6,409 research outputs found
Eddington limited starbursts in the central 10pc of AGN, and the Torus in NGC1068
We present results from a survey of nearby AGN using the near infrared
adaptive optics integral field spectrograph SINFONI. These data enable us to
probe the distribution and kinematics of the gas and stars at spatial
resolutions as small as 0.085arcsec. We find strong evidence for recent but
short lived starbursts residing in very dense nuclear disks. On scales of less
than 10pc these would have reached Eddington-limited luminosities when active,
perhaps accounting for their short duration. In addition, for NGC1068 at a
resolution of 6pc, we present direct observations of molecular gas close around
the AGN which we identify with the obscuring torus.Comment: Conference proceedings to appear in "The Central Engine of Active
Galactic Nuclei", ed. L. C. Ho and J.-M. Wang (San Francisco: ASP
Modulation of EGF receptor-mediated vulva development by the heterotrimeric G-protein G{alpha}q and excitable cells in C. elegans
The Ratio of Ortho- to Para-H2 in Photodissociation Regions
We discuss the ratio of ortho- to para-H2 in photodissociation regions
(PDRs). We draw attention to an apparent confusion in the literature between
the ortho-to-para ratio of molecules in FUV-pumped vibrationally excited
states, and the H2 ortho-to-para abundance ratio. These ratios are not the same
because the process of FUV-pumping of fluorescent H2 emission in PDRs occurs
via optically thick absorption lines. Thus, gas with an equilibrium ratio of
ortho- to para-H2 equal to 3 will yield FUV-pumped vibrationally excited
ortho-to-para ratios smaller than 3, because the ortho-H2 pumping rates are
preferentially reduced by optical depth effects. Indeed, if the ortho and para
pumping lines are on the ``square root'' part of the curve-of-growth, then the
expected ratio of ortho and para vibrational line strengths is the square root
of 3, ~ 1.7, close to the typically observed value. Thus, contrary to what has
sometimes been stated in the literature, most previous measurements of the
ratio of ortho- to para-H2 in vibrationally excited states are entirely
consistent with a total ortho-to-para ratio of 3, the equilibrium value for
temperatures greater than 200 K. We present an analysis and several detailed
models which illustrate the relationship between the total ratios of ortho- to
para-H2 and the vibrationally excited ortho-to-para ratios in PDRs. Recent
Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) measurements of pure rotational and
vibrational H2 emissions from the PDR in the star-forming region S140 provide
strong observational support for our conclusions.Comment: 23 pages (including 5 figures), LaTeX, uses aaspp4.sty, accepted for
publication in Ap
Central Nervous System Parasitosis and Neuroinflammation Ameliorated by Systemic IL-10 Administration in Trypanosoma brucei-Infected Mice
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Group projector generalization of dirac-heisenberg model
The general form of the operators commuting with the ground representation
(appearing in many physical problems within single particle approximation) of
the group is found. With help of the modified group projector technique, this
result is applied to the system of identical particles with spin independent
interaction, to derive the Dirac-Heisenberg hamiltonian and its effective space
for arbitrary orbital occupation numbers and arbitrary spin. This gives
transparent insight into the physical contents of this hamiltonian, showing
that formal generalizations with spin greater than 1/2 involve nontrivial
additional physical assumptions.Comment: 10 page
Obscuration in AGNs: near-infrared luminosity relations and dust colors
We combine two approaches to isolate the AGN luminosity at near-infrared
wavelengths and relate the near-IR pure AGN luminosity to other tracers of the
AGN. Using integral-field spectroscopic data of an archival sample of 51 local
AGNs, we estimate the fraction of non-stellar light by comparing the nuclear
equivalent width of the stellar 2.3 micron CO absorption feature with the
intrinsic value for each galaxy. We compare this fraction to that derived from
a spectral decomposition of the integrated light in the central arc second and
find them to be consistent with each other. Using our estimates of the near-IR
AGN light, we find a strong correlation with presumably isotropic AGN tracers.
We show that a significant offset exists between type 1 and type 2 sources in
the sense that type 1 sources are 7 (10) times brighter in the near-IR at log
L_MIR = 42.5 (log L_X = 42.5). These offsets only becomes clear when treating
infrared type 1 sources as type 1 AGNs.
