79 research outputs found
The Arizona Radio Observatory CO Mapping Survey of Galactic Molecular Clouds: III. The Serpens Cloud in CO J=2-1 and 13CO J=2-1 Emission
We mapped 12CO and 13CO J = 2-1 emission over 1.04 square deg of the Serpens
molecular cloud with 38 arcsec spatial and 0.3 km/s spectral resolution using
the Arizona Radio Observatory Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter telescope. Our maps
resolve kinematic properties for the entire Serpens cloud. We also compare our
velocity moment maps with known positions of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) and
1.1 mm continuum emission. We find that 12CO is self-absorbed and 13CO is
optically thick in the Serpens core. Outside of the Serpens core, gas appears
in filamentary structures having LSR velocities which are blue-shifted by up to
2 km/s relative to the 8 km/s systemic velocity of the Serpens cloud. We show
that the known Class I, Flat, and Class II YSOs in the Serpens core most likely
formed at the same spatial location and have since drifted apart. The spatial
and velocity structure of the 12CO line ratios implies that a detailed
3-dimensional radiative transfer model of the cloud will be necessary for full
interpretation of our spectral data. The starless cores region of the cloud is
likely to be the next site of star formation in Serpens.Comment: 41 pages, 15 figure
Dust Streamers in the Virgo Galaxy M86 from Ram Pressure Stripping of its Companion VCC 882
The giant elliptical galaxy M86 in Virgo has a ~28 kpc long dust trail inside
its optical halo that points toward the nucleated dwarf elliptical galaxy, VCC
882. The trail seems to be stripped material from the dwarf. Extinction
measurements suggest that the ratio of the total gas mass in the trail to the
blue luminosity of the dwarf is about unity, which is comparable to such ratios
in dwarf irregular galaxies. The ram pressure experienced by the dwarf galaxy
in the hot gaseous halo of M86 was comparable to the internal gravitational
binding energy density of the presumed former gas disk in VCC 882. Published
numerical models of this case are consistent with the overall trail-like
morphology observed here. Three concentrations in the trail may be evidence for
the predicted periodicity of the mass loss. The evaporation time of the trail
is comparable to the trail age obtained from the relative speed of the galaxies
and the trail length. Thus the trail could be continuously formed from stripped
replenished gas if the VCC 882 orbit is bound. However, the high gas mass and
the low expected replenishment rate suggest that this is only the first
stripping event. Implications for the origin of nucleated dwarf ellipticals are
briefly discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, Astronomical Journal, August 2000, in pres
Evidence for proton acceleration up to TeV energies based on VERITAS and Fermi-LAT observations of the Cas A SNR
We present a study of -ray emission from the core-collapse supernova
remnant Cas~A in the energy range from 0.1GeV to 10TeV. We used 65 hours of
VERITAS data to cover 200 GeV - 10 TeV, and 10.8 years of \textit{Fermi}-LAT
data to cover 0.1-500 GeV. The spectral analysis of \textit{Fermi}-LAT data
shows a significant spectral curvature around GeV that is
consistent with the expected spectrum from pion decay. Above this energy, the
joint spectrum from \textit{Fermi}-LAT and VERITAS deviates significantly from
a simple power-law, and is best described by a power-law with spectral index of
with a cut-off energy of TeV. These
results, along with radio, X-ray and -ray data, are interpreted in the
context of leptonic and hadronic models. Assuming a one-zone model, we exclude
a purely leptonic scenario and conclude that proton acceleration up to at least
6 TeV is required to explain the observed -ray spectrum. From modeling
of the entire multi-wavelength spectrum, a minimum magnetic field inside the
remnant of is deduced.Comment: 33 pages, 9 Figures, 6 Table
A large atomic hydrogen shell in the outer Galaxy: SNR or stellar wind bubble?
