Early Spectral Evolution of the Rapidly Expanding Type Ia SN 2006X

We present optical spectroscopic and photometric observations of Type Ia supernova (SN) 2006X from --10 to +91 days after the $B$-band maximum. This SN exhibits one of the highest expansion velocity ever published for SNe Ia. At premaximum phases, the spectra show strong and broad features of intermediate-mass elements such as Si, S, Ca, and Mg, while the O{\sc i}$\lambda$7773 line is weak. The extremely high velocities of Si{\sc ii} and S{\sc ii} lines and the weak O{\sc i} line suggest that an intense nucleosynthesis might take place in the outer layers, favoring a delayed detonation model. Interestingly, Si{\sc ii}$\lambda$5972 feature is quite shallow, resulting in an unusually low depth ratio of Si{\sc ii}$\lambda$5972 to $\lambda$6355, $\cal R$(Si{\sc ii}). The low $\cal R$(Si{\sc ii}) is usually interpreted as a high photospheric temperature. However, the weak Si{\sc iii}$\lambda$4560 line suggests a low temperature, in contradiction to the low $\cal R$(Si{\sc ii}). This could imply that the Si{\sc ii}$\lambda$5972 line might be contaminated by underlying emission. We propose that $\cal R$(Si{\sc ii}) may not be a good temperature indicator for rapidly expanding SNe Ia at premaximum phases.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, (Received 2008 August 17; Accepted 2009 April 13

Bayesian Approach to Find a Long-Term Trend in Erratic Polarization Variations Observed in Blazars

We developed a method to separate a long-term trend from observed temporal variations of polarization in blazars using a Bayesian approach. The temporal variation of the polarization vector is apparently erratic in most blazars, while several objects occasionally exhibited systematic variations, for example, an increase of the polarization degree associated with a flare of the total flux. We assume that the observed polarization vector is a superposition of distinct two components, a long-term trend and a short-term variation component responsible for short flares. Our Bayesian model estimates the long-term trend which satisfies the condition that the total flux correlates with the polarized flux of the short-term component. We demonstrate that assumed long-term polarization components are successfully separated by the Bayesian model for artificial data. We applied this method to photopolarimetric data of OJ 287, S5 0716+714, and S2 0109+224. Simple and systematic long-term trends were obtained in OJ 287 and S2 0109+224, while no such a trend was identified in S5 0716+714. We propose that the apparently erratic variations of polarization in OJ 287 and S2 0109+224 are due to the presence of the long-term polarization component. The behavior of polarization in S5 0716+714 during our observation period implies the presence of a number of polarization components having a quite short time-scale of variations.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Detection of Polarized Broad Emission in the Seyfert 2 Galaxy Mrk 573

We report the discovery of the scattered emission from a hidden broad-line region (BLR) in a Seyfert 2 galaxy, Mrk 573, based on our recent spectropolarimetric observation performed at the Subaru Telescope. This object has been regarded as a type 2 AGN without a hidden BLR by the previous observations. However, our high quality spectrum of the polarized flux of Mrk 573 shows prominent broad (~3000 km/s) H_alpha emission, broad weak H_beta emission, and subtle Fe II multiplet emission. Our new detection of these indications for the presence of the hidden BLR in the nucleus of Mrk 573 is thought to be owing to the high signal-to-noise ratio of our data, but the possibility of a time variation of the scattered BLR emission is also mentioned. Some diagnostic quantities such as the IRAS color, the radio power, and the line ratio of the emission from the narrow-line region of Mrk 573 are consistent with the distributions of such quantities of type 2 AGNs with a hidden BLR. Mrk 573 is thought to be an object whose level of the AGN activity is the weakest among the type 2 AGNs with a hidden BLR. In terms of the systematic differences between the type 2 AGNs with and without a hidden BLR, we briefly comment on an interesting Seyfert 2 galaxy, Mrk 266SW, which may possess a hidden BLR but has been treated as a type 2 AGNs without a hidden BLR.Comment: 9 pages including 6 figures, to appear in The Astronomical Journa

Correlation between Interstellar Polarization and Dust Temperature: Alignment of Grains by Radiative Torques is Ubiquitous?

We investigate the efficiency of interstellar polarization $p_\lambda/A_\lambda$ where $p_\lambda$ is the fractional linear polarization and $A_\lambda$ is extinction, in 16 lines of sight as a function of wavelength $\lambda$. We have used the data obtained with the low-dispersion spectropolarimeter HBS as well as those in literature. It is found that the polarization efficiency $p_\lambda/A_\lambda$ is proportional to $\exp(-\beta/\lambda)$ in wavelength \lambda \approx 0.4-0.8 \micron, where $\beta$ is a parameter which varies from 0.5 to 1.2 \micron. We find that $\beta$ is negatively correlated with the dust temperature deduced from infrared data by Schlegel et al., suggesting that the polarization efficiency is higher in short wavelength for higher temperature. According to the alignment theory by radiative torques (RATs), if the radiation is stronger and bluer, RATs will make small grains align better, and the polarization efficiency will increase in short wavelength. Our finding of the correlation between $\beta$ and the temperature is consistent with what is expected with the alignment mechanism by RATs.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ Letters, Vol.63, October 2011 issu