415 research outputs found
Compact Nuclei in Galaxies at Moderate Redshift:II. Their Nature and Implications for the AGN Luminosity Function
This study explores the space density and properties of active galaxies to
z=0.8. We have investigated the frequency and nature of unresolved nuclei in
galaxies at moderate redshift as indicators of nuclear activity such as Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) or starbursts. Candidates are selected by fitting imaged
galaxies with multi-component models using maximum likelihood estimate
techniques to determine the best model fit. We select those galaxies requiring
an unresolved point-source component in the galaxy nucleus, in addition to a
disk and/or bulge component, to adequately model the galaxy light. We have
searched 70 WFPC2 images primarily from the Medium Deep Survey for galaxies
containing compact nuclei. In our survey of 1033 galaxies, the fraction
containing an unresolved nuclear component greater than 5% of the total galaxy
light is 9+/-1% corrected for incompleteness. In this second of two papers in
this series, we discuss the nature of the compact nuclei and their hosts.
We present the upper limit luminosity function (LF) for low-luminosity AGN
(LLAGN) in two redshift bins to z=0.8. Mild number density evolution is
detected for nuclei at -18 -16
and this flatness, combined with the increase in number density, is
inconsistent with pure luminosity evolution. Based on the amount of density
evolution observed for these objects, we find that almost all present-day
spiral galaxies could have hosted a LLAGN at some point in their lives. We also
comment on the likely contribution of these compact nuclei to the soft X-ray
background.Comment: 50 pages, 14 figures, to appear in ApJ, April 199
Boson Stars as Gravitational Lenses
We discuss boson stars as possible gravitational lenses and study the lensing
effect by these objects made of scalar particles. The mass and the size of a
boson star may vary from an individual Newtonian object similar to the Sun to
the general relativistic size and mass of a galaxy close to its Schwarzschild
radius. We assume boson stars to be transparent which allows the light to pass
through them though the light is gravitationally deflected. We assume boson
stars of the mass to be on non-cosmological distance from
the observer. We discuss the lens equation for these stars as well as the
details of magnification. We find that there are typically three images of a
star but the deflection angles may vary from arcseconds to even degrees. There
is one tangential critical curve (Einstein ring) and one radial critical curve
for tangential and radial magnification, respectively. Moreover, the deflection
angles for the light passing in the gravitational field of boson stars can be
very large (even of the order of degrees) which reflects the fact they are very
strong relativistic objects. We also propose a suitable formula for the lens
equation for such large deflection angles, and with the reservation that large
deflection angle images are highly demagnified but in the area of the
tangential critical curve, their existence may help in observational detection
of suitable lenses possessing characteristic features of boson stars which
could also serve as a direct evidence for scalar fields in the universe.Comment: accepted by Astrophys. J., 31 pages, AASTeX, 6 figure
Warming and elevated CO2 promote rapid incorporation and degradation of plant-derived organic matter in an ombrotrophic peatland
Rising temperatures have the potential to directly affect carbon cycling in peatlands by enhancing organic matter (OM) decomposition, contributing to the release of CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere. In turn, increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration may stimulate photosynthesis, potentially increasing plant litter inputs belowground and transferring carbon from the atmosphere into terrestrial ecosystems. Key questions remain about the magnitude and rate of these interacting and opposing environmental change drivers. Here, we assess the incorporation and degradation of plant- and microbe-derived OM in an ombrotrophic peatland after 4 years of whole-ecosystem warming (+0, +2.25, +4.5, +6.75 and +9°C) and two years of elevated CO2 manipulation (500 ppm above ambient). We show that OM molecular composition was substantially altered in the aerobic acrotelm, highlighting the sensitivity of acrotelm carbon to rising temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentration. While warming accelerated OM decomposition under ambient CO2, new carbon incorporation into peat increased in warming × elevated CO2 treatments for both plant- and microbe-derived OM. Using the isotopic signature of the applied CO2 enrichment as a label for recently photosynthesized OM, our data demonstrate that new plant inputs have been rapidly incorporated into peat carbon. Our results suggest that under current hydrological conditions, rising temperatures and atmospheric CO2 levels will likely offset each other in boreal peatlands
The XMM-Newton view of IRAS 09104+4109: evidence for a changing-look Type 2 quasar?
