60 research outputs found
Gamma-ray blazars: the view from AGILE
During the first 3 years of operation the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector onboard
the AGILE satellite detected several blazars in a high gamma-ray activity: 3C
279, 3C 454.3, PKS 1510-089, S5 0716+714, 3C 273, W Comae, Mrk 421, PKS
0537-441 and 4C +21.35. Thanks to the rapid dissemination of our alerts, we
were able to obtain multiwavelength data from other observatories such as
Spitzer, Swift, RXTE, Suzaku, INTEGRAL, MAGIC, VERITAS, and ARGO as well as
radio-to-optical coverage by means of the GASP Project of the WEBT and the REM
Telescope. This large multifrequency coverage gave us the opportunity to study
the variability correlations between the emission at different frequencies and
to obtain simultaneous spectral energy distributions of these sources from
radio to gamma-ray energy bands, investigating the different mechanisms
responsible for their emission and uncovering in some cases a more complex
behaviour with respect to the standard models. We present a review of the most
interesting AGILE results on these gamma-ray blazars and their multifrequency
data.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on Advances in Space
Research. Talk presented at the 38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly (Bremen,
Germany; July 18-25, 2010
BeppoSAX Observations of the TeV Blazar Mkn 421
The blazar Mkn 421 has been observed, as part of the AO1 Core Program, five
times from 2 to 7 May 1997. In the LECS+MECS energy band the spectrum shows
convex curvature, well represented by a broken power--law. Flux variability
(more than a factor 2) has been detected over the entire 0.1--10 keV range,
accompanying which the spectrum steepens with the decrease in intensity. Mkn
421 has also been detected with the PDS instrument. Our preliminary analysis
indicates that the PDS spectrum lies significantly above the extrapolation from
the MECS, suggesting a contribution from a flatter high energy component.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses espcrc2.sty and psfig.sty (both
included). To appear in "The Active X-ray Sky: Results from BeppoSAX and
Rossi-XTE", Rome, Italy, 21-24 October, 1997. Eds.: L. Scarsi, H. Bradt, P.
Giommi and F. Fior
BeppoSAX observations of PKS 0528+134
We report on the BeppoSAX observations of the gamma-ray blazar PKS 0528+134
performed in Feb and Mar 1997, during a multiwavelength campaign involving
EGRET and ground based telescopes. The source was in a faint and hard state,
with energy spectral index alpha=0.48+-0.04 between 0.1 and 10 keV, and [2-10]
keV flux of 2.7E-12 erg/cm2/s. No significant variability was observed. The
source was detected in the 20-120 keV band by the PDS, with a flux lying
slightly above the extrapolation from lower X-ray energies. Comparing this low
state with previous higher states of the source, there is an indication that
the X-ray spectrum hardens and the gamma-ray spectrum steepens when the source
is fainter.Comment: 4 pages, LateX, 5 figures (included). Uses espcrc2.sty and epsf.sty
(included). To appear in The Active X-ray Sky: Results from BeppoSAX and
Rossi-XTE, Rome, Italy, 21-24 October, 1997. Eds.: L. Scarsi, H. Bradt, P.
Giommi and F. Fior
Fusion of secretory vesicles isolated from rat liver
Secretory vesicles isolated from rat liver were found to fuse after exposure to Ca2+. Vescle fusion is characterized by the occurrence of twinned vesicles with a continuous cleavage plane between two vesicles in freeze-fracture electron microscopy. The number of fused vesicles increases with increasing Ca2+-concentrations and is half maximal around 10â6 m. Other divalent cations (Ba2+, Sr2+, and Mg2+) were ineffective. Mg2+ inhibits Ca2+-induced fusion. Therefore, the fusion of secretory vesiclesin vitro is Ca2+ specific and exhibits properties similar to the exocytotic process of various secretory cells.
Various substances affecting secretionin vivo (microtubular inhibitors, local anethetics, ionophores) were tested for their effect on membrane fusion in our system.
