237 research outputs found
X-ray emission from thin plasmas. Collisional ionization for atoms and ions of H to Zn
Every observation of astrophysical objects involving a spectrum requires
atomic data for the interpretation of line fluxes, line ratios and ionization
state of the emitting plasma. One of the processes which determines it is
collisional ionization. In this study an update of the direct ionization (DI)
and excitation-autoionization (EA) processes is discussed for the H to Zn-like
isoelectronic sequences. In the last years new laboratory measurements and
theoretical calculations of ionization cross sections have become available. We
provide an extension and update of previous published reviews in the
literature. We include the most recent experimental measurements and fit the
cross sections of all individual shells of all ions from H to Zn. These data
are described using an extension of Younger's and Mewe's formula, suitable for
integration over a Maxwellian velocity distribution to derive the subshell
ionization rate coefficients. These ionization rate coefficients are
incorporated in the high-resolution plasma code and spectral fitting tool SPEX
V3.0.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 22 pages, 18 figure
Tunneling of massive and charged particles from noncommutative Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole
Massive charged and uncharged particles tunneling from commutative
Reissner-Nordstrom black hole horizon has been studied with details in
literature. Here, by adopting the coherent state picture of spacetime
noncommutativity, we study tunneling of massive and charged particles from a
noncommutative inspired Reissner-Nordstrom black hole horizon. We show that
Hawking radiation in this case is not purely thermal and there are correlations
between emitted modes. These correlations may provide a solution to the
information loss problem. We also study thermodynamics of noncommutative
horizon in this setup.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Magnesium and silicon in interstellar dust: an X-ray overview
The dense Galactic environment is a large reservoir of interstellar dust.
Therefore, this region represents a perfect laboratory to study the properties
of the cosmic dust grains. X-rays are the most direct way to detect the
interaction of light with dust present in these dense environments. The
interaction between the radiation and the interstellar matter imprints specific
absorption features in the X-ray spectrum. We study them with the aim of
defining the chemical composition, the crystallinity and structure of the dust
grains which populate the inner regions of the Galaxy. We investigate the
magnesium and the silicon K-edges detected in the Chandra/HETG spectra of eight
bright X-ray binaries, distributed in the neighbourhood of the Galactic centre.
We model the two spectral features using accurate extinction cross sections of
silicates, that we have measured at the synchrotron facility Soleil, France.
Near the Galactic centre magnesium and silicon show abundances similar to the
solar ones and they are highly depleted from the gas phase
( and ). We find that amorphous
olivine with a composition of is the most representative
compound along all lines of sight according to our fits. The contribution of
Mg-rich silicates and quartz is low (less than ). On average we observe a
percentage of crystalline dust equal to . For the extragalactic source
LMC X-1, we find a preference for forsterite, a magnesium-rich olivine. Along
this line of sight we also observe an underabundance of silicon .Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, recommended for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Interstellar oxygen along the line of sight of Cygnus X-2
Interstellar dust permeates our Galaxy and plays an important role in many
physical processes in the diffuse and dense regions of the interstellar medium.
High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy, coupled with modelling based on laboratory
dust measurements, provides a unique probe to investigate the interstellar dust
properties along our line of sight towards Galactic X-ray sources. Here, we
focus on the oxygen content of the interstellar medium through its absorption
features in the X-ray spectra. To model the dust features, we perform a
laboratory experiment using the electron microscope facility located at the
University of Cadiz in Spain, where we acquire new laboratory data in the
oxygen K-edge. We study 18 dust samples of silicates and oxides with different
chemical compositions. The laboratory measurements are adopted for our
astronomical data analysis. We carry out a case study on the X-ray spectrum of
the bright low-mass X-ray binary Cygnus X-2, observed by XMM-Newton. We
determine different temperature phases of the ISM, and parameterize oxygen in
both gas (neutral and ionised) and dust form. We find Solar abundances of
oxygen along the line of sight towards the source. Due to both the relatively
low depletion of oxygen into dust form and the shape of the oxygen cross
section profiles, it is challenging to determine the precise chemistry of
interstellar dust. However, silicates provide an acceptable fit. Finally, we
discuss the systematic discrepancies in the atomic (gaseous phase) data of the
oxygen edge spectral region using different X-ray atomic databases, and also
consider future prospects for studying the ISM with the Arcus concept mission.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 15 pages, 11 figure
Entropic force approach to noncommutative Schwarzschild black holes signals a failure of current physical ideas
Recently, a new perspective of gravitational-thermodynamic duality as an
entropic force arising from alterations in the information connected to the
positions of material bodies is found. In this paper, we generalize some
aspects of this model in the presence of noncommutative Schwarzschild black
hole by applying the method of coordinate coherent states describing smeared
structures. We implement two different distributions: (a) Gaussian and (b)
Lorentzian. Both mass distributions prepare the similar quantitative aspects
for the entropic force. Our study shows, the entropic force on the smallest
fundamental unit of a holographic screen with radius vanishes. As a
result, black hole remnants are unconditionally inert even gravitational
interactions do not exist therein. So, a distinction between gravitational and
inertial mass in the size of black hole remnant is observed, i.e. the failure
of the principle of equivalence. In addition, if one considers the screen
radius to be less than the radius of the smallest holographic surface at the
Planckian regime, then one encounters some unusual dynamical features leading
to gravitational repulsive force and negative energy. On the other hand, the
significant distinction between the two distributions is conceived to occur
around , and that is worth of mentioning: at this regime either our
analysis is not the proper one, or non-extensive statistics should be employed.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, new references added, minor revision, Title
changed, to appear in EPJ Plu
Accretion, ejection and reprocessing in supermassive black holes
This is a White Paper in support of the mission concept of the Large
Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT), proposed as a medium-sized ESA mission. We
discuss the potential of LOFT for the study of active galactic nuclei. For a
summary, we refer to the paper.Comment: White Paper in Support of the Mission Concept of the Large
Observatory for X-ray Timin
Science with hot astrophysical plasmas
We present some recent highlights and prospects for the study of hot astrophysical plasmas. Hot plasmas can be studied primarily through their X-ray emission and absorption. Most astrophysical objects, from solar system objects to the largest scale structures of the Universe, contain hot gas. In general we can distinguish collisionally ionised gas and photoionised gas. We introduce several examples of both classes and show where the frontiers of this research in astrophysics can be found. We put this also in the context of the current and future generation of X-ray spectroscopy satellites. The data coming from these missions challenge the models that we have for the calculation of the X-ray spectra
Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping project. XI. Disk-wind characteristics and contributions to the very broad emission lines of NGC 5548
Funding: Support for HST program number GO-13330 was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. We thank NSF (1816537, 1910687), NASA (17-ATP17-0141, 19-ATP19-0188), and STScI (HST-AR-15018, HST-AR-14556). MC acknowledges support from NASA through STScI grant HST-AR-14556.001-Aand NASA grant 19-ATP19-0188, and also support from National Science Foundation through grant AST-1910687.M.D. and G.F. and F. G. acknowledge support from the NSF (AST-1816537), NASA (ATP 17-0141), and STScI (HST-AR-13914, HST-AR-15018), and the Huffaker Scholarship. M.M. is supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme Vidi grant 639.042.525. J.M.G. gratefully acknowledges support from NASA under the ADAP award 80NSSC17K0126. MV gratefully acknowledges support from the Independent Research Fund Denmark via grant number DFF 8021-00130.In 2014 the NGC 5548 Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping campaign discovered a two-month anomaly when variations in the absorption and emission lines decorrelated from continuum variations. During this time the soft X-ray part of the intrinsic spectrum had been strongly absorbed by a line-of-sight (LOS) obscurer, which was interpreted as the upper part of a disk wind. Our first paper showed that changes in the LOS obscurer produces the decorrelation between the absorption lines and the continuum. A second study showed that the base of the wind shields the broad emission-line region (BLR), leading to the emission-line decorrelation. In that study, we proposed the wind is normally transparent with no effect on the spectrum. Changes in the wind properties alter its shielding and affect the spectral energy distribution (SED) striking the BLR, producing the observed decorrelations. In this work we investigate the impact of a translucent wind on the emission lines. We simulate the obscuration using XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and Hubble Space Telescope observations to determine the physical characteristics of the wind. We find that a translucent wind can contribute a part of the He ii and Fe Kα emission. It has a modest optical depth to electron scattering, which explains the fainter far-side emission in the observed velocity-delay maps. The wind produces the very broad base seen in the UV emission lines and may also be present in the Fe Kα line. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for the effects of such winds in the analysis of the physics of the central engine.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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