2,643 research outputs found

    Graded Lie algebras of maximal class IV

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    We describe the isomorphism classes of certain infinite-dimensional graded Lie algebras of maximal class, generated by an element of weight one and an element of weight two, over fields of odd characteristic.Comment: 38 pages. See also http://www-math.science.unitn.it/~caranti/ and http://users.ox.ac.uk/~vlee

    Particle-in-cell simulations of rf breakdown

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    Breakdown voltages of a capacitively coupled radio frequency argon discharge at 27 MHz are studied. We use a one-dimensional electrostatic PIC code to investigate the effect of changing the secondary emission properties of the electrodes on the breakdown voltage, particularly at low pd values. Simulation results are compared with the available experimental results and a satisfactory agreement is found.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France

    Presentations for the groups of order p6p^6 for prime p7p\geq 7

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    We list those presentations for the groups of order p6p^6 for prime p7p\geq 7 which are distributed as part of the {\sc SmallGroups} library

    The Similarity of Broad Iron Lines in X-ray Binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei

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    We have compared the 2001 XMM-Newton spectra of the stellar mass black hole binary XTE J1650-500 and the active galaxy MGC-6-30-15, focusing on the broad, excess emission features at ~4--7 keV displayed by both sources. Such features are frequently observed in both low mass X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei. For the former case it is generally accepted that the excess arises due to iron emission, but there is some controversy over whether their width is partially enhanced by instrumental processes, and hence also over the intrinsic broadening mechanism. Meanwhile, in the latter case, the origin of this feature is still subject to debate; physically motivated reflection and absorption interpretations are both able to reproduce the observed spectra. In this work we make use of the contemporaneous BeppoSAX data to demonstrate that the breadth of the excess observed in XTE J1650-500 is astrophysical rather than instrumental, and proceed to highlight the similarity of the excesses present in this source and MGC-6-30-15. Both optically thick accretion discs and optically thin coronae, which in combination naturally give rise to relativistically-broadened iron lines when the disc extends close to the black hole, are commonly observed in both class of object. The simplest solution is that the broad emission features present arise from a common process, which we argue must be reflection from the inner regions of an accretion disc around a rapidly rotating black hole; for XTE J1650-500 we find spin constraints of 0.84 < a* < 0.98 at the 90 per cent confidence level. Other interpretations proposed for AGN add potentially unnecessary complexities to the theoretical framework of accretion in strong gravity.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 22 pages, 17 figure

    Evolution of the X-ray spectrum in the flare model of Active Galactic Nuclei

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    Nayakshin & Kazanas (2002) have considered the time-dependent illumination of an accretion disc in Active Galactic Nuclei, in the lamppost model. We extend their study to the flare model, which postulates the release of a large X-ray flux above a small region of the accretion disc. A fundamental difference with the lamppost model is that the region of the disc below the flare is not illuminated before the onset of the flare. A few test models show that the spectrum which follows immediately the increase in continuum flux should display the characteristics of a highly illuminated but dense gas, i.e. very intense X-ray emission lines and ionization edges in the soft X-ray range. The behaviour of the iron line is different in the case of a "moderate" and a ``strong'' flare: for a moderate flare, the spectrum displays a neutral component of the Fe Kα\alpha line at 6.4 keV, gradually leading to more highly ionized lines. For a strong flare, the lines are already emitted by FeXXV (around 6.7 keV) after the onset, and have an equivalent width of several hundreds of eV. We find that the observed correlations between RR, Γ\Gamma, and the X-ray flux, are well accounted by a combination of flares having not achieved pressure equilibrium, strongly suggesting that the observed spectrum is dominated by regions in non-pressure equilibrium, typical of the onset of the flares. Finally a flare being confined to a small region of the disc, the spectral lines should be narrow (except for a weak Compton broadening), Doppler shifted, and moving.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, accepted in A & A, english corrected versio