The fusion of isolated secretory vesicles from liver was found to differ from that of pure phospholipid membranes in its temperature dependence, in its much lower requirement for Ca2+, and in its Ca2+-specificity. Chemical and enzymatic modifications of the vesicle membrane indicate that glycoproteins may account for these differences
Correlations between the peak flux density and the position angle of inner-jet in three blazars
We aim to investigate the relation between the long-term flux density and the
position angle (PA) evolution of inner-jet in blazars. We have carried out the
elliptic Gaussian model-fit to the `core' of 50 blazars from 15 GHz VLBA data,
and analyzed the variability properties of three blazars from the model-fit
results. Diverse correlations between the long-term peak flux density and the
PA evolution of the major axis of the `core' have been found in 20% of
the 50 sources. Of them, three typical blazars have been analyzed, which also
show quasi-periodic flux variations of a few years (T). The correlation between
the peak flux density and the PA of inner-jet is positive for S5~0716+714, and
negative for S4~1807+698. The two sources cannot be explained with the
ballistic jet models, the non-ballistic models have been analyzed to explain
the two sub-luminal blazars. A correlation between the peak flux density and
the PA (with a T/4 time lag) of inner-jet is found in [HB89]~1823+568, this
correlation can be explained with a ballistic precession jet model. All the
explanations are based mainly on the geometric beaming effect; physical flux
density variations from the jet base would be considered for more complicated
situations in future, which could account for the no or less significance of
the correlation between the peak flux density and the PA of inner-jet in the
majority blazars of our sample.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and
Space Scienc
The chemical enrichment of the ICM from hydrodynamical simulations
The study of the metal enrichment of the intra-cluster and inter-galactic
media (ICM and IGM) represents a direct means to reconstruct the past history
of star formation, the role of feedback processes and the gas-dynamical
processes which determine the evolution of the cosmic baryons. In this paper we
review the approaches that have been followed so far to model the enrichment of
the ICM in a cosmological context. While our presentation will be focused on
the role played by hydrodynamical simulations, we will also discuss other
approaches based on semi-analytical models of galaxy formation, also critically
discussing pros and cons of the different methods. We will first review the
concept of the model of chemical evolution to be implemented in any
chemo-dynamical description. We will emphasise how the predictions of this
model critically depend on the choice of the stellar initial mass function, on
the stellar life-times and on the stellar yields. We will then overview the
comparisons presented so far between X-ray observations of the ICM enrichment
and model predictions. We will show how the most recent chemo-dynamical models
are able to capture the basic features of the observed metal content of the ICM
and its evolution. We will conclude by highlighting the open questions in this
study and the direction of improvements for cosmological chemo-dynamical models
of the next generation.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science
Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view",
Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 18; work done by an international team at the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S.
Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeke
The WEBT BL Lacertae Campaign 2001 and its extension : Optical light curves and colour analysis 1994â2002
BL Lacertae has been the target of four observing campaigns by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) collaboration. In this paper we present UBVRI light curves obtained by theWEBT from 1994 to 2002, including the last, extended BL Lac 2001 campaign. A total of about 7500 optical observations performed by 31 telescopes from Japan to Mexico have been collected, to be added to the âŒ15 600 observations of the BL Lac Campaign 2000. All these data allow one to follow the source optical emission behaviour with unprecedented detail. The analysis of the colour indices reveals that the flux variability can be interpreted in terms of two components: longer-term variations occurring on a fewday time scale appear as mildly-chromatic events, while a strong bluer-when-brighter chromatism characterizes very fast (intraday) flares. By decoupling the two components, we quantify the degree of chromatism inferring that longer-term flux changes imply moving along a âŒ0.1 bluerwhen- brighter slope in the B â R versus R plane; a steeper slope of âŒ0.4 would distinguish the shorter-term variations. This means that, when considering the long-term trend, the B-band flux level is related to the R-band one according to a power law of index âŒ1.1. Doppler factor variations on a âconvexâ spectrum could be the mechanism accounting for both the long-term variations and their slight chromatism.Reig Torres, Pablo, [email protected]
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Gaia Early Data Release 3: The celestial reference frame (Gaia-CRF3)
Context. Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue. Aims. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality. Methods. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3). Results. Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13-21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 ÎŒas yr-1 on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the Gaia-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution
Multiwavelength variability of BL Lacertae measured with high time resolution
In an effort to locate the sites of emission at different frequencies and physical processes causing variability in blazar jets, we have obtained high time-resolution observations of BL Lacertae over a wide wavelength range: with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) at 6000â10000 Ă
with 2 minute cadence; with the Neil Gehrels Swift satellite at optical, UV, and X-ray bands; with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array at hard X-ray bands; with the Fermi Large Area Telescope at γ-ray energies; and with the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope for measurement of the optical flux density and polarization. All light curves are correlated, with similar structure on timescales from hours to days. The shortest timescale of variability at optical frequencies observed with TESS is ~0.5 hr. The most common timescale is 13 ± 1 hr, comparable with the minimum timescale of X-ray variability, 14.5 hr. The multiwavelength variability properties cannot be explained by a change solely in the Doppler factor of the emitting plasma. The polarization behavior implies that there are both ordered and turbulent components to the magnetic field in the jet. Correlation analysis indicates that the X-ray variations lag behind the γ-ray and optical light curves by up to ~0.4 day. The timescales of variability, cross-frequency lags, and polarization properties can be explained by turbulent plasma that is energized by a shock in the jet and subsequently loses energy to synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation in a magnetic field of strength ~3 G.Accepted manuscrip
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