5,584 research outputs found
Water Maser Emission from the Active Nucleus in M51
22 GHz water vapor `kilomaser' emission is reported from the central region
of the Whirlpool galaxy M 51 (NGC 5194). The red-shifted spectral features
(Vlsr ~ 560 km/s), flaring during most of the year 2000, originate from a
spatially unresolved maser spot of size < 30 mas (< 1.5 pc), displaced by < 250
mas from the nucleus. The data provide the first direct evidence for the
association of an H2O kilomaser with an active galactic nucleus (AGN). In early
2001, blue-shifted maser emission (Vlsr ~ 435 km/s) was also detected. Red- and
blue-shifted features bracket the systemic velocity asymmetrically. Within the
standard model of a rotating Keplerian torus, this may either suggest the
presence of a highly eccentric circumnuclear cloud or red- and blue-shifted
`high velocity' emission from a radially extended torus. Most consistent with
the measured H2O position is, however, an association of the red-shifted H2O
emission with the northern part of the bipolar radio jet. In this scenario, the
(weaker) northern jet is receding while the blue-shifted H2O emission is
associated with the approaching southern jet.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
The Study of Optimization of Thrust Vector Control Systems
Reliability analyses and failure probabilities of S-4B stage automatic pilots and hydraulic thrust vector control system configurations, and compatibility with actuato
The Discovery of Water Maser Emission from Eight Nearby Galaxies
Using the Green Bank Telescope, we conducted a ``snapshot'' survey for water
maser emission toward the nuclei of 611 galaxies and detected eight new
sources. The sample consisted of nearby (v < 5000 km/s) and luminous (M_B <
-19.5) galaxies, some with known nuclear activity but most not previously known
to host AGNs. Our detections include both megamasers associated with AGNs and
relatively low luminosity masers probably associated with star formation. The
detection in UGC 3789 is particularly intriguing because the spectrum shows
both systemic and high-velocity lines indicative of emission from an AGN
accretion disk seen edge-on. Based on six months of monitoring, we detected
accelerations among the systemic features ranging from 2 to 8 km/s/yr, the
larger values belonging to the most redshifted systemic components.
High-velocity maser lines in UGC 3789 show no detectable drift over the same
period. Although UGC 3789 was not known to be an AGN prior to this survey, the
presence of a disk maser is strong evidence for nuclear activity, and an
optical spectrum obtained later has confirmed it. With follow up observations,
it may be possible to measure a geometric distance to UGC 3789.Comment: to appear in Astrophysical Journal, 1 May 200
The Distribution of H2O Maser Emission in the Nucleus of NGC 4945
We present the first interferometer map of the water maser emission in the
active nucleus of NGC 4945. Although the declination of the galaxy is about -49
degrees, we were able to make the observations with the southernmost antennas
of the Very Long Baseline Array. Strong maser emission is present in three
velocity ranges, one near the systemic velocity and two shifted roughly
symmetrically by +/-(100-150) km/s. This is the first detection of highly
blue-shifted water emission in NGC 4945. We determined the position of the
maser to be RA(B1950)= 13 02 32.28 +/- 0.02 ; Dec(B1950)= -49 12 01.9 +/- 0.1.
The uncertainties in earlier estimates are at least several arcseconds. The
maser lies within 2'' (36 pc at a distance of 3.7 Mpc) of the peaks in 1.4 GHz
continuum and 1.6 micron emission from the nucleus. The mappable maser emission
is distributed roughly linearly over about 40 milliarcseconds (0.7 pc) at a
position angle of about 45 degrees, which is close to the 43 +/- 2 degree
position angle of the galactic disk. The red and blue-shifted emission
symmetrically stradle the systemic emission on the sky, which suggests material
in edge-on circular motion around a central object. The position-velocity
structure indicates a binding mass of about one million Suns, within a volume
of radius about 0.3 pc. This implies that the central engine radiates on the
order of 10% of its Eddington luminosity.Comment: 18 pages, including 5 Postscript figures. Accepted for publication in
ApJ Letter
VLBI study of water maser emission in the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC5793. I: Imaging blueshifted emission and the parsec-scale jet
We present the first result of VLBI observations of the blueshifted water
maser emission from the type 2 Seyfert galaxy NGC5793, which we combine with
new and previous VLBI observations of continuum emission at 1.7, 5.0, 8.4, 15,
and 22 GHz. Maser emission was detected earlier in single-dish observations and
found to have both red- and blueshifted features relative to the systemic
velocity. We could image only the blueshifted emission, which is located 3.6 pc
southwest of the 22 GHz continuum peak. The blueshifted emission was found to
originate in two clusters that are separated by 0.7 milliarcsecond (0.16 pc).
