16,956 research outputs found
The role of magnetic field for quiescence-outburst models in CVs
In this paper we present the elementary assumptions of our research on the
role of the magnetic field in modelling the quiescence-outbursts cycle in
Cataclysmic Variables (CVs). The behaviour of the magnetic field is crucial not
only to integrate the disk instability model (Osaki 1974), but also to
determine the cause and effect nexus among parameters affecting the behavior of
complex systems. On the ground of our interpretation of the results emerging
from the literature, we suggest that in models describing DNe outbursts, such
as the disk instability model, the secondary instability model (Bath 1973) and
the thermonuclear runaway model (Mitrofanov 1978), the role of the magnetic
field is at least twofold. On the one hand, it activates a specific dynamic
pathway for the accreting matter by channelling it. On the other hand, it could
be indirectly responsible for switching a particular outburst modality. In
order to represent these two roles of the magnetic field, we need to integrate
the disk instability model by looking at the global behaviour of the system
under analysis. Stochastic resonance in dynamo models, we believe, is a
suitable candidate for accomplishing this task. We shall present the MHD model
including this mechanism elsewhere.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, CTU Proceedings, Acta Polytechnica (accepted
The broad-band X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 1 galaxy, MCG+8-11-11
We present a long (100 ks) Suzaku observation of one of the X-ray brightest
AGN, MCG+8-11-11. These data were complemented with the 54-month Swift BAT
spectrum, allowing us to perform a broad-band fit in the 0.6-150 keV range. The
fits performed in the 0.6-10 keV band give consistent results with respect to a
previous XMM-Newton observation, i.e. the lack of a soft excess, warm
absorption along the line of sight, a large Compton reflection component (R~1)
and the absence of a relativistic component of the neutral iron K
emission line. However, when the PIN and Swift BAT data are included, the
reflection amount drops significantly (R~0.2-0.3), and a relativistic iron line
is required, the latter confirmed by a phenomenological analysis in a
restricted energy band (3-10 keV). When a self-consistent model is applied to
the whole broadband data, the observed reflection component appears to be all
associated to the relativistic component of the iron K line. The
resulting scenario, though strongly model-dependent, requires that all the
reprocessing spectral components from Compton-thick material must be associated
to the accretion disc, and no evidence for the classical pc-scale torus is
found. The narrow core of the neutral iron K line is therefore produced
in a Compton-thin material, like the BLR, similarly to what found in another
Seyfert galaxy, NGC7213, but with the notable difference that MCG+8-11-11
presents spectral signatures from an accretion disc. The very low accretion
rate of NGC7213 could explain the lack of relativistic signatures in its
spectrum, but the absence of the torus in both sources is more difficult to
explain, since their luminosities are comparable, and their accretion rates are
completely different.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
New HErschel Multi-wavelength Extragalactic Survey of Edge-on Spirals (NHEMESES)
Edge-on spiral galaxies offer a unique perspective on the vertical structure
of spiral disks, both stars and the iconic dark dustlanes. The thickness of
these dustlanes can now be resolved for the first time with Herschel in
far-infrared and sub-mm emission. We present NHEMESES, an ongoing project that
targets 12 edge-on spiral galaxies with the PACS and SPIRE instruments on
Herschel. These vertically resolved observations of edge-on spirals will impact
on several current topics.
First and foremost, these Herschel observations will settle whether or not
there is a phase change in the vertical structure of the ISM with disk mass.
Previously, a dramatic change in dustlane morphology was observed as in massive
disks the dust collapses into a thin lane. If this is the case, the vertical
balance between turbulence and gravity dictates the ISM structure and
consequently star-formation and related phenomena (spiral arms, bars etc.). We
specifically target lower mass nearby edge-ons to complement existing Herschel
observations of high-mass edge-on spirals (the HEROES project).
Secondly, the combined data-set, together with existing Spitzer observations,
will drive a new generation of spiral disk Spectral Energy Distribution models.
These model how dust reprocesses starlight to thermal emission but the dust
geometry remains the critical unknown.
And thirdly, the observations will provide an accurate and unbiased census of
the cold dusty structures occasionally seen extending out of the plane of the
disk, when backlit by the stellar disk. To illustrate the NHEMESES project, we
present early results on NGC 4244 and NGC 891, two well studies examples of a
low and high-mass edge-on spiral.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of IAU 284, "The
Spectral Energy Distribution of Galaxies", (SED2011), 5-9 September 2011,
Preston, UK, editors, R.J. Tuffs & C.C.Popescu (v2 updated metadata
On the driver of relativistic effects strength in Seyfert galaxies
Spectroscopy of X-ray emission lines emitted in accretion discs around
supermassive black holes is one of the most powerful probes of the accretion
flow physics and geometry, while also providing in principle observational
constraints on the black hole spin.[...] We aim at determining the ultimate
physical driver of the strength of this relativistic reprocessing feature. We
first extend the hard X-ray flux-limited sample of Seyfert galaxies studied so
far (FERO, de la Calle Perez et al. 2010) to obscured objects up to a column
density N_H=6x10^23 atoms/cm/cm. We verify that none of the line properties
depends on the AGN optical classification, as expected from the Seyfert
unification scenarios. There is also no correlation between the accretion disc
inclination, as derived from formal fits of the line profiles, and the optical
type or host galaxy aspect angle, suggesting that the innermost regions of the
accretion disc and the host galaxy plane are not aligned. [...]. Data are not
sensitive enough to the detailed ionisation state of the line-emitting disc.
