Relativistic effects dominate the emission of blazar jets, complicating our understanding of their intrinsic properties. Although many methods have been proposed to account for them, the variability ...Doppler factor method has been shown to describe the blazar populations best. We use a Bayesian hierarchical code called Magnetron to model the light curves of 1029 sources observed by the Owens Valley Radio Observatory's 40 m telescope as a series of flares with an exponential rise and decay, and estimate their variability brightness temperature. Our analysis allows us to place the most stringent constraints on the equipartition brightness temperature, i.e., the maximum achieved intrinsic brightness temperature in beamed sources, which we found to be . Using our findings, we estimated the variability Doppler factor for the largest sample of blazars, increasing the number of available estimates in the literature by almost an order of magnitude. Our results clearly show that γ-ray loud sources have faster and higher amplitude flares than γ-ray quiet sources. As a consequence, they show higher variability brightness temperatures and thus are more relativistically beamed, with all of the above suggesting a strong connection between the radio flaring properties of the jet and γ-ray emission.
The availability of large data sets with stellar distance and polarization information will enable a tomographic reconstruction of the (plane-of-the-sky-projected) interstellar magnetic field in the ...near future. We demonstrate the feasibility of such a decomposition within a small region of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). We combine measurements of starlight (R-band) linear polarization obtained using the RoboPol polarimeter with stellar distances from the second Gaia data release. The stellar sample is brighter than 17 mag in the R-band and reaches out to several kiloparsecs from the Sun. H i emission spectra reveal the existence of two distinct clouds along the line of sight. We decompose the line-of-sight-integrated stellar polarizations to obtain the mean polarization properties of the two clouds. The two clouds exhibit significant differences in terms of column density and polarization properties. Their mean plane-of-the-sky magnetic field orientation differs by 60°. We show how our tomographic decomposition can be used to constrain our estimates of the polarizing efficiency of the clouds as well as the frequency dependence of the polarization angle of polarized dust emission. We also demonstrate a new method to constrain cloud distances based on this decomposition. Our results represent a preview of the wealth of information that can be obtained from a tomographic map of the ISM magnetic field.
Abstract
We present the current state of models for the
z
∼ 3 carbon monoxide (CO) line intensity signal targeted by the CO Mapping Array Project (COMAP) Pathfinder in the context of its early ...science results. Our fiducial model, relating dark matter halo properties to CO luminosities, informs parameter priors with empirical models of the galaxy–halo connection and previous CO (1–0) observations. The Pathfinder early science data spanning wavenumbers
k
= 0.051–0.62 Mpc
−1
represent the first direct 3D constraint on the clustering component of the CO (1–0) power spectrum. Our 95% upper limit on the redshift-space clustering amplitude
A
clust
≲ 70
μ
K
2
greatly improves on the indirect upper limit of 420
μ
K
2
reported from the CO Power Spectrum Survey (COPSS) measurement at
k
∼ 1 Mpc
−1
. The COMAP limit excludes a subset of models from previous literature and constrains interpretation of the COPSS results, demonstrating the complementary nature of COMAP and interferometric CO surveys. Using line bias expectations from our priors, we also constrain the squared mean line intensity–bias product,
Tb
2
≲ 50
μ
K
2
, and the cosmic molecular gas density,
ρ
H2
< 2.5 × 10
8
M
⊙
Mpc
−3
(95% upper limits). Based on early instrument performance and our current CO signal estimates, we forecast that the 5 yr Pathfinder campaign will detect the CO power spectrum with overall signal-to-noise ratio of 9–17. Between then and now, we also expect to detect the CO–galaxy cross-spectrum using overlapping galaxy survey data, enabling enhanced inferences of cosmic star formation and galaxy evolution history.
We report on spectroscopic observations covering most of the 475 BL Lacs in the second Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalog of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Including archival measurements ...(correcting several erroneous literature values) we now have spectroscopic redshifts for 44% of the BL Lacs. We establish firm lower redshift limits via intervening absorption systems and statistical lower limits via searches for host galaxies for an additional 51% of the sample leaving only 5% of the BL Lacs unconstrained. The new redshifts raise the median spectroscopic z from 0.23 to 0.33 and include redshifts as large as z = 2.471. Spectroscopic redshift minima from intervening absorbers have z = 0.70, showing a substantial fraction at large z and arguing against strong negative evolution. We find that detected BL Lac hosts are bright ellipticals with black hole masses M sub( times ) ~ 10 super(8.5)-10 super(9), substantially larger than the mean of optical AGNs and LAT Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar samples. A slow increase in M sub( times ) with z may be due to selection bias. We find that the power-law dominance of the optical spectrum extends to extreme values, but this does not strongly correlate with the gamma -ray properties, suggesting that strong beaming is the primary cause of the range in continuum dominance.
The Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope provides an unprecedented opportunity to study gamma-ray blazars. To capitalize on this opportunity, beginning in late 2007, ...about a year before the start of LAT science operations, we began a large-scale, fast-cadence 15 GHz radio monitoring program with the 40 m telescope at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. This program began with the 1158 northern ( Delta *d > --20?) sources from the Candidate Gamma-ray Blazar Survey and now encompasses over 1500 sources, each observed twice per week with about 4 mJy (minimum) and 3% (typical) uncertainty. Here, we describe this monitoring program and our methods, and present radio light curves from the first two years (2008 and 2009). As a first application, we combine these data with a novel measure of light curve variability amplitude, the intrinsic modulation index, through a likelihood analysis to examine the variability properties of subpopulations of our sample. We demonstrate that, with high significance (6 Delta *s), gamma-ray-loud blazars detected by the LAT during its first 11 months of operation vary with almost a factor of two greater amplitude than do the gamma-ray-quiet blazars in our sample. We also find a significant (3 Delta *s) difference between variability amplitude in BL Lacertae objects and flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), with the former exhibiting larger variability amplitudes. Finally, low-redshift (z < 1) FSRQs are found to vary more strongly than high-redshift FSRQs, with 3 Delta *s significance. These findings represent an important step toward understanding why some blazars emit gamma-rays while others, with apparently similar properties, remain silent.
