Iris: an Extensible Application for Building and Analyzing Spectral Energy Distributions

Iris is an extensible application that provides astronomers with a user-friendly interface capable of ingesting broad-band data from many different sources in order to build, explore, and model spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Iris takes advantage of the standards defined by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance, but hides the technicalities of such standards by implementing different layers of abstraction on top of them. Such intermediate layers provide hooks that users and developers can exploit in order to extend the capabilities provided by Iris. For instance, custom Python models can be combined in arbitrary ways with the Iris built-in models or with other custom functions. As such, Iris offers a platform for the development and integration of SED data, services, and applications, either from the user's system or from the web. In this paper we describe the built-in features provided by Iris for building and analyzing SEDs. We also explore in some detail the Iris framework and software development kit, showing how astronomers and software developers can plug their code into an integrated SED analysis environment.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Computin

A variability study of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 6300 with XMM-Newton

We present the results of timing analysis of the XMM-Newton observation of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 6300. The hard X-ray spectrum above 2 keV consists of a Compton-thin-absorbed power law, as is often seen in Seyfert 2 galaxies. We clearly detected rapid time variability on a time scale of about 1000 s from the light curve above 2 keV. The excess variance of the time variability (sigma2_RMS) is calculated to be ~0.12, and the periodogram of the light curve is well represented by a power law function with a slope of 1.75. In contrast with previous results from Seyfert 2 nuclei, these variability characteristics are consistent with those of Seyfert 1 galaxies. This consistency suggests that NGC 6300 has a similar black hole mass and accretion properties as Seyfert 1 galaxies. Using the relation between time variability and central black hole mass by Hayashida et al. (1998), the black hole mass of NGC 6300 is estimated to be ~2.8x10^5 Mo. Taking uncertainty of this method into account, the black hole mass is less than 10^7 Mo. Taking the bolometric luminosity of 3.3x10^43 erg/s into consideration, this yields an accretion rate of > 0.03 of the Eddington value, and comparable with estimates from Seyfert 1 galaxies using this method. The time variability analysis suggests that NGC 6300 actually has a Seyfert 1 nucleus obscured by a thick matter, and more generally provides a new pillar of support for the unified model of Seyfert galaxies based on obscuration.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The Black Hole Mass - Galaxy Bulge Relationship for QSOs in the SDSS DR3

We investigate the relationship between black hole mass and host galaxy velocity dispersion for QSOs in Data Release 3 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We derive black hole mass from the broad Hbeta line width and continuum luminosity, and the bulge stellar velocity dispersion from the [OIII] narrow line width. At higher redshifts, we use MgII and [OII] in place of Hbeta and [OIII]. For redshifts z < 0.5, our results agree with the black hole mass - bulge velocity dispersion relationship for nearby galaxies. For 0.5 < z < 1.2, this relationship appears to show evolution with redshift in the sense that the bulges are too small for their black holes. However, we find that part of this apparent trend can be attributed to observational biases, including a Malmquist bias involving the QSO luminosity. Accounting for these biases, we find ~0.2 dex evolution in the black hole mass-bulge velocity dispersion relationship between now and redshift z ~ 1.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 15 pages, 9 figure

Statistical Properties of Radio Emission from the Palomar Seyfert Galaxies

We have carried out an analysis of the radio and optical properties of a statistical sample of 45 Seyfert galaxies from the Palomar spectroscopic survey of nearby galaxies. We find that the space density of bright galaxies (-22 mag <= M_{B_T} <= -18 mag) showing Seyfert activity is (1.25 +/- 0.38) X 10^{-3} Mpc^{-3}, considerably higher than found in other Seyfert samples. Host galaxy types, radio spectra, and radio source sizes are uncorrelated with Seyfert type, as predicted by the unified schemes for active galaxies. Approximately half of the detected galaxies have flat or inverted radio spectra, more than expected based on previous samples. Surprisingly, Seyfert 1 galaxies are found to have somewhat stronger radio sources than Seyfert 2 galaxies at 6 and 20 cm, particularly among the galaxies with the weakest nuclear activity. We suggest that this difference can be accommodated in the unified schemes if a minimum level of Seyfert activity is required for a radio source to emerge from the vicinity of the active nucleus. Below this level, Seyfert radio sources might be suppressed by free-free absorption associated with the nuclear torus or a compact narrow-line region, thus accounting for both the weakness of the radio emission and the preponderance of flat spectra. Alternatively, the flat spectra and weak radio sources might indicate that the weak active nuclei are fed by advection-dominated accretion disks.Comment: 18 pages using emulateapj5, 13 embedded figures, accepted by Ap

