251 research outputs found
Four Years of Extreme Ultraviolet Observations of Markarian 421: II. Temporal Analysis
The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite accumulated ~one million
seconds of public data between 1994 and 1997 for the BL Lacertae object
Markarian 421. This is the second of two papers in which we present the results
of spectral and temporal analysis of this EUVE data set. We analyze in the
present paper the imaging data by means of power spectrum and structure
function techniques, while the spectral analysis is presented in a companion
paper. We find for MRK 421 a power spectrum with slope -2.14 +- 0.28 with a
break at ~3 days. This is the first time that a break in the power spectrum of
a BL Lacertae object has been found. We also find evidence of non-stationarity
for MRK 421 EUV emissionComment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 16 pages, 14
Postscript figures, 3 Table
Catching NGC4051 in the low state with XMM-Newton
The Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC4051 shows unusual low flux states,
lasting several months, when the 2-10 keV X-ray spectrum becomes unusually hard
(photon index<1) while the spectrum at lower X-ray energies is dominated by a
large soft excess. A Chandra TOO of the low state has shown that the soft
excess and hard components are variable and well-correlated. The variability of
the hard component rules out an origin in a distant reflector. Here we present
results from a recent XMM-Newton TOO of NGC4051 in the low state, which allows
a much more detailed examination of the nature of the hard and soft spectral
components in the low state. We demonstrate that the spectral shape in the low
state is consistent with the extrapolation of the spectral pivoting observed at
higher fluxes. The XMM-Newton data also reveals the warm absorbing gas in
emission, as the drop in the primary continuum flux unmasks prominent emission
lines from a range of ion species.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Proc. of the meeting: "The Restless High-Energy
Universe" (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), E.P.J. van den Heuvel, J.J.M. in 't
Zand, and R.A.M.J. Wijers Ed
The swan song: the disappearance of the nucleus of NGC 4051 and the echo of its past glory
BeppoSAX observed the low-luminous Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC4051 in a ultra-dim
X-ray state. The 2-10 keV flux (1.26 x 10^{-12} erg/cm^2/s) was about 20 times
fainter than its historical average value, and remained steady along the whole
observation (~2.3 days). The observed flat spectrum (\Gamma ~ 0.8) and intense
iron line (EW ~600 eV) are best explained assuming that the active nucleus has
switched off, leaving only a residual reflection component visible.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, 3 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in
MNRA
Chandra Confirmation of a Pulsar Wind Nebula in DA 495
As part of a multiwavelength study of the unusual radio supernova remnant DA
495, we present observations made with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Imaging
and spectroscopic analysis confirms the previously detected X-ray source at the
heart of the annular radio nebula, establishing the radiative properties of two
key emission components: a soft unresolved source with a blackbody temperature
of 1 MK consistent with a neutron star, surrounded by a nonthermal nebula 40''
in diameter exhibiting a power-law spectrum with photon index Gamma =
1.6+/-0.3, typical of a pulsar wind nebula. The implied spin-down luminosity of
the neutron star, assuming a conversion efficiency to nebular flux appropriate
to Vela-like pulsars, is ~10^{35} ergs/s, again typical of objects a few tens
of kyr old. Morphologically, the nebular flux is slightly enhanced along a
direction, in projection on the sky, independently demonstrated to be of
significance in radio polarization observations; we argue that this represents
the orientation of the pulsar spin axis. At smaller scales, a narrow X-ray
feature is seen extending out 5'' from the point source, a distance consistent
with the sizes of resolved wind termination shocks around many Vela-like
pulsars. Finally, we argue based on synchrotron lifetimes in the estimated
nebular magnetic field that DA 495 represents a rare pulsar wind nebula in
which electromagnetic flux makes up a significant part, together with particle
flux, of the neutron star's wind, and that this high magnetization factor may
account for the nebula's low luminosity.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, AASTeX preprint style. Accepted for publication
in The Astrophysical Journa
The Chandra survey of the COSMOS field II: source detection and photometry
The Chandra COSMOS Survey (C-COSMOS) is a large, 1.8 Ms, Chandra program,
that covers the central contiguous ~0.92 deg^2 of the COSMOS field. C-COSMOS is
the result of a complex tiling, with every position being observed in up to six
overlapping pointings (four overlapping pointings in most of the central ~0.45
deg^2 area with the best exposure, and two overlapping pointings in most of the
surrounding area, covering an additional ~0.47 deg^2). Therefore, the full
exploitation of the C-COSMOS data requires a dedicated and accurate analysis
focused on three main issues: 1) maximizing the sensitivity when the PSF
changes strongly among different observations of the same source (from ~1
arcsec up to ~10 arcsec half power radius); 2) resolving close pairs; and 3)
obtaining the best source localization and count rate. We present here our
treatment of four key analysis items: source detection, localization,
photometry, and survey sensitivity. Our final procedure consists of a two step
procedure: (1) a wavelet detection algorithm, to find source candidates, (2) a
maximum likelihood Point Spread Function fitting algorithm to evaluate the
source count rates and the probability that each source candidate is a
fluctuation of the background. We discuss the main characteristics of this
procedure, that was the result of detailed comparisons between different
detection algorithms and photometry tools, calibrated with extensive and
dedicated simulations.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement
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