AT2018cow: A Luminous Millimeter Transient Ho, Anna Y. Q.; Phinney, E. Sterl; Ravi, Vikram ...
Astrophysical journal/The Astrophysical journal,
01/2019, Letnik:
871, Številka:
1
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We present detailed submillimeter- through centimeter-wave observations of the extraordinary extragalactic transient AT2018cow. The apparent characteristics-the high radio luminosity, the rise and ...long-lived emission plateau at millimeter bands, and the sub-relativistic velocity-have no precedent. A basic interpretation of the data suggests coupled to a fast but sub-relativistic ( ) shock in a dense ( ) medium. We find that the X-ray emission is not naturally explained by an extension of the radio-submm synchrotron spectrum, nor by inverse Compton scattering of the dominant blackbody UV/optical/IR photons by energetic electrons within the forward shock. By , the X-ray emission shows spectral softening and erratic inter-day variability. Taken together, we are led to invoke an additional source of X-ray emission: the central engine of the event. Regardless of the nature of this central engine, this source heralds a new class of energetic transients shocking a dense medium, which at early times are most readily observed at millimeter wavelengths.
BASS. XXII. The BASS DR2 AGN Catalog and Data Koss, Michael J.; Ricci, Claudio; Trakhtenbrot, Benny ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
07/2022, Letnik:
261, Številka:
1
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Abstract We present the active galactic nucleus (AGN) catalog and optical spectroscopy for the second data release of the Swift BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS DR2). With this DR2 release we ...provide 1449 optical spectra, of which 1182 are released for the first time, for the 858 hard-X-ray-selected AGNs in the Swift BAT 70-month sample. The majority of the spectra (801/1449, 55%) are newly obtained from Very Large Telescope (VLT)/X-shooter or Palomar/Doublespec. Many of the spectra have both higher resolution ( R > 2500, N ∼ 450) and/or very wide wavelength coverage (3200–10000 Å, N ∼ 600) that are important for a variety of AGN and host galaxy studies. We include newly revised AGN counterparts for the full sample and review important issues for population studies, with 47 AGN redshifts determined for the first time and 790 black hole mass and accretion rate estimates. This release is spectroscopically complete for all AGNs (100%, 858/858), with 99.8% having redshift measurements (857/858) and 96% completion in black hole mass estimates of unbeamed AGNs (722/752). This AGN sample represents a unique census of the brightest hard-X-ray-selected AGNs in the sky, spanning many orders of magnitude in Eddington ratio ( L / L Edd = 10 −5 –100), black hole mass ( M BH = 10 5 –10 10 M ⊙ ), and AGN bolometric luminosity ( L bol = 10 40 –10 47 erg s −1 ).
Abstract We present measurements of broad emission lines and virial estimates of supermassive black hole masses ( M BH ) for a large sample of ultrahard X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) ...as part of the second data release of the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS/DR2). Our catalog includes M BH estimates for a total of 689 AGNs, determined from the H α , H β , Mg ii λ 2798, and/or C iv λ 1549 broad emission lines. The core sample includes a total of 512 AGNs drawn from the 70 month Swift/BAT all-sky catalog. We also provide measurements for 177 additional AGNs that are drawn from deeper Swift/BAT survey data. We study the links between M BH estimates and line-of-sight obscuration measured from X-ray spectral analysis. We find that broad H α emission lines in obscured AGNs ( log ( N H / cm − 2 ) > 22.0 ) are on average a factor of 8.0 − 2.4 + 4.1 weaker relative to ultrahard X-ray emission and about 35 − 12 + 7 % narrower than those in unobscured sources (i.e., log ( N H / cm − 2 ) < 21.5 ). This indicates that the innermost part of the broad-line region is preferentially absorbed. Consequently, current single-epoch M BH prescriptions result in severely underestimated (>1 dex) masses for Type 1.9 sources (AGNs with broad H α but no broad H β ) and/or sources with log ( N H / cm − 2 ) ≳ 22.0 . We provide simple multiplicative corrections for the observed luminosity and width of the broad H α component ( L bH α and FWHMbH α ) in such sources to account for this effect and to (partially) remedy M BH estimates for Type 1.9 objects. As a key ingredient of BASS/DR2, our work provides the community with the data needed to further study powerful AGNs in the low-redshift universe.
We present final Spitzer trigonometric parallaxes for 361 L, T, and Y dwarfs. We combine these with prior studies to build a list of 525 known L, T, and Y dwarfs within 20 pc of the Sun, 38 of which ...are presented here for the first time. Using published photometry and spectroscopy as well as our own follow-up, we present an array of color–magnitude and color–color diagrams to further characterize census members, and we provide polynomial fits to the bulk trends. Using these characterizations, we assign each object a T(eff) value and judge sample completeness over bins of T(eff) and spectral type. Except for types ≥T8 and T(eff) < 600 K, our census is statistically complete to the 20 pc limit. We compare our measured space densities to simulated density distributions and find that the best fit is a power law (dN/dM ∝ M^(-α) with α = 0.6 ± 0.1. We find that the evolutionary models of Saumon & Marley correctly predict the observed magnitude of the space density spike seen at 1200 K < T(eff) < 1350 K, believed to be caused by an increase in the cooling timescale across the L/T transition. Defining the low-mass terminus using this sample requires a more statistically robust and complete sample of dwarfs ≥Y0.5 and with T(eff) < 400 K. We conclude that such frigid objects must exist in substantial numbers, despite the fact that few have so far been identified, and we discuss possible reasons why they have largely eluded detection.
