16,103 research outputs found
The Evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei in Warm Dark Matter Cosmology
Recent measurements of the abundance of AGN with low-luminosities (L_X< 10^44
erg/s in the 2-10 keV energy band) at high redshifts z>4 provide a serious
challenge for Cold Dark Matter (CDM) models based on interaction-driven fueling
of AGN. Using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation we investigate how such
observations fit in a Warm Dark Matter (WDM) scenario of galaxy formation, and
compare the results with those obtained in the standard CDM scenario with
different efficiencies for the stellar feedback. Taking on our previous
exploration of galaxy formation in WDM cosmology, we assume as a reference case
a spectrum which is suppressed - compared to the standard CDM case - below a
cut-off scale ~ 0.2$ Mpc corresponding (for thermal relic WDM particles) to a
mass m_X=0.75 keV. We run our fiducial semi-analytic model with such a WDM
spectrum to derive AGN luminosity functions from z~6 to the present over a wide
range of luminosities (10^43< L_X/erg/s < 10^46 in the 2-10 keV X-ray band), to
compare with recent observations and with the results in the CDM case. When
compared with the standard CDM case, the luminosity distributions we obtain
assuming a WDM spectrum are characterized by a similar behaviour at low
redshift, and by a flatter slope at faint magnitudes for z>3, which provide an
excellent fit to present observations. We discuss how such a result compares
with CDM models with maximized feedback efficiency, and how future deep AGN
surveys will allow for a better discrimination between feedback and
cosmological effects on the evolution of AGN in interaction-driven models for
AGN fueling.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; typos and
references correcte
A high space density of L* Active Galactic Nuclei at z~4 in the COSMOS field
Identifying the source population of ionizing radiation, responsible for the
reionization of the universe, is currently a hotly debated subject with
conflicting results. Studies of faint, high-redshift star-forming galaxies, in
most cases, fail to detect enough escaping ionizing radiation to sustain the
process. Recently, the capacity of bright quasi-stellar objects to ionize their
surrounding medium has been confirmed also for faint active galactic nuclei
(AGNs), which were found to display an escaping fraction of ~74% at z~4. Such
levels of escaping radiation could sustain the required UV background, given
the number density of faint AGNs is adequate. Thus, it is mandatory to
accurately measure the luminosity function of faint AGNs (L~L*) in the same
redshift range. For this reason we have conducted a spectroscopic survey, using
the wide field spectrograph IMACS at the 6.5m Baade Telescope, to determine the
nature of our sample of faint AGN candidates in the COSMOS field. This sample
was assembled using photometric redshifts, color, and X-ray information. We
ended up with 16 spectroscopically confirmed AGNs at 3.6<z<4.2 down to a
magnitude of i=23.0 for an area of 1.73 deg. This leads to an AGN
space density of ~1.6 (corrected) at z~4 for an
absolute magnitude of M=-23.5. This is higher than previous
measurements and seems to indicate that AGNs could make a substantial
contribution to the ionizing background at z~4. Assuming that AGN physical
parameters remain unchanged at higher redshifts and fainter luminosities, these
sources could be regarded as the main drivers of cosmic reionization.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication by Ap
q-Deformed quaternions and su(2) instantons
We have recently introduced the notion of a q-quaternion bialgebra and shown
its strict link with the SO_q(4)-covariant quantum Euclidean space R_q^4.
Adopting the available differential geometric tools on the latter and the
quaternion language we have formulated and found solutions of the
(anti)selfduality equation [instantons and multi-instantons] of a would-be
deformed su(2) Yang-Mills theory on this quantum space. The solutions depend on
some noncommuting parameters, indicating that the moduli space of a complete
theory should be a noncommutative manifold. We summarize these results and add
an explicit comparison between the two SO_q(4)-covariant differential calculi
on R_q^4 and the two 4-dimensional bicovariant differential calculi on the bi-
(resp. Hopf) algebras M_q(2),GL_q(2),SU_q(2), showing that they essentially
coincide.Comment: Latex file, 18 page
On the AGN radio luminosity distribution and the black hole fundamental plane
We have studied the dependence of the AGN nuclear radio (1.4 GHz) luminosity
on both the AGN 2-10 keV X-ray and the host-galaxy K-band luminosity. A
complete sample of 1268 X-ray selected AGN (both type 1 and type 2) has been
used, which is the largest catalogue of AGN belonging to statistically well
defined samples where radio, X and K band information exists. At variance with
previous studies, radio upper limits have been statistically taken into account
using a Bayesian Maximum Likelihood fitting method. It resulted that a good fit
is obtained assuming a plane in the 3D L_R-L_X-L_K space, namely logL_R= xi_X
logL_X + xi_K logL_K + xi_0, having a ~1 dex wide (1 sigma) spread in radio
luminosity. As already shown, no evidence of bimodality in the radio luminosity
distribution was found and therefore any definition of radio loudness in AGN is
arbitrary. Using scaling relations between the BH mass and the host galaxy
K-band luminosity, we have also derived a new estimate of the BH fundamental
plane (in the L_5GHz -L_X-M_BH space). Our analysis shows that previous
measures of the BH fundamental plane are biased by ~0.8 dex in favor of the
most luminous radio sources. Therefore, many AGN studies, where the BH
fundamental plane is used to investigate how AGN regulate their radiative and
mechanical luminosity as a function of the accretion rate, or many AGN/galaxy
co-evolution models, where radio-feedback is computed using the AGN fundamental
plane, should revise their conclusions.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. Revised version after minor referee comments. 12
pages, 12 figure
Finite-size scaling and the deconfinement transition in gauge theories
We introduce a new method for determining the critical indices of the
deconfinement transition in gauge theories. The method is based on the finite
size scaling behavior of the expectation value of simple lattice operators,
such as the plaquette. We test the method for the case of SU(3) pure gauge
theory in (2+1) dimensions and obtain a precise determination of the critical
index , in agreement with the prediction of the Svetitsky-Yaffe
conjecture.Comment: 6 pages. Several comments and one reference added, results unchange
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