3,039 research outputs found
HST Observations of the Double-Peaked Emission Lines in the Seyfert Galaxy Markarian 78: Mass Outflows from a Single AGN
Previous ground based observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 78 revealed a
double set of emission lines, similar to those seen in several AGN from recent
surveys. Are the double lines due to two AGN with different radial velocities
in the same galaxy, or are they due to mass outflows from a single AGN?We
present a study of the outflowing ionized gas in the resolved narrow-line
region (NLR) of Mrk 78 using observations from Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph (STIS) and Faint Object Camera (FOC) aboard the Hubble Space
Telescope(HST) as part of an ongoing project to determine the kinematics and
geometries of active galactic nuclei (AGN) outflows. From the spectroscopic
information, we deter- mined the fundamental geometry of the outflow via our
kinematics modeling program by recreating radial velocities to fit those seen
in four different STIS slit positions. We determined that the double emission
lines seen in ground-based spectra are due to an asymmetric distribution of
outflowing gas in the NLR. By successfully fitting a model for a single AGN to
Mrk 78, we show that it is possible to explain double emission lines with
radial velocity offsets seen in AGN similar to Mrk 78 without requiring dual
supermassive black holes.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures (2 color), accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journa
Mid-term report for the CORE Organic II funded project. “Innovative cropping Practices to increase soil health of organic fruit tree orchards” BIO-INCROP
Activities performed in the first part of BIO-INCROP project concern five of the eight main objectives fixed in the project proposal. They are:
Evaluation of soil borne pest and pathogens involved in replant disease
Role of rhizospheric bacterial and fungal communities in plant health
Selection of naturally available resources to increase microbial diversity and biomass
Compost and organic amendments
Evaluation of biologically active formulates
The document reports main research results and shows main items of dissemination activity performed in the first part of the project
The Spitzer View of Low-Metallicity Star Formation: II. Mrk 996, a Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy with an Extremely Dense Nucleus
(abridged) We present new Spitzer, UKIRT and MMT observations of the blue
compact dwarf galaxy (BCD) Mrk 996, with an oxygen abundance of
12+log(O/H)=8.0. This galaxy has the peculiarity of possessing an
extraordinarily dense nuclear star-forming region, with a central density of
~10^6 cm^{-3}. The nuclear region of Mrk 996 is characterized by several
unusual properties: a very red color J-K = 1.8, broad and narrow emission-line
components, and ionizing radiation as hard as 54.9 eV, as implied by the
presence of the OIV 25.89 micron line. The nucleus is located within an
exponential disk with colors consistent with a single stellar population of age
>1 Gyr. The infrared morphology of Mrk 996 changes with wavelength. The IRS
spectrum shows strong narrow Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) emission,
with narrow line widths and equivalent widths that are high for the metallicity
of Mrk 996. Gaseous nebular fine-structure lines are also seen. A CLOUDY model
requires that they originate in two distinct HII regions: a very dense HII
region of radius ~580 pc with densities declining from ~10^6 at the center to a
few hundreds cm^{-3} at the outer radius, where most of the optical lines
arise; and a HII region with a density of ~300 cm^{-3} that is hidden in the
optical but seen in the MIR. We suggest that the infrared lines arise mainly in
the optically obscured HII region while they are strongly suppressed by
collisional deexcitation in the optically visible one. The hard ionizing
radiation needed to account for the OIV 25.89 micron line is most likely due to
fast radiative shocks propagating in an interstellar medium. A hidden
population of Wolf-Rayet stars of type WNE-w or a hidden AGN as sources of hard
ionizing radiation are less likely possibilities.Comment: 48 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Statistical Properties of Radio Emission from the Palomar Seyfert Galaxies
We have carried out an analysis of the radio and optical properties of a
statistical sample of 45 Seyfert galaxies from the Palomar spectroscopic survey
of nearby galaxies. We find that the space density of bright galaxies (-22 mag
<= M_{B_T} <= -18 mag) showing Seyfert activity is (1.25 +/- 0.38) X 10^{-3}
Mpc^{-3}, considerably higher than found in other Seyfert samples. Host galaxy
types, radio spectra, and radio source sizes are uncorrelated with Seyfert
type, as predicted by the unified schemes for active galaxies. Approximately
