Populations of Supersoft X-ray Sources: Novae, tidal disruption, Type Ia supernovae, accretion-induced collapse, ionization, and intermediate-mass black holes?

Observations of hundreds of supersoft x-ray sources (SSSs) in external galaxies have shed light on the diversity of the class and on the natures of the sources. SSSs are linked to the physics of Type Ia supernovae and accretion-induced collapse, ultraluminous x-ray sources and black holes, the ionization of the interstellar medium, and tidal disruption by supermassive black holes. The class of SSSs has an extension to higher luminosities: ultraluminous SSSs have luminosities above 10^39 erg/s. There is also an extension to higher energies: quasisoft x-ray sources (QSSs) emit photons with energies above 1 eV, but few or none with energies above 2 keV. Finally, a significant fraction of the SSSs found in external galaxies switch states between observations, becoming either quasisoft or hard. For many systems ``supersoft'' refers to a temporary state; SSSs are sources, possibly including a variety of fundamentally different system types, that pass through such a state. We review those results derived from extragalactic data and related theoretical work that are most surprising and that suggest directions for future research.Comment: submitted to Astron.Nachr.; latex, 6 figure

The formation of compact massive self-gravitating discs in metal-free haloes with virial temperatures of ~ 13000-30000 K

We have used the hydrodynamical AMR code ENZO to investigate the dynamical evolution of the gas at the centre of dark matter haloes with virial velocities of ~ 20 - 30 kms and virial temperatures of ~ 13000-30000 K at z ~ 15 in a cosmological context. The virial temperature of the dark matter haloes is above the threshold where atomic cooling by hydrogen allows the gas to cool and collapse. We neglect cooling by molecular hydrogen and metals, as may be plausible if H_2 cooling is suppressed by a meta-galactic Lyman-Werner background or an internal source of Lyman-Werner photons, and metal enrichment has not progressed very far. The gas in the haloes becomes gravitationally unstable and develops turbulent velocities comparable to the virial velocities of the dark matter haloes. Within a few dynamical times it settles into a nearly isothermal density profile over many decades in radius losing most of its angular momentum in the process. About 0.1 - 1 % of the baryons, at the centre of the dark matter haloes, collapse into a self-gravitating, fat, ellipsoidal, centrifugally supported exponential disc with scale-length of ~ 0.075-0.27 pc and rotation velocities of 25-60 kms. We are able to follow the settling of the gas into centrifugal support and the dynamical evolution of the compact disc in each dark matter halo for a few dynamical times. The dynamical evolution of the gas at the centre of the haloes is complex. In one of the haloes the gas at the centre fragments into a triple system leading to strong tidal perturbations and eventually to the in-fall of a secondary smaller clump into the most massive primary clump. The formation of centrifugally supported self-gravitating massive discs is likely to be an important intermediary stage en route to the formation of a massive black hole seed.Comment: Re-submitted to MNRAS taking into account the referee's suggestions for moderate revision. 16 pages, 11 figure

Radio Foregrounds for the 21cm Tomography of the Neutral Intergalactic Medium at High Redshifts

Absorption or emission against the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) may be observed in the redshifted 21cm line if the spin temperature of the neutral intergalactic medium prior to reionization differs from the CMB temperature. This so-called 21cm tomography should reveal important information on the physical state of the intergalactic medium at high redshifts. The fluctuations in the redshifted 21 cm, due to gas density inhomogeneities at early times, should be observed at meter wavelengths by the next generation radio telescopes such as the proposed {\it Square Kilometer Array (SKA)}. Here we show that the extra-galactic radio sources provide a serious contamination to the brightness temperature fluctuations expected in the redshifted 21 cm emission from the IGM at high redshifts. Unless the radio source population cuts off at flux levels above the planned sensitivity of SKA, its clustering noise component will dominate the angular fluctuations in the 21 cm signal. The integrated foreground signal is smooth in frequency space and it should nonetheless be possible to identify the sharp spectral feature arising from the non-uniformities in the neutral hydrogen density during the epoch when the first UV sources reionize the intergalactic medium.Comment: 5 pages emulateapj with 1 figure, accepted to Ap

Police and thieves in the stadium: measuring the (multiple) effects of football matches on crime

