1,587 research outputs found
Spectral line profiles changed by dust scattering in heavily obscured young stellar objects
It is known that scattering of radiation by circumstellar dust can strongly
change the line profiles in stellar spectra. This hampers the analysis of
spectral lines originating in the emitting regions of heavily obscured young
stars. To calculate the line profile of the scattered radiation, we suggest to
use the approximation of remote scattering particles. This approximation
assumes that the scattering dust grains are at a distance from the star that is
much larger than the characteristic size of the emitting region. Using this
method, we calculated the line profiles of several simple models. They show the
H alpha line profiles of Herbig AeBe stars in the presence and absence of
motionless or moving dust
Dust Emission from Active Galactic Nuclei
Unified schemes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) require an obscuring dusty
torus around the central source, giving rise to Seyfert 1 line spectrum for
pole-on viewing and Seyfert 2 characteristics in edge-on sources. Although the
observed IR is in broad agreement with this scheme, the behavior of the 10
micron silicate feature and the width of the far-IR emission peak remained
serious problems in all previous modeling efforts. We show that these problems
find a natural explanation if the dust is contained in about 5-10 clouds along
radial rays through the torus. The spectral energy distributions (SED) of both
type 1 and type 2 sources are properly reproduced from different viewpoints of
the same object if the visual optical depth of each cloud is larger than about
60 and the clouds' mean free path increases roughly in proportion to radial
distance.Comment: 11 pages, submitted to ApJ Letter
Oxidative potential associated with urban aerosol deposited into the respiratory system and relevant elemental and ionic fraction contributions
Size-segregated aerosol measurements were carried out at an urban and at an industrial site. Soluble and insoluble fractions of elements and inorganic ions were determined. Oxidative potential (OP) was assessed on the soluble fraction of Particulate Matter (PM) by ascorbic acid (AA), dichlorofluorescein (DCFH) and dithiothreitol (DTT) assays. Size resolved elemental, ion and OP doses in the head (H), tracheobronchial (TB) and alveolar (Al) regions were estimated using the Multiple-Path Particle Dosimetry (MPPD) model. The total aerosol respiratory doses due to brake and soil resuspension emissions were higher at the urban than at the industrial site. On the contrary, the doses of anthropic combustion tracers were generally higher at the industrial site. In general, the insoluble fraction was more abundantly distributed in the coarse than in the fine mode and vice versa for the soluble fraction. Consequently, for the latter, the percent of the total respiratory dose deposited in TB and Al regions increased. Oxidative potential assay (OPAA) doses were distributed in the coarse region; therefore, their major contribution was in the H region. The contribution in the TB and Al regions increased for OPDTT and OPDCFH
Effects of prism adaptation on reference systems for extrapersonal space in neglect patients
Up to now, rehabilitation of unilateral spatial neglect has focused on egocentric forms of neglect, whereas less is known about the possibility to improve allocentric deficits. The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of prism adaptation (PA) training on patients with different forms of neglect: egocentric, allocentric, or mixed. Twenty-eight patients were assessed with specific neglect tests before (T0) and after (T1) 10 sessions of PA training. Performance in the Apples Cancellation test was used to identify patients with egocentric (n = 6), allocentric (n = 5), or mixed (n = 17) forms of neglect. In the overall group of patients, PA training produced significant improvements in performance across different neglect tests. In terms of the egocentricâallocentric distinction, the training was effective in reducing omissions in the left part of space in the Apples Cancellation test both for patients with egocentric neglect and mixed neglect. By contrast, errors of commissions (marking the inability to detect the left part of the target stimulus, i.e., allocentric neglect) remained unchanged after PA in patients with allocentric neglect and actually increased marginally in patients with mixed neglect. The PA training is effective in improving egocentric neglect, while it is ineffective on the allocentric form of the disturbance. Notably, the allocentric component of neglect is frequently impaired, although this is most often in conjunction with the egocentric impairment, yielding the mixed form of neglect. This stresses the importance of developing exercises tuned to improving allocentric neglect
Distribution of dust clouds around the central engine of NGC 1068
We studied the distribution of dust clouds around the central engine of NGC
1068 based on shifted-and-added 8.8 - 12.3 micron (MIR) multi-filter images and
3.0 - 3.9 micron (L-band) spectra obtained with the Subaru Telescope. In a
