215 research outputs found
Spectroscopy of Stellar-Like Objects Contained in the Second Byurakan Survey. I
The results of spectroscopic observations of 363 star-like objects from the
Second Byurakan Survey (SBS) are reported. This SBS's subsample has proven to
be a rich source of newly identified quasars, Seyfert type galaxies, degenerate
stars and hot subdwarfs. In the subsample here studied, we identified 35 new
QSOs, 142 White Dwarfs (WDs) the majority of which, 114 are of DA type, 55
subdwarfs (29 of which are sdB-type stars), 10 HBB, 16 NHB, 54 G-type and 25
F-type stars, two objects with composite spectra, four Cataclismic Variables
(CV), two peculiar emission line stars, 17 objects with continuous spectra, as
well as one planetary nebula. Among the 35 QSOs we have found two Broad
Absorption Line (BAL) QSOs, namely SBS 1423+500 and SBS 1435+500A. Magnitudes,
redshifts, and slit spectra for all QSOs, also some typical spectra of the
peculiar stars are presented. We estimate the minimum surface density of bright
QSOs in redshift range 0.3<z<2.2 to be 0.05 per sq. deg. for B<17.0 and 0.10
per sq. deg. for B<17.5.Comment: 22 pages, 3 tables, 4 figures, PASP in pres
Spectral Observations of Faint Markarian Galaxies of the Second Byurakan Survey. II
We continue the program of spectroscopic observations of objects from the
Second Byurakan Survey (SBS). This survey contains more than 1300 galaxies and
1700 star-like objects with m(pg)<19.5. Our work is aimed towards the
construction of a complete sample of faint Markarian galaxies. Here, we present
spectroscopic data for 43 galaxies. Amongst them six new Seyfert galaxies are
found, namely two Sy 1 type (SBS 1343+544 and SBS 1433+500), one Sy 2 type (SBS
1620+545) and three likely Sy 2 type galaxies (SBS 1205+556, SBS 1344+527, SBS
1436+597). SBS 1343+544 falls into the luminosity gap between low-redshift QSOs
and high luminosity Sefert galaxies. In the sample studied here, another 36
emission-line galaxies were spectroscopically confirmed. Thus far, 102 SBS
galaxies brighter than m(pg)=17.5 have been observed with the Cananea 2.1m GHO
telescope. The apparent magnitude and redshift distributions, the spectral
classification, the relative intensities of emission lines, and other
parameters, as well as slit spectra for all 43 observed galaxies are presented.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, Latex, aaspp4.sty and aj_pt.sty,
Submitted to Astronomical Journa
Spectroscopic Analysis of H I Absorption Line Systems in 40 HIRES Quasars
We list and analyze H I absorption lines at redshifts 2 < z < 4 with column
density (12 < log(N_HI) < 19) in 40 high-resolutional (FWHM = 8.0 km/s) quasar
spectra obtained with the Keck+HIRES. We de-blend and fit all H I lines within
1,000 km/s of 86 strong H I lines whose column densities are log(N_HI/[cm^-2])
> 15. Unlike most prior studies, we use not only Lya but also all visible
higher Lyman series lines to improve the fitting accuracy. This reveals
components near to higher column density systems that can not be seen in Lya.
We list the Voigt profile fits to the 1339 H I components that we found. We
examined physical properties of H I lines after separating them into several
sub-samples according to their velocity separation from the quasars, their
redshift, column density and the S/N ratio of the spectrum. We found two
interesting trends for lines with 12 < log(N_HI) < 15 which are within 200-1000
km/s of systems with log(N_HI) > 15. First, their column density distribution
becomes steeper, meaning relatively fewer high column density lines, at z <
2.9. Second, their column density distribution also becomes steeper and their
line width becomes broader by about 2-3 km/s when they are within 5,000 km/s of
their quasar.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journal. A complete version with all tables and figures is available at
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/misawa/pub/Paper/40hires.ps.g
Extending bioacoustic monitoring of birds aloft through flight call localization with a three-dimensional microphone array
Bioacoustic localization of bird vocalizations provides unattended observations of the location of calling individuals in many field applications. While this technique has been successful in monitoring terrestrial distributions of calling birds, no published study has applied these methods to migrating birds in flight. The value of nocturnal flight call recordings can increase with the addition of three-dimensional position retrievals, which can be achieved with adjustments to existing localization techniques. Using the time difference of arrival method, we have developed a proof-of-concept acoustic microphone array that allows the three-dimensional positioning of calls within the airspace. Our array consists of six microphones, mounted in pairs at the top and bottom of three 10-m poles, arranged in an equilateral triangle with sides of 20 m. The microphone array was designed using readily available components and costs less than $2,000 USD to build and deploy. We validate this technique using a kite-lofted GPS and speaker package, and obtain 60.1% of vertical retrievals within the accuracy of the GPS measurements (+/- 5 m) and 80.4% of vertical retrievals within +/- 10 m. The mean Euclidian distance between the acoustic retrievals of flight calls and the GPS truth was 9.6 m. Identification and localization of nocturnal flight calls have the potential to provide species-specific spatial characterizations of bird migration within the airspace. Even with the inexpensive equipment used in this trial, low-altitude applications such as surveillance around wind farms or oil platforms can benefit from the three-dimensional retrievals provided by this technique
A catalogue of damped Lyman alpha absorption systems and radio flux densities of the background quasars
We present a catalogue of the 322 damped Lyman alpha absorbers taken from the
literature. All damped Lyman alpha absorbers are included, with no selection on
redshift or quasar magnitude. Of these, 123 are candidates and await
confirmation using high resolution spectroscopy. For all 322 objects we
catalogue the radio properties of the background quasars, where known. Around
60 quasars have radio flux densities above 0.1 Jy and approximately half of
these have optical magnitudes brighter than V = 18. This compilation should
prove useful in several areas of extragalactic/cosmological research.Comment: 26 Pages, 12 PS tables, 1 embedded table. Accepted by PASA.
