2,367 research outputs found
Radio Recombination Lines from Starbursts: NGC 3256, NGC 4945 and the Circinus Galaxy
A renewed attempt to detect radio recombination lines from external galaxies
has resulted in the measurement of lines from several bright starburst
galaxies. The lines are produced by hydrogen ionized by young, high-mass stars
and are diagnostic of the conditions and gas dynamics in the starburst regions
without problems of dust obscuration. We present here detections of the lines
H91alpha and H92alpha near 8.6 GHz from the starburst nuclei in NGC 3256, NGC
4945, and the Circinus galaxy using the ATCA and VLA. Modelling the line
emitting region as a collection of H II regions, we derive the required number
of H II regions, their temperature, density, and distribution.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in "Proc 331. Heraeus Seminar: The Evolution of
Starbursts", Bad Honnef, Germany, Aug 16 - 20, 2004, Eds: S. Huettemeister,
S. Aalto, D.J. Bomans, and E. Manthe
Spatial Variations in Galactic H I Structure on AU-Scales Toward 3C 147 Observed with the Very Long Baseline Array
This paper reports dual-epoch, Very Long Baseline Array observations of H I
absorption toward 3C 147. One of these epochs (2005) represents new
observations while one (1998) represents the reprocessing of previous
observations to obtain higher signal-to-noise results. Significant H I opacity
and column density variations, both spatially and temporally, are observed with
typical variations at the level of \Delta\tau ~ 0.20 and in some cases as large
as \Delta\tau ~ 0.70, corresponding to column density fluctuations of order 5 x
10^{19} cm^{-2} for an assumed 50 K spin temperature. The typical angular scale
is 15 mas; while the distance to the absorbing gas is highly uncertain, the
equivalent linear scale is likely to be about 10 AU. Approximately 10% of the
face of the source is covered by these opacity variations, probably implying a
volume filling factor for the small-scale absorbing gas of no more than about
1%. Comparing our results with earlier results toward 3C 138 (Brogan et al.),
we find numerous similarities, and we conclude that small-scale absorbing gas
is a ubiquitous phenomenon, albeit with a low probability of intercept on any
given line of sight. Further, we compare the volumes sampled by the line of
sight through the Galaxy between our two epochs and conclude that, on the basis
of the motion of the Sun alone, these two volumes are likely to be
substantially different. In order to place more significant constraints on the
various models for the origin of these small-scale structures, more frequent
sampling is required in any future observations.Comment: 16 pages with 10 figures in 24 files; AASTeX format; accepted by A
PKS B1400-33: an unusual radio relic in a poor cluster
We present new arcminute resolution radio images of the low surface
brightness radio source PKS B1400-33 that is located in the poor cluster Abell
S753. The observations consist of 330 MHz VLA, 843 MHz MOST and 1398 and 2378
MHz ATCA data. These new images, with higher surface brightness sensitivity
than previous observations, reveal that the large scale structure consists of
extended filamentary emission bounded by edge-brightened rims. The source is
offset on one side of symmetrically distributed X-ray emission that is centered
on the dominant cluster galaxy NGC 5419. PKS B1400-33 is a rare example of a
relic in a poor cluster with radio properties unlike those of most relics and
halos observed in cluster environments.
