Superscaling of Inclusive Electron Scattering from Nuclei

We investigate the degree to which the concept of superscaling, initially developed within the framework of the relativistic Fermi gas model, applies to inclusive electron scattering from nuclei. We find that data obtained from the low energy loss side of the quasielastic peak exhibit the superscaling property, i.e., the scaling functions f(\psi') are not only independent of momentum transfer (the usual type of scaling: scaling of the first kind), but coincide for A \geq 4 when plotted versus a dimensionless scaling variable \psi' (scaling of the second kind). We use this behavior to study as yet poorly understood properties of the inclusive response at large electron energy loss.Comment: 33 pages, 12 color EPS figures, LaTeX2e using BoxedEPSF macros; email to [email protected]

Deep spectroscopy of z~1 6C radio galaxies - II. Breaking the redshift-radio power degeneracy

The results of a spectroscopic analysis of 3CR and 6C radio galaxies at redshift z~1 are contrasted with the properties of lower redshift radio galaxies, chosen to be matched in radio luminosity to the 6C sources studied at z~1, thus enabling the P-z degeneracy to be broken. Partial rank correlations and principal component analysis have been used to determine which of z and P are the critical parameters underlying the observed variation of the ionization state andd kinematics of the emission line gas. [OII]/H-beta is shown to be a useful ionization mechanism diagnostic. Statistical analysis of the data shows that the ionization state of the emission line gas is strongly correlated with radio power, once the effects of other parameters are removed. No dependence of ionization state on z is observed, implying that the ionization state of the emission line gas is solely a function of the AGN properties rather than the hostt galaxy and/or environment. Statistical analysis of the kinematic properties of the emission line gas shows that these are strongly correlated independently withh both P and z. The correlation with redshift is the stronger of the two, suggesting that host galaxy composition or environment may play a role in producing the less extreme gas kinematics observed in the emission line regions of low redshift galaxies. For both the ionization and kinematic properties of thee galaxies, the independent correlations observed with radio size are strongest. Radio source age is a determining factor for the extended emission line regions.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Coulomb distortion effects in quasi-elastic (e,e') scattering on heavy nuclei

The influence of the Coulomb distortion for quasi-elastic (e,e') scattering on highly charged nuclei is investigated in distorted wave Born approximation for electrons. The Dirac equation is solved numerically in order to obtain exact electron continuum states in the electrostatic field generated by the charge distribution of an atomic nucleus. Different approximate models are used to describe the nucleon current in order to show that, at high electron energies and energy-momentum transfer, the influence of Coulomb distortions on (e,e') cross sections can be reliably described by the effective momentum approximation, irrespective of details concerning the description of the nuclear current.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, LATEX, style file include

The evidence for jet-cloud interactions in a sample of high/intermediate-redshift radio galaxies

We present the result obtained from a study, based on long-slit spectroscopy, of the kinematics and ionization mechanisms of the line-emitting gas for a sample of four high/intermediate-redshift radio galaxies. In two of the galaxies (3C352 and 3C435A) the radio sources are of the same scale as the emission-line regions, whereas in the other two (3C34 and 3C330) the radio sources are extended on a larger scale than the emission-line structures. We see evidence for shock-acceleration of the emission-line gas in the extended regions of all the galaxies, even in the largest radio sources of our sample, in which the radio hot spots have passed the extended gas of the galaxies. The extended regions present highly disturbed kinematics (line-splitting and/or underlying broad components), which are difficult to explain if we do not consider a strong interaction between the radio-emitting components and the ambient gas. However, the dominant ionization mechanism of the line-emitting gas remains uncertain. We have compared the optical diagnostic line ratios of the galaxies in our sample with both AGN-photoionization and shock-ionization models. We find a lack of consistency in explaining the main ionization mechanism of the emission-line gas. This suggest that, if the extended regions are shock-ionized, some of the assumptions implicit in the shock models may need to be reconsidered. In addition, we have investigated the nebular continuum cointribution to the UV excess in the galaxies of our sample. We find a substantial nebular emission contribution to the UV continuum in all the cases. However, after the subtraction iof the nebular component, a significant UV excess remains in the extended nebulae of most of the objects.Comment: 33 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. (Abstract shortened for astro-ph

Superscaling in inclusive electron-nucleus scattering

We investigate the degree to which the scaling functions $F(\psi')$ derived from cross sections for inclusive electron-nucleus quasi-elastic scattering define the same function for different nuclei. In the region where the scaling variable $\psi'< 0$, we find that this superscaling is experimentally realized to a high degree.Comment: Corrected previously mislabeled figures and cross references; 9 pages, 4 color figures, using BoxedEPS and REVTeX; email correspondence to [email protected]