2,673 research outputs found
A VLBA Search for a Stimulated Recombination Line from the Accretion Region in NGC1275
The radio source 3C84, in NGC1275, has a two sided structure on parsec
scales. The northern feature, presumed to be associated with a jet moving away
from the Earth, shows strong evidence for free-free absorption. The ionized gas
responsible for that absorption would be a source of detectable stimulated
recombination line emission for a wide range of physical conditions. The VLBA
has been used to search for the H65 hydrogen recombination line. The
line is only expected to be seen against the northern feature which contains a
small fraction of the total radio flux density. This spatial discrimination
significantly aids the search for a weak line. No line was seen, with upper
limits of roughly 15% of the continuum over a velocity range of 1486 km/s with
resolutions up to 6.6 km/s. In the absence of a strong radiation field, this
would imply that the free-free absorbing gas has a wide velocity width, is
moving rapidly relative to the systemic velocity, or is concentrated in a thin,
high density structure. All of these possibilities are reasonably likely close
to an AGN. However, in the intense radiation environment of the AGN, even
considering only the radiation we actually observe passing through the
free-free absorbing gas, the non-detection is probably assured by a combination
of saturation and radiation damping.Comment: 14 pages with 4 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in the
April 2003 Astronomical Journa
Spectroscopy of the optical Einstein ring 0047-2808
We present optical and near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the
optical Einstein ring 0047-2808. We detect both [OIII] lines 4959, 5007 near
2.3 micron, confirming the redshift of the lensed source as z=3.595. The Ly-a
line is redshifted relative to the [OIII] line by 140+-20 km/s. Similar
velocity shifts have been seen in nearby starburst galaxies. The [OIII] line is
very narrow, 130 km/s FWHM. If the ring is the image of the centre of a galaxy
the one-dimensional stellar velocity dispersion sigma=55 km/s is considerably
smaller than the value predicted by Baugh et al. (1998) for the somewhat
brighter Lyman-break galaxies. The Ly-a line is significantly broader than the
[OIII] line, probably due to resonant scattering. The stellar central velocity
dispersion of the early-type deflector galaxy at z=0.485 is 250+-30 km/s. This
value is in good agreement both with the value predicted from the radius of the
Einstein ring (and a singular isothermal sphere model for the deflector), and
the value estimated from the D_n-sigma relation.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Constraining the unexplored period between reionization and the dark ages with observations of the global 21 cm signal
Observations of the frequency dependence of the global brightness temperature
of the redshifted 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen may be possible with single
dipole experiments. In this paper, we develop a Fisher matrix formalism for
calculating the sensitivity of such instruments to the 21 cm signal from
reionization and the dark ages. We show that rapid reionization histories with
duration delta z< 2 can be constrained, provided that local foregrounds can be
well modelled by low order polynomials. It is then shown that observations in
the range nu = 50 - 100 MHz can feasibly constrain the Lyman alpha and X-ray
emissivity of the first stars forming at z = 15 - 25, provided that systematic
temperature residuals can be controlled to less than 1 mK. Finally, we
demonstrate the difficulty of detecting the 21 cm signal from the dark ages
before star formation.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR
Cosmic 21-cm Delensing of Microwave Background Polarization and the Minimum Detectable Energy Scale of Inflation
The curl (B) modes of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization
anisotropies are a unique probe of the primordial background of inflationary
gravitational waves (IGWs). Unfortunately, the B-mode polarization anisotropies
generated by gravitational waves at recombination are confused with those
generated by the mixing of gradient-mode (E-mode) and B-mode polarization
anisotropies as CMB photons propagate through the Universe and are
gravitationally lensed. We describe here a method for delensing CMB
polarization anisotropies using observations of anisotropies in the cosmic
21-cm radiation emitted or absorbed by neutral hydrogen atoms at redshifts 10
to 200. While the detection of cosmic 21-cm anisotropies at high resolution is
challenging, a combined study with a relatively low-resolution (but
high-sensitivity) CMB polarization experiment could probe inflationary energy
scales well below the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) scale of 10^{16} GeV --
constraining models with energy scales below 10^{15} GeV (the detectable limit
derived from CMB observations alone). The ultimate theoretical limit to the
detectable inflationary energy scale via this method may be as low as 3 \times
