8,599 research outputs found
An atlas of Calcium triplet spectra of active galaxies
We present a spectroscopic atlas of active galactic nuclei covering the
region around the 8498, 8542, 8662 Calcium triplet (CaT) lines. The sample
comprises 78 objects, divided into 43 Seyfert 2s, 26 Seyfert 1s, 3 Starburst
and 6 normal galaxies. The spectra pertain to the inner ~300 pc in radius, and
thus sample the central kinematics and stellar populations of active galaxies.
The data are used to measure stellar velocity dispersions (sigma_star) both
with cross-correlation and direct fitting methods. These measurements are found
to be in good agreement with each-other and with those in previous studies for
objects in common. The CaT equivalent width is also measured. We find average
values and sample dispersions of W_CaT of 4.6+/-2.0, 7.0 and 7.7+/-1.0
angstrons for Seyfert 1s, Seyfert 2s and normal galaxies, respectively. We
further present an atlas of [SIII]\lambda 9069 emission line profiles for a
subset of 40 galaxies. These data are analyzed in a companion paper which
addresses the connection between stellar and Narrow Line Region kinematics, the
behaviour of the CaT equivalent width as a function of sigma_star, activity
type and stellar population properties.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The Nature of LINERs
We present -band (m) spectroscopy of a sample of nine
galaxies showing some degree of LINER activity (classical LINERs, weak-[O {\sc
i}] LINERs and transition objects), together with -band spectroscopy for
some of them. A careful subtraction of the stellar continuum allows us to
obtain reliable [Fe {\sc ii}]m/Pa line ratios. We conclude
that different types of LINERs (i.e., photoionized by a stellar continuum or by
an AGN) cannot be easily distinguished based solely on the [Fe {\sc ii}]m/Pa line ratio.
The emission line properties of many LINERs can be explained in terms of an
aging starburst. The optical line ratios of these LINERs are reproduced by a
model with a metal-rich H {\sc ii} region component photoionized with a single
stellar temperature K, plus a supernova remnant (SNR) component.
The [Fe {\sc ii}] line is predominantly excited by shocks produced by SNRs in
starbursts and starburst-dominated LINERs, while Pa tracks H {\sc ii}
regions ionized by massive young stars. The contribution from SNRs to the
overall emission line spectrum is constrained by the [Fe {\sc ii}]m/Pa line ratio. Although our models for aging starbursts are
constrained only by these infrared lines, they consistently explain the optical
spectra of the galaxies also.
The LINER-starburst connection is tested by predicting the time dependence of
the ratio of the ionizing luminosity () to the supernova rate
(SNr), /(SNr). We predict the relative number of starbursts to
starburst-dominated LINERs (aging starbursts) and show that it is in
approximate agreement with survey findings for nearby galaxies.Comment: Accepted in ApJ (19 pages, 8 figures, uses emulateapj.sty
The CaT strength in Seyfert nuclei revisited: analyzing young stars and non-stellar light contributions to the spectra
In a former paper (Garcia-Rissmann et al. 2005; hereafter Paper I), we have
presented spectra of 64 active, 9 normal and 5 Starburst galaxies in the region
around the near-IR Calcium triplet absorption lines and the [SIII]9069 line. In
the present paper we analyze the CaT strength (WCaT), and kinematical products
derived in that study, namely stellar and ionized gas velocity dispersions. Our
main results may be summarized as follows: (1) Seyfert 2s show no sign of
dilution in WCaT with respect to the values spanned by normal galaxies, even
when optical absorption lines such as the CaII K band at 3933 A are much weaker
than in old, bulge-like stellar populations. (2) The location of Seyfert 2s in
the WCaT-WCaK plane is consistent with evolutionary synthesis models. The
implication is that the source responsible for the dilution of optical lines in
these AGN is a young stellar population, rather than an AGN featureless
continuum, confirming the conclusion of the pioneer study of Terlevich, Diaz &
Terlevich. (3) In Seyfert 1s, both W[SIII] and WCaT tend to be diluted due to
the presence of a non-stellar component, in agreement with the unification
paradigm. (4) A comparison of stellar and gas velocity dispersions confirms the
existence of a correlation between the typical velocities of stars and clouds
of the Narrow Line Region. The strength and scatter around this correlation are
similar to those previously obtained from the [OIII]5007 line width.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures. Paper accepted for publication in MNRA
Zonal flows and long-distance correlations during the formation of the edge shear layer in the TJ-II stellarator
A theoretical interpretation is given for the observed long-distance
correlations in potential fluctuations in TJ-II. The value of the correlation
increases above the critical point of the transition for the emergence of the
plasma edge shear flow layer. Mean (i.e. surface averaged, zero-frequency)
