16,950 research outputs found
Chiral SU(3) Symmetry and Strangeness
In this talk we review recent progress on the systematic evaluation of the
kaon and antikaon spectral functions in dense nuclear matter based on a chiral
SU(3) description of the low-energy pion-, kaon- and antikaon-nucleon
scattering data.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, invited talk given by M.F.M.L. at the SQM2001
conferenc
Chiral symmetry, strangeness and resonances
We review the important role played by the chiral SU(3) symmetry in
predicting the properties of antikaons and hyperon resonances in cold nuclear
matter. Objects of crucial importance are the meson-baryon scattering
amplitudes obtained within the chiral coupled-channel effective field theory.
The formation of baryon resonances as implied by chiral coupled-channel
dynamics is discussed. Results for antikaon and hyperon-resonance spectral
functions are presented for isospin symmetric and asymmetric matter.Comment: invited talk presented by M.F.M.L. at the 18th Nishinomiya Yukawa
Memorial Symposium, 21 pages, 12 figure
Mrk 1014: An AGN Dominated ULIRG at X-rays
In this paper we report on an XMM-Newton observation of the ultraluminous
infrared QSO Mrk 1014. The X-ray observation reveals a power-law dominated
(photon index of about 2.2) spectrum with a slight excess in the soft energy
range. AGN and starburst emission models fit the soft excess emission equally
well, however, the most plausible explanation is an AGN component as the
starburst model parameter, temperature and luminosity, appear physically
unrealistic. The mean luminosity of Mrk 1014 is about 2 times 10^44 erg s^-1.
We have also observed excess emission at energies greater than 5 keV. This
feature could be attributed to a broadened and redshifted iron complex, but
deeper observations are required to constrain its origin. The light curve shows
small scale variability over the 11 ks observation. There is no evidence of
intrinsic absorption in Mrk 1014. The X-ray observations support the notion of
an AGN dominated central engine. We establish the need for a longer observation
to constrain more precisely the nature of the X-ray components.Comment: 5 pages incl. 3 figures, MNRAS in pres
High-ionization mid-infrared lines as black hole mass and bolometric luminosity indicators in active galactic nuclei
We present relations of the black hole mass and the optical luminosity with
the velocity dispersion and the luminosity of the [Ne V] and the [O IV]
high-ionization lines in the mid-infrared (MIR) for 28 reverberation-mapped
active galactic nuclei. We used high-resolution Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph
and Infrared Space Observatory Short Wavelength Spectrometer data to fit the
profiles of these MIR emission lines that originate from the narrow-line region
of the nucleus. We find that the lines are often resolved and that the velocity
dispersion of [Ne V] and [O IV] follows a relation similar to that between the
black hole mass and the bulge stellar velocity dispersion found for local
galaxies. The luminosity of the [Ne V] and the [O IV] lines in these sources is
correlated with that of the optical 5100A continuum and with the black hole
mass. Our results provide a means to derive black hole properties in various
types of active galactic nuclei, including highly obscured systems.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ
Local Swift-BAT active galactic nuclei prefer circumnuclear star formation
We use Herschel data to analyze the size of the far-infrared 70micron
emission for z<0.06 local samples of 277 hosts of Swift-BAT selected active
galactic nuclei (AGN), and 515 comparison galaxies that are not detected by
BAT. For modest far-infrared luminosities 8.5<log(LFIR)<10.5, we find large
scatter of half light radii Re70 for both populations, but a typical Re70 <~ 1
kpc for the BAT hosts that is only half that of comparison galaxies of same
far-infrared luminosity. The result mostly reflects a more compact distribution
of star formation (and hence gas) in the AGN hosts, but compact AGN heated dust
may contribute in some extremely AGN-dominated systems. Our findings are in
support of an AGN-host coevolution where accretion onto the central black hole
and star formation are fed from the same gas reservoir, with more efficient
black hole feeding if that reservoir is more concentrated. The significant
scatter in the far-infrared sizes emphasizes that we are mostly probing spatial
scales much larger than those of actual accretion, and that rapid accretion
variations can smear the distinction between the AGN and comparison categories.
