Integral field spectroscopy of nearby QSOs: I. ENLR size-luminosity relation, ongoing star formation & resolved gas-phase metallicities

[abridged] We present optical integral field spectroscopy for a flux-limited sample of 19 QSOs at z<0.2 and spatially resolve their ionized gas properties at a physical resolution of 2-5kpc. The extended narrow line regions (ENLRs), photoionized by the radiation of AGN, have sizes of up to several kpc and correlate more strongly with the QSO continuum luminosity than with the integrated [OIII] luminosity. We find a relation of the form log(r)~(0.46+-0.04)log(L_5100), reinforcing the picture of an approximately constant ionization parameter for the ionized clouds across the ENLR. Besides the ENLR, we also find gas ionized by young massive stars in more than 50 per cent of the galaxies on kpc scales. In more than half of the sample, the specific star formation rates based on the extinction-corrected Ha luminosity are consistent with those of inactive disc-dominated galaxies, even for some bulge-dominated QSO hosts. Enhanced SFRs of up to 70Msun/yr are rare and always associated with signatures of major mergers. Comparison with the SFR based on the 60+100micron FIR luminosity suggests that the FIR luminosity is systematically contaminated by AGN emission and Ha appears to be a more robust and sensitive tracer for the star formation rate. Evidence for efficient AGN feedback is scarce in our sample, but some of our QSO hosts lack signatures of ongoing star formation leading to a reduced specific SFR with respect to the main sequence of galaxies. Based on 12 QSOs where we can make measurements, we find that on average bulge-dominated QSO host galaxies tend to fall below the mass-metallicity relation compared to their disc-dominated counterparts. While not yet statistically significant for our small sample, this may provide a useful diagnostic for future large surveys if this metal dilution can be shown to be linked to recent or ongoing galaxy interactions.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Long-range Energy Transfer and Ionization in Extended Quantum Systems Driven by Ultrashort Spatially Shaped Laser Pulses

The processes of ionization and energy transfer in a quantum system composed of two distant H atoms with an initial internuclear separation of 100 atomic units (5.29 nm) have been studied by the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Thereby it has been assumed that only one of the two H atoms was excited by temporally and spatially shaped laser pulses at various laser carrier frequencies. The quantum dynamics of the extended H-H system, which was taken to be initially either in an unentangled or an entangled ground state, has been explored within a linear three-dimensional model, including two z coordinates of the electrons and the internuclear distance R. An efficient energy transfer from the laser-excited H atom (atom A) to the other H atom (atom B) and the ionization of the latter have been found. It has been shown that the physical mechanisms of the energy transfer as well as of the ionization of atom B are the Coulomb attraction of the laser driven electron of atom A by the proton of atom B and a short-range Coulomb repulsion of the two electrons when their wave functions strongly overlap in the domain of atom B.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

HE 0047-1756: A new gravitationally lensed double QSO

The quasar HE 0047-1756, at z=1.67, is found to be split into two images 1.44" apart by an intervening galaxy acting as a gravitational lens. The flux ratio for the two components is roughly 3.5:1, depending slightly upon wavelength. The lensing galaxy is seen on images obtained at 800 nm and 2.1 \mu; there is also a nearby faint object which may be responsible for some shear. The spectra of the two quasar images are nearly identical, but the emission line ratio between the two components scale differently from the continuum. Moreover, the fainter component has a bluer continuum slope than the brighter one. We argue that these small differences are probably due to microlensing. There are hints of an Einstein ring emanating from the brighter image toward the fainter one.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to A&A Letter

Influence of Coulomb and Phonon Interaction on the Exciton Formation Dynamics in Semiconductor Heterostructures

A microscopic theory is developed to analyze the dynamics of exciton formation out of incoherent carriers in semiconductor heterostructures. The carrier Coulomb and phonon interaction is included consistently. A cluster expansion method is used to systematically truncate the hierarchy problem. By including all correlations up to the four-point (i.e. two-particle) level, the fundamental fermionic substructure of excitons is fully included. The analysis shows that the exciton formation is an intricate process where Coulomb correlations rapidly build up on a picosecond time scale while phonon dynamics leads to true exciton formation on a slow nanosecond time scale.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure

