Infrared fine-structure line diagnostics of shrouded active galactic nuclei

Far-infrared spectroscopy of celestial objects will improve dramatically in the coming decade, allowing astronomers to use fine-structure line emission to probe photoionized regions obscured in the optical band by thick clouds of dust. The ultraluminous far-IR galaxies revealed by IRAS, quasar-like in luminosity but smothered in molecular gas, probably conceal either immense starbursts or luminous active nuclei. In both scenarios, these objects ought to produce copious infrared fine-structure emission with several lines comparable to H(beta) in luminosity. This paper shows how these lines, if detected, can be used to determine the electron densities and far-IR obscurations of shrouded photoionized regions and to constrain the shape and ionization parameter of the ionizing spectra. The presence of (Ne V) emission in particular will distinguish shrouded AGN's from shrouded starbursts. Since all active galaxies photoionize at least some surrounding material, these diagnostics can also be applied to active galaxies in general and will aid in studying how an active nucleus interacts with the interstellar medium of its host galaxy

IUE absorption studies of broad- and narrow-line gas in Seyfert galaxies

The interstellar medium of a galaxy containing an active nucleus may be profoundly affected by the high energy (X-ray, EUV) continuum flux emanating from the central source. The energetic source may photoionize the interstellar medium out to several kiloparsecs, thereby creating a global H II region. The International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite has attempted to observe in several Seyfert galaxies (NGC 3516, NGC 4151, NGC 1068, 3C 120) the narrow absorption lines expected from such global H II regions. Instead, in two of the galaxies (NGC 3516, NGC 4151) broad, variable absorption lines at C IV lambda 1550, N V lambda 1240, and Si IV lambda 1400 were found, as well as weaker absorption features at O I lambda 1302 and C II lambda 1335. These features swamp any possible global H II region absorption. Such broad absorption features have previously been observed in IUE data, but their origin is still not well understood

Development of a relatchable cover mechanism for a cryogenic IR-sensor

A cover mechanism for use on the Infrared Background Signature Survey (IBSS) cryostat was developed. The IBSS IR-instrument is scheduled for STS launch in early 1991 as a payload of the Shuttle Payload Satellite (SPS) 2. The cover is hinged, with a motorized rope drive. During ground processing, launch, entry, and landing, the cryostat, which houses the IR-instrument, is required to be a sealed vacuum tight container for cooling purposes and contamination prevention. When on orbit, the cover is opened to provide an unobstructed field of view for the IR-instrument. A positive seal is accomplished through the use of latch mechanism. The cover and the latch are driven by a common redundant actuator consisting of dc motors, spur gears, and a differential gear. Hall probe limit switches and position sensors (rotary variable transformer) are used to determine the position of the cover and the latch. The cover mechanism was successfully qualified for thermal vacuum (-25 to 35 C), acoustic noise, vibration (6 Gs sine, 9.7 G RMS) and life cycles. Constricting requirements, mechanical and electronic control design, specific design details, test results of functional performance, and environmental and life tests are described

Quasisteady Configurations of Conductive Intracluster Media

The radial distributions of temperature, density, and gas entropy among cool-core clusters tend to be quite similar, suggesting that they have entered a quasi-steady state. If that state is regulated by a combination of thermal conduction and feedback from a central AGN, then the characteristics of those radial profiles ought to contain information about the spatial distribution of AGN heat input and the relative importance of thermal conduction. This paper addresses those topics by deriving steady-state solutions for clusters in which radiative cooling, electron thermal conduction, and thermal feedback fueled by accretion are all present, with the aim of interpreting the configurations of cool-core clusters in terms of steady-state models. It finds that the core configurations of many cool-core clusters have entropy levels just below those of conductively balanced solutions in which magnetic fields have suppressed electron thermal conduction to ~1/3 of the full Spitzer value, suggesting that AGN feedback is triggered when conduction can no longer compensate for radiative cooling. And even when feedback is necessary to heat the central ~30 kpc, conduction may still be the most important heating mechanism within a cluster's central ~100 kpc.Comment: ApJ in press, 13 pages, 5 figure

High redshift X-ray galaxy clusters. II. The L_X-T relationship revisited

In this paper we re-visit the observational relation between X-ray luminosity and temperature for high-z galaxy clusters and compare it with the local L_X-T and with theoretical models. To these ends we use a sample of 17 clusters extracted from the Chandra archive supplemented with additional clusters from the literature, either observed by Chandra or XMM-Newton, to form a final sample of 39 high redshift (0.25 < z < 1.3) objects. Different statistical approaches are adopted to analyze the L_X-T relation. The slope of the L_X-T relation of high redshift clusters is steeper than expected from the self-similar model predictions and steeper, even though still compatible within the errors, than the local L_X-T slope. The distant cluster L_X-T relation shows a significant evolution with respect to the local Universe: high-z clusters are more luminous than the local ones by a factor ~2 at any given temperature. The evolution with redshift of the L_X-T relation cannot be described by a single power law nor by the evolution predicted by the self-similar model. We find a strong evolution, similar or stronger than the self-similar model, from z = 0 to z <0.3 followed by a much weaker, if any, evolution at higher redshift. The weaker evolution is compatible with non-gravitational models of structure formation. According to us a statistically significant sample of nearby clusters (z < 0.25) should be observed with the current available X-ray telescopes to completely exclude observational effects due to different generation detectors and to understand this novel result.Comment: 14 pages, 10 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Corrected typo

Conduction States with Vanishing Dimerization in Pt Nanowires on Ge(001) Observed with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The low-energy electronic properties of one-dimensional nanowires formed by Pt atoms on Ge(001) are studied with scanning tunneling microscopy down to the millivolt-regime. The chain structure exhibits various dimerized elements at high tunneling bias, indicative of a substrate bonding origin rather than a charge density wave. Unexpectedly, this dimerization becomes vanishingly small when imaging energy windows close to the Fermi level with adequately low tunneling currents. Evenly spaced nanowire atoms emerge which are found to represent conduction states. Implications for the metallicity of the chains are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Does Luttinger liquid behaviour survive in an atomic wire on a surface?

We form a highly simplified model of an atomic wire on a surface by the coupling of two one-dimensional chains, one with electron-electron interactions to represent the wire and and one with no electron-electron interactions to represent the surface. We use exact diagonalization techniques to calculate the eigenstates and response functions of our model, in order to determine both the nature of the coupling and to what extent the coupling affects the Luttinger liquid properties we would expect in a purely one-dimensional system. We find that while there are indeed Luttinger liquid indicators present, some residual Fermi liquid characteristics remain.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to J Phys

Quantum phase diagrams of fermionic dipolar gases for an arbitrary orientation of dipole moment in a planar array of 1D tubes

We systematically study ground state properties of fermionic dipolar gases in a planar array of one-dimensional potential tubes for an arbitrary orientation of dipole moments. Using the Luttinger liquid theory with the generalized Bogoliubov transformation, we calculate the elementary excitations and the Luttinger scaling exponents for various relevant quantum orders. The complete quantum phase diagrams for arbitrary polar angle of the dipole moment is obtained, including charge density wave, p-wave superfluid, inter-tube gauge-phase density wave, and inter-tube s-wave superfluid, where the last two breaks the U(1) gauge symmetry of the system (conservation of particle number in each tube) and occurs only when the inter-tube interaction is larger than the intra-tube interaction. We then discuss the physical properties of these many-body phases and their relationship with some solid state systems.Comment: 10 pages and 10 figure