On the population of remnant FRII radio galaxies and implications for radio source dynamics

The purpose of this work is two-fold: (1) to quantify the occurrence of ultra-steep spectrum remnant FRII radio galaxies in a 74 MHz flux limited sample, and (2) perform Monte-Carlo simulations of the population of active and remnant FRII radio galaxies to confront models of remnant lobe evolution, and provide guidance for further investigation of remnant radio galaxies. We find that fewer than 2$\%$ of FRII radio galaxies with S$_{ \rm74~MHz} > 1.5$ Jy are candidate ultra-steep spectrum remnants, where we define ultra-steep spectrum as $\alpha_{\rm 74~MHz}^{\rm 1400~MHz} > 1.2$. Our Monte-Carlo simulations demonstrate that models involving Sedov-like expansion in the remnant phase, resulting in rapid adiabatic energy losses, are consistent with this upper limit, and predict the existence of nearly twice as many remnants with normal (not ultra-steep) spectra in the observed frequency range as there are ultra-steep spectrum remnants. This model also predicts an ultra-steep remnant fraction approaching 10$\%$ at redshifts $z < 0.5$. Importantly, this model implies the lobes remain over-pressured with respect to the ambient medium well after their active lifetime, in contrast with existing observational evidence that many FRII radio galaxy lobes reach pressure equilibrium with the external medium whilst still in the active phase. The predicted age distribution of remnants is a steeply decreasing function of age. In other words young remnants are expected to be much more common than old remnants in flux limited samples. For this reason, incorporating higher frequency data $\gtrsim 5$ GHz will be of great benefit to future studies of the remnant population.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 4 table

A Multi-Wavelength Study of the Jet, Lobes and Core of the Quasar PKS 2101-490

We present a detailed study of the X-ray, optical and radio emission from the jet, lobes and core of the quasar PKS 2101-490 as revealed by new Chandra, HST and ATCA images. We extract the radio to X-ray spectral energy distributions from seven regions of the 13 arcsecond jet, and model the jet X-ray emission in terms of Doppler beamed inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background (IC/CMB) for a jet in a state of equipartition between particle and magnetic field energy densities. This model implies that the jet remains highly relativistic hundreds of kpc from the nucleus, with a bulk Lorentz factor Gamma ~ 6 and magnetic field of order 30 microGauss. We detect an apparent radiative cooling break in the synchrotron spectrum of one of the jet knots, and are able to interpret this in terms of a standard one-zone continuous injection model, based on jet parameters derived from the IC/CMB model. However, we note apparent substructure in the bright optical knot in one of the HST bands. We confront the IC/CMB model with independent estimates of the jet power, and find that the IC/CMB model jet power is consistent with the independent estimates, provided that the minimum electron Lorentz factor gamma_min > 50, and the knots are significantly longer than the jet width, as implied by de-projection of the observed knot lengths.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 6 table

The charmonium and bottomonium mass spectroscopy with a simple approximaton of the kinetic term

In this paper we propose a particular description of meson spectroscopy, with emphasis in heavy bound states like charmonia and bottomonia, after working on the main aspects of the construction of an effective potential model. We use the prerogatives from ``soft QCD'' to determine the effective potential terms, establishing the asymptotic Coulomb term from one gluon exchange approximation. At the same time, a linear confinement term is introduced in agreement with QCD and phenomenological prescription. The main aspect of this work is the simplification in the calculation, consequence of a precise and simplified description of the kinetic term of the Hamiltonian. With this proposition we perform the calculations of mass spectroscopy for charmonium and bottomonium mesons and we discuss the real physical possibilities of developing a generalized potential model, its possible advantages relative to experimental parameterization and complexity in numerical calculations

Combining cytotoxicity assessment and Xenopus laevis phenotypic abnormality assay as a predictor of nanomaterial safety

The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, has been used as an efficient pre-clinical screening tool to predict drug safety during the early stages of the drug discovery process. X. laevis is a relatively inexpensive model that can be used in whole organism high-throughput assays whilst maintaining a high degree of homology to the higher vertebrate models often used in scientific research. Despite an ever-increasing volume of biomedical nanoparticles (NPs) in development, their unique physico-chemical properties challenge the use of standard toxicology assays. Here, we present a protocol that directly compares the sensitivity of X. laevis development as a tool to assess potential NP toxicity by observation of embryo phenotypic abnormalities/lethality after NP exposure to in vitro cytotoxicity obtained using mammalian cell lines. In combination with conventional cytotoxicity assays, the X. laevis phenotypic assay provides accurate data to efficiently assess the safety of a novel biomedical NP

The microarcsecond structure of an active galactic nucleus jet via interstellar scintillation

