Limits of flexural wave absorption by open lossy resonators: reflection and transmission problems

The limits of flexural wave absorption by open lossy resonators are analytically and numerically reported in this work for both the reflection and transmission problems. An experimental validation for the reflection problem is presented. The reflection and transmission of flexural waves in 1D resonant thin beams are analyzed by means of the transfer matrix method. The hypotheses, on which the analytical model relies, are validated by experimental results. The open lossy resonator, consisting of a finite length beam thinner than the main beam, presents both energy leakage due to the aperture of the resonators to the main beam and inherent losses due to the viscoelastic damping. Wave absorption is found to be limited by the balance between the energy leakage and the inherent losses of the open lossy resonator. The perfect compensation of these two elements is known as the critical coupling condition and can be easily tuned by the geometry of the resonator. On the one hand, the scattering in the reflection problem is represented by the reflection coefficient. A single symmetry of the resonance is used to obtain the critical coupling condition. Therefore the perfect absorption can be obtained in this case. On the other hand, the transmission problem is represented by two eigenvalues of the scattering matrix, representing the symmetric and anti-symmetric parts of the full scattering problem. In the geometry analyzed in this work, only one kind of symmetry can be critically coupled, and therefore, the maximal absorption in the transmission problem is limited to 0.5. The results shown in this work pave the way to the design of resonators for efficient flexural wave absorption

Effects of geometrical nonlinearities on the acoustic black hole effect

International audienceThe Acoustic Black Hole effect (ABH) is a passive vibration damping technique without added mass based on flexural waves properties in thin structures with variable thickness. The usual implementation on plates is a region where the thickness is reduced with a power law profile, covered with a visco-elastic layer. The inhomogoneity induces a decrease of the wave speed and an increase of the amplitude in the small thickness region, which makes the energy dissipation more efficient due to the absorbing layer. The wave amplitude in the ABH easily reaches the plate thickness and is the origin of geometrical nonlinearities. These nonlin-earities can generate coupling between linear beam eigenmodes of the structure and induce energy transfer between low and high frequency regime. This phenomenon may be used to increase the efficiency of the ABH treatment in the low frequency regime where it is usually inefficient. An experimental investigation shows that the ABH termination displays a nonlinear behaviour and allows for modal coupling. A strongly nonlinear regime can also be observed, which is associated with Wave Turbulence. A model of nonlinear ABH beam as von Kármán plate of variable thickness and a modal resolution of the problem confirm the observed effects and gives more insights on these results

Subaru High-Dispersion Spectroscopy of Narrow-Line Region in the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4151

We report on a study of forbidden emission-line spectrum of nearby Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 4151 based on the high-resolution (R ~ 45,000) optical spectrum obtained by using the High Dispersion Spectrograph boarded on the Subaru Telescope. The profile parameters such as the emission-line widths, the velocity shifts from the recession velocity of the host galaxy, and the asymmetry indices, for emission lines including very faint ones such as [Ar IV]4712,4740 and [Fe VI]5631,5677 are investigated. Statistically significant correlations between the measured profile parameters and the critical densities of transitions are found while there are no meaningful correlations between the profile parameters and the ionization potentials of ions. By comparing the results with photoionization model calculations, we remark that a simple power-law distribution of the gas density which is independent of the radius from the nucleus cannot explain the observed correlation between the emission-line widths and the critical densities of the transitions. Taking the additional dense gas component expected to exist at the innermost of the narrow-line region into account, the observed correlations between the emission-line width and the critical density of the transitions can be understood since high-critical-density emission lines can arise at such relatively inner regions even if their ionization potentials are low. The observed correlation between the blueshift amounts of emission lines and the critical densities of the ions is also explained if such dense gas clouds located closer to the nucleus have larger outflowing velocities.Comment: 19 pages and 1 separate jpeg figure. Accepted for publication in A

Generation of potential/surface density pairs in flat disks Power law distributions

