A search for rapid optical variability in radio-quiet quasars

The detection of rapid variability on a time-scale of hours in radio-quiet quasars (RQQSOs) could be a powerful discriminator between starburst, accretion disc and relativistic jet models of these sources. This paper contains an account of a dedicated search for rapid optical variability in RQQSOs. The technique used differential photometry between the RQQSO and stars in the same field of view of the CCD. The 23 RQQSOs that were observed all have high luminosities (-27 1. The total amount of observation time was about 60 hours and these observations are part of an ongoing programme, started in September 1990, to search for rapid variability in RQQSOs. No evidence for short-term variability greater than about 0.1 magnitudes was detected in any of the 23 sources, however long-term variability was recorded for the radio-quiet quasar PG 2112+059. The finding charts are included here because they identify the RQQSO and the reference stars used in the photometry, and hence are available for use by other observers.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&AS. 10 pages, 3 figures. Figure 1 (finding charts) available by anonymous ftp from: bermuda.ucd.ie:/pub/outgoing/charts.eps.g

Validating Phasing and Geometry of Large Focal Plane Arrays

The Kepler Mission is designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-sized and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone. The Kepler photometer is an array of 42 CCDs (charge-coupled devices) in the focal plane of a 95-cm Schmidt camera onboard the Kepler spacecraft. Each 50x25-mm CCD has 2,200 x 1,024 pixels. The CCDs accumulate photons and are read out every six seconds to prevent saturation. The data is integrated for 30 minutes, and then the pixel data is transferred to onboard storage. The data is subsequently encoded and transmitted to the ground. During End-to-End Information System (EEIS) testing of the Kepler Mission System (KMS), there was a need to verify that the pixels requested by the science team operationally were correctly collected, encoded, compressed, stored, and transmitted by the FS, and subsequently received, decoded, uncompressed, and displayed by the Ground Segment (GS) without the outputs of any CCD modules being flipped, mirrored, or otherwise corrupted during the extensive FS and GS processing. This would normally be done by projecting an image on the focal plane array (FPA), collecting the data in a flight-like way, and making a comparison between the original data and the data reconstructed by the science data system. Projecting a focused image onto the FPA through the telescope would normally involve using a collimator suspended over the telescope opening. There were several problems with this approach: the collimation equipment is elaborate and expensive; as conceived, it could only illuminate a limited section of the FPA (.25 percent) during a given test; the telescope cover would have to be deployed during testing to allow the image to be projected into the telescope; the equipment was bulky and difficult to situate in temperature-controlled environments; and given all the above, test setup, execution, and repeatability were significant concerns. Instead of using this complicated approach of projecting an optical image on the FPA, the Kepler project developed a method using known defect features in the CCDs to verify proper collection and reassembly of the pixels, thereby avoiding the costs and risks of the optical projection approach. The CCDs composing the Kepler FPA, as all CCDs, had minor defects. At ambient temperature, some pixels look far brighter than they should. These ghot h pixels have a higher rate of charge leakage than the others due to manufacturing variations. They are usually stable over time, and appear at temperatures above 5 oC. The hot pixels on the Kepler FPA were mapped before photometer assembly during module testing. Selected hot pixels were used as target gstars h for the purposes of EEIS testing. gDead h pixels are permanently off, producing a permanently black pixel. These can also be used if there is some illumination of the FPA. During EEIS testing, Dark Current Full Frame Images (FFIs) taken at room temperature were used to create the hot pixel maps for all 84 Kepler photometer CCD channels. Data from two separate nights were used to create two hot pixel maps per channel, which were cross-correlated to remove cosmic ray events which appear to be hot pixels. These hot pixel maps obtained during EEIS testing were compared to the maps made during module testing to verify that the end-to-end data flow was correct

Optical microvariability properties of BALQSOs

We present optical light curves of 19 radio quiet (RQ) broad absorption line (BAL) QSOs and study their rapid variability characteristics. Systematic CCD observations, aided by a careful data analysis procedure, have allowed us to clearly detect any such microvariability exceeding 0.01--0.02 mag. Our observations cover a total of 13 nights (~72 hours) with each quasar monitored for about 4 hours on a given night. Our sample size is a factor of three larger than the number of radio-quiet BALQSOs previously searched for microvariability. We introduce a scaled F-test statistic for evaluating the presence of optical microvariability and demonstrate why it is generally preferable to the statistics usually employed for this purpose. Considering only unambiguous detections of microvariability we find that ~11 per cent of radio-quiet BALQSOs (two out of 19 sources) show microvariability for an individual observation length of about 4 hr. This new duty cycle of 11 per cent is similar to the usual low microvariability fraction of normal RQQSOs with observation lengths similar to those of ours. This result provides support for models where radio-quiet BALQSO do not appear to be a special case of the RQQSOs in terms of their microvariability properties.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS main journa

