119312762
Structure, spectra and variability of some GPS radio sources
We report the results of multifrequency-VLBI observations of GHz-Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) radio sources. The VLBI structure and component spectra of some GPS sources are presented. Our VLBI results show that about 80% of the GPS galaxies exhibit a compact double or CSO-like structure, white the GPS quasars tend to show a core-jet. The component spectra of the GPS galaxies are often steep/convex, and the core has a flat spectrum but it is usually hidden or weak. In addition, we studied the variability of GPS sources by comparing new flux density measures, acquired with the Urumqi 25-m telescope at 4.85 GHz, with previous 87GB data. The results show that 44% of the GPS quasars varied higher than 10% in passed 20 years, while the fraction is only 12% for the GPS galaxies meaning that the GPS quasars are much more variable than GPS galaxies. In total, 25% of GPS sources show > 10% variability at 4.85 GHz in our sample.
119119786
Radio observations of the first three-months of Fermi AGN at 4.8 GHz
Using the Urumqi 25 m radio telescope, sources from the first t hree months of the Fermi-large area telescope detected active galactic nuclei (AGN) catalog with a declination of > 0 ◦ were observed in 2009 at 4.8 GHz. The radio flux density ap- peared to correlate with the -ray intensity. Intra-day variability (IDV) observations were performed in March, April and May 2009 for 42 selected -ray bright blazars, and ∼60% of them showed evidence of flux variability at 4.8 GHz duri ng the IDV observations. The IDV detection rate was higher than that in previous flat-spectrum AGN samples. IDV appeared more often in the very long baseline interferometry-core dominant blazars, and the non-IDV blazars showed relatively "steeper" spectral in- dices than the IDV blazars. Pronounced inter-month variability was also found in two BL Lac objects: J0112+2244 and J0238+1636.
7519824
Seven-frequency VLBI Observations of the GHz-Peaked-Spectrum Source OQ 208
We present quasi-simultaneous VLBI images of the GHz-Peaked-Spectrum radio source OQ 208 obtained with the Very Long Baseline Array at 1.4, 1.7, 2.3, 5.0, 8.4, 15.4 GHz and the European VLBI Network at 6.7 GHz. The low frequency (1.4, 1.7 and 2.3 GHz) observations reveal a weak and extended steep-spectrum component at about 30mas away at position angle -110 degrees, which may be a remnant emission. The radio structure of OQ 208 consists of two mini-lobes at 5.0, 6.7, 8.4 and 15.4 GHz. Our spectral analysis further confirms that the southwest lobe undergoes free-free absorption and finds that the free-free absorption is stronger in the inner region. By fitting the 8.4 GHz images from 1994 to 2005, we obtain a separation speed of 0.031+/-0.006 mas yr(-1) between the two mini-lobes. This indicates a jet proper motion of 0.105+/-0.020 c and a kinematic age of 219+/-42 yr for the radio source.
118431275
IDV observations & study of the quasar 0917+624
We carried out intra-day variability (IDV) observations from August 2005 to January 2010 with the Urumqi 25 m radio telescope for a dozen IDV sources including the quasar 0917+624. This target exhibited pronounced centimeter-band, intra-day variability during the 1980s–1990s, but its strong IDV phase ceased in 2000. The source showed no IDV in the majority of the Urumqi observing sessions, although weak IDV activity was detected in some. Multifrequency UMRAO data for 0917+624 show that the spectral index is steeper during the weak and non-IDV phases than during the strong IDV phase, supporting the idea that the size of the scintillating component may be enlarged in the weak/non IDV phases.
118574295
Position Angle Changes of Inner-Jets in a Sample of Blazars
We have carried out the Gaussian model-fitting to 15 GHz VLBA cores for a sample of blazars from the MOJAVE database, analysed the correlations in the model-fitted parameters and studied the variability properties for different group of sources. We found that the Fermi LAT-detected blazars have on an average higher position angle changes of cores than the non-LAT detected blazars, and that the LAT-detected ones are associated with more variable cores in flux density.
15928792
VLBI observations of nineteen GHz-peaked-spectrum radio sources at 1.6 GHz
$\mathsfsl{Aims~and~Methods}$. We present the results of VLBI observations of nineteen GHz-peaked-spectrum (GPS) radio sources at 1.6 GHz. Of them, 15 sources are selected from the Parkes half-jansky (PHJ) sample (Snellen et al. 2002, MNRAS, 337, 981), and 4 others are from our previous observation list. We aimed at imaging the structure of GPS sources, searching for compact symmetric objects (CSOs) and studying the absorption for the convex radio spectra of GPS sources. $\mathsfsl{Results}$. We obtained total-intensity 1.6 GHz VLBI images of 17 sources for the first time. Of them, 80% show a mini-double-lobe radio structure, indicating that they are CSOs or candidates, and their host AGNs could be edge-on to us. This result suggests that there is a high incidence of mini double-lobe sources (or CSOs) in the PHJ sample. The sources J0323+0534, J1135-0021, J1352+0232, J2058+0540, J2123-0112, and J2325-0344 are classified as CSOs with measured redshift, showing double-lobe structure with sizes of <1 kpc. Three sources J1057+0012, J1600-0037, and J1753+2750 are considered as core-jet sources according to their morphologies and flux variability.