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are some of the most luminous sources in our known universe, powered by large-scale accretion onto a supermassive black hole. Supermassive black holes are known to ...co-evolve with their host galaxies, with AGN playing an important role in regulating feedback in galaxies by depositing large amounts of energy through outflows and jets. While studies of AGN have dated back to the 1960's when the first quasar was discovered, much is still unknown about the key source powering the X-ray emission in AGN, i.e. the corona. In my thesis, I present detailed investigations of the properties of AGN coronae using broadband X-ray spectroscopic techniques. This work utilizes spectroscopic data taken with the NuSTAR telescope, which has revolutionized studies of the corona. Being the first focusing high energy X-ray telescope in orbit, NuSTAR's high sensitivity at hard X-ray energies (> 10 keV) has enabled robust measurements of fundamental properties of the corona, such as its temperature, from single epoch observations of AGN for the first time. In the first study presented in this thesis, I performed measurements of coronal temperature in a sample of 46 NuSTAR-observed AGN through fitting X-ray spectral models for each object. My analysis showed the temperature of the corona to be regulated by electron-positron pair production and annihilation processes. From this sample, I identified an AGN with an unusually low coronal temperature, 2MASX J19301380+3410495. I modeled the broadband X-ray spectrum of this object in detail using multi-epoch X-ray observations taken with the Swift, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR telescopes, and found the object to also belong to a rare class of X-ray obscured but optically unobscured AGN. Using multi-wavelength information, I elucidated the nature of the complex obscuration present in 2MASX J19301380+3410495. In recent work presented in this thesis, I compiled one of the largest samples of unobscured AGN with high quality NuSTARX-ray spectra in order to characterize how the physical properties of the corona relate to fundamental accretion parameters in AGN, such as the Eddington ratio and mass of the supermassive black hole. Finally, I discuss possible future work directed at investigating other enigmatic AGN similar to 2MASX J19301380+3410495 that have conflicting optical and X-ray classifications. Using techniques such as multi-wavelength spectropolarimetry in addition to X-ray spectroscopy, it may be possible to unveil the mechanisms of obscuration within these exotic sources that challenge classical pictures of AGN structure.
Abstract
The corona is an integral component of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) which produces the bulk of the X-ray emission above 1–2 keV. However, many of its physical properties and the mechanisms ...powering this emission remain a mystery. In particular, the temperature of the coronal plasma has been difficult to constrain for large samples of AGNs, as constraints require high-quality broadband X-ray spectral coverage extending above 10 keV in order to measure the high-energy cutoff, which provides constraints on the combination of coronal optical depth and temperature. We present constraints on the coronal temperature for a large sample of Seyfert 1 AGNs selected from the Swift/BAT survey using high-quality hard X-ray data from the NuSTAR observatory combined with simultaneous soft X-ray data from Swift/XRT or XMM-Newton. When applying a physically motivated, nonrelativistic disk-reflection model to the X-ray spectra, we find a mean coronal temperature
kT
e
= 84 ± 9 keV. We find no significant correlation between the coronal cutoff energy and accretion parameters such as the Eddington ratio and black hole mass. We also do not find a statistically significant correlation between the X-ray photon index, Γ, and Eddington ratio. This calls into question the use of such relations to infer properties of supermassive black hole systems.
We present results from modeling the broadband X-ray spectrum of the Type 1 active galactic nucleus (AGN) 2MASX J193013.80+341049.5 using NuSTAR, Swift, and archival XMM-Newton observations. We find ...this source to be highly X-ray obscured, with column densities exceeding 1023 cm−2 across all epochs of X-ray observations, spanning an 8 yr period. However, the source exhibits prominent broad optical emission lines, consistent with an unobscured Type 1 AGN classification. We fit the X-ray spectra with both phenomenological reflection models and physically motivated torus models to model the X-ray absorption. We examine the spectral energy distribution of this source and investigate some possible scenarios to explain the mismatch between X-ray and optical classifications. We compare the ratio of reddening to X-ray absorbing column density ( / ) and find that 2MASX J193013.80+341049.5 likely has a much lower dust-to-gas ratio relative to the Galactic interstellar medium, suggesting that the broad line region itself could provide the source of extra X-ray obscuration, being composed of low-ionization, dust-free gas.
The NuSTAR observatory, with its high sensitivity in hard X-rays, has enabled detailed broadband modeling of the X-ray spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), thereby allowing constraints to be ...placed on the high-energy cutoff of the X-ray coronal continuum. We investigate the spectral properties of a sample of 46 NuSTAR-observed Seyfert 1 AGN selected from the Swift/BAT 70-month hard X-ray survey. Our measurements of the high-energy cutoff of the continuum from modeling the NuSTAR X-ray spectra are used to map out the temperature - compactness (\(\theta-l\)) plane for AGN coronae. We find that most of the coronae lie clustered near the boundary for runaway pair production, suggesting that annihilation and pair production act to regulate the temperature of the corona. We discuss the implications of coronae whose high-energy cutoff may indicate a low coronal temperature on the heating and thermalization mechanisms in the corona.
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