TANAMI blazars in the IceCube PeV-neutrino fields

The IceCube Collaboration has announced the discovery of a neutrino flux in excess of the atmospheric background. Owing to the steeply falling atmospheric background spectrum, events at PeV energies most likely have an extraterrestrial origin. We present the multiwavelength properties of the six radio-brightest blazars that are positionally coincident with these events using contemporaneous data of the TANAMI blazar sample, including high-resolution images and spectral energy distributions. Assuming the X-ray to γ-ray emission originates in the photoproduction of pions by accelerated protons, the integrated predicted neutrino luminosity of these sources is high enough to explain the two detected PeV events

The unusual multiwavelength properties of the gamma-ray source PMNJ1603−4904

Context. We investigate the nature and classification of PMNJ1603−4904, a bright radio source close to the Galactic plane, which is associated with one of the brightest hard-spectrum gamma-ray sources detected by Fermi/LAT. It has previously been classified as a low-peaked BL Lac object based on its broadband emission and the absence of optical emission lines. Optical measurements, however, suffer strongly from extinction and the absence of pronounced short-time ga,,a-ray variability over years of monitoring is unusual for a blazar. Aims. In this paper, we are combining new and archival multiwavelength data of PMNJ1603−4904 in order to reconsider the classification and nature of this unusual gamma-ray source. Methods. For the first time, we study the radio morphology of PMNJ1603−4904 at 8.4GHz and 22.3GHz, and its spectral properties on milliarcsecond scales, based on VLBI observations from the TANAMI program. We combine the resulting images with multiwavelength data in the radio, IR, optical/UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray regimes. Results. PMNJ1603−4904 shows a symmetric brightness distribution at 8.4GHz on milliarcsecond scales, with the brightest, and most compact component in the center of the emission region. The morphology is reminiscent of a Compact Symmetric Object (CSO). Such objects, thought to be young radio galaxies, have been predicted to produce gamma-ray emission but have not been detected as a class by the Fermi gamma-ray telescope so far. Sparse (u,v)-coverage at 22.3GHz prevents an unambiguous modeling of the source morphology at this higher frequency. Moreover, infrared measurements reveal an excess in the spectral energy distribution (SED), which can be modeled with a blackbody with a temperature of about 1600K, and which is usually not present in blazar SEDs. Conclusions. The TANAMI VLBI data and the shape of the broadband SED challenge the current blazar classification of one of the brightest gamma-ray sources in the sky. PMNJ1603−4904 seems to be either a highly peculiar BL Lac object or a misaligned jet source. In the latter case, the intriguing VLBI structure opens room for a possible classification of PMNJ1603−4904 as a gamma-ray bright CSO

ANTARES constrains a blazar origin of two IceCube PeV neutrino events

Context. The source(s) of the neutrino excess reported by the IceCube Collaboration is unknown. The TANAMI Collaboration recently reported on the multiwavelength emission of six bright, variable blazars which are positionally coincident with two of the most energetic IceCube events. Objects like these are prime candidates to be the source of the highest-energy cosmic rays, and thus of associated neutrino emission. Aims. We present an analysis of neutrino emission from the six blazars using observations with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Methods. The standard methods of the ANTARES candidate list search are applied to six years of data to search for an excess of muons ¿ and hence their neutrino progenitors ¿ from the directions of the six blazars described by the TANAMI Collaboration, and which are possibly associated with two IceCube events. Monte Carlo simulations of the detector response to both signal and background particle fluxes are used to estimate the sensitivity of this analysis for different possible source neutrino spectra. A maximum-likelihood approach, using the reconstructed energies and arrival directions of through-going muons, is used to identify events with properties consistent with a blazar origin. Results. Both blazars predicted to be the most neutrino-bright in the TANAMI sample (1653−329 and 1714−336) have a signal flux fitted by the likelihood analysis corresponding to approximately one event. This observation is consistent with the blazar-origin hypothesis of the IceCube event IC 14 for a broad range of blazar spectra, although an atmospheric origin cannot be excluded. No ANTARES events are observed from any of the other four blazars, including the three associated with IceCube event IC20. This excludes at a 90% confidence level the possibility that this event was produced by these blazars unless the neutrino spectrum is flatter than −2.4

