805 research outputs found
Data Center Site Redundancy
Commonly, disaster contingency calls for separation of location for redundant locations to maintain the needed redundancy. This document addresses issues for the data center redundancy, including limits to the distribution, distance and location that may impact on the efficiency or energy
Discovery of a Radio-loud/Radio-quiet Binary Quasar
We report the discovery of a small separation quasar pair (z=0.586, O=18.4,
19.2, sep. = 2.3 arcsec) associated with the radio source FIRST
J164311.3+315618 (S_1400 = 120 mJy). The spectrum of the brighter quasar (A)
has a much stronger narrow emission-line spectrum than the other (B), and also
stronger Balmer lines relative to the continuum. The continuum ratio of the
spectra is flat in the blue at about 2.1, but falls to 1.5 at longer
wavelengths. A K' image shows two unresolved sources with a flux ratio of 1.3.
The different colors appear to result from the contribution of the host galaxy
of B, which is evident from Ca II and high-order Balmer absorption lines
indicative of a substantial young stellar population. New 3.6 cm VLA
observations show that the compact radio source is coincident with quasar A (B
is only marginally detected). We rule out the lensing hypothesis because the
optical flux ratio is A/B = 1.2 to 2, while the radio flux ratio is A/B > 40,
and conclude that this system is a binary. Moreover, the radio-loud quasar is a
compact steep spectrum source. FIRST J164311.3+315618A, B is the lowest
redshift and smallest separation binary quasar yet identified.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letter
Taking ethical photos of children for medical and research purposes in low-resource settings: an exploratory qualitative study.
Photographs are commonly taken of children in medical and research contexts. With the increased availability of photographs through the internet, it is increasingly important to consider their potential for negative consequences and the nature of any consent obtained. In this research we explore the issues around photography in low-resource settings, in particular concentrating on the challenges in gaining informed consent
What Determines the Depth of BALs? Keck HIRES Observations of BALQSO 1603+300
We find that the depth and shape of the broad absorption lines (BALs) in
BALQSO 1603+3002 are determined largely by the fraction of the emitting source
which is covered by the BAL flow. In addition, the observed depth of the BALs
is poorly correlated with their real optical depth. The implication of this
result is that abundance studies based on direct extraction of column densities
from the depth of the absorption troughs are unreliable. Our conclusion is
based on analysis of unblended absorption features of two lines from the same
ion (in this case the Si IV doublet), which allows unambiguous separation of
covering factor and optical depth effects. The complex morphology of the
covering factor as a function of velocity suggests that the BALs are produced
by several physically separated outflows. The covering factor is ion dependent
in both depth and velocity width. We also find evidence that in BALQSO
1603+3002 the flow does not cover the broad emission line region.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Discovery of a Classic FR-II Broad Absorption Line Quasar from the FIRST Survey
We have discovered a remarkable quasar, FIRST J101614.3+520916, whose optical
spectrum shows unambiguous broad absorption features while its double-lobed
radio morphology and luminosity clearly indicate a classic Fanaroff-Riley Type
II radio source. Its radio luminosity places it at the extreme of the recently
established class of radio-loud broad absorption line quasars (Becker et al.
1997, 2000; Brotherton et al. 1998). Because of its hybrid nature, we speculate
that FIRST J101614.3+520916 is a typical FR-II quasar which has been
rejuvenated as a broad absorption line (BAL) quasar with a Compact Steep
Spectrum core. The direction of the jet axis of FIRST J101614.3+520916 can be
estimated from its radio structure and optical brightness, indicating that we
are viewing the system at a viewing angle of > 40 degrees. The position angles
of the radio jet and optical polarization are not well-aligned, differing by 20
to 30 degrees. When combined with the evidence presented by Becker et al.
(2000) for a sample of 29 BAL quasars showing that at least some BAL quasars
are viewed along the jet axis, the implication is that no preferred viewing
orientation is necessary to observe BAL systems in a quasar's spectrum. This,
and the probable young nature of compact steep spectrum sources, leads
naturally to the alternate hypothesis that BALs are an early stage in the lives
of quasars.Comment: 14 pages, 6 postscript figures; accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Polarization properties of broad absorption line QSOs : new statistical clues
We report the results of statistical tests performed on a sample of 139 broad
absorption line (BAL) QSOs with good quality optical spectra and/or optical
polarization data. Correlations between optical indices and the polarization
degree p_0 are systematically searched for. In order to identify the most
important correlations, we perform a principal component analysis with a sample
of 30 BAL QSOs and eight quantities (including p_0). Most of the variance in
the data is contained in two principal components (PC): PC1 is mainly dominated
by the correlation between the balnicity index BI and the strength of the feii
emission, and may be driven by the accretion rate of matter onto the central
compact object. The variance in PC2 is essentially due to the anti-correlation
between p_0 and the detachment index DI. PC2 may be related to the orientation
of the BAL QSOs with respect to the line of sight. We also consider a
spectropolarimetric sample of 21 BAL QSOs for which we define four indices
describing the polarization properties of the absorption and emission lines. We
find a possible anti-correlation between the detachment index and a quantity SI
which measures the ratio of the depths of the civ absorption in the polarized
flux and in the total flux. This correlation indicates that in BAL QSOs with P
cygni profiles, the BAL troughs in the polarized flux are nearly as deep as in
the total flux while, in BAL QSOs with detached absorptions, the BAL troughs in
the polarized flux are much weaker than in the total flux. We show that our
main results may be explained in the framework of a 'two-component' wind model.
In this model, the broad absorption occurs in a dense equatorial wind emerging
from the accretion disk, while scattering and polarization mainly take place in
a polar region.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysic
The Intrinsic Absorber in QSO 2359-1241: Keck and HST Observations
We present detailed analyses of the absorption spectrum seen in QSO 2359-1241
(NVSS J235953-124148). Keck HIRES data reveal absorption from twenty
transitions arising from: He I, Mg I, Mg II, Ca II, and Fe II. HST data show
broad absorption lines (BALs) from Al III 1857, C IV 1549, Si IV 1397, and N V
1240. Absorption from excited Fe II states constrains the temperature of the
absorber to 2000K < T < 10,000K and puts a lower limit of 10^5 cm^{-3} on the
electron number density. Saturation diagnostics show that the real column
densities of He I and Fe II can be determined, allowing to derive meaningful
constraints on the ionization equilibrium and abundances in the flow. The
ionization parameter is constrained by the iron, helium and magnesium data to
-3.0 < log(U) < -2.5 and the observed column densities can be reproduced
without assuming departure from solar abundances. From comparison of the He I
and Fe II absorption features we infer that the outflow seen in QSO 2359-1241
is not shielded by a hydrogen ionization front and therefore that the existence
of low-ionization species in the outflow (e.g., Mg II, Al III, Fe II) does not
necessitate the existence of such a front. We find that the velocity width of
the absorption systematically increases as a function of ionization and to a
lesser extent with abundance. Complementary analyses of the radio and
polarization properties of the object are discussed in a companion paper
(Brotherton et al. 2000).Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, in press with the Ap
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