1450}=-25.83$ and $M_{1450}=-25.76$, respectively. These discoveries suggest that we can find quasars close to or fainter than the break magnitude of the Quasar Luminosity Function (QLF) at $z\gtrsim6$. The new $z=6.63$ quasar has an absolute magnitude of $M_{1450}=-25.95$. This demonstrates the potential of using the combined DECaLS and UKIDSS/UHS datasets to find $z\gtrsim7$ quasars. Extrapolating from previous QLF measurements, we predict that these combined datasets will yield $\sim200$ $z\sim6$ quasars to $z_{\rm AB} < 21.5$, $\sim1{,}000$ $z\sim6$ quasars to $z_{\rm AB}<23$, and $\sim 30$ quasars at $z>6.5$ to $J_{\rm VEGA}<19.5$.
We present Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) MegaCam observations of a galaxy-quasar strong gravitational lens system, SDSS J1640+1932. This system, located at z=0.195 (foreground elliptical galaxy) and z=0.778 (background quasar), was first visually identified by us in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database. Our CFHT imaging with an angular resolution of 0.7$^{\prime \prime}$ clearly resolves 4 lensed images and a nearly complete Einstein ring. Modeling the system with a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) total mass distribution, we find an Einstein radius of ${2.49^{\prime \prime}}_{-0.049}^{+0.063}$ enclosing a inferred mass of $7.25_{-0.29}^{+0.37}\times10^{11} M_{\odot}$. The quasar and its host galaxy have been magnified by a factor of 23, and the time delay relative to the leading image is determined to be 23.4-25.2 days. These parameters vary minimally when our model is fitted to the {\it{g}}-, {\it{r}}- or {\it{i}}-band images.
We present MUSE observations of galaxy NGC 7469 from its Science Verification to show how powerful is the combination of high-resolution wide-field integral field spectroscopy with both photometric and spectroscopic observations of supernova (SN) explosions. Using STARLIGHT and HIIexplorer, we selected all Hii regions of the galaxy and produced 2- dimensional maps of the H{\alpha} equivalent width, average luminosity-weighted stellar age, and oxygen abundance. We measured deprojected galactocentric distances for all Hii regions, and radial gradients for all above-mentioned parameters. We positioned the type Ia SN 2008ec in the Branch et al. diagram, and finally discussed the characteristics of the SN parent Hii region compared to all other Hii regions in the galaxy. In a near future, the AMUSING survey will be able to reproduce this analysis and construct statistical samples to enable the characterization of the progenitors of different supernova types.
This work employs a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to jointly analyse two traditional emission-line classification schemes of galaxy ionization sources: the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) and W$_{H\alpha}$ vs. [NII]/H$\alpha$ (WHAN) diagrams, using spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 and SEAGal/STARLIGHT datasets. We apply a GMM to empirically define classes of galaxies in a three-dimensional space spanned by the log [OIII]/H\beta, log [NII]/H\alpha, and log EW(H{\alpha}) optical parameters. The best-fit GMM based on several statistical criteria consists of four Gaussian components (GCs), which are capable to explain up to 97 per cent of the data variance. Using elements of information theory, we compare each GC to their respective astronomical counterpart. GC1 and GC4 are associated with star-forming galaxies, suggesting the need to define a new starburst subgroup. GC2 is associated with BPT's Active Galaxy Nuclei (AGN) class and WHAN's weak AGN class. GC3 is associated with BPT's composite class and WHAN's strong AGN class. Conversely, there is no statistical evidence -- based on GMMs -- for the existence of a Seyfert/LINER dichotomy in our sample. We demonstrate the potential of our methodology to recover/unravel different objects inside the wilderness of astronomical datasets, without lacking the ability to convey physically interpretable results; hence being a precious tool for maximum exploitation of the ever-increasing astronomical surveys. The probabilistic classifications from the GMM analysis are publicly available within the COINtoolbox (https://cointoolbox.github.io/GMM_Catalogue/)
We present our project to calibrate the RR Lyrae period-luminosity-metallicity relation using a sample of Galactic calibrators in the halo and globular clusters.
