617,625 research outputs found
9.7 um Silicate Features in AGNs: New Insights into Unification Models
We describe observations of 9.7 um silicate features in 97 AGNs, exhibiting a
wide range of AGN types and of X-ray extinction toward the central nuclei. We
find that the strength of the silicate feature correlates with the HI column
density estimated from fitting the X-ray data, such that low HI columns
correspond to silicate emission while high columns correspond to silicate
absorption. The behavior is generally consistent with unification models where
the large diversity in AGN properties is caused by viewing-angle-dependent
obscuration of the nucleus. Radio-loud AGNs and radio-quiet quasars follow
roughly the correlation between HI columns and the strength of the silicate
feature defined by Seyfert galaxies. The agreement among AGN types suggests a
high-level unification with similar characteristics for the structure of the
obscuring material. We demonstrate the implications for unification models
qualitatively with a conceptual disk model. The model includes an inner
accretion disk (< 0.1 pc in radius), a middle disk (0.1-10 pc in radius) with a
dense diffuse component and with embedded denser clouds, and an outer clumpy
disk (10-300 pc in radius).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 14 pages, 5 figures. The on-line
table is available at http://cztsy.as.arizona.edu/~yong/silicate_tab1.pd
GHASP : an H alpha kinematic survey of spiral and irregular galaxies. V. Dark matter distribution in 36 nearby spiral galaxies
The results obtained from a study of the mass distribution of 36 spiral
galaxies are presented. The galaxies were observed using Fabry-Perot
interferometry as part of the GHASP survey. The main aim of obtaining high
resolution H alpha 2D velocity fields is to define more accurately the rising
part of the rotation curves which should allow to better constrain the
parameters of the mass distribution. The H alpha velocities were combined with
low resolution HI data from the literature, when available. Combining the
kinematical data with photometric data, mass models were derived from these
rotation curves using two different functional forms for the halo: an
isothermal sphere and an NFW profile. For the galaxies already modeled by other
authors, the results tend to agree. Our results point at the existence of a
constant density core in the center of the dark matter halos rather than a
cuspy core, whatever the type of the galaxy from Sab to Im. This extends to all
types the result already obtained by other authors studying dwarf and LSB
galaxies but would necessitate a larger sample of galaxies to conclude more
strongly. Whatever model is used (ISO or NFW), small core radius halos have
higher central densities, again for all morphological types. We confirm
different halo scaling laws, such as the correlations between the core radius
and the central density of the halo with the absolute magnitude of a galaxy:
low luminosity galaxies have small core radius and high central density. We
find that the product of the central density with the core radius of the dark
matter halo is nearly constant, whatever the model and whatever the absolute
magnitude of the galaxy. This suggests that the halo surface density is
independent from the galaxy type.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures. MNRAS (accepted october 3rd 2007
Compositions of Hot Super-Earth Atmospheres: exploring Kepler Candidates
This paper outlines a simple approach to evaluate the atmospheric composition
of hot rocky planets by assuming different types of planetary composition and
using corresponding model calculations. To explore hot atmospheres above 1000
K, we model the vaporization of silicate magma and estimate the range of
atmospheric compositions according to the planet's radius and semi-major axis
for the Kepler February 2011 data release. Our results show 5 atmospheric types
for hot, rocky super-Earth atmospheres, strongly dependent on the initial
composition and the planet's distance to the star. We provide a simple set of
parameters that can be used to evaluate atmospheric compositions for current
and future candidates provided by the Kepler mission and other searches.Comment: 5 pages, Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Measurement of the Radius of Neutron Stars with High S/N Quiescent Low-mass X-ray Binaries in Globular Clusters
This paper presents the measurement of the neutron star (NS) radius using the
thermal spectra from quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries (qLMXBs) inside globular
clusters (GCs). Recent observations of NSs have presented evidence that cold
ultra dense matter -- present in the core of NSs -- is best described by
"normal matter" equations of state (EoSs). Such EoSs predict that the radii of
NSs, Rns, are quasi-constant (within measurement errors, of ~10%) for
astrophysically relevant masses (Mns > 0.5 Msun). The present work adopts this
theoretical prediction as an assumption, and uses it to constrain a single Rns
value from five qLMXB targets with available high signal-to-noise X-ray
spectroscopic data. Employing a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo approach, we produce
the marginalized posterior distribution for Rns, constrained to be the same
value for all five NSs in the sample. An effort was made to include all
quantifiable sources of uncertainty into the uncertainty of the quoted radius
measurement. These include the uncertainties in the distances to the GCs, the
uncertainties due to the Galactic absorption in the direction of the GCs, and
the possibility of a hard power-law spectral component for count excesses at
high photon energy, which are observed in some qLMXBs in the Galactic plane.