Large samples are hence needed to detect structural differences that favour
feeding of the black hole. No size difference AGN host vs. comparison galaxies
is observed at higher far-infrared luminosities log(LFIR)>10.5 (star formation
rates >~ 6 Msun/yr), possibly because these are typically reached in more
compact regions in the first place.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
A nonlinear drift which leads to -generalized distributions
We consider a system described by a Fokker-Planck equation with a new type of
momentum-dependent drift coefficient which asymptotically decreases as
for a large momentum . It is shown that the steady-state of this system is a
-generalized Gaussian distribution, which is a non-Gaussian
distribution with a power-law tail.Comment: Submitted to EPJB. 8 pages, 2 figures, dedicated to the proceedings
of APFA
RAID-2: Design and implementation of a large scale disk array controller
We describe the implementation of a large scale disk array controller and subsystem incorporating over 100 high performance 3.5 inch disk drives. It is designed to provide 40 MB/s sustained performance and 40 GB capacity in three 19 inch racks. The array controller forms an integral part of a file server that attaches to a Gb/s local area network. The controller implements a high bandwidth interconnect between an interleaved memory, an XOR calculation engine, the network interface (HIPPI), and the disk interfaces (SCSI). The system is now functionally operational, and we are tuning its performance. We review the design decisions, history, and lessons learned from this three year university implementation effort to construct a truly large scale system assembly
The Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation at Mid-Infrared Wavelengths: I. First-Epoch LMC Data
We present the first mid-infrared Period-Luminosity (PL) relations for Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids. Single-epoch observations of 70 Cepheids were
extracted from Spitzer IRAC observations at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 microns,
serendipitously obtained during the SAGE (Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's
Evolution) imaging survey of the LMC. All four mid-infrared PL relations have
nearly identical slopes over the period range 6 - 88 days, with a small scatter
of only +/-0.16 mag independent of period for all four of these wavelengths. We
emphasize that differential reddening is not contributing significantly to the
observed scatter, given the nearly two orders of magnitude reduced sensitivity
of the mid-IR to extinction compared to the optical. Future observations,
filling in the light curves for these Cepheids, should noticeably reduce the
residual scatter. These attributes alone suggest that mid-infrared PL relations
will provide a practical means of significantly improving the accuracy of
Cepheid distances to nearby galaxies.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
The PEP Survey: Infrared Properties of Radio-Selected AGN
By exploiting the VLA-COSMOS and the Herschel-PEP surveys, we investigate the
Far Infrared (FIR) properties of radio-selected AGN. To this purpose, from
VLA-COSMOS we considered the 1537, F[1.4 GHz]>0.06 mJy sources with a reliable
redshift estimate, and sub-divided them into star-forming galaxies and AGN
solely on the basis of their radio luminosity. The AGN sample is complete with
respect to radio selection at all z<~3.5. 832 radio sources have a counterpart
in the PEP catalogue. 175 are AGN. Their redshift distribution closely
resembles that of the total radio-selected AGN population, and exhibits two
marked peaks at z~0.9 and z~2.5. We find that the probability for a
radio-selected AGN to be detected at FIR wavelengths is both a function of
radio power and redshift, whereby powerful sources are more likely to be FIR
emitters at earlier epochs. This is due to two distinct effects: 1) at all
radio luminosities, FIR activity monotonically increases with look-back time
and 2) radio activity of AGN origin is increasingly less effective at
inhibiting FIR emission. Radio-selected AGN with FIR emission are
preferentially located in galaxies which are smaller than those hosting
FIR-inactive sources. Furthermore, at all z<~2, there seems to be a
preferential (stellar) mass scale M ~[10^{10}-10^{11}] Msun which maximizes the
chances for FIR emission. We find such FIR (and MIR) emission to be due to
processes indistinguishable from those which power star-forming galaxies. It
follows that radio emission in at least 35% of the entire AGN population is the
sum of two contributions: AGN accretion and star-forming processes within the
host galaxy.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, to appear in MNRA
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