2,464 research outputs found
Estimating Be Star Disk Radii using H-alpha Emission Equivalent Widths
We present numerical models of the circumstellar disks of Be stars, and we
describe the resulting synthetic H-alpha emission lines and maps of the
wavelength-integrated emission flux projected onto the sky. We demonstrate that
there are monotonic relationships between the emission line equivalent width
and the ratio of the angular half-width at half maximum of the projected disk
major axis to the radius of the star. These relationships depend mainly upon
the temperatures of the disk and star, the inclination of the disk normal to
the line of sight, and the adopted outer boundary for the disk radius. We show
that the predicted H-alpha disk radii are consistent with those observed
directly through long baseline interferometry of nearby Be stars (especially
once allowance is made for disk truncation in binaries and for dilution of the
observed H-alpha equivalent width by continuum disk flux in the V-band).Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, ApJL in pres
High-Resolution Imaging of Molecular Gas and Dust in the Antennae (NGC 4038/39): Super Giant Molecular Complexes
We present new aperture synthesis CO maps of the Antennae (NGC 4038/39)
obtained with the Caltech Millimeter Array. These sensitive images show
molecular emission associated with the two nuclei and a partial ring of star
formation to the west of NGC 4038, as well as revealing the large extent of the
extra-nuclear region of star formation (the ``overlap region''), which
dominates the CO emission from this system. The largest molecular complexes
have masses of 3-6x10^8 M_sun, typically an order of magnitude larger than the
largest structures seen to date in more quiescent galaxy disks. The extremely
red luminous star clusters identified previously with HST are well-correlated
with the CO emission, which supports the conclusion that they are highly
embedded young objects rather than old globular clusters. There is an excellent
correlation between the CO emission and the 15 micron emission seen with ISO,
particularly for the brightest regions. The most massive complexes in the
overlap region have similar [NeIII]/[NeII] ratios, which implies that all these
regions are forming many massive stars. However, only the brightest
mid-infrared peak shows strong, rising continuum emission longward of 10
microns, indicative of very small dust grains heated to high temperatures by
their proximity to nearby luminous stars. Since these grains are expected to be
removed rapidly from the immediate environment of the massive stars, it is
possible that this region contains very young (< 1 Myr) sites of star
formation. Alternatively, fresh dust grains could be driven into the sphere of
influence of the massive stars, perhaps by the bulk motions of two giant
molecular complexes. The kinematics and morphology of the CO emission in this
region provide some support for this second scenario.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 13 pages, 5
figures, higher quality color images available at
http://www.astro.cornell.edu/staff/vassilis/papers/ngc4038_co.ps.g
Radio Sources in Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei. I. VLA Detections of Compact, Flat-Spectrum Cores
We report a 0.2" resolution, 15 GHz survey of a sample of 48 low-luminosity
active galactic nuclei with the Very Large Array. Compact radio emission has
been detected in 57% (17 of 30) of LINERs and low-luminosity Seyferts, at least
15 of which have a flat to inverted radio spectrum (alpha > -0.3). The compact
radio cores are found in both type 1 (i.e. with broad Halpha) and type 2
(without broad Halpha) nuclei. The 2 cm radio power is significantly correlated
with the emission-line ([OI] lambda6300) luminosity. While the present
observations are consistent with the radio emission originating in star-forming
regions, higher resolution radio observations of 10 of the detected sources,
reported in a companion paper (Falcke et al. 2000), show that the cores are
very compact (= 10^8K) and
probably synchrotron self-absorbed, ruling out a starburst origin. Thus, our
results suggest that at least 50% of low-luminosity Seyferts and LINERs in the
sample are accretion powered, with the radio emission presumably coming from
jets or advection-dominated accretion flows. We have detected only 1 of 18
`transition' (i.e. LINER + HII) nuclei observed, indicating their radio cores
are significantly weaker than those of `pure' LINERs.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal, October 20, 200
The Pearson-Readhead Survey of Compact Extragalactic Radio Sources From Space. II. Analysis of Source Properties
We have performed a multi-dimensional correlation analysis on the observed
properties of a statistically complete core-selected sample of compact
radio-loud active galactic nuclei, based on data from the VLBI Space Observing
Programme (Paper I) and previously published studies. Our sample is drawn from
the well-studied Pearson-Readhead (PR) survey, and is ideally suited for
investigating the general effects of relativistic beaming in compact radio
sources. In addition to confirming many previously known correlations, we have
discovered several new trends that lend additional support to the beaming
model. These trends suggest that the most highly beamed sources in
core-selected samples tend to have a) high optical polarizations; b) large
pc/kpc-scale jet misalignments; c) prominent VLBI core components; d)
one-sided, core, or halo radio morphology on kiloparsec scales; e) narrow
emission line equivalent widths; and f) a strong tendency for intraday
variability at radio wavelengths. We have used higher resolution space and
ground-based VLBI maps to confirm the bi-modality of the jet misalignment
distribution for the PR survey, and find that the sources with aligned parsec-
and kiloparsec-scale jets generally have arcsecond-scale radio emission on both
sides of the core. The aligned sources also have broader emission line widths.
