2,536 research outputs found
Comparing Chandra and SIRTF Observations for Obscured Starbursts and AGN at High Redshift
Tracking the star formation rate to high redshifts requires knowledge of the
contribution from both optically visible and obscured sources. The dusty,
optically-obscured galaxies can be located by X-ray and infrared surveys. To
establish criteria for selecting such sources based only on X-ray and infrared
surveys, we determine the ratio of infrared to X-ray brightness that would be
observed by SIRTF and Chandra for objects with the same spectral shapes as
nearby starbursts if seen at high redshift. The parameter IR/X is defined as
IR/X = (flux density observed in SIRTF MIPS 24 m filter in mJy)/(total
flux observed within 0.5-2.0 keV in units of 10^-16 ergs\s\cm^2). Based on
observations of NGC 4038/39 (``The Antennae''), NGC 3690+IC 694 (Arp 299 or Mkn
171), M 82, and Arp 220, nine starburst regions are compared using mid-infrared
spectra taken by the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and X-ray spectra
obtained with Chandra . The IR/X are determined as they would appear for 1<z<3.
The mean IR/X over this redshift range is 1.3 and is not a significant function
of redshift or luminosity, indicating that SIRTF surveys reaching 0.4 mJy at 24
m should detect the same starbursts as deep CXO surveys detect at a flux
of 0.3x10^-16 ergs/s/cm^2. The lower bound of IR/X for starbursts is about 0.2,
suggesting that objects with IR/X smaller than this have an AGN X-ray component
in addition to the starburst. Values of IR/X for the obscured AGN within NGC
1068, the Circinus galaxy, and NGC 6240 are also determined for comparison
although interpretation is complicated by the circumnuclear starbursts in these
galaxies. Any sources found in surveys having IR/X>4 would not match any of the
objects considered.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap
Evolution and Hydrodynamics of the Very-Broad X-ray Line Emission in SN1987A
Author Manuscript 20 Apr 2012.Observations of SN 1987A by the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) in 1999 and the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) in 2003 show very broad (v-b) lines with a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of order 10[superscript 4] km s[superscript â1]; at these times the blast wave (BW) was primarily interacting with the H II region around the progenitor. Since then, the X-ray emission has been increasingly dominated by narrower components as the BW encounters dense equatorial ring (ER) material. Even so, continuing v-b emission is seen in the grating spectra suggesting that the interaction with H II region material is ongoing. Based on the deep HETG 2007 and 2011 data sets, and confirmed by RGS and other HETG observations, the v-b component has a width of 9300 ± 2000 km s[superscript â1] FWHM and contributes of order 20% of the current 0.5-2 keV flux. Guided by this result, SN 1987A's X-ray spectra are modeled as the weighted sum of the non-equilibrium-ionization emission from two simple one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations; this "2 Ă 1D" model reproduces the observed radii, light curves, and spectra with a minimum of free parameters. The interaction with the H II region (Ïinit â 130 amu cm[superscript â3], ± 15° opening angle) produces the very broad emission lines and most of the 3-10 keV flux. Our ER hydrodynamics, admittedly a crude approximation to the multi-D reality, gives ER densities of ~10[superscript 4] amu cm[superscript â3], requires dense clumps (Ă5.5 density enhancement in ~30% of the volume), and predicts that the 0.5-2 keV flux will drop at a rate of ~17% per year once no new dense ER material is being shocked
An infrared study of the double nucleus in NGC3256
We present new resolved near and mid-IR imaging and N-band spectroscopy of
the two nuclei in the merger system NGCA3256, the most IR luminous galaxy in
the nearby universe. The results from the SED fit to the data are consistent
with previous estimates of the amount of obscuration towards the nuclei and the
nuclear star formation rates. However, we also find substantial differences in
the infrared emission from the two nuclei which cannot be explained by
obscuration alone. We conclude that the northern nucleus requires an additional
component of warm dust in order to explain its properties. This suggests that
local starforming conditions can vary significantly within the environment of a
single system.Comment: Accepted for publication (MNRAS
On the Nodal Count Statistics for Separable Systems in any Dimension
We consider the statistics of the number of nodal domains aka nodal counts
for eigenfunctions of separable wave equations in arbitrary dimension. We give
an explicit expression for the limiting distribution of normalised nodal counts
and analyse some of its universal properties. Our results are illustrated by
detailed discussion of simple examples and numerical nodal count distributions.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
Physical conditions in the gas phases of the giant HII region LMC-N11 unveiled by Herschel - I. Diffuse [CII] and [OIII] emission in LMC-N11B
(Abridged) The Magellanic Clouds provide a nearby laboratory for metal-poor
dwarf galaxies. The low dust abundance enhances the penetration of UV photons
into the interstellar medium (ISM), resulting in a relatively larger filling
factor of the ionized gas. Furthermore, there is likely a hidden molecular gas
reservoir probed by the [CII]157um line. We present Herschel/PACS maps in
several tracers, [CII], [OI]63um,145um, [NII]122um, [NIII]57um, and [OIII]88um
in the HII region N11B in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Halpha and [OIII]5007A
images were used as complementary data to investigate the effect of dust
extinction. Observations were interpreted with photoionization models to infer
the gas conditions and estimate the ionized gas contribution to the [CII]
emission. Photodissociation regions (PDRs) are probed through polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We first study the distribution and properties of
the ionized gas. We then constrain the origin of [CII]157um by comparing to
tracers of the low-excitation ionized gas and of PDRs. [OIII] is dominated by
extended emission from the high-excitation diffuse ionized gas; it is the
brightest far-infrared line, ~4 times brighter than [CII]. The extent of the
[OIII] emission suggests that the medium is rather fragmented, allowing far-UV
photons to permeate into the ISM to scales of >30pc. Furthermore, by comparing
[CII] with [NII], we find that 95% of [CII] arises in PDRs, except toward the
stellar cluster for which as much as 15% could arise in the ionized gas. We
find a remarkable correlation between [CII]+[OI] and PAH emission, with [CII]
dominating the cooling in diffuse PDRs and [OI] dominating in the densest PDRs.
The combination of [CII] and [OI] provides a proxy for the total gas cooling in
PDRs. Our results suggest that PAH emission describes better the PDR gas
heating as compared to the total infrared emission.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Fixed
inverted line ratio in Sect. 5.
The XMM-Newton view of the central degrees of the Milky Way
The deepest XMM-Newton mosaic map of the central 1.5 deg of the Galaxy is
presented, including a total of about 1.5 Ms of EPIC-pn cleaned exposures in
the central 15" and about 200 ks outside. This compendium presents broad-band
X-ray continuum maps, soft X-ray intensity maps, a decomposition into spectral
components and a comparison of the X-ray maps with emission at other
wavelengths. Newly-discovered extended features, such as supernova remnants
(SNRs), superbubbles and X-ray filaments are reported. We provide an atlas of
extended features within +-1 degree of Sgr A*. We discover the presence of a
coherent X-ray emitting region peaking around G0.1-0.1 and surrounded by the
ring of cold, mid-IR-emitting material known from previous work as the "Radio
Arc Bubble" and with the addition of the X-ray data now appears to be a
candidate superbubble. Sgr A's bipolar lobes show sharp edges, suggesting that
they could be the remnant, collimated by the circumnuclear disc, of a SN
explosion that created the recently discovered magnetar, SGR J1745-2900. Soft
X-ray features, most probably from SNRs, are observed to fill holes in the dust
distribution, and to indicate a direct interaction between SN explosions and
Galactic center (GC) molecular clouds. We also discover warm plasma at high
Galactic latitude, showing a sharp edge to its distribution that correlates
with the location of known radio/mid-IR features such as the "GC Lobe". These
features might be associated with an inhomogeneous hot "atmosphere" over the
GC, perhaps fed by continuous or episodic outflows of mass and energy from the
GC region.Comment: MNRAS published online. See www.mpe.mpg.de/heg/gc/ for a higher
resolution version of the figure
Prototype design of a timing and fast control system in the CBM experiment