half of the detected galaxies have flat or inverted radio spectra, more than
expected based on previous samples. Surprisingly, Seyfert 1 galaxies are found
to have somewhat stronger radio sources than Seyfert 2 galaxies at 6 and 20 cm,
particularly among the galaxies with the weakest nuclear activity. We suggest
that this difference can be accommodated in the unified schemes if a minimum
level of Seyfert activity is required for a radio source to emerge from the
vicinity of the active nucleus. Below this level, Seyfert radio sources might
be suppressed by free-free absorption associated with the nuclear torus or a
compact narrow-line region, thus accounting for both the weakness of the radio
emission and the preponderance of flat spectra. Alternatively, the flat spectra
and weak radio sources might indicate that the weak active nuclei are fed by
advection-dominated accretion disks.Comment: 18 pages using emulateapj5, 13 embedded figures, accepted by Ap
Estimation and optimal designing under latent variable models for paired comparisons studies via a multiplicative algorithm
We consider:<BR/>
1. The problem of estimating the parameters of latent variable models such as the Bradley Terry or Thurstone Model by the method of maximum likelihood, given data from a paired comparisons experiment. The parameters of these models can be taken to be weights which are positive and sum to one;<BR/>
2. The problem of determining approximate locally optimal designs for good estimation of these parameters; i.e of determining optimal design weights which are also positive and sum to one
The Yang Lee Edge Singularity on Feynman Diagrams
We investigate the Yang-Lee edge singularity on non-planar random graphs,
which we consider as the Feynman Diagrams of various d=0 field theories, in
order to determine the value of the edge exponent.
We consider the hard dimer model on phi3 and phi4 random graphs to test the
universality of the exponent with respect to coordination number, and the Ising
model in an external field to test its temperature independence. The results
here for generic (``thin'') random graphs provide an interesting counterpoint
to the discussion by Staudacher of these models on planar random graphs.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages + 3 figure
A Potts/Ising Correspondence on Thin Graphs
We note that it is possible to construct a bond vertex model that displays
q-state Potts criticality on an ensemble of phi3 random graphs of arbitrary
topology, which we denote as ``thin'' random graphs in contrast to the fat
graphs of the planar diagram expansion.
Since the four vertex model in question also serves to describe the critical
behaviour of the Ising model in field, the formulation reveals an isomorphism
between the Potts and Ising models on thin random graphs. On planar graphs a
similar correspondence is present only for q=1, the value associated with
percolation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Probing the Ionizing Continuum of Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies. I.Observational Results
We present optical spectra and emission-line ratios of 12 Narrow-Line Seyfert
1 (NLS1) galaxies that we observed to study the ionizing EUV continuum. A
common feature in the EUV continuum of active galactic nuclei is the big blue
bump (BBB), generally associated with thermal accretion disk emission. While
Galactic absorption prevents direct access to the EUV range, it can be mapped
by measuring the strength of a variety of forbidden optical emission lines that
respond to different EUV continuum regions. We find that narrow emission-line
ratios involving [OII]3727, Hbeta, [OIII]5007, [OI]6300, Halpha,[NII]6583, and
[SII]6716,6731 indicate no significant difference between NLS1s and Broad-Line
Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies, which suggests that the spectral energy
distributions of their ionizing EUV - soft X-ray continua are similar. The
relative strength of important forbidden high ionization lines like [NeV]3426
compared to HeII4686 and the relative strength of [FeX]6374 appear to show the
same range as in BLS1 galaxies. However, a trend of weaker
F([OI]6300)/F(Halpha) emission-line ratios is indicated for NLS1s compared to
BLS1s. To recover the broad emission-line profiles we used Gaussian components.
This approach indicates that the broad Hbeta profile can be well described with
a broad component (FWHM = 3275 +- 800 km/s) and an intermediate broad component
(FWHM = 1200 +- 300 km/s). The width of the broad component is in the typical
range of normal BLS1s. The emission-line flux that is associated with the broad
component in these NLS1s amounts to at least 60% of the total flux. Thus it
dominates the total line flux, similar to BLS1 galaxies.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures. accepted for publication in the
Astrophys.Journa
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