1,148 research outputs found
Hidden starburst in Seyfert 1 Galaxies
We report the detection of the 3.3 mu Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH)
feature in two Seyfert 1 galaxies - NGC 3227 and Mrk 766, and one QSO - Mrk
478, observed with SpeX at IRTF at a spectral resolution not previously
attained for this type of objects. Except for NGC 3227, this is the first time
that the 3.3 mu PAH emission is detected in Mrk 766 and Mrk 478. The widths of
the emission, reported also for the first time, are rather similar, ranging
from 450 A to 550 A. The luminosity of the 3.3 mu PAH emission measured in the
QSO Mrk 478 places it at a level similar of that found in starburst and
infrared luminous galaxies and implies that this object is having a vigorous
burst of star formation. The spatial resolution of the spectra allows us to
constrain the location of the star-forming region to the inner 1 Kpc for the
QSO and 150 pc for the Seyferts. Our results support the idea that these
objects resides in molecular gas-rich galaxies and that their observed infrared
excess is primarily due to star formation, as previously indicated by CO and
H_2 observations. We also report, for Mrk 1239, the presence of a broad
emission feature centred at 3.43 mu, not previosly detected in an extragalactic
object and whose origin is not yet clear.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Accepted to MNRAS pink page
The Bose polaron problem: effect of mass imbalance on binding energy
By means of Quantum Monte Carlo methods we calculate the binding energy of an
impurity immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate at T = 0. The focus is on the
attractive branch of the Bose polaron and on the role played by the mass
imbalance between the impurity and the surrounding particles. For an impurity
resonantly coupled to the bath, we investigate the dependence of the binding
energy on the mass ratio and on the interaction strength within the medium. In
particular, we determine the equation of state in the case of a static
(infinite mass) impurity, where three-body correlations are irrelevant and the
result is expected to be a universal function of the gas parameter. For the
mass ratio corresponding to K impurities in a gas of Rb atoms we
provide an explicit comparison with the experimental findings of a recent study
carried out at JILA.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Extended Coronal Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
VLT and NTT spectra are used to examine the nuclear and extended coronal line
emission in a sample of well-known Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies. The excellent
spatial resolution obtained with VLT allowed us to map [SiVI] 1.963 m and
[SiVII] 2.48 m on scales of up to 20 pc. Coronal line emission, extended
to distances of 100 pc, is detected in some of the lines analyzed,
particularly in [FeX] 6374\AA, [FeXI] 7891\AA, and [SiVII] 2.48m. Most
coronal lines are strongly asymmetric towards the blue and broader than
low-ionization lines. This result is particularly important for Circinus, where
previous observations had failed at detecting larger widths for high-ionization
lines. Photoionization models are used to investigate the physical conditions
and continuum luminosities necessary to produced the observed coronal emission.
We found that an ionization parameter U> 0.10 is necessary to reproduce the
observations, although the clouds should be located at distances < 30 pc.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, to appear in proceedings of IAU Symposium No.
222, The Interplay Among Black Holes, Stars and ISM in Galacti Nucle
The Narrow Line Region of Ark 564
The continuum and emission-line spectrum of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy
Ark 564 is used to investigate, for the first time, the physical conditions and
structure of its narrow line region (NLR). For this purpose, composite models,
accounting for the coupled effect of photoionization and shocks, are employed.
The emission-line spectrum of Ark 564, which ranges from the ultraviolet to the
near-infrared, shows a rich forbidden line spectrum. Strong emphasis is given
to the study of the coronal line region. The diversity of physical conditions
deduced from the observations requires multi-cloud models to reproduce the
observed lines and continuum. We find that a combination of high velocity (Vs =
1500 km/s) shock-dominated clouds as well as low velocity (Vs = 150 km/s)
radiation-dominated clouds explains the coronal lines, while the optical
low-ionization lines are mainly explained by shock-dominated clouds. The
results for Ark 564 are compared with those obtained for other Seyfert galaxies
previously analyzed such as NGC 5252, Circinus, NGC 4051 and NGC 4151. The
model results for the ultraviolet and optical permitted lines suggest that the
broad line region may contribute up to 80%, depending on the emission-line,
being of about 30% for Hbeta. The consistency of the multi-cloud model is
checked by comparing the predicted and observed continuum, from radio to X-ray,
and indicate that the dust-to-gas ratio in the clouds varies from 10^{-15} to
10^{-12}.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure. Accepted in A&
The Spitzer Atlas of Stellar Spectra
We present the Spitzer Atlas of Stellar Spectra (SASS), which includes 159
stellar spectra (5 to 32 mic; R~100) taken with the Infrared Spectrograph on
the Spitzer Space Telescope. This Atlas gathers representative spectra of a
broad section of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, intended to serve as a
general stellar spectral reference in the mid-infrared. It includes stars from
all luminosity classes, as well as Wolf-Rayet (WR) objects. Furthermore, it
includes some objects of intrinsic interest, like blue stragglers and certain
pulsating variables. All the spectra have been uniformly reduced, and all are
available online. For dwarfs and giants, the spectra of early-type objects are
relatively featureless, dominated by Hydrogen lines around A spectral types.
Besides these, the most noticeable photospheric features correspond to water
vapor and silicon monoxide in late-type objects and methane and ammonia
features at the latest spectral types. Most supergiant spectra in the Atlas
present evidence of circumstellar gas. The sample includes five M supergiant
spectra, which show strong dust excesses and in some cases PAH features.
Sequences of WR stars present the well-known pattern of lines of HeI and HeII,
as well as forbidden lines of ionized metals. The characteristic flat-top shape
of the [Ne III] line is evident even at these low spectral resolutions. Several
Luminous Blue Variables and other transition stars are present in the Atlas and
show very diverse spectra, dominated by circumstellar gas and dust features. We
show that the [8]-[24] Spitzer colors (IRAC and MIPS) are poor predictors of
spectral type for most luminosity classes.Comment: Accepted by ApJS; Atlas contents available from:
http://web.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/ardila/Atlas/index.html;
http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/SASS/; 70 PDF pages, including
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