Continuously updated online catalogue available at
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~sjc/dl
Very-high-energy gamma radiation associated with the unshocked wind of the Crab pulsar
We show that the relativistic wind in the Crab pulsar, which is commonly
thought to be invisible in the region upstream of the termination shock at R <
0.1 pc, in fact could be directly observed through its inverse Compton gamm-ray
emission. The search for such specific component of radiation in the gamma-ray
spectrum of the Crab can provide unique information about the unshocked pulsar
wind that is not accessible at other wavelengths.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, to appear in one of the April issues of MNRA
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Rapid CIV Broad Absorption Line Variability
We report the discovery of rapid variations of a high-velocity CIV broad
absorption line trough in the quasar SDSS J141007.74+541203.3. This object was
intensively observed in 2014 as a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Reverberation Mapping Project, during which 32 epochs of spectroscopy were
obtained with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey spectrograph. We
observe significant (>4sigma) variability in the equivalent width of the broad
(~4000 km/s wide) CIV trough on rest-frame timescales as short as 1.20 days
(~29 hours), the shortest broad absorption line variability timescale yet
reported. The equivalent width varied by ~10% on these short timescales, and by
about a factor of two over the duration of the campaign. We evaluate several
potential causes of the variability, concluding that the most likely cause is a
rapid response to changes in the incident ionizing continuum. If the outflow is
at a radius where the recombination rate is higher than the ionization rate,
the timescale of variability places a lower limit on the density of the
absorbing gas of n_e > 3.9 x 10^5 cm^-3. The broad absorption line variability
characteristics of this quasar are consistent with those observed in previous
studies of quasars, indicating that such short-term variability may in fact be
common and thus can be used to learn about outflow characteristics and
contributions to quasar/host-galaxy feedback scenarios.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy: A 23-year success story in high-energy astroparticle physics
Very-high energy (VHE) gamma quanta contribute only a minuscule fraction -
below one per million - to the flux of cosmic rays. Nevertheless, being neutral
particles they are currently the best "messengers" of processes from the
relativistic/ultra-relativistic Universe because they can be extrapolated back
to their origin. The window of VHE gamma rays was opened only in 1989 by the
Whipple collaboration, reporting the observation of TeV gamma rays from the
Crab nebula. After a slow start, this new field of research is now rapidly
expanding with the discovery of more than 150 VHE gamma-ray emitting sources.
Progress is intimately related with the steady improvement of detectors and
rapidly increasing computing power. We give an overview of the early attempts
before and around 1989 and the progress after the pioneering work of the
Whipple collaboration. The main focus of this article is on the development of
experimental techniques for Earth-bound gamma-ray detectors; consequently, more
emphasis is given to those experiments that made an initial breakthrough rather
than to the successors which often had and have a similar (sometimes even
higher) scientific output as the pioneering experiments. The considered energy
threshold is about 30 GeV. At lower energies, observations can presently only
be performed with balloon or satellite-borne detectors. Irrespective of the
stormy experimental progress, the success story could not have been called a
success story without a broad scientific output. Therefore we conclude this
article with a summary of the scientific rationales and main results achieved
over the last two decades.Comment: 45 pages, 38 figures, review prepared for EPJ-H special issue "Cosmic
rays, gamma rays and neutrinos: A survey of 100 years of research
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