We find evidence that the BL Lacertae objects in the PR survey are all highly
beamed, and have very similar properties to the high-optically polarized
quasars, with the exception of smaller redshifts. A cluster analysis on our
data shows that after partialing out the effects of redshift, the luminosities
of our sample objects in various wave bands are generally well-correlated with
each other, but not with other source properties.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal. Part I can be found at astro-ph/010227
Revealing the Nature of Algol Disks through Optical and UV Spectroscopy, Synthetic Spectra, and Tomography of TT Hydrae
We have developed a systematic procedure to study the disks in Algol-type
binaries using spectroscopic analysis, synthetic spectra, and tomography. We
analyzed 119 H-alpha spectra of TT Hya, an Algol-type eclipsing interacting
binary, collected from 1985-2001. The new radial velocities enabled us to
derive reliable orbital elements, including a small non-zero eccentricity, and
to improve the accuracy of the absolute dimensions of the system. High
resolution IUE spectra were also analyzed to study the formation of the
ultraviolet lines and continuum. Synthetic spectra of the iron curtain using
our new shellspec program enabled us to derive a characteristic disk
temperature of 7000K. We have demonstrated that the UV emission lines seen
during total primary eclipse cannot originate from the accretion disk, but most
likely arise from a hotter disk-stream interaction region.
The synthetic spectra of the stars, disk, and stream allowed us to derive a
lower limit to the mass transfer rate of 2e-10 solar masses per year. Doppler
tomography of the observed H-alpha profiles revealed a distinct accretion disk.
The difference spectra produced by subtracting the synthetic spectra of the
stars resulted in an image of the disk, which virtually disappeared once the
composite synthetic spectra of the stars and disk were used to calculate the
difference spectra. An intensity enhancement of the resulting tomogram revealed
images of the gas stream and an emission arc. We successfully modeled the gas
stream using shellspec and associated the emission arc with an asymmetry in the
accretion disk.Comment: 46 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables, accepted by Ap
An XMM-Newton and Chandra investigation of the nuclear accretion in the Sombrero Galaxy (NGC4594)
We present an analysis of the XMM-Newton and Chandra ACIS-S observations of
the LINER nucleus of the Sombrero galaxy and we discuss possible explanations
for its very sub-Eddington luminosity by complementing the X-ray results with
high angular resolution observations in other bands. The X-ray investigation
shows a hard (Gamma=1.89) and moderately absorbed (N_H=1.8 10^21 cm^-2) nuclear
source of 1.5 10^40 erg s^-1 in the 2-10 keV band, surrounded by hot gas at a
temperature of \sim 0.6 keV. The bolometric nuclear luminosity is at least \sim
200 times lower than expected if mass accreted on the supermassive black hole,
that HST shows to reside at the center of this galaxy, at the rate predicted by
the spherical and adiabatic Bondi accretion theory and with the high radiative
efficiency of a standard accretion disc. The low luminosity, coupled to the
observed absence of Fe-K emission in the nuclear spectrum, indicates that such
a disc is not present. This nucleus differs from bright unobscured AGNs also
for the lack of high flux variability and of prominent broad Halpha emission.
However, it is also too faint for the predictions of simple radiatively
inefficient accretion taking place at the Bondi rate; it could be too radio
bright, instead, for radiatively inefficient accretion that includes strong
mass outflows or convection. This discrepancy could be solved by the possible
presence of nuclear radio jets. An alternative explanation of the low
luminosity, in place of radiative inefficiency, could be unsteady accretion.Comment: 24 pages, including 7 figures; to be published in the Ap
Observational Evidence of Accretion Disk-Caused Jet Precession in Galactic Nuclei
We show that the observational data of extragalactic radio sources tend to
support the theoretical relationship between the jet precession period and the
optical luminosity of the sources, as predicted by the model in which an
accretion disk causes the central black hole to precess.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
The Nature of Composite LINER/HII Galaxies, As Revealed from High-Resolution VLA Observations
A sample of 37 nearby galaxies displaying composite LINER/HII and pure HII
spectra was observed with the VLA in an investigation of the nature of their
weak radio emission. The resulting radio contour maps overlaid on optical
galaxy images are presented here, together with an extensive literature list
and discussion of the individual galaxies. Radio morphological data permit
assessment of the ``classical AGN'' contribution to the global activity
observed in these ``transition'' LINER galaxies. One in five of the latter
objects display clear AGN characteristics: these occur exclusively in
bulge-dominated hosts.Comment: 31 pages, 27 figures, accepted by ApJ
Stellar parameters of Be stars observed with X-shooter
Aims. The X-shooter archive of several thousand telluric star spectra was
skimmed for Be and Be-shell stars to derive the stellar fundamental parameters
and statistical properties, in particular for the less investigated late type
Be stars, and the extension of the Be phenomenon into early A stars. Methods.
An adapted version of the BCD method is used, utilizing the Balmer
discontinuity parameters to determine effective temperature and surface
gravity. This method is optimally suited for late B stars. The projected
rotational velocity was obtained by profile fitting to the Mg ii lines of the
targets, and the spectra were inspected visually for the presence of peculiar
features such as the infrared Ca ii triplet or the presence of a double Balmer
discontinuity. The Balmer line equivalent widths were measured, but due to
uncertainties in determining the photospheric contribution are useful only in a
subsample of Be stars for determining the pure emission contribution. Results.
A total of 78 Be stars, mostly late type ones, were identified in the X-shooter
telluric standard star archive, out of which 48 had not been reported before.
The general trend of late type Be stars having more tenuous disks and being
less variable than early type ones is confirmed. The relatively large number
(48) of relatively bright (V > 8.5) additional Be stars casts some doubt on the
statistics of late type Be stars; they are more common than currently thought:
The Be/B star fraction may not strongly depend on spectral subtype.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
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