Investigating powerful jets in radio-loud Narrow Line Seyfert 1s

We report results on multiband observations from radio to gamma-rays of the two radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies PKS 2004-447 and J1548+3511. Both sources show a core-jet structure on parsec scale, while they are unresolved at the arcsecond scale. The high core dominance and the high variability brightness temperature make these NLSy1 galaxies good gamma-ray source candidates. Fermi-LAT detected gamma-ray emission only from PKS 2004-447, with a gamma-ray luminosity comparable to that observed in blazars. No gamma-ray emission is observed for J1548+3511. Both sources are variable in X-rays. J1548+3511 shows a hardening of the spectrum during high activity states, while PKS 2004-447 has no spectral variability. A spectral steepening likely related to the soft excess is hinted below 2 keV for J1548+3511, while the X-ray spectra of PKS 2004-447 collected by XMM-Newton in 2012 are described by a single power-law without significant soft excess. No additional absorption above the Galactic column density or the presence of an Fe line is detected in the X-ray spectra of both sources.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Ternary q-Virasoro-Witt Hom-Nambu-Lie algebras

In this paper we construct ternary $q$-Virasoro-Witt algebras which $q$-deform the ternary Virasoro-Witt algebras constructed by Curtright, Fairlie and Zachos using $su(1,1)$ enveloping algebra techniques. The ternary Virasoro-Witt algebras constructed by Curtright, Fairlie and Zachos depend on a parameter and are not Nambu-Lie algebras for all but finitely many values of this parameter. For the parameter values for which the ternary Virasoro-Witt algebras are Nambu-Lie, the corresponding ternary $q$-Virasoro-Witt algebras constructed in this article are also Hom-Nambu-Lie because they are obtained from the ternary Nambu-Lie algebras using the composition method. For other parameter values this composition method does not yield Hom-Nambu Lie algebra structure for $q$-Virasoro-Witt algebras. We show however, using a different construction, that the ternary Virasoro-Witt algebras of Curtright, Fairlie and Zachos, as well as the general ternary $q$-Virasoro-Witt algebras we construct, carry a structure of ternary Hom-Nambu-Lie algebra for all values of the involved parameters

The Molecular Line Opacity of MgH in Cool Stellar Atmospheres

A new, complete, theoretical rotational and vibrational line list for the A-X electronic transition in MgH is presented. The list includes transition energies and oscillator strengths for all possible allowed transitions and was computed using the best available theoretical potential energies and dipole transition moment function with the former adjusted to account for experimental data. The A-X line list, as well as new line lists for the B'-X and the X-X (pure rovibrational) transitions, were included in comprehensive stellar atmosphere models for M, L, and T dwarfs and solar-type stars. The resulting spectra, when compared to models lacking MgH, show that MgH provides significant opacity in the visible between 4400 and 5600 Angstrom. Further, comparison of the spectra obtained with the current line list to spectra obtained using the line list constructed by Kurucz (1993) show that the Kurucz list significantly overestimates the opacity due to MgH particularly for the bands near 5150 and 4800 Angstrom with the discrepancy increasing with decreasing effective temperature.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

The new 150 MVAr, 18 kV static var compensator for SPS: background, design and commissioning

A new Static Var Compensator (SVC) was designed, installed and commissioned by ABB for CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator. Due to the sensitive nature of the pulsating power converter load for the SPS magnets, very strict requirements were imposed on the stabilisation of the 18 kV bus voltage and its harmonic distortion. The adopted solution comprises a 150 Mvar TCR and eight harmonic filters with a total power of 130 Mvar. The paper gives a detailed description of the project background, system design and SVC installation. Finally, the results of the SVC performance tests are presented