We report the detection of a ring like HI structure toward l=90.0, b=2.8 with
a velocity of v_LSR=-99 km/s. This velocity implies a distance of d=13 kpc,
corresponding to a Galactocentric radius of R_gal=15 kpc. The l-v_LSR diagram
implies an expansion velocity of v_exp ~ 15 km/s for the shell. The structure
has an oblate, irregular shell-like appearance which surrounds weak infrared
emission as seen in the 60 micrometer IRAS data. At a distance of 13 kpc the
size of the object is about 110 x 220 pc and placed 500 pc above the Galactic
plane with a mass of 1e5 solar mass. An expanding shell with such a high mass
and diameter cannot be explained by a single supernova explosion or by a single
stellar wind bubble. We interpret the structure as a relic of a distant stellar
activity region powered by the joint action of strong stellar winds from early
type stars and supernova explosions.Comment: Accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journal, 5 Pages, 4
Figure
Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov Telescopes
The angular size of a star is a critical factor in determining its basic
properties. Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters is difficult: at
interstellar distances stars are generally too small to resolve by any
individual imaging telescope. This fundamental limitation can be overcome by
studying the diffraction pattern in the shadow cast when an asteroid occults a
star, but only when the photometric uncertainty is smaller than the noise added
by atmospheric scintillation. Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes used for
particle astrophysics observations have not generally been exploited for
optical astronomy due to the modest optical quality of the mirror surface.
However, their large mirror area makes them well suited for such
high-time-resolution precision photometry measurements. Here we report two
occultations of stars observed by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes with
millisecond sampling, from which we are able to provide a direct measurement of
the occulted stars' angular diameter at the milliarcsecond scale.
This is a resolution never achieved before with optical measurements and
represents an order of magnitude improvement over the equivalent lunar
occultation method. We compare the resulting stellar radius with empirically
derived estimates from temperature and brightness measurements, confirming the
latter can be biased for stars with ambiguous stellar classifications.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nature Astronom
An Imaging Survey of Early-Type Barred Galaxies
This paper presents the results of a high-resolution imaging survey, using
both ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope images, of a complete sample of
nearby barred S0--Sa galaxies in the field, with a particular emphasis on
identifying and measuring central structures within the bars: secondary bars,
inner disks, nuclear rings and spirals, and off-plane dust. A discussion of the
frequency and statistical properties of the various types of inner structures
has already been published. Here, we present the data for the individual
galaxies and measurements of their bars and inner structures. We set out the
methods we use to find and measure these structures, and how we discriminate
between them. In particular, we discuss some of the deficiencies of ellipse
fitting of the isophotes, which by itself cannot always distinguish between
bars, rings, spirals, and dust, and which can produce erroneous measurements of
bar sizes and orientations.Comment: LaTeX, 66 pages (including 42 figures, 36 in color). To appear in The
Astrophysical Journal Supplement. Full-resolution and text-only versions
available at http://www.iac.es/galeria/erwin/research
Hierarchical Structure Formation and Modes of Star Formation in Hickson Compact Group 31
The handful of low-mass, late-type galaxies that comprise Hickson Compact
Group 31 is in the midst of complex, ongoing gravitational interactions,
evocative of the process of hierarchical structure formation at higher
redshifts. With sensitive, multicolor Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we
characterize the large population of <10 Myr old star clusters that suffuse the
system. From the colors and luminosities of the young star clusters, we find
that the galaxies in HCG 31 follow the same universal scaling relations as
actively star-forming galaxies in the local Universe despite the unusual
compact group environment. Furthermore, the specific frequency of the globular
cluster system is consistent with the low end of galaxies of comparable masses
locally. This, combined with the large mass of neutral hydrogen and tight
constraints on the amount of intragroup light, indicate that the group is
undergoing its first epoch of interaction-induced star formation. In both the
main galaxies and the tidal-dwarf candidate, F, stellar complexes, which are
sensitive to the magnitude of disk turbulence, have both sizes and masses more
characteristic of z=1-2 galaxies. After subtracting the light from compact
sources, we find no evidence for an underlying old stellar population in F --
it appears to be a truly new structure. The low velocity dispersion of the
system components, available reservoir of HI, and current star formation rate
of ~10 solar masses per year, indicate that HCG31 is likely to both exhaust its