119277834
Plasma diagnostics for planetary nebulae and H ii regions using the N ii and O ii optical recombination lines
We carry out plasma diagnostic analyses for 123 planetary nebulae (PNe) and 42 H II regions using the N II and O II optical recombination lines (ORLs). New effective recombination coefficients for the N II and O II optical recombination spectra are used. These data were calculated under the intermediate coupling scheme for a number of electron temperature (Te) and density (Ne) cases. We used a new method to determine the Te and Ne for the nebular sample, combining the ORLs with the most reliable measurements for each ion and the predicted intensities that are based on the new atomic data. Uncertainties of the derived Te and Ne are estimated for each object. The diagnostic results from heavy element ORLs show reasonable agreement with previous calculations in the literature. We compare the electron temperatures derived from the N II and O II ORLs, Te(ORLs), and those from the collisionally excited lines (CELs), Te(CELs), as well as the hydrogen Balmer jump, Te(H I BJ), especially for the PNe with large abundance discrepancies. Temperatures from He I recombination lines, Te(He I), are also used for comparison if available. For all the objects included in our sample, Te(ORLs) are lower than Te(H I BJ), which are in turn systematically lower than Te(CELs). Nebulae with Te(He I) available show the relation Te(ORLs) < Te(He I) < Te(H I BJ) < Te(CELs), which is consistent with predictions from the bi-abundance nebular model postulated by Liu et al. (2000).
119236452
CONSTRAINING SUB-PARSEC BINARY SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES IN QUASARS WITH MULTI-EPOCH SPECTROSCOPY. II. THE POPULATION WITH KINEMATICALLY OFFSET BROAD BALMER EMISSION LINES*
A small fraction of quasars have long been known to show bulk velocity offsets (of a few hundred to thousands of km s–1) in the broad Balmer lines with respect to the systemic redshift of the host galaxy. Models to explain these offsets usually invoke broad-line region gas kinematics/asymmetry around single black holes (BHs), orbital motion of massive (~sub-parsec (sub-pc)) binary black holes (BBHs), or recoil BHs, but single-epoch spectra are unable to distinguish between these scenarios. The line-of-sight (LOS) radial velocity (RV) shifts from long-term spectroscopic monitoring can be used to test the BBH hypothesis. We have selected a sample of 399 quasars with kinematically offset broad Hβ lines from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Seventh Data Release quasar catalog, and have conducted second-epoch optical spectroscopy for 50 of them. Combined with the existing SDSS spectra, the new observations enable us to constrain the LOS RV shifts of broad Hβ lines with a rest-frame baseline of a few years to nearly a decade. While previous work focused on objects with extreme velocity offset (>103 km s–1), we explore the parameter space with smaller (a few hundred km s–1) yet significant offsets (99.7% confidence). Using cross-correlation analysis, we detect significant (99% confidence) radial accelerations in the broad Hβ lines in 24 of the 50 objects, of ~10-200 km s–1 yr–1 with a median measurement uncertainty of ~10 km s–1 yr–1, implying a high fraction of variability of the broad-line velocity on multi-year timescales. We suggest that 9 of the 24 detections are sub-pc BBH candidates, which show consistent velocity shifts independently measured from a second broad line (either Hα or Mg II) without significant changes in the broad-line profiles. Combining the results on the general quasar population studied in Paper I, we find a tentative anti-correlation between the velocity offset in the first-epoch spectrum and the average acceleration between two epochs, which could be explained by orbital phase modulation when the time separation between two epochs is a non-negligible fraction of the orbital period of the motion causing the line displacement. We discuss the implications of our results for the identification of sub-pc BBH candidates in offset-line quasars and for the constraints on their frequency and orbital parameters.
118774140
On the Vacuum Propagation of Gravitational Waves
We show that, for any local, causal quantum field theory which couples covariantly to gravity, and which admits Minkowski spacetime vacuum(a) invariant under the inhomogeneous proper orthochronous Lorentz group, plane gravitational waves propagating in such Minkowski vacuum(a) do not dissipate energy or momentum via quantum field theoretic effects.
119155043
Effects of hadronic loops on the direct CP violation of $B_c$
It is well-known that the final state interaction plays an important role in the decays of B meson. The contribution of the final state interaction, which is supposed to be long-distance effects, to the concerned processes can interfere with that of the short-distance effects produced via the tree and/or loop diagrams at quark-gluon level. The interference may provide a source for the direct CP violation A{sub CP} in the process B{sub c}{sup +}{yields}D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +}. We find that a typical value of A{sub CP} when the final state interaction effect is taken into account can be about -22% which is different from that without the final state interaction effect. Therefore, when we extract information on CP violation from the data which will be available at the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment (LHCb) and the new experiments in B factories, the contribution from the final state interaction must be included. This study may be crucial for searching new physics in the future.
118347523
Gemini long-slit observations of luminous obscured quasars: Further evidence for an upper limit on the size of the narrow-line region
We examine the spatial extent of the narrow-line regions (NLRs) of a sample of 30 luminous obscured quasars at 0.4 < z < 0.7 observed with spatially resolved Gemini-N GMOS long-slit spectroscopy. Using the [O III] λ5007 emission feature, we estimate the size of the NLR using a cosmology-independent measurement: the radius where the surface brightness falls to 10–15 erg s–1 cm–2 arcsec–2. We then explore the effects of atmospheric seeing on NLR size measurements and conclude that direct measurements of the NLR size from observed profiles are too large by 0.1-0.2 dex on average, as compared to measurements made to best-fit Sersic or Voigt profiles convolved with the seeing. These data, which span a full order of magnitude in IR luminosity (log (L 8 μm/erg s–1) = 44.4-45.4), also provide strong evidence that there is a flattening of the relationship between NLR size and active galactic nucleus luminosity at a seeing-corrected size of ~7 kpc. The objects in this sample have high luminosities which place them in a previously under-explored portion of the size-luminosity relationship. These results support the existence of a maximal size of the NLR around luminous quasars; beyond this size, there is either not enough gas or the gas is over-ionized and does not produce enough [O III] λ5007 emission.