ASCA Observation of the Lyman-limit Quasar PKS2145+067

X-ray observation of a famous Lyman-limit quasar PKS2145+067at z_em= 0.990 was carried with ASCA. The source showed a 2-10 keV flux of 1.3 E-11 erg cm^-2 sec^-1 (L_X = 2.5 E46 erg sec^-1 for H_0=50 km s^-1 Mpc^-1) described by a power-law spectrum with a photon index Gamma=1.63 +/- 0.04 . In the ASCA energy band, no excess absorption was detected implying the absorption column density at z_ ab=0.791 was less than 1.6 E21 cm^-2 if absorbing medium had a metal abundance of 0.5 solar. Comparison with previous Einstein and ROSAT observations shows that PKS2145+067 has increased its luminosity by a factor of 2--3 between 1991 and 1998.Comment: 15 pages, 3figures, Latex(PASJadd,sty, PASJ95.sty) accepted in PAS

Global Disk Oscillation Modes in Cataclysmic Variables and Other Newtonian Accretors

Diskoseismology, the theoretical study of small adiabatic hydrodynamical global perturbations of geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disks around black holes (and other compact objects), is a potentially powerful probe of the gravitational field. For instance, the frequencies of the normal mode oscillations can be used to determine the elusive angular momentum parameter of the black hole. The general formalism developed by diskoseismologists for relativistic systems can be readily applied to the Newtonian case of cataclysmic variables (CVs). Some of these systems (e.g., the dwarf nova SS Cygni) show rapid oscillations in the UV with periods of tens of seconds and high coherence. In this paper, we assess the possibility that these dwarf nova oscillations (DNOs) are diskoseismic modes. Besides its importance in investigating the physical origin of DNOs, the present work could help us to answer the following question. To what extent are the similarities in the oscillation phenomenology of CVs and X-ray binaries (XRBs) indicative of a common physical mechanism?Comment: 1 figur

XMM-Newton Observation of IC 310 in the Outer Region of the Perseus Cluster of Galaxies

We present results from an XMM-Newton observation of the head-tail radio galaxy IC 310 located in the southwest region of the Perseus cluster. The spectrum is well-fitted by an absorbed power-law model with a photon index of $2.50 \pm 0.02$ with no significant absorption excess. The X-ray image shows a point-like emission at IC 310 without any signs of a structure correlated with the radio halo tail. The temperature of the intracluster medium surrounding IC 310 declines as a function of distance from the cluster center, from $kT \sim 6$ keV in the northeast corner of the field of view to about 3 keV in the southwest region. Although we do not find any sharp edges in the surface brightness profile, a brightness excess over a smooth $\beta$ model by about 20% is seen. The temperature also rises by about 10% in the same region. This indicates that the IC 310 region is a subcluster probably infalling into the Perseus cluster, and the gas in front of IC 310 towards the Perseus cluster is likely to be compressed by the large-scale motion, which supports the view that the IC 310 system is undergoing a merger.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures (including color), accepted for publication in PAS

Scaling and memory of intraday volatility return intervals in stock market

We study the return interval $\tau$ between price volatilities that are above a certain threshold $q$ for 31 intraday datasets, including the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the 30 stocks that form the Dow Jones Industrial index. For different threshold $q$, the probability density function $P_q(\tau)$ scales with the mean interval $\bar{\tau}$ as $P_q(\tau)={\bar{\tau}}^{-1}f(\tau/\bar{\tau})$, similar to that found in daily volatilities. Since the intraday records have significantly more data points compared to the daily records, we could probe for much higher thresholds $q$ and still obtain good statistics. We find that the scaling function $f(x)$ is consistent for all 31 intraday datasets in various time resolutions, and the function is well approximated by the stretched exponential, $f(x)\sim e^{-a x^\gamma}$, with $\gamma=0.38\pm 0.05$ and $a=3.9\pm 0.5$, which indicates the existence of correlations. We analyze the conditional probability distribution $P_q(\tau|\tau_0)$ for $\tau$ following a certain interval $\tau_0$, and find $P_q(\tau|\tau_0)$ depends on $\tau_0$, which demonstrates memory in intraday return intervals. Also, we find that the mean conditional interval $$ increases with $\tau_0$, consistent with the memory found for $P_q(\tau|\tau_0)$. Moreover, we find that return interval records have long term correlations with correlation exponents similar to that of volatility records.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

Exploratory ASCA Observations of Broad Absorption Line Quasi-Stellar Objects

We present the analysis and interpretation of a sample of eight ASCA observations of Broad Absorption Line Quasi-Stellar Objects (BALQSOs). This is the first moderate-sized sample of sensitive BALQSO observations above 2 keV, and the BALQSOs in our sample are among the optically brightest known (B=14.5-18.5). Despite the ability of 2-10 keV X-rays to penetrate large column densities, we find BALQSOs to be extremely weak sources above 2 keV, and we are only able to add two new 2-10 keV detections (0226-104 and IRAS 07598+6508) to those previously reported. By comparison with non-BALQSOs of similar optical continuum magnitudes, we derive the column densities needed to suppress the expected X-ray fluxes of our BALQSOs. In several cases we derive column densities > 5x10^{23} cm^{-2} for a neutral absorber with solar abundances. These are the largest X-ray column densities yet inferred for BALQSOs, and they exceed ROSAT lower limits by about an order of magnitude. Optical brightness does not appear to be a good predictor of 2-10 keV brightness for BALQSOs, but our data do suggest that the BALQSOs with high optical continuum polarizations may be the X-ray brighter members of the class. For example, the highly polarized object PHL 5200 appears to be unusually X-ray bright for a BALQSO given its optical magnitude. We discuss the implications of our results for future observations with AXAF and XMM. If the objects in our sample are representative of the BALQSO population, precision X-ray spectroscopy of most BALQSOs will unfortunately prove difficult in the near future.Comment: 19 pages, ApJ in press, also available from http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/papers/papers.htm