COSBO: The MAMBO 1.2 Millimeter Imaging Survey of the COSMOS Field

The inner 20 × 20 arcmin^2 of the COSMOS field was imaged at 250 GHz (1.2 mm) to an rms noise level of ~1 mJy per 11" beam using the Max-Planck Millimeter Bolometer Array (MAMBO-2) at the IRAM 30 m telescope. We detect 15 sources at significance between 4 and 7 σ, 11 of which are also detected at 1.4 GHz with the VLA with a flux density >24 μJy (3 σ). We identify 12 more lower significance mm sources based on their association with faint radio sources. We present the multifrequency identifications of the MAMBO sources, including VLA radio flux densities, optical and near-infrared identifications, as well as the XMM-Newton X-ray detection for two of the mm sources. We compare radio and optical photometric redshifts and briefly describe the host galaxy morphologies. The colors of the identified optical counterparts suggest most of them to be high-redshift (z ~ 2-3) star-forming galaxies. At least three sources appear lensed by a foreground galaxy. We highlight some MAMBO sources that do not show obvious radio counterparts. These sources could be dusty starburst galaxies at redshifts >3.5. The 250 GHz source areal density in the COSMOS field is comparable to that seen in other deep mm fields

Sub-Cycle Interference upon Tunnel-Ionization by Counterrotating Two-Color Fields

We report on three-dimensional (3D) electron momentum distributions from single ionization of helium by a laser pulse consisting of two counterrotating circularly polarized fields (390 nm and 780 nm). A pronounced 3D low energy structure and sub-cycle interferences are observed experimentally and reproduced numerically using a trajectory based semi-classical simulation. The orientation of the low energy structure in the polarization plane is verified by numerical simulations solving the time dependent Schr\"odinger equation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, PRA Rapid Communications accepte

Mapping the ionised gas around the luminous QSO HE 1029-1401: Evidence for minor merger events?

We present VIMOS integral field spectroscopy of the brightest radio-quiet QSO on the southern sky HE 1029-1401 at a redshift of z=0.086. Standard decomposition techniques for broad-band imaging are extended to integral field data in order to deblend the QSO and host emission. We perform a tentative analysis of the stellar continuum finding a young stellar population (<100Myr) or a featureless continuum embedded in an old stellar population (10Gyr) typical for a massive elliptical galaxy. The stellar velocity dispersion of sigma_*=320\pm90 km/s and the estimated black hole mass log(M_BH/M_sun)=8.7\pm0.3 are consistent with the local M_BH-sigma_* relation within the errors. For the first time we map the two-dimensional ionised gas distribution and the gas velocity field around HE 1029-1401. While the stellar host morphology is purely elliptical we find a highly structured distribution of ionised gas out to 16 kpc from the QSO. The gas is highly ionised solely by the QSO radiation and has a significantly lower metallicity than would be expected for the stellar mass of the host, indicating an external origin of the gas most likely due to minor mergers. We find a rotating gas disc around the QSO and a dispersion-dominated non-rotating gas component within the central 3 kpc. At larger distances the velocity field is heavily disturbed, which could be interpreted as another signature of past minor merger events. Alternatively, the arc-like structure seen in the ionised gas might also be indicative of a large-scale expanding bubble, centred on and possibly driven by the active nucleus.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&

Long-lived driven solid-state quantum memory

We investigate the performance of inhomogeneously broadened spin ensembles as quantum memories under continuous dynamical decoupling. The role of the continuous driving field is two-fold: first, it decouples individual spins from magnetic noise; second and more important, it suppresses and reshapes the spectral inhomogeneity of spin ensembles. We show that a continuous driving field, which itself may also be inhomogeneous over the ensemble, can enhance the decay of the tails of the inhomogeneous broadening distribution considerably. This fact enables a spin ensemble based quantum memory to exploit the effect of cavity protection and achieve a much longer storage time. In particular, for a spin ensemble with a Lorentzian spectral distribution, our calculations demonstrate that continuous dynamical decoupling has the potential to improve its storage time by orders of magnitude for the state-of-art experimental parameters