The diffuse source appears to have had an unusual origin and we discuss
possible mechanisms. We examine whether the source could be re-energized relic
radio plasma or a buoyant synchrotron bubble that is a relic of activity in NGC
5419. The more exciting prospect is that the source is relic plasma preserved
in the cluster gaseous environment following the chance injection of a radio
lobe into the ICM as a result of activity in a galaxy at the periphery of the
cluster.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
The Stellar Content of Obscured Galactic Giant H II Regions IV.: NGC3576
We present deep, high angular resolution near-infrared images of the obscured
Galactic Giant H II region NGC3576. Our images reach objects to ~3M_sun. We
collected high signal-to-noise K-band spectra of eight of the brightest
objects, some of which are affected by excess emission and some which follow a
normal interstellar reddening law. None of them displayed photospheric features
typical of massive OB type stars. This indicates that they are still enshrouded
in their natal cocoons. The K-band brightest source (NGC3576 #48) shows CO 2.3
micron bandhead emission, and three others have the same CO feature in
absorption. Three sources display spatially unresolved H_2 emission, suggesting
dense shocked regions close to the stars. We conclude that the remarkable
object NGC3576 #48 is an early-B/late-O star surrounded by a thick
circumstellar disk. A number of other relatively bright cluster members also
display excess emission in the K-band, indicative of reprocessing disks around
massive stars (YSOs). Such emission appears common in other Galactic Giant H II
regions we have surveyed. The IMF slope of the cluster, Gamma = -1.51, is
consistent with Salpeter's distribution and similar to what has been observed
in the Magellanic Cloud clusters and in the periphery of our Galaxy.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A
Microarcsecond VLBI pulsar astrometry with PSRPI I. Two binary millisecond pulsars with white dwarf companions
Model-independent distance constraints to binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs)
are of great value to both the timing observations of the radio pulsars, and
multiwavelength observations of their companion stars. Very Long Baseline
Interferometry (VLBI) astrometry can be employed to provide these
model-independent distances with very high precision via the detection of
annual geometric parallax. Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we have observed
two binary millisecond pulsars, PSR J1022+1001 and J2145-0750, over a two-year
period and measured their distances to be 700 +14 -10 pc and 613 +16 -14 pc
respectively. We use the well-calibrated distance in conjunction with revised
analysis of optical photometry to tightly constrain the nature of their massive
(M ~ 0.85 Msun) white dwarf companions. Finally, we show that several
measurements of their parallax and proper motion of PSR J1022+1001 and PSR
J2145-0750 obtained by pulsar timing array projects are incorrect, differing
from the more precise VLBI values by up to 5 sigma. We investigate possible
causes for the discrepancy, and find that imperfect modeling of the solar wind
is a likely candidate for the timing model errors given the low ecliptic
latitude of these two pulsars.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables; minor revisions in response to referee
comments to match version accepted by Ap
Microarcsecond VLBI pulsar astrometry with PSR II. parallax distances for 57 pulsars
We present the results of PSR, a large astrometric project targeting
radio pulsars using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). From our astrometric
database of 60 pulsars, we have obtained parallax-based distance measurements
for all but 3, with a parallax precision of typically 40 as and
approaching 10 as in the best cases. Our full sample doubles the number of
radio pulsars with a reliable (5) model-independent distance
constraint. Importantly, many of the newly measured pulsars are well outside
the solar neighbourhood, and so PSR brings a near-tenfold increase in the
number of pulsars with a reliable model-independent distance at kpc.
Using our sample along with previously published results, we show that even the
most recent models of the Galactic electron density distribution model contain
significant shortcomings, particularly at high Galactic latitudes. When
comparing our results to pulsar timing, two of the four millisecond pulsars in
our sample exhibit significant discrepancies in the estimates of proper motion
obtained by at least one pulsar timing array. With additional VLBI observations
to improve the absolute positional accuracy of our reference sources and an
expansion of the number of millisecond pulsars, we will be able to extend the
comparison of proper motion discrepancies to a larger sample of pulsar
reference positions, which will provide a much more sensitive test of the
applicability of the solar system ephemerides used for pulsar timing. Finally,
we use our large sample to estimate the typical accuracy attainable for
differential astrometry with the VLBA when observing pulsars, showing that for
sufficiently bright targets observed 8 times over 18 months, a parallax
uncertainty of 4 as per arcminute of separation between the pulsar and
calibrator can be expected.Comment: updated to version accepted by ApJ: 30 pages, 20 figures, 9 table
OH Zeeman Magnetic Field Detections Toward Five Supernova Remnants Using the VLA
We have observed the OH (1720 MHz) line in five galactic SNRs with the VLA to
measure their magnetic field strengths using the Zeeman effect. We detected all
12 of the bright ( mJy) OH (1720 MHz) masers previously detected
by Frail et al. (1996) and Green et al. (1997) and measured significant
magnetic fields (i.e. ) in ten of them. Assuming that the
``thermal'' Zeeman equation can be used to estimate for OH
masers, our estimated fields range from 0.2 to 2 mG. These magnetic field
strengths are consistent with the hypothesis that ambient molecular cloud
magnetic fields are compressed via the SNR shock to the observed values.
Magnetic fields of this magnitude exert a considerable influence on the
properties of the cloud with the magnetic pressures ( erg
cm) exceeding the pressure in the ISM or even the thermal pressure of
the hot gas interior to the remnant. This study brings the number of galactic
SNRs with OH (1720 MHz) Zeeman detections to ten.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, accepted to ApJ, for higher resolution images
of Figs 4,11, and 12 see http://www.pa.uky.edu/~brogan/brog_publ.htm
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