297 research outputs found
Spins of the supermassive black hole in M87: new constraints from TeV observations
The rapid TeV ray variability detected in the well-known nearby
radio galaxy M87 implies an extremely compact emission region (5-10
Schwarzschild radii) near the horizon of the supermassive black hole in the
galactic center. TeV photons are affected by dilution due to interaction with
the radiation field of the advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) around the
black hole, and can thus be used to probe the innermost regions around the
black hole. We calculate the optical depth of the ADAF radiation field to the
TeV photons and find it strongly depends on the spin of the black hole. We find
that transparent radii of 10 TeV photons are of and
for the maximally rotating and non-rotating black holes, respectively. With the
observations, the calculated transparent radii strongly suggest the black hole
is spinning fast in the galaxy. TeV photons could be used as a powerful
diagnostic for estimating black hole spins in galaxies in the future.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. to appear in ApJ
Young stars and non-stellar emission in the aligned radio galaxy 3C 256
We present ground-based images of the z=1.824 radio galaxy 3C 256 in the
standard BVRIJHK filters and an interference filter centered at 8800A, a Hubble
Space Telescope image in a filter dominated by Ly-alpha emission (F336W), and
spectra covering rest-frame wavelengths from Ly-alpha to [O III] 5007. Together
with published polarimetry observations, we use these to decompose the overall
spectral energy distribution into nebular continuum emission, scattered quasar
light, and stellar emission. The nebular continuum and scattered light together
comprise half (one third) of the V-band (K-band) light within a 4-arcsec
aperture, and are responsible for the strong alignment between the
optical/near-infrared light and the radio emission. The stellar emission is
dominated by a population estimated to be 100-200 Myr old (assuming a Salpeter
IMF), and formed in a short burst with a peak star formation rate of 1-4x10^3
Msun/yr. The total stellar mass is estimated to be no more than 2x10^{11} Msun,
which is far less than other luminous radio galaxies at similar redshifts, and
suggests that 3C 256 will undergo further star formation or mergers.Comment: 35 pages including 10 figures; to appear in Nov 10 Ap
Faint AGN and the Ionizing Background
We determine the evolution of the faint, high-redshift, optical luminosity
function (LF) of AGN implied by several observationally-motivated models of the
ionizing background. Our results depend crucially on whether we use the total
ionizing rate measured by the proximity effect technique or the lower
determination from the flux decrement distribution of Ly alpha forest lines.
Assuming a faint-end LF slope of 1.58 and the SDSS estimates of the bright-end
slope and normalization, we find that the LF must break at M_B*=-24.2,-22.3,
-20.8 at z=3,4, 5 if we adopt the lower ionization rate and assume no stellar
contribution to the background. The break must occur at M_B*=-20.6,-18.7, -18.7
for the proximity effect background estimate. These values brighten by as much
as ~2 mag if high-z galaxies contribute to the background with an escape
fraction of ionizing photons consistent with recent estimates: f_e=0.16. By
comparing to faint AGN searches, we find that the typically-quoted proximity
effect estimates of the background imply an over-abundance of faint AGN (even
with f_e=1). Even adopting the lower bound on proximity effect measurements,
the stellar escape fraction must be high: f_e>0.2. Conversely, the lower flux-
decrement-derived background requires a limited stellar contribution: f_e<0.05.
Our derived LFs together with the locally-estimated black hole density suggest
that the efficiency of converting mass to light in optically-unobscured AGN is
somewhat lower than expected, <0.05. Comparison with similar estimates based on
X-ray counts suggests that more than half of all AGN are obscured in the
UV/optical. We also derive lower limits on typical AGN lifetimes and obtain
>10^7 yrs for favored cases.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures. Accepted by Astrophysical Journa
A Faraday Rotation Search for Magnetic Fields in Large Scale Structure
Faraday rotation of radio source polarization provides a measure of the
integrated magnetic field along the observational lines of sight. We compare a
new, large sample of Faraday rotation measures (RMs) of polarized extragalactic
sources with galaxy counts in Hercules and Perseus-Pisces, two nearby
superclusters. We find that the average of RMs in these two supercluster areas
are larger than in control areas in the same galactic latitude range. This is
the first RM detection of magnetic fields that pervade a supercluster volume,
in which case the fields are at least partially coherent over several
megaparsecs. Even the most conservative interpretation of our observations,
according to which Milky Way RM variations mimic the background supercluster
galaxy overdensities, puts constraints on the IGM magneto-ionic ``strength'' in
these two superclusters. We obtain an approximate typical upper limit on the
field strength of about 0.3 microGauss l/(500 kpc), when we combine our RM data
with fiducial estimates of electron density from the environments of giant
radio galaxies, and of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM).Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, to appear in the Astrophysical Journa
Constraints on QSO models from a relation between the QSO luminosity function and the local black hole mass function
QSOs are believed to be powered by accretion onto massive black holes (BHs).