All AGNs have very red near-to-mid-IR dust colors. This, as well as the range
of observed near-IR temperatures, can be explained with a simple model with
only two free parameters: the obscuration to the hot dust and the ratio between
the warm and hot dust areas. We find obscurations of A_V (hot) = 5 - 15 mag for
infrared type 1 sources and A_V (hot) = 15 - 35 mag for type 2 sources. The
ratio of hot dust to warm dust areas of about 1000 is nicely consistent with
the ratio of radii of the respective regions as found by infrared
interferometry.Comment: 17 pages, 10 Figures, 3 Tables, accepted by A&
[The Impact of Nuclear Star Formation on Gas Inflow to AGN
Our adaptive optics observations of nearby AGN at spatial resolutions as
small as 0.085arcsec show strong evidence for recent, but no longer active,
nuclear star formation. We begin by describing observations that highlight two
contrasting methods by which gas can flow into the central tens of parsecs. Gas
accumulation in this region will inevitably lead to a starburst, and we discuss
the evidence for such events. We then turn to the impact of stellar evolution
on the further inflow of gas by combining a phenomenological approach with
analytical modelling and hydrodynamic simulations. These complementary
perspectives paint a picture in which all the processes are ultimately
regulated by the mass accretion rate into the central hundred parsecs, and the
ensuing starburst that occurs there. The resulting supernovae delay accretion
by generating a starburst wind, which leaves behind a clumpy interstellar
medium. This provides an ideal environment for slower stellar outflows to
accrete inwards and form a dense turbulent disk on scales of a few parsecs.
Such a scenario may resolve the discrepancy between the larger scale structure
seen with adaptive optics and the small scale structure seen with VLTI.Comment: to appear in: Co-Evolution of Central Black Holes and Galaxies; 7
page
Trace formulas for stochastic evolution operators: Smooth conjugation method
The trace formula for the evolution operator associated with nonlinear
stochastic flows with weak additive noise is cast in the path integral
formalism. We integrate over the neighborhood of a given saddlepoint exactly by
means of a smooth conjugacy, a locally analytic nonlinear change of field
variables. The perturbative corrections are transfered to the corresponding
Jacobian, which we expand in terms of the conjugating function, rather than the
action used in defining the path integral. The new perturbative expansion which
follows by a recursive evaluation of derivatives appears more compact than the
standard Feynman diagram perturbation theory. The result is a stochastic analog
of the Gutzwiller trace formula with the ``hbar'' corrections computed an order
higher than what has so far been attainable in stochastic and
quantum-mechanical applications.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, New techniques and results for a problem we
considered in chao-dyn/980703
Spectroscopic FIR mapping of the disk and galactic wind of M82 with Herschel-PACS
[Abridged] We present maps of the main cooling lines of the neutral atomic
gas ([OI] at 63 and 145 micron and [CII] at 158 micron) and in the [OIII] 88
micron line of the starburst galaxy M82, carried out with the PACS spectrometer
on board the Herschel satellite. By applying PDR modeling we derive maps of the
main ISM physical parameters, including the [CII] optical depth, at
unprecedented spatial resolution (~300 pc). We can clearly kinematically
separate the disk from the outflow in all lines. The [CII] and [OI]
distributions are consistent with PDR emission both in the disk and in the
outflow. Surprisingly, in the outflow, the atomic and the ionized gas traced by
the [OIII] line both have a deprojected velocity of ~75 km/s, very similar to
the average velocity of the outflowing cold molecular gas (~ 100 km/s) and
several times smaller than the outflowing material detected in Halpha (~ 600
km/s). This suggests that the cold molecular and neutral atomic gas and the
ionized gas traced by the [OIII] 88 micron line are dynamically coupled to each
other but decoupled from the Halpha emitting gas. We propose a scenario where
cold clouds from the disk are entrained into the outflow by the winds where
they likely evaporate, surviving as small, fairly dense cloudlets (n_H\sim
500-1000 cm^-3, G_0\sim 500- 1000, T_gas\sim300 K). We show that the UV photons
provided by the starburst are sufficient to excite the PDR shells around the
molecular cores. The mass of the neutral atomic gas in the outflow is \gtrsim
5-12x 10^7 M_sun to be compared with that of the molecular gas (3.3 x 10^8
M_sun) and of the Halpha emitting gas (5.8 x 10^6 M_sun). The mass loading
factor, (dM/dt)/SFR, of the molecular plus neutral atomic gas in the outflow is
~ 2. Energy and momentum driven outflow models can explain the data equally
well, if all the outflowing gas components are taken into account.Comment: 26 pages, 23 figures, 4 Tables, Accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysic
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