The Peculiar Balmer Line Profiles of OQ 208

We present spectrophotometric observations of the Broad Line Radio Galaxy OQ 208 (Mrk 668, 1404+286) obtained between 1985 and 1991. We show that the Balmer line fluxes and profile shapes undergo remarkable changes. The ratio of intensities between the broad and narrow components of Hbeta increased monotonically from 15 in 1985 to 40 in 1991. The peak of the broad components of Hbeta and Halpha were known to be strongly displaced to the red. We have discovered a correlation between the amplitude of the broad peak displacement and the luminosity of Hbeta, in the sense that the displacement is larger when the line luminosity is higher. We suggest that the observations are not compatible with either a binary Broad Line Region model or one involving ballistic acceleration of the line emitting gas. Radiative acceleration of a system of outflowing clouds readily explains the correlation between line shift and luminosity as well as the peculiar line profiles. Furthermore, it seems that most or all of the Balmer emission originates from the inward face of the clouds. Theoretical line profiles suggest that the observed Hbeta profile is best fit assuming the contribution of an ensemble which might be spherical or confined in a thick disk in addition to a component emitted in a thin shell contained in a cone of half opening angle 12 degrees seen along its axis.Comment: 28 pages + tables and figures available upon request, Latex, No preprint numbe

Formation and Collapse of Quiescent Cloud Cores Induced by Dynamic Compressions

(Abridged) We present numerical hydrodynamical simulations of the formation, evolution and gravitational collapse of isothermal molecular cloud cores. A compressive wave is set up in a constant sub-Jeans density distribution of radius r = 1 pc. As the wave travels through the simulation grid, a shock-bounded spherical shell is formed. The inner shock of this shell reaches and bounces off the center, leaving behind a central core with an initially almost uniform density distribution, surrounded by an envelope consisting of the material in the shock-bounded shell, with a power-law density profile that at late times approaches a logarithmic slope of -2 even in non-collapsing cases. The resulting density structure resembles a quiescent core of radius < 0.1 pc, with a Bonnor-Ebert-like (BE-like) profile, although it has significant dynamical differences: it is initially non-self-gravitating and confined by the ram pressure of the infalling material, and consequently, growing continuously in mass and size. With the appropriate parameters, the core mass eventually reaches an effective Jeans mass, at which time the core begins to collapse. Thus, there is necessarily a time delay between the appearance of the core and the onset of its collapse, but this is not due to the dissipation of its internal turbulence as it is often believed. These results suggest that pre-stellar cores may approximate Bonnor-Ebert structures which are however of variable mass and may or may not experience gravitational collapse, in qualitative agreement with the large observed frequency of cores with BE-like profiles.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Associated mpeg files can be found in http://www.astrosmo.unam.mx/~g.gomez/publica.htm

Broadband Optical and Infrared Observations of Seyfert Galaxies

Broadband observations between 0.3 and 3.4 μ are reported for II bright Seyfert galaxies. The ultraviolet and two micron fluxes of NGC 4151 have both increased by ∼ 0.3 mag between 1970 and 1971. 3C 120 was constant to within about ± 0.1 mag in the infrared during a period when it varied in the optical by ∼ 0.8 mag. Comparison with published data suggests NGC 4051 is an optical variable. The spatial distribution of the emitted flux shortward of 2.2 μ suggests that the emission from Seyfert galaxies can be decomposed into a nuclear source showing ultraviolet and infrared excesses and an extended source with normal starlike colours. The U–B and B–V colours fall on the two-colour diagram in positions consistent with a mixture of light from sources with galaxy-like and quasar-like colours and can be used to derive the ratio of the light from the nuclear source to that from the surrounding galaxy. This ratio is used to separate the contributions of nuclear source and galaxy in the infrared. The infrared spectrum of the nuclear source in NGC 1068 is steeper than that in the other Seyfert galaxies and more closely resembles that of non-Seyfert infrared galaxies such as M82 and NGC 253 rather than that of quasars. A wide range exists in the proportion of blue light contributed by the nuclear sources but the (B–[2.2 μ])₀ colours of the combined emission range only by ± 0.3 mag implying large differences exist in the (B–[2.2 μ])₀ of the nuclear source alone, in contrast to the homogeneity of the purely optical colours

Broadband Optical and Infrared Observations of Seyfert Galaxies

Broadband observations between 0.3 and 3.4 μ are reported for II bright Seyfert galaxies. The ultraviolet and two micron fluxes of NGC 4151 have both increased by ∼ 0.3 mag between 1970 and 1971. 3C 120 was constant to within about ± 0.1 mag in the infrared during a period when it varied in the optical by ∼ 0.8 mag. Comparison with published data suggests NGC 4051 is an optical variable. The spatial distribution of the emitted flux shortward of 2.2 μ suggests that the emission from Seyfert galaxies can be decomposed into a nuclear source showing ultraviolet and infrared excesses and an extended source with normal starlike colours. The U–B and B–V colours fall on the two-colour diagram in positions consistent with a mixture of light from sources with galaxy-like and quasar-like colours and can be used to derive the ratio of the light from the nuclear source to that from the surrounding galaxy. This ratio is used to separate the contributions of nuclear source and galaxy in the infrared. The infrared spectrum of the nuclear source in NGC 1068 is steeper than that in the other Seyfert galaxies and more closely resembles that of non-Seyfert infrared galaxies such as M82 and NGC 253 rather than that of quasars. A wide range exists in the proportion of blue light contributed by the nuclear sources but the (B–[2.2 μ])₀ colours of the combined emission range only by ± 0.3 mag implying large differences exist in the (B–[2.2 μ])₀ of the nuclear source alone, in contrast to the homogeneity of the purely optical colours

IUE observations of Fe 2 galaxies

Repeated observations of the Seyfert 1 galaxies I Zw 1 and II Zw 136, which have very strong Fe II emission lines in the optical region, were made at low resolution with the IUE Satellite. The ultraviolet spectra are very similar: both are variable and show broad emission features of Fe II (especially the UV multiplets 1, 33, 60, 62, and 63) as well as the emission lines usually strong in Seyferts and quasars. The data strongly support the hypothesis that the optical Fe II emission lines are primarily due to collisional excitation and that resonance fluorescence makes only a minor contribution to the excitation of these lines

Growth of Perturbation in Gravitational Collapse and Accretion

When a self-gravitating spherical gas cloud collapses or accretes onto a central mass, the inner region of the cloud develops a density profile $\rho\propto r^{-3/2}$ and the velocity approaches free-fall. We show that in this region, nonspherical perturbations grow with decreasing radius. In the linear regime, the tangential velocity perturbation increases as $r^{-1}$, while the Lagrangian density perturbation, $\Delta\rho/\rho$, grows as $r^{-1/2}$. Faster growth occurs if the central collapsed object maintains a finite multiple moment, in which case $\Delta\rho/\rho$ increases as $r^{-l}$, where $l$ specifies the angular degree of the perturbation. These scaling relations are different from those obtained for the collapse of a homogeneous cloud. Our numerical calculations indicate that nonspherical perturbations are damped in the subsonic region, and that they grow and approach the asymptotic scalings in the supersonic region. The implications of our results to asymmetric supernova collapse and to black hole accretion are briefly discussed.Comment: 23 pages including 6 ps figures; Minor changes and update; To appear in ApJ, 200