VLBA polarimetric monitoring of 3C 111

Context. While studies of large samples of jets of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are important in order to establish a global picture, dedicated single-source studies are an invaluable tool for probing crucial processes within jets on parsec scales. These processes involve in particular the formation and geometry of the jet magnetic field as well as the flow itself. Aims. We aim to better understand the dynamics within relativistic magneto-hydrodynamical flows in the extreme environment and close vicinity of supermassive black holes. Methods. We analyze the peculiar radio galaxy 3C 111, for which long-Term polarimetric observations are available. We make use of the high spatial resolution of the VLBA network and the MOJAVE monitoring program, which provides high data quality also for single sources and allows us to study jet dynamics on parsec scales in full polarization with an evenly sampled time-domain. While electric vectors can probe the underlying magnetic field, other properties of the jet such as the variable (polarized) flux density, feature size, and brightness temperature, can give valuable insights into the flow itself. We complement the VLBA data with data from the IRAM 30-m Telescope as well as the SMA. Results. We observe a complex evolution of the polarized jet. The electric vector position angles (EVPAs) of features traveling down the jet perform a large rotation of &180across a distance of about 20 pc. As opposed to this smooth swing, the EVPAs are strongly variable within the first parsecs of the jet.We find an overall tendency towards transverse EVPAs across the jet with a local anomaly of aligned vectors in between. The polarized flux density increases rapidly at that distance and eventually saturates towards the outermost observable regions. The transverse extent of the flow suddenly decreases simultaneously to a jump in brightness temperature around where we observe the EVPAs to turn into alignment with the jet flow. Also the gradient of the feature size and particle density with distance steepens significantly at that region. Conclusions. We interpret the propagating polarized features as shocks and the observed local anomalies as the interaction of these shocks with a localized recollimation shock of the underlying flow. Together with a sheared magnetic field, this shock-shock interaction can explain the large rotation of the EVPA. The superimposed variability of the EVPAs close to the core is likely related to a clumpy Faraday screen, which also contributes significantly to the observed EVPA rotation in that region.© ESO 2018.T.B. is grateful for fruitful discussions with M. Lyutikov and E. Kravchenko, and thanks D. Gabuzda for her input that helped to improve the paper. We thank the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.; this research has made use of data from the MOJAVE database that is maintained by the MOJAVE team (Lister et al. 2009) and IRAM, which is supported by INSU/CNRS (France), MPG (Germany) and IGN (Spain). This work has benefited from research funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme. The Submillimeter Array is a joint project between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics and is funded by the Smithsonian Institution and the Academia Sinica. We also thank J. E. Davis for the development of the slxfig module that has been used to prepare the figures in this work. We made use of ISIS functions provided by ECAP/Remeis observatory and MIT (http://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/isis/) as well as the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. M.P. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (grants AYA2013-40979-P, and AYA2013-48226- C3-2-P) and from the local Valencian Government (Generalitat Valenciana, grant Prometeo-11/2014/069). I.A. acknowledges support by a Ramon y Cajal grant of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain. A.B.P. and Y.Y.K. acknowledge partial support by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 17-02-00197), by the government of the Russian Federation (agreement 05.Y09.21.0018), and by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. E.R. acknowledges partial support by the Spanish MINECO project AYA2012-38491-C02-01 and by the Generalitat Valenciana project PROMETEOII/2014/057. T.S. was funded by the Academy of Finland projects 274477 and 284495. The research at the IAA-CSIC was supported in part by the MINECO through grants AYA2016-80889-P, AYA2013-40825-P, and AYA2010-14844, and by the regional government of Andalucia through grant P09-FQM-4784

Vergleichende Untersuchungen zu Morbidität und Mortalität bei Arteria-carotis-Endarteriektomien in Allgemeinanästhesie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der zerebralen Ischämie

We aim to better understand the dynamics within relativistic magneto-hydrodynamical flows in the extreme environment and close vicinity of supermassive black holes. To do so, we analyze the peculiar radio galaxy 3C 111, for which long-term polarimetric observations are available. We make use of the high spatial resolution of the VLBA network and the MOJAVE monitoring program, which provides high data quality also for single sources and allows us to study jet dynamics on parsec scales in full polarization with an evenly sampled time-domain. We additionally consider data from the IRAM 30-m Telescope as well as the SMA. Jet properties such as the electric vectors, the (polarized) flux density, feature size, and brightness temperature, describe a complex evolution of the polarized jet. The electric vector position angles (EVPAs) of features traveling down the jet perform a large and smooth rotation of $\gtrsim 180^{\circ}$ across a distance of about 20 pc. In contrast, the EVPAs are strongly variable within the first parsecs of the jet. We find a tendency towards transverse EVPAs across the jet with a local anomaly of aligned vectors in between. The transverse extent of the flow decreases coincident with a jump in brightness temperature around where we observe the EVPAs to turn into alignment with the jet flow. Also the gradients of the feature size and particle density with distance steepen in that region. We interpret the propagating polarized features with shocks and the observed local anomalies with the interaction of these shocks with a recollimation shock of the underlying flow. Together with a sheared magnetic field, this shock-shock interaction can explain the large rotation of the EVPA. The superimposed variability of the EVPAs close to the core is likely related to a clumpy Faraday screen, which also contributes significantly to the observed EVPA rotation in that region.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication by A&