14,690 research outputs found
A new solid-state logarithmic radiometer
Combination of temperature-compensated logarithmic amplifiers and p-i-n photodiodes operating in zero-bias mode provides lightweight radiometer for detecting spectral intensities encompassing more than three decades over a range of at least 300 to 800 nanometers at low power levels
XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert 1 AGN H0557-385
We present XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert 1 AGN H0557-385. We have
conducted a study into the warm absorber present in this source, and using
high-resolution RGS data we find that the absorption can be characterised by
two phases: a phase with log ionisation parameter xi of 0.50 (where xi is in
units of ergs cm/s) and a column of 0.2e21 cm^-2, and a phase with log xi of
1.62 and a column of 1.3e22 cm^-2. An iron K alpha line is detected. Neutral
absorption is also present in the source, and we discuss possible origins for
this. On the assumption that the ionised absorbers originate as an outflow from
the inner edge of the torus, we use a new method for finding the volume filling
factor. Both phases of H0557-385 have small volume filling factors (< 1%). We
also derive the volume filling factors for a sample of 23 AGN using this
assumption and for the absorbers with log xi > 0.7 we find reasonable agreement
with the filling factors obtained through the alternative method of equating
the momentum flow of the absorbers to the momentum loss of the radiation field.
By comparing the filling factors obtained by the two methods, we infer that
some absorbers with log xi < 0.7 occur at significantly larger distances from
the nucleus than the inner edge of the torus.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
GEMINGA'S SOFT X-RAY EMISSION AND THE STRUCTURE OF ITS SURFACE
We present a model to explain the decrease in the amplitude of the pulse
profile with increasing energy observed in Geminga's soft X-ray surface thermal
emission. We assume the presence of plates surrounded by a surface with very
distinct physical properties: these two regions emit spectra of very distinct
shapes which present a crossover, the warm plates emitting a softer spectrum
than the colder surrounding surface. The strongly pulsed emission from the
plates dominates at low energy while the surroundings emission dominates at
high energy, producing naturally a strong decrease in the pulsed fraction. In
our illustrative example the plates are assumed to be magnetized while the rest
of the surface is field free.
This plate structure may be seen as a schematic representation of a
continuous but very nonuniform distribution of the surface magnetic field or as
a quasi realistic structure induced by past tectonic activity on Geminga.Comment: 10 pages, AASTeX latex, + 3 figures (compressed 7 uuencoded).
Submitted to Ap. J. Let
Measuring software technology
Results are reported from a series of investigations into the effectiveness of various methods and tools used in a software production environment. The basis for the analysis is a project data base, built through extensive data collection and process instrumentation. The project profiles become an organizational memory, serving as a reference point for an active program of measurement and experimentation on software technology
Rotating Black Holes in Higher Dimensions with a Cosmological Constant
We present the metric for a rotating black hole with a cosmological constant
and with arbitrary angular momenta in all higher dimensions. The metric is
given in both Kerr-Schild and Boyer-Lindquist form. In the Euclidean-signature
case, we also obtain smooth compact Einstein spaces on associated S^{D-2}
bundles over S^2, infinitely many for each odd D\ge 5. Applications to string
theory and M-theory are indicated.Comment: 8 pages, Latex. Short version, with more compact notation, of
hep-th/0404008. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Information in Black Hole Radiation
If black hole formation and evaporation can be described by an matrix,
information would be expected to come out in black hole radiation. An estimate
shows that it may come out initially so slowly, or else be so spread out, that
it would never show up in an analysis perturbative in , or in 1/N
for two-dimensional dilatonic black holes with a large number of minimally
coupled scalar fields.Comment: 12 pages, 1 PostScript figure, LaTeX, Alberta-Thy-24-93 (In response
to Phys. Rev. Lett. referees' comments, the connection between expansions in
inverse mass and in 1/N are spelled out, and a figure is added. An argument
against perturbatively predicting even late-time information is also
provided, as well as various minor changes.
Seven-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Sky Maps, Systematic Errors, and Basic Results
(Abridged) New full sky temperature and polarization maps based on seven
years of data from WMAP are presented. The new results are consistent with
previous results, but have improved due to reduced noise from the additional
integration time, improved knowledge of the instrument performance, and
improved data analysis procedures. The improvements are described in detail.