Mrk 1018 is a "changing-look" AGN whose optical spectrum transitioned from a Type 1.9 to Type 1 between 1979 and 1984 and back to a Type 1.9 in 2015. This latest transition was accompanied by a decrease in X-ray flux. We analyze the Chandra spectra from 2010 and 2016 and NuSTAR spectra from 2016, carefully treating pile-up in the Chandra spectrum from 2010 and self-consistently modeling absorption, reflection, and Fe K$\alpha$ line emission in the X-ray spectra from 2016. We demonstrate that while the 2-10 keV X-ray flux decreased by an order of magnitude (1.46$^{+0.10}_{-0.13} \times 10^{-11}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ to 1.31$^{+0.09}_{-0.04} \times 10^{-12}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$), the Fe K$\alpha$ equivalent width (EW) increased from 0.18$^{+0.17}_{-0.12}$ to 0.61$^{+0.27}_{-0.25}$ keV, due to a depressed AGN continuum. We jointly fit the Chandra and NuSTAR spectra from 2016 using the physically-motivated MYTorus model, finding that the torus orientation is consistent with a face-on geometry, and lines of sight intersecting the torus are ruled out. While we measure no line-of-sight absorption, we measure a column density of $N_{\rm H}$ = 5.38$^{+14}_{-4.0} \times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ for gas out of the line-of-sight which reprocesses the X-ray emission. We find a high relative normalization between the Compton scattered emission and transmitted continuum, indicative of time lags between the primary X-ray source and reprocessing gas. We predict that the Fe K$\alpha$ line will respond to the decrease in AGN flux, which would manifest as a decrease in the Fe K$\alpha$ EW.
Supermassive primordial stars are now suspected to be the progenitors of the most massive quasars at z~6. Previous studies of such stars were either unable to resolve hydrodynamical timescales or considered stars in isolation, not in the extreme accretion flows in which they actually form. Therefore, they could not self-consistently predict their final masses at collapse, or those of the resulting supermassive black hole seeds, but rather invoked comparison to simple polytropic models. Here, we systematically examine the birth, evolution and collapse of accreting supermassive stars under accretion rates of 0.01-10 solar masses per year using the stellar evolution code KEPLER. KEPLER includes post-Newtonian corrections to the stellar structure and an adaptive nuclear network, and is capable of transitioning to following the hydrodynamic evolution of supermassive stars after they encounter the general relativistic instability. We find that this instability triggers the collapse of the star at 150,000-330,000 solar masses for accretion rates of 0.1-10 solar masses per year, and that the final mass of the star scales roughly logarithmically with the rate. Collapse is sensitive to the mass of the convective core during accretion, so any departures from the treatment of convection, the heat content of the outer accreted envelope, or the boundary conditions in our study may lead to deviations in the final mass of the star that worsen with accretion rate. Since these stars collapse directly to black holes, our models place an upper limit of ~300,000 solar masses on the masses of the first quasars at birth.
The extragalactic VHE gamma-ray sky is rich in blazars. These are jetted active galactic nuclei viewed at a small angle to the line-of-sight. Only a handful of objects viewed at a larger angle are known so far to emit above 100 GeV. Multi-wavelength studies of such objects up to the highest energies provide new insights into the particle and radiation processes of active galactic nuclei. We report the results from the first multi-wavelength campaign observing the TeV detected nucleus of the active galaxy IC 310, whose jet is observed at a moderate viewing angle of 10 deg - 20 deg. The multi-instrument campaign was conducted between 2012 Nov. and 2013 Jan., and involved observations with MAGIC, Fermi, INTEGRAL, Swift, OVRO, MOJAVE and EVN. These observations were complemented with archival data from the AllWISE and 2MASS catalogs. A one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model was applied to describe the broad-band spectral energy distribution. IC 310 showed an extraordinary TeV flare at the beginning of the campaign, followed by a low, but still detectable TeV flux. Compared to previous measurements, the spectral shape was found to be steeper during the low emission state. Simultaneous observations in the soft X-ray band showed an enhanced energy flux state and a harder-when-brighter spectral shape behaviour. No strong correlated flux variability was found in other frequency regimes. The broad-band spectral energy distribution obtained from these observations supports the hypothesis of a double-hump structure. The harder-when-brighter trend in the X-ray and VHE emission is consistent with the behaviour expected from a synchrotron self-Compton scenario. The contemporaneous broad-band spectral energy distribution is well described with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model using parameters that are comparable to those found for other gamma-ray-emitting misaligned blazars.
