14,969 research outputs found
The broad-band X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 1 galaxy, MCG+8-11-11
We present a long (100 ks) Suzaku observation of one of the X-ray brightest
AGN, MCG+8-11-11. These data were complemented with the 54-month Swift BAT
spectrum, allowing us to perform a broad-band fit in the 0.6-150 keV range. The
fits performed in the 0.6-10 keV band give consistent results with respect to a
previous XMM-Newton observation, i.e. the lack of a soft excess, warm
absorption along the line of sight, a large Compton reflection component (R~1)
and the absence of a relativistic component of the neutral iron K
emission line. However, when the PIN and Swift BAT data are included, the
reflection amount drops significantly (R~0.2-0.3), and a relativistic iron line
is required, the latter confirmed by a phenomenological analysis in a
restricted energy band (3-10 keV). When a self-consistent model is applied to
the whole broadband data, the observed reflection component appears to be all
associated to the relativistic component of the iron K line. The
resulting scenario, though strongly model-dependent, requires that all the
reprocessing spectral components from Compton-thick material must be associated
to the accretion disc, and no evidence for the classical pc-scale torus is
found. The narrow core of the neutral iron K line is therefore produced
in a Compton-thin material, like the BLR, similarly to what found in another
Seyfert galaxy, NGC7213, but with the notable difference that MCG+8-11-11
presents spectral signatures from an accretion disc. The very low accretion
rate of NGC7213 could explain the lack of relativistic signatures in its
spectrum, but the absence of the torus in both sources is more difficult to
explain, since their luminosities are comparable, and their accretion rates are
completely different.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Massive higher spins and holography
We review recent progress towards the understanding of higher spin gauge
symmetry breaking in AdS space from a holographic vantage point. According to
the AdS/CFT correspondence, N=4 SYM theory at vanishing coupling constant
should be dual to a theory in AdS which exhibits higher spin gauge symmetry
enhancement. When the SYM coupling is non-zero, all but a handful of HS
currents are violated by anomalies, and correspondingly local higher spin
symmetry in the bulk gets spontaneously broken. In agreement with previous
results and holographic expectations, we find that, barring one notable
exception (spin 1 eating spin 0), the Goldstone modes responsible for HS
symmetry breaking in AdS have non-vanishing mass even in the limit in which the
gauge symmetry is restored. We show that spontaneous breaking a' la
Stueckelberg implies that the mass of the relevant spin s'=s-1 Goldstone field
is exactly the one predicted by the correspondence.Comment: 8 pages, talk presented by M.B. at the "Fourth Meeting on Constrained
Dynamics and Quantum gravity" held in Cala Gonone (Sardinia, Italy),
September 12-16, 200
Measurement of thermal properties of biological tissues and tissue-mimicking phantom with a dual-needle sensor
This work presents the measurement of the thermal properties of ex vivo biological tissues (i.e., porcine liver and kidney tissues) as a function of temperature, along with the thermal characterization of a tissue-mimicking agar-based phantom. The evaluation of the thermal properties was performed by the dual needle technique, adopting a sensor equipped with two needles, capable to deliver thermal energy to the biomaterial and monitor the related tissue thermal behavior. Measurements of thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and volumetric heat capacity were conducted at room temperature and at temperatures relevant from a biological point of view, namely, body temperature and temperatures of similar to 60 degrees C- 65 degrees C, which are typically correlated to instantaneous thermal damage in tissue. Thermal properties of biological tissue remained rather constant at the investigated temperatures: average values of thermal conductivity ranged from 0.515 W/(m.K) to 0.575 W/(m.K), thermal diffusivity ranged from 0.144 mm(2)/s to 0.163 mm2/s, whilst the average volumetric heat capacity was from 3.48 MJ/(m(3).K) to 3.72 MJ/(m(3).K). Furthermore, the thermal properties of the realized agar phantom were comparable to the ones of biological tissues. The results of this study provide valuable information for the characterization of porcine liver and kidney tissues, in terms of their thermal properties, to be used in predictive mathematical models of thermal therapies and validate the usage of agar phantoms as tissue-mimicking materials
On Exact Symmetries and Massless Vectors in Holographic Flows and other Flux Vacua
We analyze the isometries of Type IIB flux vacua based on the
Papadopolous-Tseytlin ansatz and identify the related massless bulk vector
fields. To this end we devise a general ansatz, valid in any flux
compactification, for the fluctuations of the metric and p-forms that
diagonalizes the coupled equations. We then illustrate the procedure in the
simple case of holographic flows driven by the RR 3-form flux only.