MUSCLE TORQUE OF MALE BASKETBALL PLAYERS PLAYING AT DIFFERENT FLOOR POSITIONS

The aim of this study was the investigation of muscle torque for male basketball players playing at different floor positions. The study were carried out on 44 male basketball players belonging to the Polish national team. The mean characteristics (±SD) of the group were as follows: age 22.4±3.1 years, body mass 88.5±8.7 kg, body height 197.4±8.1 cm, duration of training 9.5±3.3 years. They were divided into 3 groups: wings, guards, centers. Muscle torque measurements in static conditions were performed. Eleven muscle groups were studied: flexors and extensors of trunk, flexors and extensors of shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and ankle joints. The lowest results for muscle torque were recorded for guards (Table 1.). The highest results for muscle torque were recorded for wings. Significant differences between wings and guards, centers and guards were observed only for elbow flexors, shoulder flexors, for trunk flexors and extensors and for the sums of 11 muscle groups. No significant differences were found between wings and centers. When the results were calculated per body mass no significant differences between guards, wings and centers were observed. There were no significant differences between guards, wings and centers in muscle torque topography. No significant correlations between torque and body mass were found in any of the groups. From our study we conclude that there are no significant differences between basketball players playing different positions. The differences between the players at different play positions depend on body height: high players - wings and centers, low players - guards

Remnant of a "Wet" Merger: NGC 34 and Its Young Massive Clusters, Young Stellar Disk, and Strong Gaseous Outflow

This paper presents new images and spectroscopy of NGC 34 (Mrk 938) obtained with the du Pont 2.5-m and Baade 6.5-m telescopes at Las Campanas, plus photometry of an HST archival V image. This Mv = -21.6 galaxy has often been classified as a Seyfert 2, yet recently published infrared spectra suggest a dominant central starburst. We find that the galaxy features a single nucleus, a main spheroid containing a blue central disk, and tidal tails indicative of two former disk galaxies. These galaxies appear to have completed merging. The remnant shows three clear optical signs that the merger was gas-rich ("wet") and accompanied by a starburst: (1) It sports a rich system of young star clusters, of which 87 have absolute magnitudes -10.0 > Mv > -15.4. Five clusters with available spectra have ages in the range 0.1-1.0 Gyr, photometric masses between 2x10^6 and 2x10^7 Msun, and are gravitationally bound young globulars. (2) The blue central disk appears to be young. It is exponential, can be traced to >10 kpc radius, and has a smooth structure and colors suggest- ing a dominant, ~400 Myr old poststarburst population. And (3), the center of NGC 34 drives a strong outflow of cool, neutral gas, as revealed by broad blueshifted Na I D lines. The mean outflow velocity of this gas is -620 km/s, while the maximum velocity reaches -1050 km/s. We suggest that NGC 34 stems from two recently merged gas-rich disk galaxies with an estimated mass ratio between 1/3 and 2/3. The remnant seems to have first experienced a galaxy-wide starburst that then shrank to its current central and obscured state. The strong gaseous outflow came last. (Abridged

Substellar-mass companions to the K-dwarf BD +14 4559 and the K-giants HD 240210 and BD +20 2457

We present the discovery of substellar-mass companions to three stars by the ongoing Penn State - Toru\' n Planet Search (PTPS) conducted with the 9.2-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope. The K2-dwarf, BD +14 4559, has a 1.5 M$_{J}$ companion with the orbital period of 269 days and shows a non-linear, long-term radial velocity trend, which indicates a possible presence of another planet-mass body in the system. The K3-giant, HD 240210, exhibits radial velocity variations that require modeling with multiple orbits, but the available data are not yet sufficient to do it unambiguously. A tentative, one-planet model calls for a 6.9 M$_J$ planet in a 502-day orbit around the star. The most massive of the three stars, the K2-giant, BD +20 2457, whose estimated mass is 2.8$\pm$1.5 M$_\odot$, has two companions with the respective minimum masses of 21.4 M$_J$ and 12.5 M$_J$ and orbital periods of 380 and 622 days. Depending on the unknown inclinations of the orbits, the currently very uncertain mass of the star, and the dynamical properties of the system, it may represent the first detection of two brown dwarf-mass companions orbiting a giant. The existence of such objects will have consequences for the interpretation of the so-called brown dwarf desert known to exist in the case of solar-mass stars.Comment: 28 pages, 4 tables, 10 figures. Submitted to Ap

Systematic Uncertainties in Black Hole Masses Determined from Single Epoch Spectra

We explore the nature of systematic errors that can arise in measurement of black hole masses from single-epoch spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) by utilizing the many epochs available for NGC 5548 and PG1229+204 from reverberation mapping databases. In particular, we examine systematics due to AGN variability, contamination due to constant spectral components (i.e., narrow lines and host galaxy flux), data quality (i.e., signal-to-noise ratio, S/N), and blending of spectral features by comparing the precision and accuracy of single-epoch mass measurements to those of recent reverberation mapping studies. We calculate masses by characterizing the broad Hbeta emission line by both the full width at half maximum and the line dispersion and demonstrate the importance of removing narrow emission-line components and host starlight. We find that the reliability of line width measurements rapidly decreases for S/N lower than ~10 to 20 (per pixel) and that fitting the line profiles instead of direct measurement of the data does not mitigate this problem but can, in fact, introduce systematic errors. We also conclude that a full spectral decomposition to deblend the AGN and galaxy spectral features is unnecessary except to judge the contribution of the host galaxy to the luminosity and to deblend any emission lines that may inhibit accurate line width measurements. Finally, we present an error budget which summarizes the minimum observable uncertainties as well as the amount of additional scatter and/or systematic offset that can be expected from the individual sources of error investigated. In particular, we find that the minimum observable uncertainty in single-epoch mass estimates due to variability is ~ 20 per pixel) spectra.Comment: 60 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Influence of microorganisms on the underground metal constructions corrosion

