765 research outputs found
Algorithm for the Calculation of Geodetic Distances for Maritime Jurisdictional Boundaries
This paper presents an algorithm which can be applied for the calculations of distances of hundred kilometres from the co-ordinates of their end points. Analysis of the simplifications are also presented and could be adopted for applications related to the Law of the Sea
The last Gift of BeppoSAX: PDS Observations of the two Blazars 1ES 0507-040 and PKS 1229-021
Towards the end of the BeppoSAX mission, the only operated Narrow Field
Instrument was the PDS, which covers the energy range 13-300 keV. Two blazars,
1ES 0507-040 (z=0.304) and PKS 1229-021 (z= 1.045), suitably located in the sky
for BeppoSAX pointing, were observed for about 2 days each in Spring 2002 with
the PDS and detected up to 50 keV. 1ES0507-040 had been already observed by the
BeppoSAX NFIs at an earlier epoch for a much shorter time. We have re-analysed
those data as well, and identified a possible contamination problem in the PDS
spectrum. We present our recent PDS data on both sources, combined with the
previous BeppoSAX data and with non-simultaneous observations at other
frequencies. The derived Spectral Energy Distributions allow us to discuss the
origin of the high energy component.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, poster presented at the symposium: The Restless
High-Energy Universe, Amsterdam, May 200
Properties of H II Regions in the Centers of Nearby Galaxies
As part of an optical spectroscopic survey of nearby, bright galaxies, we
have identified a sample of over 200 emission-line nuclei having optical
spectra resembling those of giant extragalactic H II regions. Such "H II
nuclei," powered by young, massive stars, are found in a substantial fraction
of nearby galaxies, especially those of late Hubble type. This paper summarizes
the observational characteristics of H II nuclei, contrasts the variation of
their properties with Hubble type, and compares the nuclear H II regions with
those found in galaxy disks. Similarities and differences between H II nuclei
and luminous starburst nuclei are additionally noted.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal. LaTex, 37 pages including 15
postscript figures. AAStex macros include
Elusive Active Galactic Nuclei
A fraction of active galactic nuclei do not show the classical Seyfert-type
signatures in their optical spectra, i.e. they are optically "elusive". X-ray
observations are an optimal tool to identify this class of objects. We combine
new Chandra observations with archival X-ray data in order to obtain a first
estimate of the fraction of elusive AGN in local galaxies and to constrain
their nature. Our results suggest that elusive AGN have a local density
comparable to or even higher than optically classified Seyfert nuclei. Most
elusive AGN are heavily absorbed in the X-rays, with gas column densities
exceeding 10^24 cm^-2, suggesting that their peculiar nature is associated with
obscuration. It is likely that in elusive AGN, the nuclear UV source is
completely embedded and the ionizing photons cannot escape, which prevents the
formation of a classical Narrow Line Region. Elusive AGN may contribute
significantly to the 30 keV bump of the X-ray background.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters, 6 pages, 3 figures, typos
and references correcte
Deep Chandra and multicolor HST observations of the jets of 3C 371 and PKS 2201+044
This paper presents multiwavelength imaging and broad-band spectroscopy of
the relativistic jets in the two nearby radio galaxies 3C 371 and PKS 2201+044,
acquired with Chandra, HST, VLA, and Merlin. Radio polarization images are also
available. The two sources stand out as "intermediate'' between FRIs and FRIIs;
their cores are classified as BL Lacs, although broad and narrow optical
emission lines were detected at times. The multiwavelength images show jet
morphologies with the X-ray emission peaking closer to the nucleus than the
longer wavelengths. The jets are resolved at all wavelengths in a direction
perpendicular to the jet axis. The jets SEDs are consistent with a single
spectral component from radio to X-rays, interpreted as synchrotron emission.
The SEDs show a progressive softening from the inner to the outer regions of
the jet, indicating that the electron break energy moves to lower energies with
distance from the core. Overall, the X-ray and multiwavelength properties of
the jets of 3C 371 and PKS 2201+044 appear intermediate between those of FRIs
and FRIIs.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 28 pages (emulateapj5), 17 figure
Differences Between The Optical/Uv Spectra Of X-Ray Bright And X-Ray Faint QSOs
We contrast measurements of composite optical and ultraviolet (UV) spectra
constructed from samples of QSOs defined by their soft X-ray brightness. X-ray
bright (XB) composites show stronger emission lines in general, but
particularly from the narrow line region. The difference in the [OIII]/Hbeta
ratio is particularly striking, and even more so when blended FeII emission is
properly subtracted. The correlation of this ratio with X-ray brightness were
principal components of QSO spectral diversity found by Boroson & Green (1992).
We find here that other, much weaker narrow optical forbidden lines ([OII] and
NeV) are enhanced by factors of 2 to 3 in our XB composites, and that narrow
line emission is also strongly enhanced in the XB UV composite. Broad permitted
line fluxes are slightly larger for all XB spectra, but the narrow/broad line
ratio stays similar or increases strongly with X-ray brightness for all strong
permitted lines except Hbeta.
Spectral differences between samples divided by their relative X-ray
brightness (as measured by alpha_{ox}) exceed those seen between complementary
samples divided by luminosity or radio loudness. We propose that the Baldwin
effect may be a secondary correlation to the primary relationship between
alpha_{ox} and emission line equivalent width. We conclude that either 1)
equivalent width depends strongly on the SHAPE of the ionizing continuum, as
crudely characterized here by alpha_{ox} or 2) both equivalent width and
alpha_{ox} are related to some third parameter characterizing the QSO physics.
One such possibility is intrinsic warm absorption; a soft X-ray absorber
situated between the broad and narrow line regions can successfully account for
many of the properties observed.Comment: 16 pages including 3 figures, AAS latex, plus 4 tables totaling 5
pages, to appear in ApJ Vol. 498, May 1, 199
Anisotropy of the space orientation of radio sources. I: The catalog
A catalog of the extended extragalactic radio sources consisting of 10461
objects is compiled based on the list of radio sources of the FIRST survey. A
total of 1801 objects are identified with galaxies and quasars of the SDSS
survey and the Veron-Veron catalog. The distribution of the position angles of
the axes of radio sources from the catalog is determined, and the probability
that this distribution is equiprobable is shown to be less then 10^(-7). This
result implies that at Z equal to or smaller then 0.5, spatial orientation of
the axes of radio sources is anisotropic at a statistically significant level.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Five new INTEGRAL unidentified hard X-Ray sources uncovered by Chandra
The IBIS imager on board INTEGRAL, with a sensitivity better than a mCrab in
deep observations and a point source location accuracy of the order of few
arcminutes, has localized so far 723 hard X-ray sources in the 17--100 keV
energy band, of which a fraction of about 1/3 are still unclassified. The aim
of this research is to provide sub-arcsecond localizations of the unidentified
sources, necessary to pinpoint the optical and/or infrared counterpart of those
objects whose nature is so far unknown. The cross-correlation between the new
IBIS sources published within the fourth INTEGRAL/IBIS Survey catalogue and the
CHANDRA/ACIS data archive resulted in a sample of 5 not yet identified objects.
We present here the results of CHANDRA X-ray Observatory observations of these
five hard X-ray sources discovered by the INTEGRAL satellite. We associated IGR
J10447-6027 with IR source 2MASSJ10445192-6025115, IGR J16377-6423 with the
cluster CIZA J1638.2-6420, IGR J14193-6048 with the pulsar with nebula PSR
J1420-6048 and IGR J12562+2554 with the Quasar SDSSJ125610.42+260103.5. We
suggest that the counterpart of IGR J12288+0052 may be an AGN/QSO type~2 at a
confidence level of 90%.Comment: ApJ accepte
Properties of Quasar-Galaxy Associations and Gravitational Mesolensing by Halo Objects
A new catalog of 8382 close quasar-galaxy pairs is presented. The catalog was
composed using published catalogs of quasars and active galactic nuclei
containing 11358 objects, as well as the LEDA catalog of galaxies, which
contains on the order of 100 thousand objects. The search for pairs was carried
out in such a way that the linear distance between the galaxy and projected
quasar does not exceed 150kpc. Based on these new data, the dependence of the
number of pairs on a=z_G/z_Q is analysed, where z_G and z_Q are the redshifts
of the galaxy and quasar, respectively, revealing an excess of pairs with a<0.1
and a>0.9. This means that the galaxies in pairs are preferably located close
to either the observer or the quasar and avoid intermediate distances along the
line of sight to the quasar. Computer simulations demonstrate that it is not
possible to explain this number of pairs with the observed distribution in a as
the result of chance positional coincidences with a uniform spatial
distribution of galaxies. Data on globular clusters show that the excess of
pairs with a0.9 is consistent with the hypothesis that we are
observing distant compact objects that are strongly gravitationally lensed by
transparent lenses with a King mass distribution located in the halos of nearby
galaxies. The Hubble diagram for galaxies and quasars is presented.
Observational tests of the mesolensing hypothesis are formulated.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
Cm-Wavelength Total Flux and Linear Polarization Properties of Radio-Loud BL Lacertae Objects
Results from a long-term program to quantify the range of behavior of the
cm-wavelength total flux and linear polarization variability properties of a
sample of 41 radio-loud BL Lac objects using weekly to tri-monthly observations
with the University of Michigan 26-m telescope operating at 14.5, 8.0, and 4.8
GHz are presented; these observations are used to identify class-dependent
differences between these BL Lacs and QSOs in the Pearson-Readhead sample. The
BL Lacs are found to be more highly variable in total flux density than the
QSOs, exhibiting changes that are often nearly-simultaneous and of comparable
amplitude at 14.5 and 4.8 GHz in contrast to the behavior in the QSOs and
supporting the existence of class-dependent differences in opacity within the
parsec-scale jet flows. Structure function analyses of the flux observations
quantify that a characteristic timescale is identifiable in only 1/3 of the BL
Lacs. The time-averaged fractional linear polarizations are only on the order
of a few percent and are consistent with the presence of tangled magnetic
fields within the emitting regions. In many sources a preferred long-term
orientation of the EVPA is present; when compared with the VLBI structural
axis, no preferred position angle difference is identified. The polarized flux
typically exhibits variability with timescales of months to a few years and
shows the signature of a propagating shock during several resolved outbursts.
The observations indicate that the source emission is predominately due to
evolving source components and support the occurrence of more frequent shock
formation in BL Lac parsec-scale flows than in QSO jets. The differences in
variability behavior and polarization between BL Lacs and QSOs can be explained
by differences in jet stability.Comment: 1 LaTex (aastex) file, 21 postscript figure files, 2 external LaTex
table files. To appear in the Astrophysical Journa
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