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The collapse of a collisionless self-gravitating system, with the fast achievement of a quasi-stationary state, is driven by violent relaxation, with a typical particle interacting with the time-changing collective gravitational potential. It is traditionally assumed that this evolution is described by the (time-reversible) Vlasov-Poisson equation, in which case entropy must be conserved. We use N-body simulations to follow the evolution of an isolated self-gravitating system, estimating the (fine-grained) distribution function and the corresponding Shannon entropy. We do this with three different codes: NBODY-6 (direct summation without softening), NBODY-2 (direct summation with softening) and GADGET-2 (tree code with softening), for different numbers of particles and initial conditions. We find that during violent relaxation entropy increases in a way that cannot be described by 2-body relaxation as modeled by the Fokker-Planck approximation. On the other hand, the long-term evolution is very well described by this model. Our results imply that the violent relaxation process must be described by a kinetic equation other than the Vlasov-Poisson, even if the system is collisionless. Our estimators provide a general method for testing any proposed kinetic equation. We also study the dependence of the 2-body relaxation time-scale $\tau_{col}$ on the number of particles N, obtaining $\tau_{col}\propto \sqrt{N}$, and the dependence of $\tau_{col}$ on the softening length $\varepsilon$, which can be fit by a function of the form $\tau_{col} \propto \sqrt{\varepsilon}\cdot e^{c\varepsilon}$, for a fixed number of particles.
The Milky Way bulge shows a box/peanut or X-shaped bulge (hereafter BP/X) when viewed in infrared or microwave bands. We examine orbits in an N-body model of a barred disk galaxy that is scaled to match the kinematics of the Milky Way (MW) bulge. We generate maps of projected stellar surface density, unsharp masked images, 3D excess-mass distributions (showing mass outside ellipsoids), line-of-sight number count distributions, and 2D line-of-sight kinematics for the simulation as well as co-added orbit families, in order to identify the orbits primarily responsible for the BP/X shape. We estimate that between 19-23\% of the mass of the bar is associated with the BP/X shape and that most bar orbits contribute to this shape which is clearly seen in projected surface density maps and 3D excess mass for non-resonant box orbits, "banana" orbits, "fish/pretzel" orbits and "brezel" orbits. {We find that nearly all bar orbit families contribute some mass to the 3D BP/X-shape. All co-added orbit families show a bifurcation in stellar number count distribution with heliocentric distance that resembles the bifurcation observed in red clump stars in the MW. However, only the box orbit family shows an increasing separation of peaks with increasing galactic latitude $|b|$, similar to that observed.} Our analysis shows that no single orbit family fully explains all the observed features associated with the MW's BP/X shaped bulge, but collectively the non-resonant boxes and various resonant boxlet orbits contribute at different distances from the center to produce this feature. We propose that since box orbits have three incommensurable orbital fundamental frequencies, their 3-dimensional shapes are highly flexible and, like Lissajous figures, this family of orbits is most easily able to adapt to evolution in the shape of the underlying potential.
The discovery of gamma-ray emission from radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies has questioned the need for large black hole masses (> 10^8 solar masses) to launch relativistic jets. We present near-infrared data of the gamma-ray emitting NLSy1 FBQS J1644+2619 which were collected using the camera CIRCE at the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias to investigate the structural properties of its host galaxy and to infer the black hole mass. The 2D surface brightness profile is modelled by the combination of a nuclear and a bulge component with a Sersic profile with index n = 3.7, indicative of an elliptical galaxy. The structural parameters of the host are consistent with the correlations of effective radius and surface brightness against absolute magnitude measured for elliptical galaxies. From the bulge luminosity we estimated a black hole mass of (2.1+/-0.2)x10^8 solar masses, consistent with the values characterizing radio-loud active galactic nuclei.