10^{14} GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Modifications to the Cosmic 21-cm Background Frequency Spectrum by Scattering via electrons in Galaxy Clusters
The cosmic 21-cm background frequency spectrum related to the spin-flip
transition of neutral Hydrogen present during and before the era of
reionization is rich in features associated with physical processes that govern
transitions between the two spin states. The intervening electrons in
foreground galaxy clusters inversely Compton scatter the 21-cm background
spectrum and modify it just as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectrum
is modified by inverse-Compton scattering. Towards typical galaxy clusters at
low redshifts, the resulting modification is a few tenths milli-Kelvin
correction to the few tens milli-Kelvin temperature of 21-cm signal relative to
that of the cosmic microwave background black body spectrum. The modifications
are mostly associated with sharp changes in the cosmic 21-cm background
spectrum such as due to the onset of a Lyman- radiation field or
heating of neutral gas. Though low frequency radio interferometers that are now
planned for 21-cm anisotropy measurements are insensitive to the mean 21-cm
spectrum, differential observations of galaxy clusters with these
interferometers can be utilized to indirectly establish global features in the
21-cm frequency spectrum. We discuss the feasibility to detect the spectrum
modified by clusters and find that for upcoming interferometers, while a
detection towards an individual cluster is challenging, one can average signals
over a number of clusters, selected based on the strength of the
Sunyave-Zel'dovich effect at high radio frequencies involving CMB scattering
alone, to establish the mean 21-cm spectrum.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, PRD in press; expanded and title changed from v1.
Final version in pres
Discovery of distant high luminosity infrared galaxies
We have developed a method for selecting the most luminous galaxies detected
by IRAS based on their extreme values of R, the ratio of 60 micron and B-band
luminosity. These objects have optical counterparts that are close to or below
the limits of Schmidt surveys. We have tested our method on a 1079 deg^2 region
of sky, where we have selected a sample of IRAS sources with 60 micron flux
densities greater than 0.2 Jy, corresponding to a redshift limit z~1 for
objects with far-IR luminosities of 10^{13} L_sun. Optical identifications for
these were obtained from the UK Schmidt Telescope plates, using the likelihood
ratio method. Optical spectroscopy has been carried out to reliably identify
and measure the redshifts of six objects with very faint optical counterparts,
which are the only objects with R>100 in the sample. One object is a
hyperluminous infrared galaxy (HyLIG) at z=0.834. Of the remaining, fainter
objects, five are ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs) with a mean redshift
of 0.45, higher than the highest known redshift of any non-hyperluminous ULIG
prior to this study. High excitation lines reveal the presence of an active
nucleus in the HyLIG, just as in the other known infrared-selected HyLIGs. In
contrast, no high excitation lines are found in the non-hyperluminous ULIGs. We
discuss the implications of our results for the number density of HyLIGs at z<1
and for the evolution of the infrared galaxy population out to this redshift,
and show that substantial evolution is indicated. Our selection method is
robust against the presence of gravitational lensing if the optical and
infrared magnification factors are similar, and we suggest a way of using it to
select candidate gravitationally lensed infrared galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, accepted for publication in A&
New Constraints on the Energetics, Progenitor Mass, and Age of the Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8 Containing PSR J1124-5916
We present spatially resolved spectroscopy of the supernova remnant (SNR)
G292.0+1.8 with the Chandra X-ray observatory. This SNR contains the 135 ms
pulsar, J1124-5916. We apply non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) models to the
data. By comparing the derived abundances with those predicted from
nucleosynthesis models, we estimate a progenitor mass of 30-40 solar masses. We
also derive the intrinsic parameters of the supernova explosion such as its
energy, the age of the SNR, the blast wave velocity, and the swept-up mass. In
the Sedov interpretation, our estimated SNR age of 2,600 years is close to the
pulsar's characteristic age of 2,900 years. This confirms the pulsar/SNR
association and relaxes the need for the pulsar to have a non-canonical value
for the braking index, a large period at birth or a large transverse velocity.
We discuss the properties of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) in the light of the
Kennel and Coroniti model and estimate the pulsar wind magnetization parameter.
We also report the first evidence for steepening of the power law spectral
index with increasing radius from the pulsar.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. To appear in ApJL, Feb 1 2003 (submitted Oct 9
2002, accepted Dec 19 2002
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