1,661 research outputs found
Global Cosmological Parameters Determined Using Classical Double Radio Galaxies
A sample of 20 powerful extended radio galaxies with redshifts between zero
and two were used to determine constraints on global cosmological parameters.
Data for six radio sources were obtained from the VLA archive, analyzed, and
combined with the sample of 14 radio galaxies used previously by Guerra & Daly
to determine cosmological parameters. The results are consistent with our
previous results, and indicate that the current value of the mean mass density
of the universe is significantly less than the critical value. A universe with
of unity is ruled out at 99.0% confidence, and the best fitting
values of in matter are and
assuming zero space curvature and zero cosmological
constant, respectively. Note that identical results obtain when the low
redshift bin, which includes Cygnus A, is excluded; these results are
independent of whether the radio source Cygnus A is included. The method does
not rely on a zero-redshift normalization.
The radio properties of each source are also used to determine the density of
the gas in the vicinity of the source, and the beam power of the source. The
six new radio sources have physical characteristics similar to those found for
the original 14 sources. The density of the gas around these radio sources is
typical of gas in present day clusters of galaxies. The beam powers are
typically about .Comment: 39 pages includes 21 figures, accepted to Ap
New lambda6cm observations of the Cygnus Loop
Radio continuum and polarization observations of the entire Cygnus Loop at
6cm wavelength were made with the Urumqi 25m telescope. The 6cm map is analysed
together with recently published maps from the Effelsberg 100m telescope at
21cm and 11cm. The integrated flux density of the Cygnus Loop at 6cm is
90+/-9Jy, which implies a spectral index of -0.40+/-0.06 being consistent with
that of Uyaniker et al. (2004) in the wavelength range up to 11cm. This rules
out any global spectral steepening up to 6cm. However, small spectral index
variations in some regions of the source are possible, but there are no
indications for any spectral curvature. The linear polarization data at 6cm
show percentage polarizations up to 35% in some areas of the Cygnus Loop,
exceeding those observed at 11cm. The Rotation Measure is around -21rad/m^2 in
the southern area, which agrees with previous observations. However, the
distribution of Rotation Measures is rather complex in the northern part of the
Cygnus Loop, where the 21cm emission is totally depolarized. Rotation Measures
based on 11cm and 6cm data are significantly larger than in the southern part.
The difference in the polarization characteristic between the northern and
southern part supports previous ideas that the Cygnus Loop consists of two
supernova remnants.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Spinning compact binary inspiral II: Conservative angular dynamics
We establish the evolution equations of the set of independent variables
characterizing the 2PN rigorous conservative dynamics of a spinning compact
binary, with the inclusion of the leading order spin-orbit, spin-spin and mass
quadrupole - mass monopole effects, for generic (noncircular, nonspherical)
orbits. More specifically, we give a closed system of first order ordinary
differential equations for the orbital elements of the osculating ellipse and
for the angles characterizing the spin orientations with respect to the
osculating orbit. We also prove that (i) the relative angle of the spins stays
constant for equal mass black holes, irrespective of their orientation, and
(ii) the special configuration of equal mass black holes with equal, but
antialigned spins, both laying in the plane of motion (leading to the largest
recoil found in numerical simulations) is preserved at 2PN level of accuracy,
with leading order spin-orbit, spin-spin and mass quadrupolar contributions
included.Comment: v2: 19 pages, extended, improved, published versio
Detecting the harmonics of oscillations with time-variable frequencies
A method is introduced for the spectral analysis of complex noisy signals containing several frequency components. It enables components that are independent to be distinguished from the harmonics of nonsinusoidal oscillatory processes of lower frequency. The method is based on mutual information and surrogate testing combined with the wavelet transform, and it is applicable to relatively short time series containing frequencies that are time variable. Where the fundamental frequency and harmonics of a process can be identified, the characteristic shape of the corresponding oscillation can be determined, enabling adaptive filtering to remove other components and nonoscillatory noise from the signal. Thus the total bandwidth of the signal can be correctly partitioned and the power associated with each component then can be quantified more accurately. The method is first demonstrated on numerical examples. It is then used to identify the higher harmonics of oscillations in human skin blood flow, both spontaneous and associated with periodic iontophoresis of a vasodilatory agent. The method should be equally relevant to all situations where signals of comparable complexity are encountered, including applications in astrophysics, engineering, and electrical circuits, as well as in other areas of physiology and biology
A Chandra study of particle acceleration in the multiple hotspots of nearby radio galaxies
We present Chandra observations of a small sample of nearby classical double
radio galaxies which have more than one radio hotspot in at least one of their
lobes. The X-ray emission from the hotspots of these comparatively low-power
objects is expected to be synchrotron in origin, and therefore to provide
information about the locations of high-energy particle acceleration. In some
models of the relationship between the jet and hotspot the hotspots that are
not the current jet termination point should be detached from the energy supply
from the active nucleus and therefore not capable of accelerating particles to
high energies. We find that in fact some secondary hotspots are X-ray sources,
and thus probably locations for high-energy particle acceleration after the
initial jet termination shock. In detail, though, we show that the spatial
structures seen in X-ray are not consistent with naive expectations from a
simple shock model: the current locations of the acceleration of the
highest-energy observable particles in powerful radio galaxies need not be
coincident with the peaks of radio or even optical emission.Comment: Accepted for ApJ. 33 pages, 8 figures inc. 2 in colo
The Origin of X-shaped Radio Galaxies: Clues from the Z-symmetric Secondary Lobes
Existing radio images of a few X-shaped radio galaxies reveal Z-symmetric
morphologies in their weaker secondary lobes which cannot be naturally
explained by either the galactic merger or radio-lobe backflow scenarios, the
two dominant models for these X-shaped radio sources. We show that the merger
picture can explain these morphologies provided one takes into account that,
prior to the coalescence of their supermassive black holes, the smaller galaxy
releases significant amounts of gas into the ISM of the dominant active galaxy.