However, the lack of dependency of the line EW on either the luminosity or the
rest-frame centroid energy rules out that disc ionisation plays an important
role on the EW dynamical range in Seyferts. The dynamical range of the
relativistically broadened K-alpha iron line EW in nearby Seyferts appears to
be mainly determined by the properties of the innermost accretion flow. We
discuss several mechanisms (disc ionisation, disc truncation, aberration due to
a mildly relativistic outflowing corona) which can explain this. [...]
Observational data are still not in contradiction with scenarios invoking
different mechanisms for the spectral complexity around the iron line, most
notably the "partial covering" absorption scenario. (abridged).Comment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysics. 14 pages, 9
figure
Evolution of the disc atmosphere in the X-ray binary MXB 1659-298, during its 2015-2017 outburst
We report on the evolution of the X-ray emission of the accreting neutron
star (NS) low mass X-ray binary (LMXB), MXB 1659-298, during its most recent
outburst in 2015-2017. We detected 60 absorption lines during the soft state
(of which 21 at more than 3 ), that disappeared in the hard state
(e.g., the Fe xxv and Fe xxvi lines). The absorbing plasma is at rest, likely
part of the accretion disc atmosphere. The bulk of the absorption features can
be reproduced by a high column density () of highly
ionised () plasma. Its disappearance during the
hard state is likely the consequence of a thermal photo-ionisation instability.
MXB 1659-298's continuum emission can be described by the sum of an absorbed
disk black body and its Comptonised emission, plus a black body component. The
observed spectral evolution with state is in line with that typically observed
in atoll and stellar mass black hole LMXB. The presence of a relativistic Fe
K disk-line is required during the soft state. We also tentatively
detect the Fe xxii doublet, whose ratio suggests an electron density of the
absorber of , hence, the absorber is likely located at
from the illuminating source, well inside the Compton and
outer disc radii. MXB 1659-298 is the third well monitored atoll LMXB
showcasing intense Fe xxv and Fe xxvi absorption during the soft state that
disappears during the hard state.Comment: MNRAS in pres
Massive higher spins and holography
We review recent progress towards the understanding of higher spin gauge
symmetry breaking in AdS space from a holographic vantage point. According to
the AdS/CFT correspondence, N=4 SYM theory at vanishing coupling constant
should be dual to a theory in AdS which exhibits higher spin gauge symmetry
enhancement. When the SYM coupling is non-zero, all but a handful of HS
currents are violated by anomalies, and correspondingly local higher spin
symmetry in the bulk gets spontaneously broken. In agreement with previous
results and holographic expectations, we find that, barring one notable
exception (spin 1 eating spin 0), the Goldstone modes responsible for HS
symmetry breaking in AdS have non-vanishing mass even in the limit in which the
gauge symmetry is restored. We show that spontaneous breaking a' la
Stueckelberg implies that the mass of the relevant spin s'=s-1 Goldstone field
is exactly the one predicted by the correspondence.Comment: 8 pages, talk presented by M.B. at the "Fourth Meeting on Constrained
Dynamics and Quantum gravity" held in Cala Gonone (Sardinia, Italy),
September 12-16, 200
On Exact Symmetries and Massless Vectors in Holographic Flows and other Flux Vacua
We analyze the isometries of Type IIB flux vacua based on the
Papadopolous-Tseytlin ansatz and identify the related massless bulk vector
fields. To this end we devise a general ansatz, valid in any flux
compactification, for the fluctuations of the metric and p-forms that
diagonalizes the coupled equations. We then illustrate the procedure in the
simple case of holographic flows driven by the RR 3-form flux only.
Specifically we study the fate of the isometries of the Maldacena-Nunez
solution associated to wrapped D5-branes.Comment: 23 page
Photoabsorption on nuclei
We calculate the total photoabsorption cross section on nuclei in the energy
range from 300 MeV to 1 GeV within the framework of a semi-classical phase
space model. Besides medium modifications like Fermi motion and Pauli blocking
we focus on the collision broadening of the involved resonances. The resonance
contributions to the elementary cross section are fixed by fits to partial wave
amplitudes of pion photoproduction. The cross sections for ,
needed for the calculation of collision broadening, are obtained by detailed
balance from a fit to cross sections. We show that a
reasonable collision broadening is not able to explain the experimentally
observed disappearance of the -resonance in the photoabsorption
cross section on nuclei.Comment: 26 pages Latex including 9 postscript figure
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