Optical and radio variability of the BL Lac object AO 0235+16: a possible 5-6 year periodicity

New optical and radio data on the BL Lacertae object AO 0235+16 have been collected in the last four years by a wide international collaboration, which confirm the intense activity of this source. The optical data also include the results of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) first-light campaign organized in November 1997. The optical spectrum is observed to basically steepen when the source gets fainter. We have investigated the existence of typical variability time scales and of possible correlations between the optical and radio emissions by means of visual inspection, Discrete Correlation Function analysis, and Discrete Fourier Transform technique. The major radio outbursts are found to repeat quasi-regularly with a periodicity of about 5.7 years; this period is also in agreement with the occurrence of some of the major optical outbursts, but not all of them.Comment: to be published in A&

Observational determination of the time delays in gravitational lens system Q2237+030

We present new brightness monitoring observations of the 4 components of gravitationally lensed system Q2237+0305, which show detection of an intrinsic quasar brightness fluctuation at a time of subdued microlensing activity, between June 27 and October 12, 2003. These data were used to determine the time delays between the arrivals of the four images. The measured delays are -6, 35, and 2 hours for images B, C and D relative to A, respectively, so they confirm that the long history of brightness monitoring has produced significant detection of microlensing. However the error bars associated with the delays, of order 2 days, are too large to discriminate between competing macro-imaging models. Moreover, our simulations show that for the amplitude of this intrinsic fluctuation and for photometric errors intrinsic to optical monitoring from our 1.5-m telescope or from the OGLE monitoring, a daily sampled brightness record cannot produce reliable lags for model discrimination. We use our simulations to devise a strategy for future delay determination with optical data. Nevertheless, we regard these first estimates to be significant, since they are the first direct measurements of time delays made for this system from ground-based observations in the visual wavelengths. Our results provide the most convincing confirmation of the gravitational-lens nature of Q2237+0305, and give observational justification to the extensive literature which attributes the quasar's previously observed brightness fluctuations to microlensing.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, submitted to A&

Optical variability properties of high luminosity AGN classes

We present the results of a comparative study of the intra-night optical variability (INOV) characteristics of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars, which involves a systematic intra-night optical monitoring of seven sets of high luminosity AGNs covering the redshift range {\it z} $\simeq 0.2$ to {\it z} $\simeq 2.2$. The sample, matched in the optical luminosity -- redshift (M$_B$ -- z) plane, consists of seven radio-quiet quasars (RQQs), eight radio lobe-dominated quasars (LDQs), six radio core-dominated quasars (CDQs) and five BL Lac objects (BLs). Systematic CCD observations, aided by a careful data analysis procedure, have allowed us to detect INOV with amplitudes as low as 1%. Present observations cover a total of 113 nights (720 hours) with only a single quasar monitored as continuously as possible on a night. Considering cases of only unambiguous detections of INOV we have estimated duty cycles (DCs) of 17%, 12%, 20% and 72% respectively for RQQs, LDQs, CDQs, and BLs. The low amplitude and low DC of INOV shown by RQQs compared to BLs can be understood in terms of their having optical synchrotron jets which are modestly misdirected from us. From our fairly extensive dataset, no unambiguous general trend of a correlation between the INOV amplitude and the apparent optical brightness of the quasar is noticed.Comment: 36 pages, 14 Figures, due to large size Fig. 5,6,11 and 12 are not included. Intersted people contact to [email protected]. Submitted to Journal of Astrophysics and Astronom

Unusual optical quiescence of the classical BL Lac object PKS 0735+178 on intranight time-scale

We present the result of our extensive intranight optical monitoring of the well-known low-energy peaked BL Lac (LBL) object PKS 0735+178. This long-term follow-up consists of R -band monitoring for a minimum duration of ∼4 hours, on 17 nights spanning 11 years (1998–2008). Using the CCD as an N-star photometer, a detection limit of around 1 per cent was attained for the intranight optical variability (INOV). Remarkably, an INOV amplitude of ≥3 per cent on hour-like time-scale was not observed on any of the 17 nights, even though the likelihood of a typical LBL showing such INOV levels in a single session of >4 hours duration is known to be high (∼50 per cent) . Our observations have thus established a peculiar long-term INOV quiescence of this radio-selected BL Lac object. Moreover, the access to unpublished optical monitoring data of similarly high sensitivity, acquired in another programme, has allowed us to confirm the same anomalous INOV quiescence of this LBL all the way back to 1989, the epoch of its historically largest radio outburst. Here, we present observational evidence revealing the very unusual INOV behaviour of this classical BL Lac object and discuss this briefly in the context of its other known exceptional properties.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74920/1/j.1365-2966.2009.15385.x.pd

