The central molecular gas structure in LINERs with low luminosity AGN: evidence for gradual disappearance of the torus

We present observations of the molecular gas in the nuclear environment of three prototypical low luminosity AGN (LLAGN), based on VLT/SINFONI AO-assisted integral-field spectroscopy of H2 1-0 S(1) emission at angular resolutions of ~0.17". On scales of 50-150 pc the spatial distribution and kinematics of the molecular gas are consistent with a rotating thin disk, where the ratio of rotation (V) to dispersion (sigma) exceeds unity. However, in the central 50 pc, the observations reveal a geometrically and optically thick structure of molecular gas (V/sigma10^{23} cm^{-2}) that is likely to be associated with the outer extent of any smaller scale obscuring structure. In contrast to Seyfert galaxies, the molecular gas in LLAGN has a V/sigma<1 over an area that is ~9 times smaller and column densities that are in average ~3 times smaller. We interpret these results as evidence for a gradual disappearance of the nuclear obscuring structure. While a disk wind may not be able to maintain a thick rotating structure at these luminosities, inflow of material into the nuclear region could provide sufficient energy to sustain it. In this context, LLAGN may represent the final phase of accretion in current theories of torus evolution. While the inflow rate is considerable during the Seyfert phase, it is slowly decreasing, and the collisional disk is gradually transitioning to become geometrically thin. Furthermore, the nuclear region of these LLAGN is dominated by intermediate-age/old stellar populations (with little or no on-going star formation), consistent with a late stage of evolution.Comment: 15 pages, including 4 figures and 1 table, Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

The Keck/OSIRIS Nearby AGN Survey (KONA) I. The Nuclear K-band Properties of Nearby AGN

We introduce the Keck Osiris Nearby AGN survey (KONA), a new adaptive optics-assisted integral-field spectroscopic survey of Seyfert galaxies. KONA permits at ~0.1" resolution a detailed study of the nuclear kinematic structure of gas and stars in a representative sample of 40 local bona fide active galactic nucleus (AGN). KONA seeks to characterize the physical processes responsible for the coevolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies, principally inflows and outflows. With these IFU data of the nuclear regions of 40 Seyfert galaxies, the KONA survey will be able to study, for the first time, a number of key topics with meaningful statistics. In this paper we study the nuclear K-band properties of nearby AGN. We find that the luminosities of the unresolved Seyfert 1 sources at 2.1 microns are correlated with the hard X-ray luminosities, implying that the majority of the emission is non-stellar. The best-fit correlation is logLK = 0.9logL2-10 keV + 4 over 3 orders of magnitude in both K-band and X-ray luminosities. We find no strong correlation between 2.1 microns luminosity and hard X-ray luminosity for the Seyfert 2 galaxies. The spatial extent and spectral slope of the Seyfert 2 galaxies indicate the presence of nuclear star formation and attenuating material (gas and dust), which in some cases is compact and in some galaxies extended. We detect coronal-line emission in 36 galaxies and for the first time in five galaxies. Finally, we find 4/20 galaxies that are optically classified as Seyfert 2 show broad emission lines in the near-IR, and one galaxy (NGC 7465) shows evidence of a double nucleus.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 19 pages with 18 figure

Emitters of NN-photon bundles

We propose a scheme based on the coherent excitation of a two-level system in a cavity to generate an ultrabright CW and focused source of quantum light that comes in groups (bundles) of $N$ photons, for an integer $N$ tunable with the frequency of the exciting laser. We define a new quantity, the \emph{purity} of $N$-photon emission, to describe the percentage of photons emitted in bundles, thus bypassing the limitations of Glauber correlation functions. We focus on the case $1\le N\le3$ and show that close to 100% of two-photon emission and 90% of three-photon emission is within reach of state of the art cavity QED samples. The statistics of the bundles emission shows that various regimes---from $N$-photon lasing to $N$-photon guns---can be realized. This is evidenced through generalized correlation functions that extend the standard definitions to the multi-photon level.Comment: Introduce the n-th order N-photon correlation functions. Reorganized to emphasize the N-photon emitter, now extended to the antibunching regime, rather than only coherent emission as previsoul

Optimization of soliton ratchets in inhomogeneous sine-Gordon systems

Unidirectional motion of solitons can take place, although the applied force has zero average in time, when the spatial symmetry is broken by introducing a potential $V(x)$, which consists of periodically repeated cells with each cell containing an asymmetric array of strongly localized inhomogeneities at positions $x_{i}$. A collective coordinate approach shows that the positions, heights and widths of the inhomogeneities (in that order) are the crucial parameters so as to obtain an optimal effective potential $U_{opt}$ that yields a maximal average soliton velocity. $U_{opt}$ essentially exhibits two features: double peaks consisting of a positive and a negative peak, and long flat regions between the double peaks. Such a potential can be obtained by choosing inhomogeneities with opposite signs (e.g., microresistors and microshorts in the case of long Josephson junctions) that are positioned close to each other, while the distance between each peak pair is rather large. These results of the collective variables theory are confirmed by full simulations for the inhomogeneous sine-Gordon system