This rotating gas, whose angular momentum axis will typically not be aligned
with the original jets, is likely to provide sufficient ram pressure at a
distance ~10 kpc from the nucleus to bend the extant jets emerging from the
central engine, thus producing a Z-symmetry in the pair of radio lobes. Once
the two black holes have coalesced some 10^7 yr later, a rapid reorientation of
the jets along a direction close to that of the orbital angular momentum of the
swallowed galaxy relative to the primary galaxy would create the younger
primary lobes of the X-shaped radio galaxy. This picture naturally explains why
such sources typically have powers close to the FR I/II break. We suggest that
purely Z-symmetric radio sources are often en route to coalescence and the
concomitant emission of substantial gravitational radiation, while X-shaped
ones have already merged and radiated.Comment: 12 pages, 1 compressed figure; accepted for publication in ApJ
Letter
The 74MHz System on the Very Large Array
The Naval Research Laboratory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
completed implementation of a low frequency capability on the VLA at 73.8 MHz
in 1998. This frequency band offers unprecedented sensitivity (~25 mJy/beam)
and resolution (~25 arcsec) for low-frequency observations. We review the
hardware, the calibration and imaging strategies, comparing them to those at
higher frequencies, including aspects of interference excision and wide-field
imaging. Ionospheric phase fluctuations pose the major difficulty in
calibrating the array. Over restricted fields of view or at times of extremely
quiescent ionospheric ``weather'', an angle-invariant calibration strategy can
be used. In this approach a single phase correction is devised for each
antenna, typically via self-calibration. Over larger fields of view or at times
of more normal ionospheric ``weather'' when the ionospheric isoplanatic patch
size is smaller than the field of view, we adopt a field-based strategy in
which the phase correction depends upon location within the field of view. This
second calibration strategy was implemented by modeling the ionosphere above
the array using Zernike polynomials. Images of 3C sources of moderate strength
are provided as examples of routine, angle-invariant calibration and imaging.
Flux density measurements indicate that the 74 MHz flux scale at the VLA is
stable to a few percent, and tied to the Baars et al. value of Cygnus A at the
5 percent level. We also present an example of a wide-field image, devoid of
bright objects and containing hundreds of weaker sources, constructed from the
field-based calibration. We close with a summary of lessons the 74 MHz system
offers as a model for new and developing low-frequency telescopes. (Abridged)Comment: 73 pages, 46 jpeg figures, to appear in ApJ
Quintessence, Cosmology, and Fanaroff-Riley Type IIB Radio Galaxies
Fanaroff-Riley type IIb (FR IIb) radio galaxies provide a modified standard
yardstick that allows constraints to be placed on global cosmological
parameters. A sample of 20 FR IIb radio galaxies with redshifts between 0 and 2
are compared with the parent population of 70 radio galaxies to determine the
coordinate distance to each source. The coordinate-distance determinations are
used to constrain the current mean mass-energy density of quintessence
, the equation of state of the quintessence w, and the current mean
mass-energy density of nonrelativistic matter ; zero space curvature
is assumed. Radio galaxies alone indicate that the universe is currently
accelerating in its expansion (with 84% confidence); most of the allowed
parameter space falls within the accelerating universe region on the
-w plane. This provides verification of the acceleration of the
universe indicated by high-redshift supernovae and suggests that neither method
is plagued by systematic errors. It is found that must be less than
about 0.5 and the equation of state w of the quintessence must lie between
-0.25 and -2.5 at about 90% confidence. Fits of the radio galaxy data constrain
the model parameter , which describes a relation between the beam power
of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and the total energy expelled through
large-scale jets. It is shown that the empirically determined model parameter
is consistent with models in which the outflow results from the electromagnetic
extraction of rotational energy from the central compact object. A specific
relation between the strength of the magnetic field near the AGN and the spin
angular momentum per unit mass of the central compact object is predicted
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