4,643 research outputs found
A Captured Runaway Black Hole in NGC 1277?
Recent results indicate that the compact lenticular galaxy NGC 1277 in the
Perseus Cluster contains a black hole of approximately 10 billion solar masses.
This far exceeds the expected mass of the central black hole in a galaxy of the
modest dimensions of NGC 1277. We suggest that this giant black hole was
ejected from the nearby giant galaxy NGC 1275 and subsequently captured by NGC
1277. The ejection was the result of gravitational radiation recoil when two
large black holes merged following the merger of two giant ellipticals that
helped to form NGC 1275. The black hole wandered in the cluster core until it
was captured in a close encounter with NGC 1277. The migration of black holes
in clusters may be a common occurrence.Comment: Four pages, accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Major
revisions, especially Section
The Black Hole Mass - Galaxy Luminosity Relationship for Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasars
We investigate the relationship between the mass of the central supermassive
black hole, M_bh, and the host galaxy luminosity, L_gal, in a sample of quasars
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7). We use composite
quasar spectra binned by black hole mass and redshift to assess galaxy features
that would otherwise be overwhelmed by noise in individual spectra. The black
hole mass is calculated using the photoionization method, and the host galaxy
luminosity is inferred from the depth of the Ca II H + K features in the
composite spectra. We evaluate the evolution in the M_bh - L_gal relationship
by examining the redshift dependence of Delta log M_bh, the offset in black
hole mass from the local black hole - bulge relationship. There is little
systematic trend in Delta log M_bh out to z = 0.8. Using the width of the [O
III] emission line as a proxy for the stellar velocity dispersion, sigma_*, we
find agreement of our derived host luminosities with the locally-observed
Faber-Jackson relation. This supports the utility of the width of the [O III]
line as a proxy for sigma_* in statistical studies.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; final version; major revision
Statistical Trajectory Estimation Program (STEP) implementation for BLDT post flight trajectory simulation
Tests were conducted to provide flight conditions for qualifying the Viking Decelerator System in a simulated Mars environment. A balloon launched decelerator test (BLDT) vehicle which has an external shape similar to the actual Mars Viking Lander Capsule was used so that the decelerator would be deployed in the wake of a blunt body. An effort was made to simulate the BLDT vehicle flights from the time they were dropped from the balloon, through decelerator deployment, until stable decelerator conditions were reached. The procedure used to simulate these flights using the Statistical Trajectory Estimation Program (STEP) is discussed. Using primarily ground-based position radar and vehicle onboard rate gyro and accelerometer data, the STEP produces a minimum variance solution of the vehicle trajectory and calculates vehicle attitude histories. Using film from cameras in the vehicle along with a computer program, attitude histories for portions of the flight before and after decelerator deployment were calculated independent of the STEP simulation. With the assumption that the vehicle motions derived from camera data are accurate, a comparison reveals that STEP was able to simulate vehicle motions for all flights both before and after decelerator deployment
Accretion Disk Temperatures of QSOs: Constraints from the Emission Lines
QSO emission-line spectra are compared to predictions based on theoretical
ionizing continua of accretion disks. Observed line intensities do not show the
expected trend of higher ionization with higher accretion disk temperature as
derived from the black hole mass and accretion rate. This suggests that, at
least for accretion rates close to the Eddington limit, the inner disk does not
reach temperatures as high as expected from standard disk theory. Modified
radial temperature profiles, taking account of winds or advection in the inner
disk, achieve better agreement with observation. This conclusion agrees with an
earlier study of QSO continuum colors as a function of disk temperature. The
emission lines of radio-detected and radio-undetected sources show different
trends as a function of disk temperature.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap
Is there an Income Gradient in Child Health? It depends whom you ask
A large literature uses parental evaluations of child health status to provide evidence on the socioeconomic determinants of health. If how parents perceive health questions differs by income or education level, then estimates of the socioeconomic gradient are likely to be biased and potentially misleading. In this paper we examine this issue. We directly compare child mental health evaluations from parents, teachers, children and psychiatrists for mental health problems, test whether these differences are systematically related to observable child and parent characteristics, and examine the implications of the different reports for the estimated income gradient. We find that respondents frequently evaluate children differently and while the sign of the income gradient is in the same direction across respondents, systematic differences in evaluations mean that the estimated magnitude and significance of the health-income gradient is highly dependent upon the choice of respondent and the measure of child health.Child Health, Income, Reporting Bias
Handedness, Health and Cognitive Development: Evidence from Children in the NLSY
Using data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, and fitting family fixed-effects models of child health and cognitive development, we test if left-handed children do significantly worse than their right-handed counterparts. The health measures cover both physical and mental health, and the cognitive development test scores span (1) Memory, (2) Vocabulary, (3) Mathematics, (4) Reading and (5) Comprehension. We find that while left-handed children have a significantly higher probability of suffering an injury needing medical attention, there is no difference in their experience of illness or poor mental health. We also find that left-handed children have significantly lower cognitive development test scores than right-handed children for all areas of development with the exception of reading. Moreover, the left-handedness disadvantage is larger for boys than girls, and remains roughly constant as children grow older for most outcomes. We also find that the probability of a child being left-handed is not related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the family, such as income or maternal education. All these results tend to support a difference in brain functioning or neurological explanation for handedness differentials rather than one based on left-handed children living in a right-handed world.handedness, children, health, cognitive development, family fixed-effects
Facet recovery and light emission from GaN/InGaN/GaN core-shell structures grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy on etched GaN nanorod arrays
The use of etched nanorods from a planar template as a growth scaffold for a highly regular GaN/InGaN/GaN core-shell structure is demonstrated. The recovery of m-plane non-polar facets from etched high-aspect-ratio GaN nanorods is studied with and without the introduction of a hydrogen silsesquioxane passivation layer at the bottom of the etched nanorod arrays. This layer successfully prevented c-plane growth between the nanorods, resulting in vertical nanorod sidewalls (∼89.8°) and a more regular height distribution than re-growth on unpassivated nanorods. The height variation on passivated nanorods is solely determined by the uniformity of nanorod diameter, which degrades with increased growth duration. Facet-dependent indium incorporation of GaN/InGaN/GaN core-shell layers regrown onto the etched nanorods is observed by high-resolution cathodoluminescence imaging. Sharp features corresponding to diffracted wave-guide modes in angle-resolved photoluminescence measurements are evidence of the uniformity of the full core-shell structure grown on ordered etched nanorods
Recoiling Black Holes in Quasars
Recent simulations of merging black holes with spin give recoil velocities
from gravitational radiation up to several thousand km/s. A recoiling
supermassive black hole can retain the inner part of its accretion disk,
providing fuel for a continuing QSO phase lasting millions of years as the hole
moves away from the galactic nucleus. One possible observational manifestation
of a recoiling accretion disk is in QSO emission lines shifted in velocity from
the host galaxy. We have examined QSOs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with
broad emission lines substantially shifted relative to the narrow lines. We
find no convincing evidence for recoiling black holes carrying accretion disks.
We place an upper limit on the incidence of recoiling black holes in QSOs of 4%
for kicks greater than 500 km/s and 0.35% for kicks greater than 1000 km/s
line-of-sight velocity.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, uses emulateapj, Submitted to ApJ Letter
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