Anisotropic thermal expansion and magnetostriction of YNi2_2B2_2C single crystals

We present results of anisotropic thermal expansion and low temperature magnetostriction measurements on YNi$_2$B$_2$C single crystals grown by high temperature flux and floating zone techniques. Quantum oscillations of magnetostriction were observed at low temperatures for $H \| c$ starting at fields significantly below $H_{c2}$ ($H < 0.7 H_{c2}$). Large irreversible, longitudinal magnetostriction was seen in both, in-plane and along the c-axis, directions of the applied magnetic field in the intermediate superconducting state. Anisotropic uniaxial pressure dependencies of $T_c$ were evaluated using results of zero field, thermal expansion measurements

Investigating the evolution of the dual AGN system ESO~509-IG066

We analyze the evolution of the dual AGN in ESO 509-IG066, a galaxy pair located at z=0.034 whose nuclei are separated by 11 kpc. Previous observations with XMM-Newton on this dual AGN found evidence for two moderately obscured ($N_H\sim10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$) X-ray luminous ($L_X\sim10^{43}$ erg/s) nuclear sources. We present an analysis of subsequent Chandra, NuSTAR and Swift/XRT observations that show one source has dropped in flux by a factor of 10 between 2004 and 2011, which could be explained by either an increase in the absorbing column or an intrinsic fading of the central engine possibly due to a decrease in mass accretion. Both of these scenarios are predicted by galaxy merger simulations. The source which has dropped in flux is not detected by NuSTAR, which argues against absorption, unless it is extreme. However, new Keck/LRIS optical spectroscopy reveals a previously unreported broad H-alpha line which is highly unlikely to be visible under the extreme absorption scenario. We therefore conclude that the black hole in this nucleus has undergone a dramatic drop in accretion rate. From AO-assisted near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy of the other nucleus, we find evidence that the galaxy merger is having a direct effect on the kinematics of the gas close to the nucleus of the galaxy, providing a direct observational link between the galaxy merger and the mass accretion rate on to the black hole.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

The Central Molecular Gas Structure in LINERs with Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei: Evidence for Gradual Disappearance of the Torus

We present observations of the molecular gas in the nuclear environment of three prototypical low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs), based on VLT/SINFONI AO-assisted integral-field spectroscopy of H2 1-0 S(1) emission at angular resolutions of ~0.\u27\u2717. On scales of 50-150 pc, the spatial distribution and kinematics of the molecular gas are consistent with a rotating thin disk, where the ratio of rotation (V) to dispersion (σ) exceeds unity. However, in the central 50 pc, the observations reveal a geometrically and optically thick structure of molecular gas (V/σ \u3c 1 and N H \u3e 1023 cm–2) that is likely to be associated with the outer extent of any smaller scale obscuring structure. In contrast to Seyfert galaxies, the molecular gas in LLAGNs has a V/σ \u3c 1 over an area that is ~9 times smaller and column densities that are on average ~3 times smaller. We interpret these results as evidence for a gradual disappearance of the nuclear obscuring structure. While a disk wind may not be able to maintain a thick rotating structure at these luminosities, inflow of material into the nuclear region could provide sufficient energy to sustain it. In this context, LLAGNs may represent the final phase of accretion in current theories of torus evolution. While the inflow rate is considerable during the Seyfert phase, it is slowly decreasing, and the collisional disk is gradually transitioning to become geometrically thin. Furthermore, the nuclear region of these LLAGNs is dominated by intermediate-age/old stellar populations (with little or no ongoing star formation), consistent with a late stage of evolution

The Nature of Active Galactic Nuclei with Velocity Offset Emission Lines

We obtained Keck/OSIRIS near-IR adaptive optics-assisted integral-field spectroscopy to probe the morphology and kinematics of the ionized gas in four velocity-offset active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These objects possess optical emission lines that are offset in velocity from systemic as measured from stellar absorption features. At a resolution of ~0".18, OSIRIS allows us to distinguish which velocity offset emission lines are produced by the motion of an AGN in a dual supermassive black hole system, and which are produced by outflows or other kinematic structures. In three galaxies, J1018+2941, J1055+1520, and J1346+5228, the spectral offset of the emission lines is caused by AGN-driven outflows. In the remaining galaxy, J1117+6140, a counterrotating nuclear disk is observed that contains the peak of Paα emission 0".2 from the center of the galaxy. The most plausible explanation for the origin of this spatially and kinematically offset peak is that it is a region of enhanced Paα emission located at the intersection zone between the nuclear disk and the bar of the galaxy. In all four objects, the peak of ionized gas emission is not spatially coincident with the center of the galaxy as traced by the peak of the near-IR continuum emission. The peaks of ionized gas emission are spatially offset from the galaxy centers by 0".1–0".4 (0.1–0.7 kpc). We find that the velocity offset originates at the location of this peak of emission, and the value of the offset can be directly measured in the velocity maps. The emission-line ratios of these four velocity-offset AGNs can be reproduced only with a mixture of shocks and AGN photoionization. Shocks provide a natural explanation for the origin of the spatially and spectrally offset peaks of ionized gas emission in these galaxies