We describe a new tool for studying the structure and physical characteristics of ultracompact AGN jets and their surroundings with microarcsecond precision. This tool is based on the frequency dependence of the light curves observed for intra-day variable radio sources, where the variability is caused by interstellar scintillation. We apply this method to PKS1257-326 to resolve the core-shift as a function of frequency on scales well below ~12 microarcseconds. We find that the frequency dependence of the position of the scintillating component is r \propto \nu^{-0.1 \pm 0.24} (99% confidence interval) and the frequency dependence of the size of the scintillating component is d \propto \nu^{-0.64 \pm 0.006}. Together, these results imply that the jet opening angle increases with distance along the jet: d \propto r^{n_d}$ with n_d > 1.8. We show that the flaring of the jet, and flat frequency dependence of the core position is broadly consistent with a model in which the jet is hydrostatically confined and traversing a steep pressure gradient in the confining medium with p \propto r^{-n_p} and n_p > 7. Such steep pressure gradients have previously been suggested based on VLBI studies of the frequency dependent core shifts in AGN.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap

Discovery of an X-ray Jet and Extended Jet Structure in the Quasar PKS 1055+201

This letter reports rich X-ray jet structures found in the Chandra observation of PKS 1055+201. In addition to an X-ray jet coincident with the radio jet we detect a region of extended X-ray emission surrounding the jet as far from the core as the radio hotspot to the North, and a similar extended X-ray region along the presumed path of the unseen counterjet to the Southern radio lobe. Both X-ray regions show a similar curvature to the west, relative to the quasar. We interpret this as the first example where we separately detect the X-ray emission from a narrow jet and extended, residual jet plasma over the entire length of a powerful FRII jet.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap. J. Letters. 4 pages, 3 figure

Spectrum for Heavy Quankonia and Mixture of the Relevant Wave Functions within the Framework of Bethe-Salpeter Equation

Considering the fact that some excited states of the heavy quarkonia (charmonium and bottomonium) still missing in experimental observations and potential applications of the relevant wave functions of the bound states, we re-analyze the spectrum and the relevant wave functions of the heavy quarkonia within the framework of Bethe-Salpeter (B.S.) equation with a proper QCD-inspired kernel. Such a kernel for the heavy quarkonia, relating to potential of non-relativistic quark model, is instantaneous, so we call the corresponding B.S. equation as BS-In equation throughout the paper. Particularly, a new way to solve the B.S. equation, which is different from the traditional ones, is proposed here, and with it not only the known spectrum for the heavy quarkonia is re-generated, but also an important issue is brought in, i.e., the obtained solutions of the equation `automatically' include the 'fine', 'hyperfine' splittings and the wave function mixture, such as $S-D$ wave mixing in $J^{PC}=1^{--}$ states, $P-F$ wave mixing in $J^{PC}=2^{++}$ states for charmonium and bottomonium etc. It is pointed out that the best place to test the wave mixture probably is at $Z$-factory ($e^+e^-$ collider running at $Z$-boson pole with extremely high luminosity).Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure

Very High Angular Resolution Science with the Square Kilometre Array

Preliminary specifications for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) call for 25% of the total collecting area of the dish array to be located at distances greater than 180 km from the core, with a maximum baseline of at least 3000 km. The array will provide angular resolution ~ 40 - 2 mas at 0.5 - 10 GHz with image sensitivity reaching < 50 nJy/beam in an 8 hour integration with 500 MHz bandwidth. Given these specifications, the high angular resolution component of the SKA will be capable of detecting brightness temperatures < 200 K with milliarcsecond-scale angular resolution. The aim of this article is to bring together in one place a discussion of the broad range of new and important high angular resolution science that will be enabled by the SKA, and in doing so, address the merits of long baselines as part of the SKA. We highlight the fact that high angular resolution requiring baselines greater than 1000 km provides a rich science case with projects from many areas of astrophysics, including important contributions to key SKA science.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Fine structure splittings of excited P and D states in charmonium

It is shown that the fine structure splittings of the $2 ^3P_J$ and $3 ^3P_J$ excited states in charmonium are as large as those of the $1^3P_J$ state if the same $\alpha_s(\mu)\approx 0.36$ is used. The predicted mass $M(2 ^3P_0)=3.84$ GeV appears to be 120 MeV lower that the center of gravity of the $2 ^3P_J$ multiplet and lies below the $D\bar D^*$ threshold. Our value of $M(2 ^3P_0)$ is approximately 80 MeV lower than that from the paper by Godfrey and Isgur while the differences in the other masses are \la 20 MeV. Relativistic kinematics plays an important role in our analysis.Comment: 12 page