Resolved Spectroscopy of the Narrow-Line Region in NGC 1068: Kinematics of the Ionized Gas

We have determined the radial velocities of the [O III] emitting gas in the inner narrow-line region (NLR) of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, along a slit at position angle of 202 degrees, from STIS observations at a spatial resolution of 0.1 arcsec and a spectral resolving power of approximately 1000. We use these data to investigate the kinematics of the NLR within 6 arcsec (430 pc) of the nucleus. The emission-line knots show evidence for radial acceleration, to a projected angular distance of 1.7 arcsec in most cases, followed by deceleration that approaches the systemic velocity at a projected distance of about 4 arcsec. We find that a simple kinematic model of biconical radial outflow can match the general trend of observed radial velocities. In this model, the emitting material is evacuated along the bicone axis, and the axis is inclined 5 degrees out of the plane of the sky. The acceleration of the emission-line clouds provides support for dynamical models that invoke radiation and/or wind pressure. We suggest that the deceleration of the clouds is due to their collision with a patchy and anistropically distributed ambient medium.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, includes 3 figures in postscript, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Quantum storage via refractive index control

Off-resonant Raman interaction of a single-photon wave packet and a classical control field in an atomic medium with controlled refractive index is investigated. It is shown that a continuous change of refractive index during the interaction leads to the mapping of a single photon state to a superposition of atomic collective excitations (spin waves) with different wave vectors and visa versa. The suitability of refractive index control for developing multichannel quantum memories is discussed and possible schemes of implementation are considered.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

HST Observations of the Double-Peaked Emission Lines in the Seyfert Galaxy Markarian 78: Mass Outflows from a Single AGN

Previous ground based observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 78 revealed a double set of emission lines, similar to those seen in several AGN from recent surveys. Are the double lines due to two AGN with different radial velocities in the same galaxy, or are they due to mass outflows from a single AGN?We present a study of the outflowing ionized gas in the resolved narrow-line region (NLR) of Mrk 78 using observations from Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and Faint Object Camera (FOC) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope(HST) as part of an ongoing project to determine the kinematics and geometries of active galactic nuclei (AGN) outflows. From the spectroscopic information, we deter- mined the fundamental geometry of the outflow via our kinematics modeling program by recreating radial velocities to fit those seen in four different STIS slit positions. We determined that the double emission lines seen in ground-based spectra are due to an asymmetric distribution of outflowing gas in the NLR. By successfully fitting a model for a single AGN to Mrk 78, we show that it is possible to explain double emission lines with radial velocity offsets seen in AGN similar to Mrk 78 without requiring dual supermassive black holes.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures (2 color), accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

The effects of parental interaction on infant learning.

It was previously thought that infants could not perceive causal events as causal (e.g., one ball rolls into another making the 2nd ball move) until the age of 6 months (Cohen & Amsel, 1998). However, more recent research has shown that infants are able to understand the concept of causality earlier than 6 months of age if given the opportunity to have “real-life” exposure to physical causality with sticky mittens (Rakison &Krogh, 2012). Sticky mittens” play sessions allow infants to manipulate Velcro balls while wearing mittens with Velcro sewn on the palms. This allows young infants, who are otherwise unable to grasp and manipulate objects, to do so. Data obtained from a recent study of infant causal perception in our lab indicated that “sticky mittens” play experience facilitated young infants\u27 causal perception but only when parental interaction was limited; when parental interaction was encouraged, infants’ learning about causal perception was not facilitated (Holt, 2016). The current thesis seeks to test the hypothesis that parental interaction caused infants to be distracted during the learning task. Videos from previously recorded “sticky mittens” play sessions were coded frame by frame to determine the percentage of time infants spent “on-task” (i.e., looking at the balls or the mittens), the percentage of time infants spent “off-task” (i.e., looking anywhere other than the balls or the mittens), and the percentage of time parents spent moving in the infants’ field of vision, which was taken as a measure of parental interference. These data were compared across Talking and No Talking conditions. No statistically significant differences were found in the time infants spent “on-task” or “off-task.” However, it was found that parents in the Talking condition interfered significantly more often with their infants compared to parents in the No Talking condition. Together, the results show that parental interaction can negatively affect infant learning

Dynamics of the Narrow-Line Region in the Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 1068

We present dynamical models based on a study of high-resolution long-slit spectra of the narrow-line region (NLR) in NGC 1068 obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard The Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The dynamical models consider the radiative force due to the active galactic nucleus (AGN), gravitational forces from the supermassive black hole (SMBH), nuclear stellar cluster, and galactic bulge, and a drag force due to the NLR clouds interacting with a hot ambient medium. The derived velocity profile of the NLR gas is compared to that obtained from our previous kinematic models of the NLR using a simple biconical geometry for the outflowing NLR clouds. The results show that the acceleration profile due to radiative line driving is too steep to fit the data and that gravitational forces along cannot slow the clouds down, but with drag forces included, the clouds can slow down to the systemic velocity over the range 100--400 pc, as observed. However, we are not able to match the gradual acceleration of the NLR clouds from ~0 to ~100 pc, indicating the need for additional dynamical studies.Comment: Paper prepared by emulateapj version 10/09/06 and accepted for print in Ap