sheared flows cannot account for the experimental results. A model consisting
of four envelope equations for the fluctuation level, the mean flow shear, the
zonal flow amplitude shear, and the averaged pressure gradient is proposed. It
is shown that the presence of zonal flows is essential to reproduce the main
features of the experimental observations.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure
A New Way to Detect Massive Black Holes in Galaxies: The Stellar Remnants of Tidal Disruption
We point out that the tidal disruption of a giant may leave a luminous
(10^35-10^39 ergs/s), hot (10-100 eV) stellar core. The ``supersoft'' source
detected by Chandra at the center of M31 may be such a core; whether or not it
is, the observations have shown that such a core is detectable, even in the
center of a galaxy. We therefore explore the range of expected observational
signatures and how they may be used to (1) test the hypothesis that the M31
source is a remnant of tidal stripping and (2) discover evidence of black holes
and disruption events in other galaxies.Comment: Four pages with 1 figure. Appeared in ApJL (2001, 551, L37
Complete-Graph Tensor Network States: A New Fermionic Wave Function Ansatz for Molecules
We present a new class of tensor network states that are specifically
designed to capture the electron correlation of a molecule of arbitrary
structure. In this ansatz, the electronic wave function is represented by a
Complete-Graph Tensor Network (CGTN) ansatz which implements an efficient
reduction of the number of variational parameters by breaking down the
complexity of the high-dimensional coefficient tensor of a
full-configuration-interaction (FCI) wave function. We demonstrate that CGTN
states approximate ground states of molecules accurately by comparison of the
CGTN and FCI expansion coefficients. The CGTN parametrization is not biased
towards any reference configuration in contrast to many standard quantum
chemical methods. This feature allows one to obtain accurate relative energies
between CGTN states which is central to molecular physics and chemistry. We
discuss the implications for quantum chemistry and focus on the spin-state
problem. Our CGTN approach is applied to the energy splitting of states of
different spin for methylene and the strongly correlated ozone molecule at a
transition state structure. The parameters of the tensor network ansatz are
variationally optimized by means of a parallel-tempering Monte Carlo algorithm
Synthetic spectra of H Balmer and HeI absorption lines. II: Evolutionary synthesis models for starburst and post-starburst galaxies
We present evolutionary stellar population synthesis models to predict the
spectrum of a single-metallicity stellar population, with a spectral sampling
of 0.3 A in five spectral regions between 3700 and 5000 A. The models, which
are optimized for galaxies with active star formation, synthesize the profiles
of the hydrogen Balmer series (Hb, Hg, Hd, H8, H9, H10, H11, H12 and H13) and
the neutral helium absorption lines (HeI 4922, HeI 4471, HeI 4388, HeI 4144,
HeI 4121, HeI 4026, HeI 4009 and HeI 3819) for a burst with an age ranging from
1 to 1000 Myr, and different assumptions about the stellar initial mass
function. Continuous star formation models lasting for 1 Gyr are also
presented. The input stellar library includes NLTE absorption profiles for
stars hotter than 25000 K and LTE profiles for lower temperatures. The
temperature and gravity coverage is 4000 K <Teff< 50000 K and 0.0< log g$< 5.0,
respectively.
The models can be used to date starburst and post-starburst galaxies until 1
Gyr. They have been tested on data for clusters in the LMC, the super-star
cluster B in the starburst galaxy NGC 1569, the nucleus of the dwarf elliptical
NGC 205 and a luminous "E+A" galaxy. The full data set is available for
retrieval at http://www.iaa.es/ae/e2.html and at
http://www.stsci.edu/science/starburst/, or on request from the authors at
[email protected]: To be published in ApJS. 48 pages and 20 figure
Distribution and Kinematics of the Circum-nuclear Molecular Gas in the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 3227
We present new interferometric observations of the 12CO(1-0), 12CO(2-1) and
HCN (1-0) molecular line emission in NGC 3227 obtained with the IRAM Plateau de
Bure interferometer (PdBI). We achieved an unprecedented angular resolution in
the 12CO(2-1) line of about 0.6'' corresponding to only about 80pc at a
distance of 17.3Mpc. The mapped 12CO emission is concentrated in the inner 8''
and accounts for 20% of the total 30m CO line flux. The 12CO emission is
resolved into an asymmetric nuclear ring with a diameter of about 3''. The HCN
line emission is mostly unresolved at our resolution of ~2.4'' and contains all
of the single dish flux. We have decomposed the observed molecular gas motions
into a circular and non-circular component revealing that about 80% of the gas
in the circum-nuclear region exhibits pure circular rotation. We find evidence
for bar streaming onto the nuclear ring and a redshifted emission knot on the
ring perimeter.