We present the WiFeS Atlas of Galactic Globular cluster Spectra, a library of integrated spectra of Milky Way and Local Group globular clusters. We used the WiFeS integral field spectrograph on the Australian National University 2.3 m telescope to observe the central regions of 64 Milky Way globular clusters and 22 globular clusters hosted by the Milky Way's low mass satellite galaxies. The spectra have wider wavelength coverage (3300 {\AA} to 9050 {\AA}) and higher spectral resolution (R = 6800) than existing spectral libraries of Milky Way globular clusters. By including Large and Small Magellanic Cloud star clusters, we extend the coverage of parameter space of existing libraries towards young and intermediate ages. While testing stellar population synthesis models and analysis techniques is the main aim of this library, the observations may also further our understanding of the stellar populations of Local Group globular clusters and make possible the direct comparison of extragalactic globular cluster integrated light observations with well understood globular clusters in the Milky Way. The integrated spectra are publicly available via the project website.
Dwarf galaxies are known to have remarkably low star formation efficiency due to strong feedback. Adopting the dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way as a laboratory, we explore a flexible semi-analytic galaxy formation model to understand how the feedback processes shape the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Using Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo, we exhaustively search a large parameter space of the model and rigorously show that the general wisdom of strong outflows as the primary feedback mechanism cannot simultaneously explain the stellar mass function and the mass--metallicity relation of the Milky Way satellites. An extended model that assumes that a fraction of baryons is prevented from collapsing into low-mass halos in the first place can be accurately constrained to simultaneously reproduce those observations. The inference suggests that two different physical mechanisms are needed to explain the two different data sets. In particular, moderate outflows with weak halo mass dependence are needed to explain the mass--metallicity relation, and prevention of baryons falling into shallow gravitational potentials of low-mass halos (e.g. "pre-heating") is needed to explain the low stellar mass fraction for a given subhalo mass.
We present the first discoveries from a survey of $z\gtrsim6$ quasars using imaging data from the DECam Legacy Survey (DECaLS) in the optical, the UKIRT Deep Infrared Sky Survey (UKIDSS) and a preliminary version of the UKIRT Hemisphere Survey (UHS) in the near-IR, and ALLWISE in the mid-IR. DECaLS will image 9000 deg$^2$ of sky down to $z_{\rm AB}\sim23.0$, and UKIDSS and UHS, which will map the northern sky at $0<DEC<+60^{\circ}$, reaching $J_{\rm VEGA}\sim19.6$ (5-$\sigma$). The combination of these datasets allows us to discover quasars at redshift $z\gtrsim7$ and to conduct a complete census of the faint quasar population at $z\gtrsim6$. In this paper, we report on the selection method of our search, and on the initial discoveries of two new, faint $z\gtrsim6$ quasars and one new $z=6.63$ quasar in our pilot spectroscopic observations. The two new $z\sim6$ quasars are at $z=6.07$ and $z=6.17$ with absolute magnitudes at rest-frame wavelength 1450 \AA\ being $M_{1450}=-25.83$ and $M_{1450}=-25.76$, respectively. These discoveries suggest that we can find quasars close to or fainter than the break magnitude of the Quasar Luminosity Function (QLF) at $z\gtrsim6$. The new $z=6.63$ quasar has an absolute magnitude of $M_{1450}=-25.95$. This demonstrates the potential of using the combined DECaLS and UKIDSS/UHS datasets to find $z\gtrsim7$ quasars. Extrapolating from previous QLF measurements, we predict that these combined datasets will yield $\sim200$ $z\sim6$ quasars to $z_{\rm AB} < 21.5$, $\sim1{,}000$ $z\sim6$ quasars to $z_{\rm AB}<23$, and $\sim 30$ quasars at $z>6.5$ to $J_{\rm VEGA}<19.5$.