The seven year data set is well fit by a minimal six-parameter flat Lambda-CDM
model. The parameters for this model, using the WMAP data in conjunction with
baryon acoustic oscillation data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and priors
on H_0 from Hubble Space Telescope observations, are: Omega_bh^2 = 0.02260
+-0.00053, Omega_ch^2 = 0.1123 +-0.0035, Omega_Lambda = 0.728 +0.015 -0.016,
n_s = 0.963 +-0.012, tau = 0.087 +-0.014 and sigma_8 = 0.809 +-0.024 (68 % CL
uncertainties). The temperature power spectrum signal-to-noise ratio per
multipole is greater that unity for multipoles < 919, allowing a robust
measurement of the third acoustic peak. This measurement results in improved
constraints on the matter density, Omega_mh^2 = 0.1334 +0.0056 -0.0055, and the
epoch of matter- radiation equality, z_eq = 3196 +134 -133, using WMAP data
alone. The new WMAP data, when combined with smaller angular scale microwave
background anisotropy data, results in a 3 sigma detection of the abundance of
primordial Helium, Y_He = 0.326 +-0.075.The power-law index of the primordial
power spectrum is now determined to be n_s = 0.963 +-0.012, excluding the
Harrison-Zel'dovich-Peebles spectrum by >3 sigma. These new WMAP measurements
provide important tests of Big Bang cosmology.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Supplement
Serie
Searching for highly obscured AGN in the XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalog
The majority of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are obscured by large amounts of
absorbing material that makes them invisible at many wavelengths. X-rays, given
their penetrating power, provide the most secure way for finding these AGN. The
XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalog is the largest catalog of X-ray sources
ever produced; it contains about half a million detections. These sources are
mostly AGN. We have derived X-ray spectral fits for very many 3XMM-DR4 sources
( 114 000 observations, corresponding to 77 000 unique
sources), which contain more than 50 source photons per detector. Here, we use
a subsample of 1000 AGN in the footprint of the SDSS area (covering
120 deg) with available spectroscopic redshifts. We searched for highly
obscured AGN by applying an automated selection technique based on X-ray
spectral analysis that is capable of efficiently selecting AGN. The selection
is based on the presence of either a) flat rest-frame spectra; b) flat observed
spectra; c) an absorption turnover, indicative of a high rest-frame column
density; or d) an Fe K line with an equivalent width > 500 eV. We found
81 highly obscured candidate sources. Subsequent detailed manual spectral fits
revealed that 28 of them are heavily absorbed by column densities higher than
10 cm. Of these 28 AGN, 15 are candidate Compton-thick AGN on the
basis of either a high column density, consistent within the 90% confidence
level with N 10 cm, or a large equivalent width
(>500 eV) of the Fe K line. Another six are associated with
near-Compton-thick AGN with column densities of 510
cm. A combination of selection criteria a) and c) for low-quality
spectra, and a) and d) for medium- to high-quality spectra, pinpoint highly
absorbed AGN with an efficiency of 80%.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Do Evaporating Black Holes Form Photospheres?
Several authors, most notably Heckler, have claimed that the observable
Hawking emission from a microscopic black hole is significantly modified by the
formation of a photosphere around the black hole due to QED or QCD interactions
between the emitted particles. In this paper we analyze these claims and
identify a number of physical and geometrical effects which invalidate these
scenarios. We point out two key problems. First, the interacting particles must
be causally connected to interact, and this condition is satisfied by only a
small fraction of the emitted particles close to the black hole. Second, a
scattered particle requires a distance ~ E/m_e^2 for completing each
bremsstrahlung interaction, with the consequence that it is improbable for
there to be more than one complete bremsstrahlung interaction per particle near
the black hole. These two effects have not been included in previous analyses.
We conclude that the emitted particles do not interact sufficiently to form a
QED photosphere. Similar arguments apply in the QCD case and prevent a QCD
photosphere (chromosphere) from developing when the black hole temperature is
much greater than Lambda_QCD, the threshold for QCD particle emission.
Additional QCD phenomenological arguments rule out the development of a
chromosphere around black hole temperatures of order Lambda_QCD. In all cases,
the observational signatures of a cosmic or Galactic halo background of
primordial black holes or an individual black hole remain essentially those of
the standard Hawking model, with little change to the detection probability. We
also consider the possibility, as proposed by Belyanin et al. and D. Cline et
al., that plasma interactions between the emitted particles form a photosphere,
and we conclude that this scenario too is not supported.Comment: version published in Phys Rev D 78, 064043; 25 pages, 3 figures;
includes discussion on extending our analysis to TeV-scale,
higher-dimensional black hole
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