Large sporting events affect criminal behaviour via three channels: fan concentration, self-incapacitation and police displacement. I exploit information on football matches for London teams linked to detailed recorded crime data at the area level to estimate these effects empirically. I find that only property crime increases in the communities hosting matches but not violent offences. There is a negative away game attendance effect on crime which is due to voluntary incapacitation of potential offenders attending a match. Police displacement during home games increases property crime by 7 percentage points for every extra 10000 supporters in areas that are left underprotecte

VLT spectropolarimetry of two powerful radio galaxies at z~1.4: UV continuum, emission-line properties and the nature of high-redshift dust

(Abridged) Deep VLT spectropolarimetric observations are presented for two powerful radio galaxies, 0850-206 and 1303+091. These observations cover the rest-frame wavelength range ~ 1450 - 3750 A. New radio observations and continuum images of the same sources are also presented. These galaxies are the first two observed from a complete sample of nine radio sources with redshifts in the range 1.3 < z < 1.5 (selected from the equatorial sample of powerful radio sources of Best, Rottgering & Lehnert), as part of a project aimed to investigate the multi-component nature of the UV continuum in radio galaxies and any variations of the continuum properties with the radio source age. The larger radio source of the two, 0850-206, presents a high continuum fractional polarization, averaging 17% across the observed wavelength range and reaching 24% at rest-frame wavelengths of <2000 A. The smaller radio source, 1303+091, shows a lower continuum polarization, averaging 8% and rising to 11% for rest-frame wavelengths >3000 A. For both galaxies, the position angle of the electric vector is generally constant with wavelength and within ~15 degrees of perpendicular to the radio axis. Both their total flux spectra and polarized flux spectra reveal the 2200 A dust feature, and comparison with dust scattering models suggests that the composition of the dust in these galaxies is similar to that of Galactic dust. In 0850-206, scattered quasar radiation dominates the UV continuum emission, with the nebular continuum accounting for no more than ~22% and no requirement for any additional emission component such as emission from young stars. By contrast, in 1303+091, unpolarized radiation could be a major constituent of the UV continuum emission, with starlight accounting for up to ~50% and the nebular continuum accounting for ~11%.Comment: 20 pages, including 14 figures. MNRAS accepte

Predictions for high-frequency radio surveys of extragalactic sources

We present detailed predictions of the contributions of the various source populations to the counts at frequencies of tens of GHz. New evolutionary models are worked out for flat-spectrum radio quasars, BL Lac objects, and steep-spectrum sources. Source populations characterized by spectra peaking at high radio frequencies, such as extreme GPS sources, ADAF/ADIOS sources and early phases of gamma-ray burst afterglows are also dealt with. The counts of different populations of star-forming galaxies (normal spirals, starbursts, high-z galaxies detected by SCUBA and MAMBO surveys, interpreted as proto-spheroidal galaxies) are estimated taking into account both synchrotron and free-free emission, and dust re-radiation. Our analysis is completed by updated counts of Sunyaev-Zeldovich effects in clusters of galaxies and by a preliminary estimate of galactic-scale Sunyaev-Zeldovich signals associated to proto-galactic plasma.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, to be published in A&

VIS: the visible imager for Euclid

Euclid-VIS is a large format visible imager for the ESA Euclid space mission in their Cosmic Vision program, scheduled for launch in 2019. Together with the near infrared imaging within the NISP instrument it forms the basis of the weak lensing measurements of Euclid. VIS will image in a single r+i+z band from 550-900 nm over a field of view of ~0.5 deg2. By combining 4 exposures with a total of 2240 sec, VIS will reach to V=24.5 (10{\sigma}) for sources with extent ~0.3 arcsec. The image sampling is 0.1 arcsec. VIS will provide deep imaging with a tightly controlled and stable point spread function (PSF) over a wide survey area of 15000 deg2 to measure the cosmic shear from nearly 1.5 billion galaxies to high levels of accuracy, from which the cosmological parameters will be measured. In addition, VIS will also provide a legacy imaging dataset with an unprecedented combination of spatial resolution, depth and area covering most of the extra-Galactic sky. Here we will present the results of the study carried out by the Euclid Consortium during the Euclid Definition phase.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure