The extreme flare in III Zw 2: Evolution of a radio jet in a Seyfert galaxy

A very detailed monitoring of a radio flare in the Seyfert I galaxy III Zw 2 with the VLA and the VLBA is presented. The relative astrometry in the VLBA observations was precise on a level of a few microarcseconds. Spectral and spatial evolution of the source are closely linked and these observations allowed us to study in great detail a textbook example of a synchrotron self-absorbed jet. We observe a phase where the jet gets frustrated, without expansion and no spectral evolution. Then the jet breaks free and starts to expand with apparent superluminal motion. This expansion is accompanied by a strong spectral evolution. The results are a good confirmation of synchrotron theory and equipartition for jets.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted, 11 pages, 14 Figures, also available at http://www.jive.nl/~brunthal/pub.shtm

Dynamic model of gene regulation for the lac operon

Gene regulatory network is a collection of DNA which interact with each other and with other matter in the cell. The lac operon is an example of a relatively simple genetic network and is one of the best-studied structures in the Escherichia coli bacteria. In this work we consider a deterministic model of the lac operon with a noise term, representing the stochastic nature of the regulation. The model is written in terms of a system of simultaneous first order differential equations with delays. We investigate an analytical and numerical solution and analyse the range of values for the parameters corresponding to a stable solution

Flaring Activity of Sgr A* at 43 and 22 GHz: Evidence for Expanding Hot Plasma

We have carried out Very Large Array (VLA) continuum observations to study the variability of Sgr A* at 43 GHz ($\lambda$=7mm) and 22 GHz ($\lambda$=13mm). A low level of flare activity has been detected with a duration of $\sim$ 2 hours at these frequencies, showing the peak flare emission at 43 GHz leading the 22 GHz peak flare by $\sim20$ to 40 minutes. The overall characteristics of the flare emission are interpreted in terms of the plasmon model of Van der Laan (1966) by considering the ejection and adiabatically expansion of a uniform, spherical plasma blob due to flare activity. The observed peak of the flare emission with a spectral index $\nu^{-\alpha}$ of $\alpha$=1.6 is consistent with the prediction that the peak emission shifts toward lower frequencies in an adiabatically-expanding self-absorbed source. We present the expected synchrotron light curves for an expanding blob as well as the peak frequency emission as a function of the energy spectral index constrained by the available flaring measurements in near-IR, sub-millimeter, millimeter and radio wavelengths. We note that the blob model is consistent with the available measurements, however, we can not rule out the jet of Sgr A*. If expanding material leaves the gravitational potential of Sgr A*, the total mass-loss rate of nonthermal and thermal particles is estimated to be $\le 2\times10^{-8}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$. We discuss the implication of the mass-loss rate since this value matches closely with the estimated accretion rate based on polarization measurements.Comment: Revised with new Figures 1 and 2, 17 pages, 4 figures, ApJ (in press

The history of mass assembly of faint red galaxies in 28 galaxy clusters since z=1.3

We measure the relative evolution of the number of bright and faint (as faint as 0.05 L*) red galaxies in a sample of 28 clusters, of which 16 are at 0.50<= z<=1.27, all observed through a pair of filters bracketing the 4000 Angstrom break rest-frame. The abundance of red galaxies, relative to bright ones, is constant over all the studied redshift range, 0<z<1.3, and rules out a differential evolution between bright and faint red galaxies as large as claimed in some past works. Faint red galaxies are largely assembled and in place at z=1.3 and their deficit does not depend on cluster mass, parametrized by velocity dispersion or X-ray luminosity. Our analysis, with respect to previous one, samples a wider redshift range, minimizes systematics and put a more attention to statistical issues, keeping at the same time a large number of clusters.Comment: MNRAS, 386, 1045. Half a single sentence (in sec 4.4) change

A Multi-Wavelength Study of Sgr A*: The Role of Near-IR Flares in Production of X-ray, Soft γ\gamma-ray and Sub-millimeter Emission

(abridged) We describe highlights of the results of two observing campaigns in 2004 to investigate the correlation of flare activity in Sgr A* in different wavelength regimes, using a total of nine ground and space-based telescopes. We report the detection of several new near-IR flares during the campaign based on {\it HST} observations. The level of near-IR flare activity can be as low as $\sim0.15$ mJy at 1.6 $\mu$m and continuous up to about 40% of the total observing time. Using the NICMOS instrument on the {\it HST}, the {\it XMM-Newton} and CSO observatories, we also detect simultaneous bright X-ray and near-IR flare in which we observe for the first time correlated substructures as well as simultaneous submillimeter and near-IR flaring. X-ray emission is arising from the population of near-IR-synchrotron-emitting relativistic particles which scatter submillimeter seed photons within the inner 10 Schwarzschild radii of Sgr A* up to X-ray energies. In addition, using the inverse Compton scattering picture, we explain the high energy 20-120 keV emission from the direction toward Sgr A*, and the lack of one-to-one X-ray counterparts to near-IR flares, by the variation of the magnetic field and the spectral index distributions of this population of nonthermal particles. In this picture, the evidence for the variability of submillimeter emission during a near-IR flare is produced by the low-energy component of the population of particles emitting synchrotron near-IR emission. Based on the measurements of the duration of flares in near-IR and submillimeter wavelengths, we argue that the cooling could be due to adiabatic expansion with the implication that flare activity may drive an outflow.Comment: 48 pages, 12 figures, ApJ (in press

Towards a Holistic View of the Heating and Cooling of the Intracluster Medium

(Abridged) X-ray clusters are conventionally divided into two classes: "cool core" (CC) clusters and "non-cool core" (NCC) clusters. Yet relatively little attention has been given to the origins of this dichotomy and, in particular, to the energetics and thermal histories of the two classes. We develop a model for the entropy profiles of clusters starting from the configuration established by gravitational shock heating and radiative cooling. At large radii, gravitational heating accounts for the observed profiles and their scalings well. However, at small and intermediate radii, radiative cooling and gravitational heating cannot be combined to explain the observed profiles of either type of cluster. The inferred entropy profiles of NCC clusters require that material is preheated prior to cluster collapse in order to explain the absence of low entropy (cool) material in these systems. We show that a similar modification is also required in CC clusters in order to match their properties at intermediate radii. In CC clusters, this modification is unstable, and an additional process is required to prevent cooling below a temperature of a few keV. We show that this can be achieved by adding a self-consistent AGN feedback loop in which the lowest-entropy, most rapidly cooling material is heated so that it rises buoyantly to mix with material at larger radii. The resulting model does not require fine tuning and is in excellent agreement with a wide variety of observational data. Some of the other implications of this model are briefly discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, MNRAS accepted. Discussion of cluster heating energetics extended, results unchange

X-ray Spectra of the RIXOS source sample

We present results of an extensive study of the X-ray spectral properties of sources detected in the RIXOS survey, that is nearly complete down to a flux limit of 3e-14 cgs (0.5-2 keV). We show that for X-ray surveys containing sources with low count rate spectral slopes estimated using simple hardness ratios in the ROSAT band can be biased. Instead we analyse three-colour X-ray data using statistical techniques appropriate to the Poisson regime which removes the effects of this bias. We have then applied this technique to the RIXOS survey to study the spectral properties of the sample. For the AGN we find an average energy index of 1.05+-0.05 with no evidence for spectral evolution with redshift. Individual AGN are shown to have a range of properties including soft X-ray excesses and intrinsic absorption. Narrow Emission Line Galaxies also seem to fit to a power-law spectrum, which may indicate a non-thermal origin for their X-ray emission. We infer that most of the clusters in the sample have a bremsstrahlung temperature >3 keV, although some show evidence for a cooling flow. The stars deviate strongly from a power-law model but fit to a thermal model. Finally, we have analysed the whole RIXOS sample containing 1762 sources. We find that the mean spectral slope of the sources hardens at lower fluxes in agreement with results from other samples. However, a study of the individual sources demonstrates that the hardening of the mean is caused by the appearance of a population of very hard sources at the lowest fluxes. This has implications for the nature of the soft X-ray background.Comment: 31,LaTeX file, 2 PS files with Table 2 and 22 PS figures. MNRAS in pres

Approaching the event horizon: 1.3mm VLBI of SgrA*

Advances in VLBI instrumentation now allow wideband recording that significantly increases the sensitivity of short wavelength VLBI observations. Observations of the super-massive black hole candidate at the center of the Milky Way, SgrA*, with short wavelength VLBI reduces the scattering effects of the intervening interstellar medium, allowing observations with angular resolution comparable to the apparent size of the event horizon of the putative black hole. Observations in April 2007 at a wavelength of 1.3mm on a three station VLBI array have now confirmed structure in SgrA* on scales of just a few Schwarzschild radii. When modeled as a circular Gaussian, the fitted diameter of SgrA* is 37 micro arcsec (+16,-10; 3-sigma), which is smaller than the expected apparent size of the event horizon of the Galactic Center black hole. These observations demonstrate that mm/sub-mm VLBI is poised to open a new window onto the study of black hole physics via high angular resolution observations of the Galactic Center.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings for "The Universe under the Microscope" (AHAR 2008), held in Bad Honnef (Germany) in April 2008, to be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series by Institute of Physics Publishing, R. Schoedel, A. Eckart, S. Pfalzner, and E. Ros (eds.