Проаналізовано основні аспекти впливу ґрунтових мікроорганізмів на корозію підземних металоконструкцій (трубопроводи, нафтове обладнання). Вснановлено, що крім корозійно-механічної природи пошкодження труб підземних трубопроводів мають і біологічну складову. Вона спричиняє деструкцію захисного ізоляційного покриття під дією асоціатів ґрунтових мікроорганізмів. Доведено, що, корозійний процес нафтогазового обладнання слід розглядати не як лише фізико-хімічне явище процес, а обов’язково враховувати вплив біологічної деградації. Вплив біологічних міркоорганізмів зумовлює окрихчення сталей із подальшим утворенням пітингів та тріщиноподібних дефектів, які можуть спричинити катастрофічне руйнування трубопроводу. Модифікацією бітумно-полімерної мастики МБПІД-1 інгібіторами корозії з класу амінів (А) та четвертинних амонійних солей (ЧАС) отримано біостійкі інноваційні протикорозійні покриття та вивчено їх характеристики. Досліджено бактерицидну активність запропонованих інгібіторів. Адгезія стрічки до мастики не залежить від рецептури композицій ізоляційного покриття. Встановлено, що адгезія мастики до заґрунтованого металу була вищою порівняно з базовою композицією для рецептур з інгібітором (А) та інгібітором (ЧАС) на 36,0 та 24,0% відповідно. Проведено дослідно-промислові випробування розроблених біостійких покриттів у трасових умовах на магістральних газопроводах Західного та Південного регіонів. Результати випробувань підтвердили їх високу ефективність у забезпеченні протикорозійного та мікробіологічного захисту підземних металоконструкцій.Technical problem of the analysis of failure and evaluation of degradation of the structural materials mechanical properties after their operational degradation is of importance for all critical structures, for main oil pipelines in particular. Analysis of the condition of operated pipelines is focused on the condition of the outer surface of the pipe, including the protective properties of coatings and possible damage from the outer surface. However, the pipelines which have been used for a long time are often characterized by multiple corrosion damages of the internal surfaces of pipes, which should also be considered. Corrosion damage to the pipe steel is not a separate problem, but a complex degradation factor, as it causes material embrittlement and hydrogenation. The basic aspects of the soil microorganisms impact on corrosion of underground metal structures (pipelines, oil equipment) have been analysed. It was determined that beside corrosion-mechanic damages the underground pipelines are subject to biological degradation, which causes the failure of the protective insulating coating under associates of soil microorganisms. It was proved, that the corrosion process of gas equipment should be considered not only as a physical-chemical phenomenon process, but the biological degradation impact must be taken into account. The impact of biological microorganisms caused the embrittlement of steels with further pittings and crack- like defects, which can results in the failure of the pipeline. Modification of bitumen-polymer mastic MBPID -1 by corrosion inhibitor class of amines (A) and quaternary ammonium salts (QAS) has resulted in obtaining biostable innovative anticorrosive coating and studying of their characteristics. Bactericidal activity of the proposed inhibitors has been investigated. Adhesion to mastic tape does not depend on the formulation of compositions coating. It was established that adhesion of mastic to primed metal was higher than that compared with the base composition for recipes inhibitor (A) and inhibitor (QAS) by 36.0 and 24.0 %, respectively. A pilot- scale tests of the designed biostable coating in highway conditions of gas pipelines in Western and Southern regions have been carried out. The test results aproved their high efficiency in providing corrosion and microbiological protection of underground metal constructions

Stellar Kinematics of the Andromeda II Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

We present kinematical profiles and metallicity for the M31 dwarf spheroidal (dSph) satellite galaxy Andromeda II (And II) based on Keck DEIMOS spectroscopy of 531 red giant branch stars. Our kinematical sample is among the largest for any M31 satellite and extends out to two effective radii (r_eff = 5.3' = 1.1 kpc). We find a mean systemic velocity of -192.4+-0.5 km/s and an average velocity dispersion of sigma_v = 7.8+-1.1 km/s. While the rotation velocity along the major axis of And II is nearly zero (<1 km/s), the rotation along the minor axis is significant with a maximum rotational velocity of v_max=8.6+-1.8 km/s. We find a kinematical major axis, with a maximum rotational velocity of v_max=10.9+-2.4 km/s, misaligned by 67 degrees to the isophotal major axis. And II is thus the first dwarf galaxy with evidence for nearly prolate rotation with a v_max/sigma_v = 1.1, although given its ellipticity of epsilon = 0.10, this object may be triaxial. We measured metallicities for a subsample of our data, finding a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.39+- 0.03 dex and an internal metallicity dispersion of 0.72+-0.03 dex. We find a radial metallicity gradient with metal-rich stars more centrally concentrated, but do not observe a significant difference in the dynamics of two metallicity populations. And II is the only known dwarf galaxy to show minor axis rotation making it a unique system whose existence offers important clues on the processes responsible for the formation of dSphs.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Ap