We present Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) MegaCam observations of a galaxy-quasar strong gravitational lens system, SDSS J1640+1932. This system, located at z=0.195 (foreground elliptical galaxy) and z=0.778 (background quasar), was first visually identified by us in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) database. Our CFHT imaging with an angular resolution of 0.7$^{\prime \prime}$ clearly resolves 4 lensed images and a nearly complete Einstein ring. Modeling the system with a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) total mass distribution, we find an Einstein radius of ${2.49^{\prime \prime}}_{-0.049}^{+0.063}$ enclosing a inferred mass of $7.25_{-0.29}^{+0.37}\times10^{11} M_{\odot}$. The quasar and its host galaxy have been magnified by a factor of 23, and the time delay relative to the leading image is determined to be 23.4-25.2 days. These parameters vary minimally when our model is fitted to the {\it{g}}-, {\it{r}}- or {\it{i}}-band images.
We present MUSE observations of galaxy NGC 7469 from its Science Verification to show how powerful is the combination of high-resolution wide-field integral field spectroscopy with both photometric and spectroscopic observations of supernova (SN) explosions. Using STARLIGHT and HIIexplorer, we selected all Hii regions of the galaxy and produced 2- dimensional maps of the H{\alpha} equivalent width, average luminosity-weighted stellar age, and oxygen abundance. We measured deprojected galactocentric distances for all Hii regions, and radial gradients for all above-mentioned parameters. We positioned the type Ia SN 2008ec in the Branch et al. diagram, and finally discussed the characteristics of the SN parent Hii region compared to all other Hii regions in the galaxy. In a near future, the AMUSING survey will be able to reproduce this analysis and construct statistical samples to enable the characterization of the progenitors of different supernova types.
This work employs a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to jointly analyse two traditional emission-line classification schemes of galaxy ionization sources: the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) and W$_{H\alpha}$ vs. [NII]/H$\alpha$ (WHAN) diagrams, using spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 and SEAGal/STARLIGHT datasets. We apply a GMM to empirically define classes of galaxies in a three-dimensional space spanned by the log [OIII]/H\beta, log [NII]/H\alpha, and log EW(H{\alpha}) optical parameters. The best-fit GMM based on several statistical criteria consists of four Gaussian components (GCs), which are capable to explain up to 97 per cent of the data variance. Using elements of information theory, we compare each GC to their respective astronomical counterpart. GC1 and GC4 are associated with star-forming galaxies, suggesting the need to define a new starburst subgroup. GC2 is associated with BPT's Active Galaxy Nuclei (AGN) class and WHAN's weak AGN class. GC3 is associated with BPT's composite class and WHAN's strong AGN class. Conversely, there is no statistical evidence -- based on GMMs -- for the existence of a Seyfert/LINER dichotomy in our sample. We demonstrate the potential of our methodology to recover/unravel different objects inside the wilderness of astronomical datasets, without lacking the ability to convey physically interpretable results; hence being a precious tool for maximum exploitation of the ever-increasing astronomical surveys. The probabilistic classifications from the GMM analysis are publicly available within the COINtoolbox (https://cointoolbox.github.io/GMM_Catalogue/)
We present our project to calibrate the RR Lyrae period-luminosity-metallicity relation using a sample of Galactic calibrators in the halo and globular clusters.