The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment is designed to handle interaction rates of up to 10âMHz and up to 1 TB/s of raw data generated. With triggerless streaming data acquisition in the experiment and beam intensity fluctuations, it is expected that occasional data bursts will surpass bandwidth capabilities of the Data Acquisition System (DAQ) system. In order to preserve integrity of event data, the bandwidth of DAQ must be throttled in an organised way with minimum information loss. The Timing and Fast Control (TFC) system provides a latency-optimised datapath for throttling commands and distributes a system clock together with a global timestamp. This paper describes a prototype design of the system with focus on synchronisation and its evaluation
The effects of star formation on the low-metallicity ISM: NGC4214 mapped with Herschel/PACS spectroscopy
We present Herschel/PACS spectroscopic maps of the dwarf galaxy NC4214
observed in 6 far infrared fine-structure lines: [C II] 158mu, [O III] 88mu, [O
I] 63mu, [O I] 146mu, [N II] 122mu, and [N II] 205mu. The maps are sampled to
the full telescope spatial resolution and reveal unprecedented detail on ~ 150
pc size scales. We detect [C II] emission over the whole mapped area, [O III]
being the most luminous FIR line. The ratio of [O III]/[C II] peaks at about 2
toward the sites of massive star formation, higher than ratios seen in dusty
starburst galaxies. The [C II]/CO ratios are 20 000 to 70 000 toward the 2
massive clusters, which are at least an order of magnitude larger than spiral
or dusty starbursts, and cannot be reconciled with single-slab PDR models.
Toward the 2 massive star-forming regions, we find that L[CII] is 0.5 to 0.8%
of the LTIR . All of the lines together contribute up to 2% of LTIR . These
extreme findings are a consequence of the lower metallicity and young,
massive-star formation commonly found in dwarf galaxies. These conditions
promote large-scale photodissociation into the molecular reservoir, which is
evident in the FIR line ratios. This illustrates the necessity to move to
multiphase models applicable to star-forming clusters or galaxies as a whole.Comment: Accepted for publication in the A&A Herschel Special Issu
Prototype design of a timing and fast control system in the CBM experiment
The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment is designed to handle interaction rates of up to 10 MHz and up to 1 TB/s of raw data generated. With triggerless streaming data acquisition in the experiment and beam intensity fluctuations, it is expected that occasional data bursts will surpass bandwidth capabilities of the Data Acquisition System (DAQ) system. In order to preserve integrity of event data, the bandwidth of DAQ must be throttled in an organised way with minimum information loss. The Timing and Fast Control (TFC) system provides a latency-optimised datapath for throttling commands and distributes a system clock together with a global timestamp. This paper describes a prototype design of the system with focus on synchronisation and its evaluation
ISO-SWS spectroscopy of NGC 1068
We present ISO-SWS spectroscopy of NGC 1068 for the wavelength range 2.4 to
45um, detecting a total of 36 emission lines. Most of the observed transitions
are fine structure and recombination lines originating in the narrow line
region. We compare the line profiles of optical lines and reddening-insensitive
infrared lines to constrain the dynamical structure and extinction properties
of the NLR. The considerable differences found are most likely explained by two
effects. (1) The spatial structure of the NLR is a combination of a highly
ionized outflow cone and lower excitation extended emission. (2) Parts of the
NLR, mainly in the receding part at velocities above systemic, are subject to
extinction that is significantly suppressing optical emission. Line asymmetries
and net blueshifts remain, however, even for infrared fine structure lines
suffering very little obscuration. This may be either due to an intrinsic
asymmetry of the NLR, or due to a very high column density obscuring component
which is hiding part of the NLR even from infrared view. Mid-infrared emission
of molecular hydrogen in NGC 1068 arises in a dense molecular medium at
temperatures of a few hundred Kelvin that is most likely closely related to the
warm and dense components seen in the near-infrared H2 transitions, and in
millimeter wave tracers of molecular gas. Any emission of the putative pc-scale
molecular torus is likely overwhelmed by this larger scale emission.Comment: aastex (V4), 9 eps figures. Accepted by Ap
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