cold gas supply and merge within ~1 Gyr. We conclude that the end product will
be an isolated, X-ray-faint, low-mass elliptical.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures (including low resolution versions of color
images), latex file prepared with emulateapj. Accepted for publication by the
Astronomical Journa
Multiwavelength Observations of the Blazar PKS 0735+178 in Spatial and Temporal Coincidence with an Astrophysical Neutrino Candidate IceCube-211208A
We report on multiwavelength target-of-opportunity observations of the blazar PKS 0735+178, located 2.°2 away from the best-fit position of the IceCube neutrino event IceCube-211208A detected on 2021 December 8. The source was in a high-flux state in the optical, ultraviolet, X-ray, and GeV γ-ray bands around the time of the neutrino event, exhibiting daily variability in the soft X-ray flux. The X-ray data from Swift-XRT and NuSTAR characterize the transition between the low-energy and high-energy components of the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED), and the γ-ray data from Fermi-LAT, VERITAS, and H.E.S.S. require a spectral cutoff near 100 GeV. Both the X-ray and γ-ray measurements provide strong constraints on the leptonic and hadronic models. We analytically explore a synchrotron self-Compton model, an external Compton model, and a lepto-hadronic model. Models that are entirely based on internal photon fields face serious difficulties in matching the observed SED. The existence of an external photon field in the source would instead explain the observed γ-ray spectral cutoff in both the leptonic and lepto-hadronic models and allow a proton jet power that marginally agrees with the Eddington limit in the lepto-hadronic model. We show a numerical lepto-hadronic model with external target photons that reproduces the observed SED and is reasonably consistent with the neutrino event despite requiring a high jet power
Demonstration of stellar intensity interferometry with the four VERITAS telescopes
High angular resolution observations at optical wavelengths provide valuable
insights in stellar astrophysics, directly measuring fundamental stellar
parameters, and probing stellar atmospheres, circumstellar disks, elongation of
rapidly rotating stars, and pulsations of Cepheid variable stars. The angular
size of most stars are of order one milli-arcsecond or less, and to spatially
resolve stellar disks and features at this scale requires an optical
interferometer using an array of telescopes with baselines on the order of
hundreds of meters. We report on the successful implementation of a stellar
intensity interferometry system developed for the four VERITAS imaging
atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes. The system was used to measure the angular
diameter of the two sub-mas stars Canis Majoris and Orionis
with a precision better than 5%. The system utilizes an off-line approach where
starlight intensity fluctuations recorded at each telescope are correlated
post-observation. The technique can be readily scaled onto tens to hundreds of
telescopes, providing a capability that has proven technically challenging to
current generation optical amplitude interferometry observatories. This work
demonstrates the feasibility of performing astrophysical measurements with
imaging atmospheric-Cherenkov telescope arrays as intensity interferometers and
the promise for integrating an intensity interferometry system within future
observatories such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nature Astronomy (2020
An Archival Search for Neutron-Star Mergers in Gravitational Waves and Very-High-Energy Gamma Rays
The recent discovery of electromagnetic signals in coincidence with
neutron-star mergers has solidified the importance of multimessenger campaigns
in studying the most energetic astrophysical events. Pioneering multimessenger
observatories, such as LIGO/Virgo and IceCube, record many candidate signals
below the detection significance threshold. These sub-threshold event
candidates are promising targets for multimessenger studies, as the information
provided by them may, when combined with contemporaneous gamma-ray
observations, lead to significant detections. Here we describe a new method
that uses such candidates to search for transient events using archival
very-high-energy gamma-ray data from imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes
(IACTs). We demonstrate the application of this method to sub-threshold binary
neutron star (BNS) merger candidates identified in Advanced LIGO's first
observing run. We identify eight hours of archival VERITAS observations
coincident with seven BNS merger candidates and search them for TeV emission.
No gamma-ray emission is detected; we calculate upper limits on the integral
flux and compare them to a short gamma-ray burst model. We anticipate this
search method to serve as a starting point for IACT searches with future
LIGO/Virgo data releases as well as in other sub-threshold studies for
multimessenger transients, such as IceCube neutrinos. Furthermore, it can be
deployed immediately with other current-generation IACTs, and has the potential
for real-time use that places minimal burden on experimental operations.
Lastly, this method may serve as a pilot for studies with the Cherenkov
Telescope Array, which has the potential to observe even larger fields of view
in its divergent pointing mode
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