The Dynamics of Radiative Shock Waves: Linear and Nonlinear Evolution

The stability properties of one-dimensional radiative shocks with a power-law cooling function of the form $\Lambda \propto \rho^2T^\alpha$ are the main subject of this work. The linear analysis originally presented by Chevalier & Imamura, is thoroughfully reviewed for several values of the cooling index $\alpha$ and higher overtone modes. Consistently with previous results, it is shown that the spectrum of the linear operator consists in a series of modes with increasing oscillation frequency. For each mode a critical value of the cooling index, $\alpha_\textrm{c}$, can be defined so that modes with $\alpha < \alpha_\textrm{c}$ are unstable, while modes with $\alpha > \alpha_\textrm{c}$ are stable. The perturbative analysis is complemented by several numerical simulations to follow the time-dependent evolution of the system for different values of $\alpha$. Particular attention is given to the comparison between numerical and analytical results (during the early phases of the evolution) and to the role played by different boundary conditions. It is shown that an appropriate treatment of the lower boundary yields results that closely follow the predicted linear behavior. During the nonlinear regime, the shock oscillations saturate at a finite amplitude and tend to a quasi-periodic cycle. The modes of oscillations during this phase do not necessarily coincide with those predicted by linear theory, but may be accounted for by mode-mode coupling.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication on the Astrophysical Journa

Suzaku observations of Markarian 335: evidence for a distributed reflector

We report on a 151 ks net exposure Suzaku observation of the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335. The 0.5-40 keV spectrum contains a broad Fe line, a strong soft excess below about 2 keV and a Compton hump around 20-30 keV. We find that a model consisting of a power law and two reflectors provides the best fit to the time-averaged spectrum. In this model, an ionized, heavily blurred, inner reflector produces most of the soft excess, while an almost neutral outer reflector (outside ~40 r_g) produces most of the Fe line emission. The spectral variability of the observation is characterised by spectral hardening at very low count rates. In terms of our power-law + two-reflector model it seems like this hardening is mainly caused by pivoting of the power law. The rms spectrum of the entire observation has the curved shape commonly observed in AGN, although the shape is significantly flatter when an interval which does not contain any deep dip in the lightcurve is considered. We also examine a previous 133 ks XMM-Newton observation of Mrk 335. We find that the XMM-Newton spectrum can be fitted with a similar two-reflector model as the Suzaku data and we confirm that the rms spectrum of the observation is flat. The flat rms spectra, as well as the high-energy data from the Suzaku PIN detector, disfavour an absorption origin for the soft excess in Mrk 335.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

VLA 3.5 cm continuum sources in the Serpens cloud core

We present VLA 3.5 cm continuum observations of the Serpens cloud core. 22 radio continuum sources are detected. 16 out of the 22 cm sources are suggested to be associated with young stellar objects (Class 0, Class I, flat-spectrum, and Class II) of the young Serpens cluster. The rest of the VLA sources plausibly are background objects. Most of the Serpens cm sources likely represent thermal radio jets; on the other hand, the radio continuum emission of some sources could be due to a gyrosynchroton mechanism arising from coronally active young stars. The Serpens VLA sources are spatially distributed into two groups; one of them located towards the NW clump of the Serpens core, where only Class 0 and Class I protostars are found to present cm emission, and a second group located towards the SE clump, where radio continuum sources are associated with objects in evolutionary classes from Class 0 to Class II. This subgrouping is similar to that found in the near IR, mid-IR and mm wavelength regimes.Comment: 2 figures, accepted by Astronomical journa

Comparative genomic hybridization reveals population-based genetic alterations in hepatoblastomas

Hepatoblastoma is a malignant paediatric liver tumour. In order to approach the genetic background of this malignancy we have screened a panel of eighteen cases from Europe and Japan for chromosomal imbalances using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). The most frequent losses included chromosomal regions 13q21–q22 (28%) and 9p22-pter (22%), while the most frequent gains occurred on 2q23–q24 (33%), 20q (28%) and 1q24–q25 (28%). A significant difference in CGH alterations between the tumours from patients of Caucasian and Japanese was revealed where loss of 13q was found only in the Japanese samples. In conclusion, the findings indicate several candidate regions for suppressor genes and oncogenes potentially involved in the hepatoblastomas of different ethnic origin. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig