1,921 research outputs found
Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxies and the M_BH - sigma Relation
We have studied the location of narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies and
broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies on the M_BH - sigma relation of non-active
galaxies. We find that NLS1 galaxies as a class - as well as the BLS1 galaxies
of our comparison sample - do follow the M_BH-sigma relation of non-active
galaxies if we use the width of the [SII]6716,6731 emission lines as surrogate
for stellar velocity dispersion, sigma_*. We also find that the width of
[OIII]5007 is a good surrogate for sigma_*, but only after (a) removal of
asymmetric blue wings, and, more important, after (b) excluding core [OIII]
lines with strong blueshifts (i.e., excluding galaxies which have their [OIII]
velocity fields dominated by radial motions, presumably outflows). The same
galaxies which are extreme outliers in [OIII] still follow the M_BH - sigma
relation in [SII]. We confirm previous findings that NLS1 galaxies are
systematically off-set from the M_BH - sigma relation if the full [OIII]
profile is used to measure sigma. We systematically investigate the influence
of several parameters on the NSL1 galaxies' location on the M_BH - sigma plane:
[OIII]_core blueshift, L/L_Edd, intensity ratio FeII/H_beta, NLR density, and
absolute magnitude. Implications for NLS1 models and for their evolution along
the M_BH - sigma relation are discussed.Comment: ApJ Letters, in press (3 figures, one in colour
Sensitivity test of a source / receptor model
A source-receptor model, derived with a few modifications from the algorithm developed by Stohl in 1996, has been applied for assessing the locations of emission sources of airborne tracers. In this paper, the model sensitivity to the number of receptor points and iterations needed to reconstruct a reliable picture of spatial position of tracer sources has been assessed. This has been done by simulating some sets of schematic air trajectories, and assigning a priori both the position of some sources in given cells of a horizontal grid, and the atmospheric concentrations of the tracer associated to each trajectory crossing pre-assigned receptor points. The conditions allowing the model to locate correctly the sources, together with a useful rule for dealing with the grid cells crossed by a limited number of trajectories, have been established
Dynamical Cusp Regeneration
After being destroyed by a binary supermassive black hole, a stellar density
cusp can regrow at the center of a galaxy via energy exchange between stars
moving in the gravitational field of the single, coalesced hole. We illustrate
this process via high-accuracy N-body simulations. Regeneration requires
roughly one relaxation time and the new cusp extends to a distance of roughly
one-fifth the black hole's influence radius, with density rho ~ r^{-7/4}; the
mass in the cusp is of order 10% the mass of the black hole. Growth of the cusp
is preceded by a stage in which the stellar velocity dispersion evolves toward
isotropy and away from the tangentially-anisotropic state induced by the
binary. We show that density profiles similar to those observed at the center
of the Milky Way and M32 can regenerate themselves in several Gyr following
infall of a second black hole; the presence of density cusps at the centers of
these galaxies can therefore not be used to infer that no merger has occurred.
We argue that Bahcall-Wolf cusps are ubiquitous in stellar spheroids fainter
than M_V ~ -18.5 that contain supermassive black holes, but the cusps have not
been detected outside of the Local Group since their angular sizes are less
than 0.1". We show that the presence of a cusp implies a lower limit of
\~10^{-4} per year on the rate of stellar tidal disruptions, and discuss the
consequences of the cusps for gravitational lensing and the distribution of
dark matter on sub-parsec scales.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
The M(BH)-Sigma Relation for Supermassive Black Holes
We investigate the differences in the M(BH)-sigma relation derived recently
by Ferrarese & Merritt (2000) and Gebhardt et al. (2000). The shallower slope
found by the latter authors (3.75 vs. 4.8) is due partly to the use of a
regression algorithm that ignores measurement errors, and partly to the value
of the velocity dispersion adopted for a single galaxy, the Milky Way. A
steeper relation is shown to provide a better fit to black hole masses derived
from reverberation mapping studies. Combining the stellar dynamical, gas
dynamical, and reverberation mapping mass estimates, we derive a best-fit
relation M(BH) = 1.30 (+/- 0.36) X 10^8 (sigma_c/200)^{4.72(+/- 0.36)}, where
M(BH) is in solar masses, and sigma in km/s.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, in pres
Sensitivity tests on the criterion of potential vorticity index for discriminating the location of ozone sources and sinks over large continental areas
This paper presents the results of a sensitivity analysis of a statistical-dynamic model (ISOGASP, standing for Identification of SOurces of greenhouse GAS Plus), developed by our research group to reconstruct 3D concentration patterns of greenhouse gases in large and deep atmospheric regions over continental or oceanic areas and extending vertically from the lower troposphere
to the lower stratosphere. The results of this analysis have shown the ability of the ISOGASP model to discriminate the locations of ozonesource s, according to the geographical distribution patterns of atmospheric O3 concentration inside a limited number of atmospheric layers at different heights above sea level, reconstructed
through the method of backward trajectories simulating the travel of air parcels from each different layer to the receptor points at their own height. The potential
vorticity index has been used to discriminate the sub-sets of trajectories belonging to stratosphere or troposphere
Radial stability of a family of anisotropic Hernquist models with and without a supermassive black hole
We present a method to investigate the radial stability of a spherical
anisotropic system that hosts a central supermassive black hole (SBH). Such
systems have never been tested before for stability, although high anisotropies
have been considered in the dynamical models that were used to estimate the
masses of the central putative supermassive black holes. A family of analytical
anisotropic spherical Hernquist models with and without a black hole were
investigated by means of N-body simulations. A clear trend emerges that the
supermassive black hole has a significant effect on the overall stability of
the system, i.e. an SBH with a mass of a few percent of the total mass of the
galaxy can prevent or reduce the bar instabilities in anisotropic systems. Its
mass not only determines the strength of the instability reduction, but also
the time in which this occurs. These effects are most significant for models
with strong radial anisotropies. Furthermore, our analysis shows that unstable
systems with similar SBH but with different anisotropy radii evolve
differently: highly radial systems become oblate, while more isotropic models
tend to form into prolate structures. In addition to this study, we also
present a Monte-Carlo algorithm to generate particles in spherical anisotropic
systems.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS (some figures
have a lowered resolution
AGN heating, thermal conduction and Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in galaxy groups and clusters
(abridged) We investigate in detail the role of active galactic nuclei on the
physical state of the gas in galaxy groups and clusters, and the implications
for anisotropy in the CMB from Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. We include the effect
of thermal conduction, and find that the resulting profiles of temperature and
entropy are consistent with observations. Unlike previously proposed models,
our model predicts that isentropic cores are not an inevitable consequence of
preheating. The model also reproduces the observational trend for the density
profiles to flatten in lower mass systems. We deduce the energy E_agn required
to explain the entropy observations as a function of mass of groups and
clusters M_cl and show that E_agn is proportional to M_cl^alpha with alpha~1.5.
We demonstrate that the entropy measurements, in conjunction with our model,
can be translated into constraints on the cluster--black hole mass relation.
The inferred relation is nonlinear and has the form M_bh\propto M_cl^alpha.
This scaling is an analog and extension of a similar relation between the black
hole mass and the galactic halo mass that holds on smaller scales. We show that
the central decrement of the CMB temperature is reduced due to the enhanced
entropy of the ICM, and that the decrement predicted from the plausible range
of energy input from the AGN is consistent with available data of SZ decrement.
We show that AGN heating, combined with the observational constraints on
entropy, leads to suppression of higher multipole moments in the angular power
spectrum and we find that this effect is stronger than previously thought.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
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