No compact continuum emission was found within 3.6 pc of the maser spot. A
compact continuum source showing a marginally inverted spectrum between 1.7 and
5.0 GHz was found 4.2 pc southwest of the maser position. The spectral turnover
might be due to synchrotron self-absorption caused by a shock in the jet owing
to collision with dense gas, or it might be due to free-free absorption in an
ionized screen possibly the inner part of a disk, foreground to the jet.
The water maser may be part of a maser disk. If so, it would be rotating in
the opposite sense to the highly inclined galactic disk observed in CO
emission. We estimate a binding mass within 1 pc of the presumed nucleus to be
on the order of 10^7 Msun. Alternatively, the maser emission could result from
the amplification of a radio jet by foreground circumnuclear molecular gas. In
this case, the high blueshift of the maser emission might mean that the masing
region is moving outward away from the molecular gas surrounding an active
nucleus.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, to appear in ApJ, Oct. 200
Position-Velocity Diagrams for the Maser Emission coming from a Keplerian Ring
We have studied the maser emission from a thin, planar, gaseous ring in
Keplerian rotation around a central mass observed edge-on. The absorption
coefficient within the ring is assumed to follow a power law dependence with
the distance from the central mass as, k=k0r^{-q}. We have calculated
position-velocity diagrams for the most intense maser features, for different
values of the exponent q. We have found that, depending on the value of q,
these diagrams can be qualitatively different. The most intense maser emission
at a given velocity can either come mainly from regions close to the inner or
outer edges of the amplifying ring or from the line perpendicular to the line
of sight and passing through the central mass (as is commonly assumed).
Particularly, when q>1 the position-velocity diagram is qualitatively similar
to the one observed for the water maser emission in the nucleus of the galaxy
NGC 4258. In the context of this simple model, we conclude that in this object
the absorption coefficient depends on the radius of the amplifying ring as a
decreasing function, in order to have significant emission coming from the
inner edge of the ring.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, to appear in the 2007 July 20 issue of The
Astrophysical Journa
High resolution sub-millimetre mapping of starburst galaxies: Comparison with CO emission
Researchers present first results from a program of submillimeter continuum mapping of starburst galaxies, and comparison of their dust and CO emission. This project was prompted by surprising results from the first target, the nearby starburst M82, which shows in the dust continuum a morphology quite unlike that of its CO emission, in contrast to what might be expected if both CO and dust are accurately tracing the molecular hydrogen. Possible explanations for this striking difference are discussed. In the light of these results, the program has been extended to include sub-mm mapping of the nearby, vigorously star forming spirals, M83 and Maffei 2. The latter were also observed extensively in CO, in order to study excitation conditions in its central regions. The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope was used in these studies
Specific heat and thermal conductivity in the mixed state of MgB2
The specific heat C and the electronic and phononic thermal conductivities
kappa_e and kappa_{ph} are calculated in the mixed state for magnetic fields H
near H_{c2}. The effects of supercurrent flow and Andreev scattering of the
Abrikosov vortex lattice on the quasiparticles are taken into account. The
resulting function C(H) is nearly linear while kappa_e(H) exhibits an upward
curvature near H_{c2}. The slopes decrease with impurity scattering which
improves the agreement with the data on MgB_2. The ratio of phonon relaxation
times tau_n/tau_s = g(omega_0,H) for phonon energy omega_0, which is nearly a
step function at omega_0 = 2Delta for the BCS state, is smeared out and tends
to one for increasing H. This leads to a rapid reduction of kappa_{ph}(H) in
MgB_2 for relatively small fields due to the rapid suppression of the smaller
energy gap.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Letter
First-principles study on dielectric properties of NaCl crystal and ultrathin NaCl films under finite external electric field
We present a first-principles study on the dielectric properties of an NaCl
crystal and ultrathin NaCl films under a finite external electric field. Our
results show that the high-frequency dielectric constant of the films is not
affected by the finite size effect from crystal surfaces and is close to that
of the crystal, whereas the static one is sensitive to the thickness of the
film due to the difference in the atomic configurations between the surface and
inside of the film.Comment: 11 pages and 4 figure
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