4,284 research outputs found
PKS 1004+13: A High-Inclination, Highly-Absorbed Radio-Loud QSO -- The First Radio-Loud BAL QSO at Low Redshift?
The existence of BAL outflows in only radio-quiet QSOs was thought to be an
important clue to mass ejection and the radio-loud - radio-quiet dichotomy.
Recently a few radio-loud BAL QSOs have been discovered at high redshift. We
present evidence that PKS 1004+13 is a radio-loud BAL QSO. It would be the
first known at low-redshift (z = 0.24), and one of the most radio luminous. For
PKS 1004+13, there appear to be broad absorption troughs of O VI, N V, Si IV,
and C IV, indicating high-ionization outflows up to about 10,000 km/s. There
are also two strong, broad (~500 km/s), high-ionization, associated absorption
systems that show partial covering of the continuum source. The strong UV
absorption we have detected suggests that the extreme soft-X-ray weakness of
PKS 1004+13 is primarily the result of absorption. The large radio-lobe
dominance indicates BAL and associated gas at high inclinations to the central
engine axis, perhaps in a line-of-sight that passes through an accretion disk
wind.Comment: To appear in Ap.J. Letters, 1999 (June or July); 4 pages, 5 figure
Toward Perfection: Kapellasite, Cu3Zn(OH)6Cl2, a New Model S = 1/2 Kagome Antiferromagnet
The search for the resonating valence bond (RVB) state continues to underpin
many areas of condensed matter research. The RVB is made from the dimerisation
of spins on different sites into fluctuating singlets, and was proposed by
Anderson to be the reference state from which the transition to BCS
superconductivity occurs. Little is known about the state experimentally, due
to the scarcity of model materials. Theoretical work has put forward the S =
1/2 kagome antiferromagnet (KAFM) as a good candidate for the realization of
the RVB state. In this paper we introduce a new model system, the S = 1/2 KAFM
Kapellasite, Cu3Zn(OH)6Cl2. We show that its crystal structure is a good
approximation to a 2-dimensional kagome antiferromagnet and that susceptibility
data indicate a collapse of the magnetic moment below T = 25 K that is
compatible with the spins condensing into the non-magnetic RVB state.Comment: Communication, 3 pages, 3 figure
Eine Erweiterung der Croftonschen Formeln für konvexe Körper
§0. Einführung. Durch die bekannten Croftonschen Integrale können bekanntlich die Minkowskischen Quermaβintegrale konvexer Körper dargestellt werden. In der vorliegenden Note betrachten wir gewisse Erweiterungen dieser klassischen integralgeometrischen Formeln, durch die allgemeinere invariante Eikörperfunktionale gegeben sind. Es handelt sich hierbei um kinematische Integrale mit beweglichen unterdimensionalen Teilräumen, wobei passend gewahlte Funktionen ihrer Abstände vom Eikörper eingehe
Eddington Accretion and QSO Emission Lines at z ~ 2
Broad Absorption Line (BAL) QSOs have been suggested to be youthful
super-accretors based on their powerful radiatively driven absorbing outflows
and often reddened continua. To test this hypothesis, we observed near IR
spectra of the H region for 11 bright BAL QSOs at redshift z ~ 2. We
measured these and literature spectra for 6 BAL QSOs, 13 radio-loud and 7
radio-quiet non-BAL QSOs. Using the luminosity and H broad line width to
derive black hole mass and accretion rate, we find that both BAL and non-BAL
QSOs at z ~ 2 tend to have higher than those at low z -- probably a
result of selecting the brightest QSOs. However, we find that the high z QSOs,
in particular the BAL QSOs, have extremely strong Fe II and very weak [O III],
extending the inverse relationship found for low z QSOs. This suggests that,
even while radiating near , the BAL QSOs have a more plentiful fuel
supply than non-BAL QSOs. Comparison with low z QSOs shows for the first time
that the inverse Fe II -- [O III] relationship is indeed related to
, rather than black hole mass.Comment: 18 pages including 5 figures and 1 table. Accepted by the
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Solar Coronal Structures and Stray Light in TRACE
Using the 2004 Venus transit of the Sun to constrain a semi-empirical