We analyzed the spectroscopic data from the PN and the MOS cameras in the
0.4-10 keV band. We also used an archival BeppoSAX 1-50 keV observation of IRAS
09104+4109 to investigate possible variations of the quasar emission. The X-ray
emission in the EPIC band is dominated by the intra-cluster medium thermal
emission. We found that the quasar contributes ~35% of the total flux in the
2-10 keV band. Both a transmission- (through a Compton-thin absorber with a
Compton optical depth of \tau_C~0.3, i.e. Nh~5 x 10^{23} cm^-2) and a
reflection-dominated (\tau_C>1) model provide an excellent fit to the quasar
continuum emission. However, the value measured for the EW of Fe Kalpha
emission line is only marginally consistent with the presence of a
Compton-thick absorber in a reflection-dominated scenario, which had been
suggested by a previous, marginal (i.e. 2.5\sigma) detection with the hard
X-ray (15-50 keV), non-imaging BeppoSAX/PDS instrument. Moreover, the value of
luminosity in the 2-10 keV band measured by the transmission-dominated model is
fully consistent with that expected on the basis of the bolometric luminosity
of IRAS 09104+4109. From the analysis of the XMM-Newton data we therefore
suggest the possibility that the absorber along the line of sight to the
nucleus of IRAS 09104+4109 is Compton-thin. Alternatively, the absorber column
density could have changed from Compton-thick to -thin in the five years
elapsed between the observations. If this is the case, then IRAS 09104+4109 is
the first 'changing-look' quasar ever detected.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
The Sedentary Multi-Frequency Survey. I. Statistical Identification and Cosmological Properties of HBL BL Lacs
We have assembled a multi-frequency database by cross-correlating the NVSS
catalog of radio sources with the RASSBSC list of soft X-ray sources, obtaining
optical magnitude estimates from the Palomar and UK Schmidt surveys as provided
by the APM and COSMOS on-line services. By exploiting the nearly unique
broad-band properties of High-Energy Peaked (HBL) BL Lacs we have statistically
identified a sample of 218 objects that is expected to include about 85% of BL
Lacs and that is therefore several times larger than all other published
samples of HBLs. Using a subset (155 objects) that is radio flux limited and
statistically well-defined we have derived the \vovm distribution and the
LogN-LogS of extreme HBLs (fx/fr >= 3E-10 erg/cm2/s/Jansky) down to 3.5 mJy. We
find that the LogN-LogS flattens around 20 mJy and that = 0.42 +/- 0.02.
This extends to the radio band earlier results, based on much smaller X-ray
selected samples, about the anomalous cosmological observational properties of
HBL BL Lacs. A comparison with the expected radio LogN-LogS of all BL Lacs
(based on a beaming model) shows that extreme HBLs make up roughly 2% of the BL
Lac population, independently of radio flux. This result, together with the
flatness of the radio logN-logS at low fluxes, is in contrast with the
predictions of a recent model which assumes an anti-correlation between peak
frequency and bolometric luminosity. The extreme fx/fr flux ratios and high
X-ray fluxes of these BL Lacs makes them good candidate TeV sources, some of
the brighter (and closer) ones possibly detectable with the current generation
of Cerenkov telescopes.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 6 ps figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Exploring the spectral properties of faint hard X-ray sources with XMM-Newton
We present a spectroscopic study of 41 hard X-ray sources detected
serendipitously with high significance (> 5 sigma in the 2-10 keV band) in
seven EPIC performance/verification phase observations. The large collecting
area of EPIC allows us to explore the spectral properties of these faint hard
X-ray sources with 2< F_{2-10} < 80 x 10^{-14} erg cm^{-2}s^{-1} even though
the length of the exposures are modest (~ 20 ks). Optical identifications are
available for 21 sources of our sample. Using a simple power law plus Galactic
absorption model we find an average value of the photon index Gamma ~ 1.6-1.7,
broadly consistent with recent measurements made at similar fluxes with ASCA
and with Chandra stacked spectral analyses. We find that 31 out of 41 sources
are well fitted by this simple model and only eight sources require absorption
in excess of the Galactic value. Interestingly enough, one third of these
absorbed sources are broad line objects, though with moderate column densities.
Two sources in the sample are X-ray bright optically quiet galaxies and show
flat X-ray spectra. Comparing our observational results with those expected
from standard synthesis models of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) we find a
fraction of unabsorbed to absorbed sources larger than predicted by theoretical
models at our completeness limit of F_{2-10} ~ 5 x 10^{-14} erg cm^{-2}s^{-1}.
