The Penrose photoproduction scenario for NGC 4151: A black hole gamma-ray emission mechanism for active galactic nuclei and Seyfert galaxies

A consistent theoretical interpretation is given for the suggestion that a steepening of the spectrum between X-ray and gamma ray energies may be a general, gamma-ray characteristic of Seyfert galaxies, if the diffuse gamma ray spectrum is considered to be a superposition of unresolved contributions, from one or more classes of extragalactic objects. In the case of NGC 4151, the dominant process is shown to be Penrose Compton scattering in the ergosphere of a Kerr black hole, assumed to exist in the Seyfert's active galactic nucleus

Spectral evolution of active galactic nuclei: A unified description of the X-ray and gamma

A model for spectral evolution is presented whereby active galactic nuclei (AGN) of the type observed individually emerge from an earlier stage at z approx = 4 in which they are the thermal X-ray sources responsible for most of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB). The conjecture is pursued that these precursor objects are initially supermassive Schwarzschild black holes with accretion disks radiating near the Eddington luminosity limit. It is noted that after approx. 10 to the 8th power years these central black holes are spun-up to a canonical Kerr equilibrium state (A/M = 0.998; Thorne 1974) and shown how they then can lead to spectral evolution involving non-thermal emission extending to gamma rays, at the expense of reduced thermal disk radiation. That major portion of the CXB remaining after the contribution of usual AGN are considered, while a superposition of AGN sources at z 1 can account for the gamma ray background. Extensive X-ray measurements carried out with the HEAO 1 and 2 missions as well as gamma ray and optical data are shown to compare favorably with principal features of this model

Optical characteristics of young quasars as sources of the cosmic X-ray background

The sources which dominate the thermal cosmic X-ray background cannot have X-ray spectra similar to the power laws measured for bright active galactic nuclei. The optical consequences of this disparity are pursued by considering a standard model for the photoexcitation and heating of the line emitting gas surrounding a central source (e.g., such as a quasar). The optical line emission to be associated with compact young quasar sources having the same X-ray spectrum as the X-ray background is found to be substantially different from that characteristic of typical quasars. Implications on quasar source counts and the identification of such new objects are discussed

Gamma ray lines from the Galactic Center and gamma ray transients

The observations and interpretations of cosmic (nonsolar) gamma ray lines are discussed. The most prominent of these lines is the e(+)e(-) annihilation line which was observed from the Galactic Center and from several gamma ray transients. At the Galactic Center the e(+)e(-) pairs are probably produced by an accreting massive black hole (solar mass of approximately one million) and annihilate within the central light year to produce a line at almost exactly 0.511 MeV. In gamma ray transients the annihilation line is redshifted by factors consistent with neutron star surface redshifts. Other observed transient gamma ray lines appear to be due to cyclotron absorption in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars, and nuclear deexcitations and neutron capture, which could also occur on or around these objects

Results of the 2003-2004 Illinois Youth Hunter Survey

Federal Aid Project Number W-112-R-13, Job Number 103.1, Wildlife Restoration Fund, July 1, 2003 - Sept. 30, 2004Report issued on: December 22, 200

Penrose Pair Production in Massive, Extreme Kerr Black Holes

We show that in the case of very massive (M \u3e 108 M0 ) Kerr black holes with extreme ranges of angular momentum 1 ≥ a/M \u3e 0.998, the possibility of photon-induced Penrose pair production (PPP) in the ergosphere is very plausible. The pairs that escape the ergosphere are very high energy and on the order of the GeV rest mass of the Penrose accreted protons which participate in the photon-induced pair production process. Application of this model to the case of quasistellar objects (QSOs) is shown to lead to reasonable predictions about their masses, lifetimes, and luminosities. The physical mechanism is very general, and also can be applied to other types of active galactic nuclei

Social networks and citizen election forecasting: the more friends the better

Most citizens correctly forecast which party will win a given election, and such forecasts usually have a higher level of accuracy than voter intention polls. How do citizens do it? We argue that social networks are a big part of the answer: much of what we know as citizens comes from our interactions with others. Previous research has considered only indirect characteristics of social networks when analyzing why citizens are good forecasters. We use a unique German survey and consider direct measures of social networks in order to explore their role in election forecasting. We find that three network characteristics – size, political composition, and frequency of political discussion – are among the most important variables when predicting the accuracy of citizens’ election forecasts