We report a simple method to generate potential/surface density pairs in flat axially symmetric finite size disks. Potential/surface density pairs consist of a ``homogeneous'' pair (a closed form expression) corresponding to a uniform disk, and a ``residual'' pair. This residual component is converted into an infinite series of integrals over the radial extent of the disk. For a certain class of surface density distributions (like power laws of the radius), this series is fully analytical. The extraction of the homogeneous pair is equivalent to a convergence acceleration technique, in a matematical sense. In the case of power law distributions, the convergence rate of the residual series is shown to be cubic inside the source. As a consequence, very accurate potential values are obtained by low order truncation of the series. At zero order, relative errors on potential values do not exceed a few percent typically, and scale with the order N of truncation as 1/N**3. This method is superior to the classical multipole expansion whose very slow convergence is often critical for most practical applications.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics 7 pages, 8 figures, F90-code available at http://www.obs.u-bordeaux1.fr/radio/JMHure/intro2applawd.htm

Active Galactic Nuclei with Candidate Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

We present an initial sample of 19 intermediate-mass black hole candidates in active galactic nuclei culled from the First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Using the linewidth-luminosity-mass scaling relation established for broad-line active nuclei, we estimate black hole masses in the range of 8 x 10^4 - 10^6 solar masses, a regime in which only two objects are currently known. The absolute magnitudes are faint for active galactic nuclei, ranging from M_g of -15 to -18 mag, while the bolometric luminosities are all close to the Eddington limit. The entire sample formally satisfies the linewidth criterion for so-called narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies; however, they display a wider range of FeII and [OIII] (5007) line strengths than is typically observed in this class of objects. Although the available imaging data are of insufficient quality to ascertain the detailed morphologies of the host galaxies, it is likely that the majority of the hosts are relatively late-type systems. The host galaxies have estimated g-band luminosities ~ 1 mag fainter than M* for the general galaxy population at z of 0.1. Beyond simply extending the known mass range of central black holes in galactic nuclei, these objects provide unique observational constraints on the progenitors of supermassive black holes. They are also expected to contribute significantly to the integrated signal for future gravitational wave experiments.Comment: ApJ Accepted, 13 pages, 9 figures, uses emulateapj.cl

ISO-SWS spectroscopy of NGC 1068

We present ISO-SWS spectroscopy of NGC 1068 for the wavelength range 2.4 to 45um, detecting a total of 36 emission lines. Most of the observed transitions are fine structure and recombination lines originating in the narrow line region. We compare the line profiles of optical lines and reddening-insensitive infrared lines to constrain the dynamical structure and extinction properties of the NLR. The considerable differences found are most likely explained by two effects. (1) The spatial structure of the NLR is a combination of a highly ionized outflow cone and lower excitation extended emission. (2) Parts of the NLR, mainly in the receding part at velocities above systemic, are subject to extinction that is significantly suppressing optical emission. Line asymmetries and net blueshifts remain, however, even for infrared fine structure lines suffering very little obscuration. This may be either due to an intrinsic asymmetry of the NLR, or due to a very high column density obscuring component which is hiding part of the NLR even from infrared view. Mid-infrared emission of molecular hydrogen in NGC 1068 arises in a dense molecular medium at temperatures of a few hundred Kelvin that is most likely closely related to the warm and dense components seen in the near-infrared H2 transitions, and in millimeter wave tracers of molecular gas. Any emission of the putative pc-scale molecular torus is likely overwhelmed by this larger scale emission.Comment: aastex (V4), 9 eps figures. Accepted by Ap

GET WELL: an automated surveillance system for gaining new epidemiological knowledge