Multiwavelength Monitoring of the BL Lacertae Object PKS 2155-304 in May 1994. I. The Ground-Based Campaign

Optical, near-infrared, and radio observations of the BL Lac object PKS2155-304 were obtained simultaneously with a continuous UV/EUV/X-ray monitoring campaign in 1994 May. Further optical observations were gathered throughout most of 1994. The radio, millimeter, and near-infrared data show no strong correlations with the higher energies. The optical light curves exhibit flickering of 0.2-0.3 mag on timescales of 1-2 days, superimposed on longer timescale variations. Rapid variations of ~0.01 mag/min, which, if real, are the fastest seen to date for any BL Lac object. Small (0.2-0.3 mag) increases in the V and R bands occur simultaneously with a flare seen at higher energies. All optical wavebands (UBVRI) track each other well over the period of observation with no detectable delay. For most of the period the average colors remain relatively constant, although there is a tendency for the colors (in particular B-V) to vary more when the source fades. In polarized light, PKS 2155-304 showed strong color dependence and the highest optical polarization (U = 14.3%) ever observed for this source. The polarization variations trace the flares seen in the ultraviolet flux.Comment: 45 pages, latex file with encapsulated postscript, accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

The Hering-Breuer reflex in infancy

One of the most important adaptations to extrauterine life that must occur at birth is the establishment of a regular pattern of breathing. Although most infants achieve this without difficulty, abnormalities of respiratory control account for a number of clinical problems in the developing child. The work described in this thesis is concerned with the development of one aspect of respiratory control in healthy infants, with emphasis focused on the influence of postnatal age on the Hering-Breuer Lung Inflation Reflex (HBR). The HBR is a vagally-mediated reflex known to contribute to the establishment and control of regular breathing in the immediate newborn period. However, it is traditionally held that this reflex ceases to make any contribution to the control of tidal breathing beyond the first week of life. There is little evidence to support this contention, and the effects of postnatal development on this reflex are unclear. The hypothesis examined in this research was that the HBR does not diminish in strength during the first two months of life. The aims were to determine, firstly , whether a vagal contribution to the control of breathing, as evidenced by the presence of the HBR, persisted during this time; and secondly, whether there was any change in reflex strength with increasing postnatal age. In addition, the effects of sedation on reflex strength were assessed prior to serial measurements of the HBR in sedated infants during the first year of life. The potential influence of sleep-state, lung volume, and tidal breathing parameters was also assessed, as potential factors influencing the variability of reflex response. The methodological approach to, and findings from studies undertaken to achieve these objectives are discussed. Particular attention has been given to study design to avoid the potential problems encountered by previous workers in this field, with respect to sample size and study population, measurement conditions and analytical approach. The airway occlusion technique was used to assess changes in respiratory timing during stimulation and/or abolition of stretch receptor activity using brief end-inspiratory or end-expiratory airway occlusions. The strength of the HBR was assessed from the relative increase in respiratory time during occlusion, compared to values during spontaneous breathing. Findings from paired measurements in and 4-8 weeks of life indicate that, the HBR persists beyond the neonatal the first 2 months of life. Direct comparison of results from 33 unsedated infants and 33 infants sedated with Triclofos sodium, indicate that this sedation does not influence the strength of the HBR. Paired measurements performed at 6 weeks and 1 year in 25 infants reveal that a physiologically significant HBR persists in infants throughout the first year of life, but diminishes in strength during this time. The measured reflex response was found to be volume-dependent within individual infants. However, differences in lung volume between infants did not wholly account for the inter and intra-subject variability observed. The interpretation of maturational changes is complicated by associated changes in respiratory pattern and lung mechanics during the first year of life. However, a number of respiratory parameters assessed could not explain individual maturational changes. Despite a reduction in respiratory frequency and an increase in total respiratory system compliance during the first year, there was no evidence that these changes were causally associated with changes in reflex activity with age. The findings of the described in this thesis thus provide strong evidence for independent effect of maturation on HBR activity in healthy infants. The physiological and clinical significance of this reflex as a mechanism of respiratory control in infants is discussed, and implications for future research outlined