Using conservative assumptions,we found that the radius, common to the five
qLMXBs and constant for a wide range of masses, lies in the low range of
possible NS radii, Rns=9.1(+1.3)(-1.5) km (90%-confidence). Such a value is
consistent with low-res equations of state. We compare this result with
previous radius measurements of NSs from various analyses of different types of
systems. In addition, we compare the spectral analyses of individual qLMXBs to
previous works.Comment: Accepted to Apj. 31 pages, 17 figures, 8 table
AINUR: Atlas of Images of NUclear Rings
We present the most complete atlas of nuclear rings to date. We include 113
rings found in 107 galaxies, six of which are elliptical galaxies, five are
highly inclined disc galaxies, 18 are unbarred disc galaxies, and 78 are barred
disc galaxies. Star-forming nuclear rings occur in 20% of disc galaxies with
types between T=-3 and T=7. We aim to explore possible relationships between
the size and morphology of the rings and various galactic parameters. We
produce colour index and structure maps, as well as Halpha and Paalpha
continuum-subtracted images from HST archival data. We derive ellipticity
profiles from H-band 2MASS images in order to detect bars and find their metric
parameters. We measure the non-axisymmetric torque parameter, Qg, and search
for correlations between bar, ring metric parameters, and Qg.
Our atlas of nuclear rings includes star-forming and dust rings. Nuclear
rings span a range from a few tens of parsecs to a few kiloparsecs in radius.
Star-forming nuclear rings can be found in a wide range of morphological types,
from S0 to Sd, with a peak in the distribution between Sab and Sb, and without
strong preference for barred galaxies. Dust nuclear rings are found in
elliptical and S0 galaxies. For barred galaxies, the maximum radius that a
nuclear ring can reach is a quarter of the bar radius. We found a nearly random
distribution of PA offsets between nuclear rings and bars. There is some
evidence that nuclear ring ellipticity is limited by bar ellipticity. We
confirm that the maximum relative size of a star-forming nuclear ring is
inversely proportional to the non-axisymmetric torque parameter, Qg, and that
the origin of nuclear rings, even the ones in non-barred hosts, are closely
linked to the existence of dynamical resonances.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A full resolution version of the
manuscript with high resolution figures can be found at
http://www.iac.es/folleto/research/preprints
Semi-classical Characters and Optical Model Description of Heavy Ion Scattering, Direct Reactions, and Fusion at Near-barrier Energies
An approach is proposed to calculate the direct reaction (DR) and fusion
probabilities for heavy ion collisions at near-Coulomb-barrier energies as
functions of the distance of closest approach D within the framework of the
optical model that introduces two types of imaginary potentials, DR and fusion.
The probabilities are calculated by using partial DR and fusion cross sections,
together with the classical relations associated with the Coulomb trajectory.
Such an approach makes it possible to analyze the data for angular
distributions of the inclusive DR cross section, facilitating the determination
of the radius parameters of the imaginary DR potential in a less ambiguous
manner. Simultaneous -analyses are performed of relevant data for the
O+Pb system near the Coulomb-barrier energy
HATS-6b: A Warm Saturn Transiting an Early M Dwarf Star, and a Set of Empirical Relations for Characterizing K and M Dwarf Planet Hosts
We report the discovery by the HATSouth survey of HATS-6b, an extrasolar
planet transiting a V=15.2 mag, i=13.7 mag M1V star with a mass of 0.57 Msun
and a radius of 0.57 Rsun. HATS-6b has a period of P = 3.3253 d, mass of
Mp=0.32 Mjup, radius of Rp=1.00 Rjup, and zero-albedo equilibrium temperature
of Teq=712.8+-5.1 K. HATS-6 is one of the lowest mass stars known to host a
close-in gas giant planet, and its transits are among the deepest of any known
transiting planet system. We discuss the follow-up opportunities afforded by
this system, noting that despite the faintness of the host star, it is expected
to have the highest K-band S/N transmission spectrum among known gas giant
planets with Teq < 750 K. In order to characterize the star we present a new
set of empirical relations between the density, radius, mass, bolometric
magnitude, and V, J, H and K-band bolometric corrections for main sequence
stars with M < 0.80 Msun, or spectral types later than K5. These relations are
calibrated using eclipsing binary components as well as members of resolved
binary systems. We account for intrinsic scatter in the relations in a
self-consistent manner. We show that from the transit-based stellar density
alone it is possible to measure the mass and radius of a ~0.6 Msun star to ~7%
and ~2% precision, respectively. Incorporating additional information, such as
the V-K color, or an absolute magnitude, allows the precision to be improved by
up to a factor of two.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 10 tables. Submitted to AJ. Data available at
http://hatsouth.org Code implementing empirical model available at
http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~jhartman/kmdwarfparam.htm
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