Intranight optical variability of radio-quiet BL Lacertae objects

Aims: Intranight variation (or microvariation) is a common phenomenon of radio-loud BL Lac objects. However, it is not clear whether the recently found radio-quiet BL Lac objects have the same properties. The occurrence rate of intranight variation is helpful in distinguishing the mechanism of the continuum of radio-quiet BL Lac objects. Methods: We conducted a photometric monitoring of 8 radio-quiet BL Lac objects by the Xinglong 2.16m and Lijiang 2.4m telescopes. The differential light curves are calculated between each target and two comparison stars. To quantify the variation, the significance of variation is examined by a scaled $F$-test. Results: No significant variation is found in the 11 sessions of light curves of 8 radio-quiet BL Lac objects (one galactic source is excluded). The lack of microvariation in radio-quiet BL Lac objects is consistent with the detection rate of microvariation in normal radio-quiet AGNs, but much lower than for radio-loud AGNs. This result indicates that the continua of the radio-quiet BL Lac objects are not dominated by jets that will induce frequent microvariations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics; 7 pages, 1 figure, 3 table

Selected topics on reaction-diffusion-advection models from spatial ecology

We discuss the effects of movement and spatial heterogeneity on population dynamics via reaction-diffusion-advection models, focusing on the persistence, competition, and evolution of organisms in spatially heterogeneous environments. Topics include Lokta-Volterra competition models, river models, evolution of biased movement, phytoplankton growth, and spatial spread of epidemic disease. Open problems and conjectures are presented

Relativistic effects on the observed AGN luminosity distribution

Recently Zhang (2005) has proposed a model to account for the well established effect that the fraction of type-II AGNs is anti-correlated with the observed X-ray luminosity; the model consists of an X-ray emitting accretion disk coaligned to the dusty torus within the standard AGN unification model. In this paper the model is refined by including relativistic effects of the observed X-ray radiations from the vicinity of the supermassive black hole in an AGN. The relativistic corrections improve the combined fitting results of the observed luminosity distribution and the type-II AGN fraction, though the improvement is not significant. The type-II AGN fraction prefers non- or mildly spinning black hole cases and rules out the extremely spinning case.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PAS