In this paper, assuming that each central BH in nearby galaxies has experienced
the QSO phase and ignoring BH mergers, we establish a relation between the QSO
luminosity function (LF) and the local BH mass function (MF). The QSOLF is
jointly controlled by the luminosity evolution of individual QSOs and the
triggering history of the accretion onto seed BHs. By comparing the time
integral of the QSOLF with that inferred from local BHs, we separate the effect
of the luminosity evolution of individual QSOs from the effect of the
triggering history. Assuming that the nuclear luminosity evolution includes two
phases (first increasing at the Eddington luminosity with growth of BHs and
then declining), we find that observations are generally consistent with the
expected relation between the QSOLF and the local BHMF and obtain the
constraints on QSO models and BH growth. We point out that it is hard to
accurately estimate the value of the QSO lifetime from the QSOLF and/or the
local BHMF, if it is longer than a certain value (e.g., four times of the
Salpeter timescale in this study). We discuss the importance of accurate
measurements of the intrinsic scatter in the BH mass and velocity dispersion
relation of local galaxies and the scatter in the bolometric correction of
QSOs. We also discuss some possible applications of the work in this paper,
such as to the study of the demography of QSOs and the demography of normal
galaxies at intermediate redshift (abridged).Comment: 36 pages, including 9 figures; minor revisions to match the published
versio
Supermassive Stars in Quasar Disks
We propose that supermassive stars may form in quasar accretion disks, and we
discuss possible observational consequences. The structure and stability of
very massive stars are reviewed. Because of high accretion rates, quasar disks
are massive and the fringes of their optically luminous parts are prone to
fragmentation. Starting from a few hundred solar masses, a dominant fragment
will grow to the isolation mass, which is a significant fraction of the disk
mass, more quickly than the fragment contracts onto the stellar main sequence.
A gap will form in the disk and the star will migrate inward on the accretion
timescale, which is comparable to the star's main sequence lifetime. By
interrupting the gas supply to the inner disk, the gap may temporarily dim and
redden the quasar. The final stages of stellar migration will be a strong
source of low-frequency gravitational waves.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures; accepted to ApJ; expanded discussio
Geodesic motions versus hydrodynamic flows in a gravitating perfect fluid: Dynamical equivalence and consequences
Stimulated by the methods applied for the observational determination of
masses in the central regions of the AGNs, we examine the conditions under
which, in the interior of a gravitating perfect fluid source, the geodesic
motions and the general relativistic hydrodynamic flows are dynamically
equivalent to each other. Dynamical equivalence rests on the functional
similarity between the corresponding (covariantly expressed) differential
equations of motion and is obtained by conformal transformations. In this case,
the spaces of the solutions of these two kinds of motion are isomorphic. In
other words, given a solution to the problem "hydrodynamic flow in a perfect
fluid", one can always construct a solution formally equivalent to the problem
"geodesic motion of a fluid element" and vice versa. Accordingly, we show that,
the observationally determined nuclear mass of the AGNs is being overestimated
with respect to the real, physical one. We evaluate the corresponding
mass-excess and show that it is not always negligible with respect to the mass
ofthe central dark object, while, under circumstances, can be even larger than
the rest-mass of the circumnuclear gas involved.Comment: LaTeX file, 22 page
Constraining the 21 cm brightness temperature of the IGM at z = 6.6 around LAEs with the murchison widefield array
The locations of Ly α-emitting galaxies (LAEs) at the end of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are expected to correlate with regions of ionized hydrogen, traced by the redshifted 21 cm hyperfine line. Mapping the neutral hydrogen around regions with detected and localized LAEs offers an avenue to constrain the brightness temperature of the Universe within the EoR by providing an expectation for the spatial distribution of the gas, thereby providing prior information unavailable to power spectrum measurements. We use a test set of 12 h of observations from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in extended array configuration, to constrain the neutral hydrogen signature of 58 LAEs, detected with the Subaru Hypersuprime Cam in the Silverrush survey, centred on z = 6.58. We assume that detectable emitters reside in the centre of ionized H II bubbles during the end of reionization, and predict the redshifted neutral hydrogen signal corresponding to the remaining neutral regions using a set of different ionized bubble radii. A pre-whitening matched filter detector is introduced to assess detectability. We demonstrate the ability to detect, or place limits upon, the amplitude of brightness temperature fluctuations, and the characteristic H II bubble size. With our limited data, we constrain the brightness temperature of neutral hydrogen to ÎTB B = 15 ± 2h-1 cMpc
Epitaxial growth in dislocation-free strained alloy films: Morphological and compositional instabilities
The mechanisms of stability or instability in the strained alloy film growth
are of intense current interest to both theorists and experimentalists. We
consider dislocation-free, coherent, growing alloy films which could exhibit a
morphological instability without nucleation. We investigate such strained
films by developing a nonequilibrium, continuum model and by performing a
linear stability analysis. The couplings of film-substrate misfit strain,
compositional stress, deposition rate, and growth temperature determine the
stability of film morphology as well as the surface spinodal decomposition. We
consider some realistic factors of epitaxial growth, in particular the
composition dependence of elastic moduli and the coupling between top surface
and underlying bulk of the film. The interplay of these factors leads to new
stability results. In addition to the stability diagrams both above and below
the coherent spinodal temperature, we also calculate the kinetic critical
thickness for the onset of instability as well as its scaling behavior with
respect to misfit strain and deposition rate. We apply our results to some real
growth systems and discuss the implications related to some recent experimental
observations.Comment: 26 pages, 13 eps figure
- âŠ