119085416
The First Chandra Field
Before the official first-light images, the Chandra X-ray Observatory obtained an X-ray image of the field to which its focal plane was first exposed. We describe this historic observation and report our study of the first Chandra field. Chandra's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) detected 15 X-ray sources, the brightest being dubbed ''Leon X-1'' to honor the Chandra Telescope Scientist, Leon Van Speybroeck. Based upon our analysis of the X-ray data and spectroscopy at the European Southern Observatory (ESO; La Silla, Chile), we find that Leon X-1 is a Type-1 (unobscured) active galactic nucleus (AGN) at a redshift z = 0.3207. Leon X-1 exhibits strong Fe II emission and a broad-line Balmer decrement that is unusually flat for an AGN. Within the context of the Eigenvector-1 correlation space, these properties suggest that Leon X-1 may be a massive ({ge} 10{sup 9} M{sub {circle_dot}}) black hole, accreting at a rate approaching its Eddington limit.
119332271
Low and High Angular Momentum Accretion Flows in BHCs: Case Study of XTE J1550-564
The 1998 outburst of XTE J1550-564 started with a hard X-ray spike, rising in less than a day and declining after 3-4 days; at the same time, the soft X-ray flux was rising with a longer timescale (~ 10 days). We suggest that the soft and the initial hard X-ray emission are produced by two different components of the accretion flow: a higher angular momentum flow, which forms the disk, and a lower angular momentum flow feeding the hot inner region. Thus, we argue that the onset of the outburst is determined by an increased mass transfer rate from the companion star, but the outburst morphology is also determined by the distribution of specific angular momentum in the accreting matter. In XTE J1550-564, we attribute the initial, impulsive low angular momentum accretion to the breaking down of magnetic confinement by the magnetically active secondary star. We show that a hard X-ray spike is seen at the onset of an outburst in other BHCs.
14786495
State transitions in LMC X-3
We carried out a multiwavelenght study of the black-hole candidate LMC X-3 with XMM-Newton. The system showed a transition to a low-hard state, in which the X-ray spectrum was well fitted by a simple power law. It then returned to a high-soft state, characterised by a strong disk-blackbody component. The line-of-sight absorption column density is <~ 4 x 10^{20} cm^{-2} consistent with the foreground Galactic absorption. This rules out wind accretion. We argue that, despite LMC X-3 being a high-mass X-ray binary, Roche-lobe overflow is the main mechanism of mass transfer. From UV/optical observations in the low-hard state, we determine that the companion is a slightly evolved B5 star with a mass M ~ 4.5 M_sun. This is indeed consistent with the secondary star being close to filling its Roche lobe.
18756154
Formation of optical lines in black-hole binaries
The HI Balmer emission lines of black-hole binaries show double-peaked profiles during the high-soft state and the quiescent state. In the high-soft state the profiles are asymmetric with a stronger red peak, but the profiles are symmetric in the quiescent state. We suggest that in the high-soft state the emission lines originate from the temperature-inversion layer caused by irradiative heating of an optically thick accretion disk. Irradiative heating also causes the formation of a disk wind, which mildly absorbs the blue peak of the lines. The double-peaked lines seen in the quiescent state arise from an optically thin disk. In the absence of a disk wind, the lines are unabsorbed and so the symmetry of the line profiles is preserved.
13854637
Ionization structure in accretion shocks with a composite cooling function
ABSTRA C T We have investigated the ionization structure of the post-shock regions of magnetic cataclysmic variables, using an analytic density and temperature structure model in which effects caused by bremsstrahlung and cyclotron cooling are considered. We find that in the majority of the shock-heated region where H- and He-like lines of the heavy elements are emitted, the collisional-ionization and corona-condition approximations are justified. We have calculated the line emissivity and ionization profiles for iron as a function of height within the post-shock flow. For low-mass white dwarfs, line emission takes place near the shock. For high-mass white dwarfs, most of the line emission takes place in regions well below the shock and hence it is less sensitive to the shock temperature. Thus, the line ratios are useful to determine the white dwarf masses for the low-mass white dwarfs, but the method is less reliable when the white dwarfs are massive. Line spectra can, however, be used to map the hydrodynamic structure of the post-shock accretion flow.
14186187
Accretion Flow along a Dipolar Field: Application to Intermediate Polars
A hydrodynamic formulation for accretion flow channeled by a dipolar magnetic field is constructed using a curvi-linear coordinate system natural to the field structure. We solve the hydrodynamic equations and determine the velocity, density and temperature profiles of the post-shock accretion flow. The results are applied to accretion flows in intermediate polars. We have found that for systems with massive white dwarfs (~ 1 M ⊙ ) the temperature profiles in the flow can differ significantly to those obtained from models in which the accretion column is assumed to be cylindrical.
122884461
On the composition laws of Beltrami-Liouville theories and 2D quantum gravity☆
Abstract We present the composition laws or cocycle conditions of the Liouville theory and Beltrami-Liouville theory as well as the quantum gravity in two dimensions. We show that for the 2D gravity, their special cases give rise to the composition laws of Polyakov's light-cone action and that of the geometric action of the Virasoro group. By means of the composition laws, we give the gravitational Ward identities and a relation between the actions of the Liouville theory and the topological gravity and find that the principal action of the 2D topological gravity is a coboundary which should obey a cocylce condition in the Liouville complex.
18113451
Symplectic, multisymplectic structures and Euler-Lagrange cohomology
We study the Euler-Lagrange cohomology and explore the symplectic or multisymplectic geometry and their preserving properties in classical mechanism and classical field theory in Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism in each case respectively. By virtue of the Euler-Lagrange cohomology that is nontrivial in the configuration space, we show that the symplectic or multisymplectic geometry and related preserving property can be established not only in the solution space but also in the function space if and only if the relevant closed Euler-Lagrange cohomological condition is satisfied in each case. We also apply the cohomological approach directly to Hamiltonian-like ODEs and Hamiltonian-like PDEs no matter whether there exist known Lagrangian and/or Hamiltonian associated with them.
122786546
Field equations, conservation laws in 2D quantum gravity and the Beltrami-KdV-Liouville system
Abstract We present the equations of motion and the conservation laws under various gauges of 2D induced gravity as a kind of the Beltrami-Liouville theory. We generalize the schwarzian derivative and derive its composition law. We also find the relation between the Beltrami-Liouville theory and the KdV system as well as the reccursion relations due to Gel'fand and Dikii based on the properties of the quasiconformal transformations.
121089433
Symmetric and Asymmetric Anomalies and Effective Lagrangian
The properties of the effective Lagrangian for the low-energy Goldstone-gauge field system constructed from the Chern-Simons topological invariant are further discussed. Both the symmetric anomaly and the asymmetric anomaly are connected with this Lagrangian.
16329749
Tau function and Hirota bilinear equations for the extended bigraded Toda hierarchy
In this paper, we generalize the Sato theory to the extended bigraded Toda hierarchy. We revise the definition of the Lax equations, give the Sato equations, wave operators, Hirota bilinear identities, and show the existence of tau function τ(t). Meanwhile, we prove the validity of its Fay-like identities and Hirota bilinear equations (HBEs) in terms of vertex operators whose coefficients take values in the algebra of differential operators. In contrast to HBEs of the usual integrable system, the current HBEs are equations of the product of operators involving e∂x and τ(t).