18,967 research outputs found
The Structure and Kinematics of Envelope around Red Supergiant AH Sco Traced by SiO Masers
ColorVolume 19
A Measurement of Proper Motions of SiO Maser Sources in the Galactic Center with the VLBA
We report on the high-precision astrometric observations of maser sources
around the Galactic Center in the SiO J=1--0 v=1 and 2 lines with the VLBA
during 2001 -- 2004. With phase-referencing interferometry referred to the
radio continuum source Sgr A*, accurate positions of masers were obtained for
three detected objects: IRS 10 EE (7 epochs), IRS 15NE (2 epochs), and SiO 6
(only 1 epoch). Because circumstellar masers of these objects were resolved
into several components, proper motions for the maser sources were derived with
several different methods. Combining our VLBA results with those of the
previous VLA observations, we obtained the IRS 10EE proper motion of 76+-3 km
s^{-1} (at 8 kpc) to the south relative to Sgr A*. Almost null proper motion of
this star in the east--west direction results in a net transverse motion of the
infrared reference frame of about 30+-9 km s^{-1} to the west relative to Sgr
A*. The proper-motion data also suggests that IRS 10EE is an astrometric binary
with an unseen massive companion.Comment: High-res. figures are available at
ftp://ftp.nro.nao.ac.jp/nroreport/no656.pdf.gz . PASJ 60, No. 1 (2008) in
pres
The Dense Plasma Torus Around the Nucleus of an Active Galaxy NGC 1052
A subparsec-scale dense plasma torus around an active galactic nucleus (AGN)
is unveiled. We report on very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations
at 2.3, 8.4, and 15.4 GHz towards the active galaxy NGC 1052. The convex
spectra of the double-sided jets and the nucleus imply that synchrotron
emission is obscured through free--free absorption (FFA) by the foreground cold
dense plasma. A trichromatic image was produced to illustrate the distribution
of the FFA opacity. We found a central condensation of the plasma which covers
about 0.1 pc and 0.7 pc of the approaching and receding jets, respectively. A
simple explanation for the asymmetric distribution is the existence of a thick
plasma torus perpendicular to the jets. We also found an ambient FFA absorber,
whose density profile can be ascribed to a spherical distribution of the
isothermal King model. The coexistence of torus-like and spherical
distributions of the plasma suggests a transition from radial accretion to
rotational accretion around the nucleus.Comment: 10 pages, to appear in Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan, vol.53, No.2 (2001
Four dual AGN candidates observed with the VLBA
According to hierarchical structure formation models, merging galaxies are
expected to be seen in different stages of their coalescence. However,
currently there are no straightforward observational methods neither to select
nor to confirm a large number of dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates.
Most attempts involve the better understanding of double-peaked narrow emission
line sources, to distinguish the objects where the emission lines originate
from narrow-line kinematics or jet-driven outflows from those which might
harbour dual AGN. We observed four such candidate sources with the Very Long
Baseline Array (VLBA) at 1.5 GHz with 10 milli-arcsecond angular
resolution where spectral profiles of AGN optical emission suggested the
existence of dual AGN. In SDSS J210449.13-000919.1 and SDSS J23044.82-093345.3,
the radio structures are aligned with the optical emission features, thus the
double-peaked emission lines might be the results of jet-driven outflows. In
the third detected source SDSS J115523.74+150756.9, the radio structure is less
extended and oriented nearly perpendicular to the position angle derived from
optical spectroscopy. The fourth source remained undetected with the VLBA but
it has been imaged with the Very Large Array at arcsec resolution a few months
before our observations, suggesting the existence of extended radio structure.
In none of the four sources did we detect two radio-emitting cores, a
convincing signature of duality.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
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