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The assumption behind the presented work is that the information people search for on the internet reflects the disease status in society. By having access to this source of information, epidemiologists can get a valuable complement to the traditional surveillance and potentially get new and timely epidemiological insights. For this purpose, the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control collaborates with a medical web site in Sweden.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We built an application consisting of two conceptual parts. One part allows for trends, based on user specified requests, to be extracted from anonymous web query data from a Swedish medical web site. The second conceptual part permits tailored analyses of particular diseases, where more complex statistical methods are applied to the data. To evaluate the epidemiological relevance of the output, we compared Google search data and search data from the medical web site.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the paper, we give concrete examples of the output from the web query-based system. We also present results from the comparison between data from the search engine Google and search data from the national medical web site.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The application is in regular use at the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. A system based on web queries is flexible in that it can be adapted to any disease; we get information on other individuals than those who seek medical care; and the data do not suffer from reporting delays. Although Google data are based on a substantially larger search volume, search patterns obtained from the medical web site may still convey more information from an epidemiological perspective. Furthermore we can see advantages with having full access to the raw data.</p

The Ionized Gas and Nuclear Environment in NGC 3783. I. Time-Averaged 900 ks Chandra Grating Spectroscopy

We present results from a 900 ks exposure of NGC 3783 with the High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The resulting X-ray spectrum has the best combination of signal-to-noise and resolution ever obtained for an AGN. This spectrum reveals absorption lines from H-like and He-like ions of N, O, Ne, Mg, Al, Si, and S. There are also possible absorption lines from H-like and He-like Ar and Ca. We also identify inner-shell absorption from lower-ionization ions such as Si_VII-Si_XII and S_XII-S_XIV. The iron absorption spectrum is very rich; L-shell lines of Fe_XVII-Fe_XXIV are detected, strong complex of M-shell lines, and probable resonance lines from Fe_XXV. The absorption lines are blueshifted relative to the systemic velocity by a mean velocity of -590+-150 km/s. We resolve many of the absorption lines, and their mean FWHM is 820+-280 km/s. We do not find correlations between the velocity shifts or the FWHMs with the ionization potentials of the ions. Most absorption lines show asymmetry, having more extended blue wings than red wings. In O_VII we have resolved this asymmetry to be from an additional absorption system at ~ -1300 km/s. The two X-ray absorption systems are consistent in velocity shift and FWHM with the ones identified in the UV lines of C IV, N V, and H I. Equivalent width measurements for all lines are given and column densities are calculated for several ions. We resolve the narrow Fe_K\alpha line at 6398.2+-3.3 eV to have a FWHM of 1720+-360 km/s, which suggests that this narrow line may be emitted from the outer part of the broad line region or the inner part of the torus. We also detect a `Compton shoulder' redward of the narrow Fe_K\alpha line which indicates that it arises in cold, Compton-thick gas.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures (2 in color), emulateapj5, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement

A robust morphological classification of high-redshift galaxies using support vector machines on seeing limited images. II. Quantifying morphological k-correction in the COSMOS field at 1<z<2: Ks band vs. I band

We quantify the effects of \emph{morphological k-correction} at $1<z<2$ by comparing morphologies measured in the K and I-bands in the COSMOS area. Ks-band data have indeed the advantage of probing old stellar populations for $z<2$, enabling a determination of galaxy morphological types unaffected by recent star formation. In paper I we presented a new non-parametric method to quantify morphologies of galaxies on seeing limited images based on support vector machines. Here we use this method to classify $\sim$$50 000$ $Ks$ selected galaxies in the COSMOS area observed with WIRCam at CFHT. The obtained classification is used to investigate the redshift distributions and number counts per morphological type up to $z\sim2$ and to compare to the results obtained with HST/ACS in the I-band on the same objects from other works. We associate to every galaxy with $Ks<21.5$ and $z<2$ a probability between 0 and 1 of being late-type or early-type. The classification is found to be reliable up to $z\sim2$. The mean probability is $p\sim0.8$. It decreases with redshift and with size, especially for the early-type population but remains above $p\sim0.7$. The classification is globally in good agreement with the one obtained using HST/ACS for $z<1$. Above $z\sim1$, the I-band classification tends to find less early-type galaxies than the Ks-band one by a factor $\sim$1.5 which might be a consequence of morphological k-correction effects. We argue therefore that studies based on I-band HST/ACS classifications at $z>1$ could be underestimating the elliptical population. [abridged]Comment: accepted for publication in A&A, updated with referee comments, 12 pages, 10 figure