The results presented here illustrate well how wide-angle surveys performed
with EPIC on board XMM-Newton allow population studies of interesting and
unusual sources to be made as well as enabling constraints to be placed on some
input parameters for synthesis models of the CXB.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures. To be published in A&
Probing the atmosphere of a solar-like star by galactic microlensing at high magnification
We report a measurement of limb darkening of a solar-like star in the very
high magnification microlensing event MOA 2002-BLG-33. A 15 hour deviation from
the light curve profile expected for a single lens was monitored intensively in
V and I passbands by five telescopes spanning the globe. Our modelling of the
light curve showed the lens to be a close binary system whose centre-of-mass
passed almost directly in front of the source star. The source star was
identified as an F8-G2 main sequence turn-off star. The measured stellar
profiles agree with current stellar atmosphere theory to within ~4% in two
passbands. The effective angular resolution of the measurements is <1
micro-arcsec. These are the first limb darkening measurements obtained by
microlensing for a Solar-like star.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letters. 5 pages, 2 embedded colour
ps figures plus 1 jpg figure. Version with all figures embedded available
from: http://www.roe.ac.uk/~iab/moa33paper
Orbit structure and (reversing) symmetries of toral endomorphisms on rational lattices
We study various aspects of the dynamics induced by integer matrices on the
invariant rational lattices of the torus in dimension 2 and greater. Firstly,
we investigate the orbit structure when the toral endomorphism is not
invertible on the lattice, characterising the pretails of eventually periodic
orbits. Next we study the nature of the symmetries and reversing symmetries of
toral automorphisms on a given lattice, which has particular relevance to
(quantum) cat maps.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figure
Simultaneous Planck, Swift, and Fermi observations of X-ray and gamma-ray selected blazars
We present simultaneous Planck, Swift, Fermi, and ground-based data for 105
blazars belonging to three samples with flux limits in the soft X-ray, hard
X-ray, and gamma-ray bands. Our unique data set has allowed us to demonstrate
that the selection method strongly influences the results, producing biases
that cannot be ignored. Almost all the BL Lac objects have been detected by
Fermi-LAT, whereas ~40% of the flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) in the
radio, soft X-ray, and hard X-ray selected samples are still below the
gamma-ray detection limit even after integrating 27 months of Fermi-LAT data.
The radio to sub-mm spectral slope of blazars is quite flat up to ~70GHz, above
which it steepens to ~-0.65. BL Lacs have significantly flatter spectra
than FSRQs at higher frequencies. The distribution of the rest-frame
synchrotron peak frequency (\nupS) in the SED of FSRQs is the same in all the
blazar samples with =10^13.1 Hz, while the mean inverse-Compton peak
frequency, , ranges from 10^21 to 10^22 Hz. The distributions of \nupS
and of \nupIC of BL Lacs are much broader and are shifted to higher energies
than those of FSRQs and strongly depend on the selection method. The Compton
dominance of blazars ranges from ~0.2 to ~100, with only FSRQs reaching values
>3. Its distribution is broad and depends strongly on the selection method,
with gamma-ray selected blazars peaking at ~7 or more, and radio-selected
blazars at values ~1, thus implying that the assumption that the blazar power
is dominated by high-energy emission is a selection effect. Simple SSC models
cannot explain the SEDs of most of the gamma-ray detected blazars in all
samples. The SED of the blazars that were not detected by Fermi-LAT may instead
be consistent with SSC emission. Our data challenge the correlation between
bolometric luminosity and \nupS predicted by the blazar sequence.Comment: Version accepted by A&A. Joint Planck, Swift, and Fermi
collaborations pape
Hepatitis C virus infection among transmission-prone medical personnel
Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected physicians have been reported to infect some of their patients during exposure-prone procedures (EPPs). There is no European consensus on the policy for the prevention of this transmission. To help define an appropriate preventive policy, we determined the prevalence of HCV infection among EPP-performing medical personnel in the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The prevalence of HCV infection was studied among 729 EPP-performing health care workers. Serum samples, stored after post-hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination testing in the years 2000–2009, were tested for HCV antibodies. Repeat reactive samples were confirmed by immunoblot assay and the detection of HCV RNA. The average age of the 729 health care workers was 39 years (range 18–66), suggesting a considerable cumulative occupational exposure to the blood. Nevertheless, only one of the 729 workers (0.14%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: <0.01% to 0.85%) was tested and confirmed to be positive for anti-HCV and positive for HCV RNA, which is comparable to the prevalence of HCV among Amsterdam citizens. Against this background, for the protection of personnel and patients, careful follow-up after needlestick injuries may be sufficient. If a zero-risk approach is desirable and costs are less relevant, the recurrent screening of EPP-performing personnel for HCV is superior to the follow-up of reported occupational exposures
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