We describe a uniform all-sky survey of bright blazars, selected primarily by their flat radio spectra, that is designed to provide a large catalog of likely Y-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The ...defined sample has 1625 targets with radio and X-ray properties similar to those of the EGRET blazars, spread uniformly across the degree 'b degree ' > 10 degree sky. We also report progress toward optical characterization of the sample; of objects with known R < 23, 85% have been classified and 81% have measured redshifts. One goal of this program is to focus attention on the most interesting (e.g., high-redshift, high-luminosity,...) sources for intensive multiwavelength study during the observations by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on GLAST.
We report on optical spectroscopy of 165 flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) in the Fermi 1LAC sample, which have helped allow a nearly complete study of this population. Fermi FSRQs show significant ...evidence for non-thermal emission even in the optical; the degree depends on the gamma -ray hardness. They also have smaller virial estimates of hole mass than the optical quasar sample. This appears to be largely due to a preferred (axial) view of the gamma -ray FSRQ and non-isotropic (H/R ~ 0.4) distribution of broad-line velocities. Even after correction for this bias, the Fermi FSRQs show higher mean Eddington ratios than the optical population. A comparison of optical spectral properties with Owens Valley Radio Observatory radio flare activity shows no strong correlation.
Abstract
We present early results from the CO Mapping Array Project (COMAP) Galactic Plane Survey conducted between 2019 June and 2021 April, spanning 20° <
ℓ
< 40° in Galactic longitude and ∣
b
∣ < ...1.°5 in Galactic latitude with an angular resolution of 4.′5. We present initial results from the first part of the survey, including the diffuse emission and spectral energy distributions of H
ii
regions and supernova remnants (SNRs). Using low- and high-frequency surveys to constrain free–free and thermal dust emission contributions, we find evidence of excess flux density at 30 GHz in six regions, which we interpret as anomalous microwave emission. Furthermore we model ultracompact H
ii
contributions using data from the 5 GHz CORNISH catalog and reject these as the cause of the 30 GHz excess. Six known SNRs are detected at 30 GHz, and we measure spectral indices consistent with the literature or show evidence of steepening. The flux density of the SNR W44 at 30 GHz is consistent with a power-law extrapolation from lower frequencies with no indication of spectral steepening in contrast with recent results from the Sardinia Radio Telescope. We also extract five hydrogen radio recombination lines (RRLs) to map the warm ionized gas, which can be used to estimate electron temperatures or to constrain continuum free–free emission. The full COMAP Galactic Plane Survey, to be released in 2023/2024, will span
ℓ
∼ 20°–220° and will be the first large-scale radio continuum and RRL survey at 30 GHz with 4.′5 resolution.
Abstract
We introduce COMAP-
EoR
, the next generation of the Carbon Monoxide Mapping Array Project aimed at extending CO intensity mapping to the Epoch of Reionization. COMAP-
EoR
supplements the ...existing 30 GHz COMAP Pathfinder with two additional 30 GHz instruments and a new 16 GHz receiver. This combination of frequencies will be able to simultaneously map CO(1–0) and CO(2–1) at reionization redshifts (
z
∼ 5–8) in addition to providing a significant boost to the
z
∼ 3 sensitivity of the Pathfinder. We examine a set of existing models of the EoR CO signal, and find power spectra spanning several orders of magnitude, highlighting our extreme ignorance about this period of cosmic history and the value of the COMAP-
EoR
measurement. We carry out the most detailed forecast to date of an intensity mapping cross correlation, and find that five out of the six models we consider yield signal to noise ratios (S/Ns) ≳ 20 for COMAP-
EoR
, with the brightest reaching a S/N above 400. We show that, for these models, COMAP-
EoR
can make a detailed measurement of the cosmic molecular gas history from
z
∼ 2–8, as well as probe the population of faint, star-forming galaxies predicted by these models to be undetectable by traditional surveys. We show that, for the single model that does not predict numerous faint emitters, a COMAP-
EoR
-type measurement is required to rule out their existence. We briefly explore prospects for a third-generation Expanded Reionization Array (COMAP-
ERA
) capable of detecting the faintest models and characterizing the brightest signals in extreme detail.
ABSTRACT
Double lobe radio sources associated with active galactic nuclei represent one of the longest studied groups in radio astronomy. A particular subgroup of double radio sources comprises the ...compact symmetric objects (CSOs). CSOs are distinguished by their prominent double structure and subkpc total size. It has been argued that the vast majority of high-luminosity CSOs (CSO 2s) represent a distinct class of active galactic nuclei with its own morphological structure and lifecycle. In this work, we present theoretical considerations regarding CSO 2s. We develop a semi-analytic evolutionary model, inspired by the results of large-scale numerical simulations of relativistic jets, that reproduces the features of the radio source population. We show that CSO 2s may be generated by finite energy injections and propose stellar tidal disruption events as a possible cause. We find that tidal disruption events of giant branch stars with masses ≳1 M⊙ can fuel these sources and discuss possible approaches to confirming this hypothesis. We predict that if the tidal disruption scenario holds, CSO 2s with sizes less than 400 pc should outnumber larger sources by more than a factor of 10. Our results motivate future numerical studies to determine whether the scenarios we consider for fuelling and source evolution can explain the observed radio morphologies. Multiwavelength observational campaigns directed at these sources will also provide critical insight into the origins of these objects, their environments, and their lifespans.
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