Mrk 1018 is a "changing-look" AGN whose optical spectrum transitioned from a Type 1.9 to Type 1 between 1979 and 1984 and back to a Type 1.9 in 2015. This latest transition was accompanied by a decrease in X-ray flux. We analyze the Chandra spectra from 2010 and 2016 and NuSTAR spectra from 2016, carefully treating pile-up in the Chandra spectrum from 2010 and self-consistently modeling absorption, reflection, and Fe K$\alpha$ line emission in the X-ray spectra from 2016. We demonstrate that while the 2-10 keV X-ray flux decreased by an order of magnitude (1.46$^{+0.10}_{-0.13} \times 10^{-11}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ to 1.31$^{+0.09}_{-0.04} \times 10^{-12}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$), the Fe K$\alpha$ equivalent width (EW) increased from 0.18$^{+0.17}_{-0.12}$ to 0.61$^{+0.27}_{-0.25}$ keV, due to a depressed AGN continuum. We jointly fit the Chandra and NuSTAR spectra from 2016 using the physically-motivated MYTorus model, finding that the torus orientation is consistent with a face-on geometry, and lines of sight intersecting the torus are ruled out. While we measure no line-of-sight absorption, we measure a column density of $N_{\rm H}$ = 5.38$^{+14}_{-4.0} \times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ for gas out of the line-of-sight which reprocesses the X-ray emission. We find a high relative normalization between the Compton scattered emission and transmitted continuum, indicative of time lags between the primary X-ray source and reprocessing gas. We predict that the Fe K$\alpha$ line will respond to the decrease in AGN flux, which would manifest as a decrease in the Fe K$\alpha$ EW.
Supermassive primordial stars are now suspected to be the progenitors of the most massive quasars at z~6. Previous studies of such stars were either unable to resolve hydrodynamical timescales or considered stars in isolation, not in the extreme accretion flows in which they actually form. Therefore, they could not self-consistently predict their final masses at collapse, or those of the resulting supermassive black hole seeds, but rather invoked comparison to simple polytropic models. Here, we systematically examine the birth, evolution and collapse of accreting supermassive stars under accretion rates of 0.01-10 solar masses per year using the stellar evolution code KEPLER. KEPLER includes post-Newtonian corrections to the stellar structure and an adaptive nuclear network, and is capable of transitioning to following the hydrodynamic evolution of supermassive stars after they encounter the general relativistic instability. We find that this instability triggers the collapse of the star at 150,000-330,000 solar masses for accretion rates of 0.1-10 solar masses per year, and that the final mass of the star scales roughly logarithmically with the rate. Collapse is sensitive to the mass of the convective core during accretion, so any departures from the treatment of convection, the heat content of the outer accreted envelope, or the boundary conditions in our study may lead to deviations in the final mass of the star that worsen with accretion rate. Since these stars collapse directly to black holes, our models place an upper limit of ~300,000 solar masses on the masses of the first quasars at birth.
The extragalactic VHE gamma-ray sky is rich in blazars. These are jetted active galactic nuclei viewed at a small angle to the line-of-sight. Only a handful of objects viewed at a larger angle are known so far to emit above 100 GeV. Multi-wavelength studies of such objects up to the highest energies provide new insights into the particle and radiation processes of active galactic nuclei. We report the results from the first multi-wavelength campaign observing the TeV detected nucleus of the active galaxy IC 310, whose jet is observed at a moderate viewing angle of 10 deg - 20 deg. The multi-instrument campaign was conducted between 2012 Nov. and 2013 Jan., and involved observations with MAGIC, Fermi, INTEGRAL, Swift, OVRO, MOJAVE and EVN. These observations were complemented with archival data from the AllWISE and 2MASS catalogs. A one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model was applied to describe the broad-band spectral energy distribution. IC 310 showed an extraordinary TeV flare at the beginning of the campaign, followed by a low, but still detectable TeV flux. Compared to previous measurements, the spectral shape was found to be steeper during the low emission state. Simultaneous observations in the soft X-ray band showed an enhanced energy flux state and a harder-when-brighter spectral shape behaviour. No strong correlated flux variability was found in other frequency regimes. The broad-band spectral energy distribution obtained from these observations supports the hypothesis of a double-hump structure. The harder-when-brighter trend in the X-ray and VHE emission is consistent with the behaviour expected from a synchrotron self-Compton scenario. The contemporaneous broad-band spectral energy distribution is well described with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model using parameters that are comparable to those found for other gamma-ray-emitting misaligned blazars.
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