point-spread function for the TRACE EUV solar telescope, we have measured the
effect of stray light in that telescope. We find that 43% of 171A EUV light
that enters TRACE is scattered, either through diffraction off the entrance
filter grid or through other nonspecular effects. We carry this result forward,
via known-PSF deconvolution of TRACE images, to identify its effect on analysis
of TRACE data. Known-PSF deconvolution by this derived PSF greatly reduces the
effect of visible haze in the TRACE 171A images, enhances bright features, and
reveals that the smooth background component of the corona is considerably less
bright (and hence much more rarefied) than commonly supposed. Deconvolution
reveals that some prior conlclusions about the Sun appear to have been based on
stray light in the images. In particular, the diffuse background "quiet corona"
becomes consistent with hydrostatic support of the coronal plasma; feature
contrast is greatly increased, possibly affecting derived parameters such as
the form of the coronal heating function; and essentially all existing
differential emission measure studies of small features appear to be affected
by contamination from nearby features. We speculate on further implications of
stray light for interpretation of EUV images from TRACE and similar
instruments, and advocate deconvolution as a standard tool for image analysis
with future instruments such as SDO/AIA.Comment: Accepted by APJ; v2 reformatted to single-column format for online
readabilit
On the Nature of Soft X-ray Weak Quasi-Stellar Objects
Recent studies of QSOs with ROSAT suggest the existence of a significant
population of Soft X-ray Weak QSOs (SXW QSOs) where the soft X-ray flux is ~
10-30 times smaller than in typical QSOs. As a first step in a systematic study
of these objects, we establish a well-defined sample of SXW QSOs which includes
all alpha_ox<=-2 QSOs from the Boroson & Green (1992) sample of 87 BQS QSOs.
SXW QSOs comprise about 11% of this optically selected QSO sample. From an
analysis of CIV absorption in the 55 BG92 QSOs with available CIV data, we find
a remarkably strong correlation between alpha_ox and the CIV absorption
equivalent width. This correlation suggests that absorption is the primary
cause of soft X-ray weakness in QSOs, and it reveals a continuum of absorption
properties connecting unabsorbed QSOs, X-ray warm absorber QSOs, SXW QSOs and
BAL QSOs. From a practical point of view, our correlation demonstrates that
selection by soft X-ray weakness is an effective (>=80% successful) and
observationally inexpensive way to find low-redshift QSOs with strong and
interesting ultraviolet absorption. We have also identified several notable
differences between the optical emission-line properties of SXW QSOs and those
of the other BG92 QSOs. SXW QSOs show systematically low [O III] luminosities
as well as distinctive H-beta profiles. They tend to lie toward the weak-[O
III] end of BG92 eigenvector 1, as do many low-ionization BAL QSOs. Unabsorbed
Seyferts and QSOs with similar values of eigenvector 1 have been suggested to
have extreme values of a primary physical parameter, perhaps mass accretion
rate relative to the Eddington rate (M-dot/M-dot_{Edd}). If these suggestions
are correct, it is likely that SXW QSOs also tend to have generally high values
of (M-dot/M-dot_{Edd}). (Abridged)Comment: 34 pages, ApJ accepted, also available from
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/papers/papers.htm
Vesignieite: a kagome antiferromagnet with dominant third-neighbor exchange
The spin- kagome antiferromagnet is an archetypal frustrated
system predicted to host a variety of exotic magnetic states. We show using
neutron scattering measurements that deuterated vesignieite
BaCuVO(OD), a fully stoichiometric kagome
magnet with 1% lattice distortion, orders magnetically at
K into a multi-k coplanar variant of the predicted triple-k
octahedral structure. We find this structure is stabilized by a dominant
antiferromagnetic 3-neighbor exchange with minor
1- or 2--neighbour exchange. The spin-wave
spectrum is well described by a -only model including a tiny symmetric
exchange anisotropy
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