    Universal spectral shape of high accretion rate AGN

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    The spectra of quasars and NLS1 galaxies show surprising similarity in their spectral shape. They seem to scale only with the accretion rate. This is in contradiction with the simple expectations from the standard disk model which predicts lower disk temperature for higher black hole mass. Here we consider two mechanisms modifying the disk spectrum: the irradiation of the outer disk due to the scattering of the flux by the extended ionized medium (warm absorber and the development of the warm Comptonizing disk skin under the effect of the radiation pressure instability. Those two mechanisms seem to lead to a spectrum which indeed roughly scales, as observed, only with the accretion rate. The scenario applies only to objects with relatively high luminosity to the Eddington luminosity ratio for which disk evaporation is inefficient.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&

    Collapsar Accretion and the Gamma-Ray Burst X-Ray Light Curve

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    We present axisymmetric hydrodynamical simulations of the long-term accretion of a rotating GRB progenitor star, a "collapsar," onto the central compact object. The simulations were carried out with the adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH in two spatial dimensions and with an explicit shear viscosity. The evolution of the central accretion rate exhibits phases reminiscent of the long GRB gamma-ray and X-ray light curve, which lends support to the proposal that the luminosity is modulated by the central accretion rate. After a few tens of seconds, an accretion shock sweeps outward through the star. The formation and outward expansion of the accretion shock is accompanied with a sudden and rapid power-law decline in the central accretion rate Mdot ~ t^{-2.8}, which resembles the L_X ~ t^{-3} decline observed in the X-ray light curves. The collapsed, shock-heated stellar envelope settles into a thick, low-mass equatorial disk embedded within a massive, pressure-supported atmosphere. After a few hundred seconds, the inflow of low-angular-momentum material in the axial funnel reverses into an outflow from the surface of the thick disk. Meanwhile, the rapid decline of the accretion rate slows down, or even settles a in steady state with Mdot ~ 5x10^{-5} Msun/s, which resembles the "plateau" phase in the X-ray light curve. While the duration of the "prompt" phase depends on the resolution in our simulations, we provide an analytical model taking into account neutrino losses that estimates the duration to be ~20 s. The model suggests that the steep decline in GRB X-ray light curves is triggered by the circularization of the infalling stellar envelope at radii where the virial temperature is below ~10^{10} K, such that neutrino cooling shuts off and an outward expansion of the accretion shock becomes imminent.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

    The On-Orbit Performance of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer

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    We report the first year on-orbit performance results for the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), a NASA Small Explorer that is performing a survey of the sky in two ultraviolet bands. The instrument comprises a 50 cm diameter modified Ritchey-Chretien telescope with a 1.25 degree field of view, selectable imaging and objective grism spectroscopic modes, and an innovative optical system with a thin-film multilayer dichroic beam splitter that enables simultaneous imaging by a pair of photon counting, microchannel plate, delay line readout detectors. Initial measurements demonstrate that GALEX is performing well, meeting its requirements for resolution, efficiency, astrometry, bandpass definition and survey sensitivity.Comment: This paper will be published as part of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) Astrophysical Journal Letters Special Issu

    Search Engine Similarity Analysis: A Combined Content and Rankings Approach

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    How different are search engines? The search engine wars are a favorite topic of on-line analysts, as two of the biggest companies in the world, Google and Microsoft, battle for prevalence of the web search space. Differences in search engine popularity can be explained by their effectiveness or other factors, such as familiarity with the most popular first engine, peer imitation, or force of habit. In this work we present a thorough analysis of the affinity of the two major search engines, Google and Bing, along with DuckDuckGo, which goes to great lengths to emphasize its privacy-friendly credentials. To do so, we collected search results using a comprehensive set of 300 unique queries for two time periods in 2016 and 2019, and developed a new similarity metric that leverages both the content and the ranking of search responses. We evaluated the characteristics of the metric against other metrics and approaches that have been proposed in the literature, and used it to (1) investigate the similarities of search engine results, (2) the evolution of their affinity over time, (3) what aspects of the results influence similarity, and (4) how the metric differs over different kinds of search services. We found that Google stands apart, but Bing and DuckDuckGo are largely indistinguishable from each other.Comment: Shorter version of this paper was accepted in the 21st International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering (WISE 2020). The final authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62008-0_
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