region of 100 pc (1.4") around the central peak, we successfully constructed
maps of color temperatures and emissivities of the MIR and L-band continua as
well as the 9.7 micron and 3.4 micron dust features with spatial resolutions of
26 pc (0.37") in the MIR and 22 pc (0.3") in the L-band. Our main results are:
1) color temperature of the MIR continuum scatters around the thermal
equilibrium temperature with the central engine as the heat source while that
of the L-band continuum is higher and independent upon distance from the
central engine; 2) the peak of the 9.7 micron silicate absorption feature is
shifted to a longer wavelength at some locations; 3) the ratio of the optical
depths of the dust features is different from the Galactic values and show
complicated spatial distribution; and 4) there is a pie shaped warm dust cloud
as an enhancement in the emissivity of the MIR continuum extending about 50 pc
to the north from the central engine. We speculate that material falls into the
central engine through this cloud.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication on Ap
Double Lobed Radio Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We have combined a sample of 44984 quasars, selected from the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 3, with the FIRST radio survey. Using a novel
technique where the optical quasar position is matched to the complete radio
environment within 450", we are able to characterize the radio morphological
make-up of what is essentially an optically selected quasar sample, regardless
of whether the quasar (nucleus) itself has been detected in the radio. About
10% of the quasar population have radio cores brighter than 0.75 mJy at 1.4
GHz, and 1.7% have double lobed FR2-like radio morphologies. About 75% of the
FR2 sources have a radio core (> 0.75 mJy). A significant fraction (~40%) of
the FR2 quasars are bent by more than 10 degrees, indicating either
interactions of the radio plasma with the ICM or IGM. We found no evidence for
correlations with redshift among our FR2 quasars: radio lobe flux densities and
radio source diameters of the quasars have similar distributions at low (mean
0.77) and high (mean 2.09) redshifts. Using a smaller high reliability FR2
sample of 422 quasars and two comparison samples of radio-quiet and non-FR2
radio-loud quasars, matched in their redshift distributions, we constructed
composite optical spectra from the SDSS spectroscopic data. Based on these
spectra we can conclude that the FR2 quasars have stronger high-ionization
emission lines compared to both the radio quiet and non-FR2 radio loud sources.
This is consistent with the notion that the emission lines are brightened by
ongoing shock ionization of ambient gas in the quasar host as the radio source
expands.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures - some of which have been reduced in quality /
size. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa
Performance and Stability of Doped CeriaâZirconia Catalyst for a Multifuel Reforming
In the present work, the catalytic behavior of nickel-based catalysts supported on ceria/zirconia, undoped and doped with lanthanum and neodymium (3.5Ni/Ce0.8La0.5Nd0.2Zr0.13O2âx), was investigated under different reactions: steam reforming, partial oxidation and autothermal reforming of different fuels (methane, biogas, and propane). The catalytic properties of these catalysts were evaluated at a temperature of 800 °C, under atmospheric pressure, at GSHV = 120,000 hâ1, using steam/carbon and oxygen/carbon ratio, respectively, of S/C = 2.5 and O/C = 0.5 and, in the case of autothermal conditions, with the addition of H2S (100 ppm) as a contaminant. Depending on the tested fuel, ATR, SR, and POX reactions over doped and undoped catalysts showed different results. In particular, the doped catalyst, due to neodymium and lanthanum doping, better distributed nickel species on the catalyst surface, promoting a higher concentration of defect groups and oxygen vacancies. This resulted in improved catalytic performance and resistance to deactivation. Endurance catalytic test also confirmed the beneficial effect of the doped catalysts
Investigating on the nuclear obscuration in two types of Seyfert 2 galaxies
We build a large sample of Seyfert 2 galaxies (Sy2s) with both optical
spectropolarimetric and X-ray data available, in which 29 Sy2s with the
detection of polarized broad emission line (PBL) and 25 without. We find that
for luminous Sy2s with L_[OIII] > 10^41 erg/s, sources with PBL have smaller
X-ray absorption column density comparing with those without PBL (at 92.3%
confidence level): most of the Sy2s with N_H<10^23.8 cm^-2 show PBL (86%, 12
out 14), while the fraction is much smaller for sources with heavier
obscuration (54%, 15 out 28). The confidence level of the difference in
absorption bounces up to 99.1% while using the "T" ratio (F_2-10keV/F_[O III])
as an indicator. We rule out observation or selection bias as the origin for
the difference. Our results, for the first time with high statistical
confidence, show that, in additional to the nuclei activity, the nuclear
obscuration also plays an important role in the visibility of PBL in Sy2s.
These results can be interpreted in the framework of the unified model. We can
reach these results in the unified model if: a) the absorption column density
is higher at large inclinations and b) the scattering region is obscured at
large inclinations.Comment: 28 pages, including 7 figures and 3 tables, ApJ accepte
Thermal Emission as a Test for Hidden Nuclei in Nearby Radio Galaxies
The clear sign of a hidden quasar inside a radio galaxy is the appearance of
quasar spectral features in its polarized (scattered) light. However that
observational test requires suitably placed scattering material to act as a
mirror, allowing us to see the nuclear light. A rather robust and more general
test for a hidden quasar is to look for the predicted high mid-IR luminosity
from the nuclear obscuring matter. The nuclear waste heat is detected and well
isolated in the nearest narrow line radio galaxy, Cen A. This confirms other
indications that Cen A does contain a modest quasar-like nucleus. However we
show here that M87 does not: at high spatial resolution, the mid-IR nucleus is
seen to be very weak, and consistent with simple synchrotron emission from the
base of the radio jet. This fairly robustly establishes that there are "real"
narrow line radio galaxies, without the putative accretion power, and with
essentially all the luminosity in kinetic form. Next we show the intriguing
mid-IR morphology of Cygnus A, reported previously by us and later discussed in
detail by Radomski et al. (2002). All of this mid-IR emission is consistent
with reprocessing by a hidden quasar, known to exist from spectropolarimetry by
Ogle et al. (1997) and other evidence.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure
Decomposing Dusty Galaxies. I. Multi-Component Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting
We present a new multi-component spectral energy distribution (SED)
decomposition method and use it to analyze the ultraviolet to millimeter
wavelength SEDs of a sample of dusty infrared-luminous galaxies. SEDs are
constructed from spectroscopic and photometric data obtained with the Spitzer
Space Telescope, in conjunction with photometry from the literature. Each SED
is decomposed into emission from populations of stars, an AGN accretion disk,
PAHs, atomic and molecular lines, and distributions of graphite and silicate
grains. Decompositions of the SEDs of the template starburst galaxies NGC7714
and NGC2623 and the template AGNs PG0804+761 and Mrk463 provide baseline
properties to aid in quantifying the strength of star-formation and accretion
in the composite systems NGC6240 and Mrk1014. We find that obscured radiation
from stars is capable of powering the total dust emission from NGC6240,
although we cannot rule out a contribution from a deeply embedded AGN visible
only in X-rays. The decomposition of Mrk1014 is consistent with ~65% of its
power emerging from an AGN and ~35% from star-formation. We suggest that many
of the variations in our template starburst SEDs may be explained in terms of
the different mean optical depths through the clouds of dust surrounding the
young stars within each galaxy. Prompted by the divergent far-IR properties of
our template AGNs, we suggest that variations in the relative orientation of
their AGN accretion disks with respect to the disks of the galaxies hosting
them may result in different amounts of AGN-heated cold dust emission emerging
from their host galaxies. We estimate that 30-50% of the far-IR and PAH
emission from Mrk1014 may originate from such AGN-heated material in its host
galaxy disk.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in the Ap
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