In the central arcsecond the gas shows apparent counter rotation. This
behavior can be best explained by a warping of the inner molecular gas disk
rather than gas motion in a nuclear bar potential. We detected molecular gas at
a distance from the nucleus of only ~13pc with a velocity of about 75 km/s with
respect to the systemic velocity and find that within the central arcsecond the
rotation curve is rising again. This is the first time that millimetric CO-line
emission has been detected interferometrically at such small distances to the
nucleus of a Seyfert galaxy. These measurements indicate a lower limit on the
enclosed mass of about 2x10^7 M_solar in the inner 15pc.Comment: accepted for Ap.J. April issue, 54 pages, 22 figure
Topological Color Codes and Two-Body Quantum Lattice Hamiltonians
Topological color codes are among the stabilizer codes with remarkable
properties from quantum information perspective. In this paper we construct a
four-valent lattice, the so called ruby lattice, governed by a 2-body
Hamiltonian. In a particular regime of coupling constants, degenerate
perturbation theory implies that the low energy spectrum of the model can be
described by a many-body effective Hamiltonian, which encodes the color code as
its ground state subspace. The gauge symmetry
of color code could already be realized by
identifying three distinct plaquette operators on the lattice. Plaquettes are
extended to closed strings or string-net structures. Non-contractible closed
strings winding the space commute with Hamiltonian but not always with each
other giving rise to exact topological degeneracy of the model. Connection to
2-colexes can be established at the non-perturbative level. The particular
structure of the 2-body Hamiltonian provides a fruitful interpretation in terms
of mapping to bosons coupled to effective spins. We show that high energy
excitations of the model have fermionic statistics. They form three families of
high energy excitations each of one color. Furthermore, we show that they
belong to a particular family of topological charges. Also, we use
Jordan-Wigner transformation in order to test the integrability of the model
via introducing of Majorana fermions. The four-valent structure of the lattice
prevents to reduce the fermionized Hamiltonian into a quadratic form due to
interacting gauge fields. We also propose another construction for 2-body
Hamiltonian based on the connection between color codes and cluster states. We
discuss this latter approach along the construction based on the ruby lattice.Comment: 56 pages, 16 figures, published version
Memory consolidation in the cerebellar cortex
Several forms of learning, including classical conditioning of the eyeblink, depend upon the cerebellum. In examining mechanisms of eyeblink conditioning in rabbits, reversible inactivations of the control circuitry have begun to dissociate aspects of cerebellar cortical and nuclear function in memory consolidation. It was previously shown that post-training cerebellar cortical, but not nuclear, inactivations with the GABA(A) agonist muscimol prevented consolidation but these findings left open the question as to how final memory storage was partitioned across cortical and nuclear levels. Memory consolidation might be essentially cortical and directly disturbed by actions of the muscimol, or it might be nuclear, and sensitive to the raised excitability of the nuclear neurons following the loss of cortical inhibition. To resolve this question, we simultaneously inactivated cerebellar cortical lobule HVI and the anterior interpositus nucleus of rabbits during the post-training period, so protecting the nuclei from disinhibitory effects of cortical inactivation. Consolidation was impaired by these simultaneous inactivations. Because direct application of muscimol to the nuclei alone has no impact upon consolidation, we can conclude that post-training, consolidation processes and memory storage for eyeblink conditioning have critical cerebellar cortical components. The findings are consistent with a recent model that suggests the distribution of learning-related plasticity across cortical and nuclear levels is task-dependent. There can be transfer to nuclear or brainstem levels for control of high-frequency responses but learning with lower frequency response components, such as in eyeblink conditioning, remains mainly dependent upon cortical memory storage
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