Specifically we study the fate of the isometries of the Maldacena-Nunez
solution associated to wrapped D5-branes.Comment: 23 page
Using simple elastic bands to explain quantum mechanics: a conceptual review of two of Aert's machine-models
From the beginning of his research, the Belgian physicist Diederik Aerts has
shown great creativity in inventing a number of concrete machine-models that
have played an important role in the development of general mathematical and
conceptual formalisms for the description of the physical reality. These models
can also be used to demystify much of the strangeness in the behavior of
quantum entities, by allowing to have a peek at what's going on - in structural
terms - behind the "quantum scenes," during a measurement. In this author's
view, the importance of these machine-models, and of the approaches they have
originated, have been so far seriously underappreciated by the physics
community, despite their success in clarifying many challenges of quantum
physics. To fill this gap, and encourage a greater number of researchers to
take cognizance of the important work of so-called Geneva-Brussels school, we
describe and analyze in this paper two of Aerts' historical machine-models,
whose operations are based on simple breakable elastic bands. The first one,
called the spin quantum-machine, is able to replicate the quantum probabilities
associated with the spin measurement of a spin-1/2 entity. The second one,
called the \emph{connected vessels of water model} (of which we shall present
here an alternative version based on elastics) is able to violate Bell's
inequality, as coincidence measurements on entangled states can do.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 509. XIII. Testing ionized-reflection models on Mrk 509
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are the most luminous persistent objects in the
universe. An excess of X-ray emission below about 2 keV, called soft-excess, is
very common in Type 1 AGN spectra. The origin of this feature remains debated.
Originally modeled with a blackbody, there are now several possibilities to
model the soft-excess, including warm Comptonization and blurred ionized
reflection. In this paper, we test ionized-reflection models on Mrk 509, a
bright Seyfert 1 galaxy for which we have a unique data set, in order to
determine whether it can be responsible for the strong soft-excess. We use ten
simultaneous XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observations performed every four days. We
present here the results of the spectral analysis, the evolution of the
parameters and the variability properties of the X-ray emission. The
application of blurred ionized-reflection models leads to a very strong
reflection and an extreme geometry, but fails to reproduce the broad-band
spectrum of Mrk 509. Two different scenarios for blurred ionized reflection are
discussed: stable geometry and lamp-post configuration. In both cases we find
that the model parameters do not follow the expected relations, indicating that
the model is fine-tuned to fit the data without physical justification. A
large, slow variation of the soft-excess without counterpart in the hard X-rays
could be explained by a change in ionization of the reflector. However, such a
change does not naturally follow from the assumed geometrical configuration.
Warm Comptonization remains the most probable origin of the soft-excess in this
object. Nevertheless, it is possible that both ionized reflection and warm
Comptonization mechanisms can explain the soft-excess in all objects, one
dominating the other one, depending on the physical conditions of the disk and
the corona.Comment: 12 pages, A&A accepte
Multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 509 XII. Broad band spectral analysis
(Abridged) The simultaneous UV to X-rays/gamma rays data obtained during the
multi-wavelength XMM/INTEGRAL campaign on the Seyfert 1 Mrk 509 are used in
this paper and tested against physically motivated broad band models. Each
observation has been fitted with a realistic thermal comptonisation model for
the continuum emission. Prompted by the correlation between the UV and soft
X-ray flux, we use a thermal comptonisation component for the soft X-ray
excess. The UV to X-rays/gamma-rays emission of Mrk 509 can be well fitted by
these components. The presence of a relatively hard high-energy spectrum points
to the existence of a hot (kT~100 keV), optically-thin (tau~0.5) corona
producing the primary continuum. On the contrary, the soft X-ray component
requires a warm (kT~1 keV), optically-thick (tau~15) plasma. Estimates of the
amplification ratio for this warm plasma support a configuration close to the
"theoretical" configuration of a slab corona above a passive disk. An
interesting consequence is the weak luminosity-dependence of its emission, a
possible explanation of the roughly constant spectral shape of the soft X-ray
excess seen in AGNs. The temperature (~ 3 eV) and flux of the soft-photon field
entering and cooling the warm plasma suggests that it covers the accretion disk
down to a transition radius of 10-20 . This plasma could be the
warm upper layer of the accretion disk. On the contrary the hot corona has a
more photon-starved geometry. The high temperature ( 100 eV) of the
soft-photon field entering and cooling it favors a localization of the hot
corona in the inner flow. This soft-photon field could be part of the
comptonised emission produced by the warm plasma. In this framework, the change
in the geometry (i.e. ) could explain most of the observed flux and
spectral variability.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
Multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 509 XIV. Chandra HETGS spectra
We present in this paper the results of a 270 ks Chandra HETGS observation in
the context of a large multiwavelength campaign on the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 509.
The HETGS spectrum allows us to study the high ionisation warm absorber and the
Fe-K complex in Mrk 509. We search for variability in the spectral properties
of the source with respect to previous observations in this campaign, as well
as for evidence of ultra-fast outflow signatures. The Chandra HETGS X-ray
spectrum of Mrk 509 was analysed using the SPEX fitting package. We confirm the
basic structure of the warm absorber found in the 600 ks XMM-Newton RGS
observation observed three years earlier, consisting of five distinct
ionisation components in a multikinematic regime. We find little or no
variability in the physical properties of the different warm absorber phases
with respect to previous observations in this campaign, except for component D2
which has a higher column density at the expense of component C2 at the same
outflow velocity (-240 km/s). Contrary to prior reports we find no -700 km/s
outflow component. The O VIII absorption line profiles show an average covering
factor of 0.81 +/- 0.08 for outflow velocities faster than -100 km/s, similar
to those measured in the UV. This supports the idea of a patchy wind. The
relative metal abundances in the outflow are close to proto-solar. The narrow
component of the Fe Kalpha emission line shows no changes with respect to
previous observations which confirms its origin in distant matter. The narrow
line has a red wing that can be interpreted to be a weak relativistic emission
line. We find no significant evidence of ultra-fast outflows in our new
spectrum down to the sensitivity limit of our data.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
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