1,721,101 research outputs found
GLOBAL VERY LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY OBSERVATIONS OF THE 6.0 GHz HYDROXYL MASERS IN ONSALA 1
Full text linkWe present global very long baseline interferometry observations of the first excited-state hydroxyl (OH) masers in the massive star-forming region Onsala 1 (ON 1). The 29 masers detected are nearly all from the 6035 MHz transition and nearly all are identifiable as Zeeman pair components. The 6030 and 6035 MHz masers are coincident with previously published positions of ground-state masers to within a few milliarcseconds, and the magnetic fields deduced from Zeeman splitting are comparable. The 6.0 GHz masers in ON 1 are always found in close spatial association with 1665 MHz OH masers, in contrast to the situation in the massive star-forming region W3(OH), suggesting that extreme high density OH maser sites (excited-state masers with no accompanying ground-state maser, as seen in W3(OH)) are absent from ON 1. The large magnetic field strength among the northern, blueshifted masers is confirmed. The northern masers may trace an outflow or be associated with an exciting source separate from the other masers, or the relative velocities of the northern and southern masers may be indicative of expansion and rotation. High angular resolution observations of nonmasing material will be required in order to understand the complex maser distribution in ON 1.National Science Foundation (U.S.
EXPANDED VERY LARGE ARRAY DETECTION OF 36.2 GHz CLASS I METHANOL MASERS IN SAGITTARIUS A
Full text linkWe report on the interferometric detection of 36.2 GHz Class I methanol emission with the new 27-40 GHz Ka-band receivers available on the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). The brightness temperatures of the interferometric 36 GHz detections unambiguously indicate for the first time that the emission is maser emission. The 36 GHz methanol masers are not co-spatial with 1720 MHz OH masers, indicating that the two species trace different shocks. The 36 GHz and 44 GHz methanol masers, which are collisionally pumped, do not necessarily co-exist and may trace different methanol gas. The methanol masers seem correlated with NH[subscript 3](3,3) density peaks. We favor an explanation in which the 36 GHz Class I methanol masers outline regions of cloud-cloud collisions, perhaps just before the onset of the formation of individual massive stars. The transition of the Very Large Array (VLA) to the EVLA is well under way, and these detections demonstrate the bright future of this completely renewed instrument.National Radio Astronomy Observatory (U.S.
VERY LARGE ARRAY DETECTION OF THE 36 GHz ZEEMAN EFFECT IN DR21W REVISITED
No full textWe report on the observation of the 36 GHz methanol maser line in the star-forming region DR21W to accurately measure the Zeeman effect. The Zeeman signature reported by Fish et al. became suspicious after an instrumental effect was discovered in the early days of the commissioning of the Very Large Array Wide-band Digital Architecture correlator. We conclude that the previously reported magnetic field strength of 58 mG (1.7 Hz mG[superscript –1]/z) is instrumental in nature and thus incorrect. With the improved performance of the array, we now deduce a 3σ limit of –4.7 to +0.4 mG (1.7 Hz mG[superscript –1]/z) for the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field strength in DR21W
EXPANDED VERY LARGE ARRAY DETECTION OF 44.1 GHz CLASS I METHANOL MASERS IN SAGITTARIUS A
No full textWe report on the detection of 44 GHz Class I methanol (CH[subscript 3]OH) maser emission in the Sagittarius A (Sgr A) complex with the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). These EVLA observations show that the Sgr A complex harbors at least four different tracers of shocked regions in the radio regime. The 44 GHz masers correlate with the positions and velocities of previously detected 36 GHz CH[subscript 3]OH masers, but less with 1720 MHz OH masers. Our detections agree with theoretical predictions that the densities and temperatures conducive for 1720 MHz OH masers may also produce 36 and 44 GHz CH[subscript 3]OH maser emission. However, many 44 GHz masers do not overlap with 36 GHz methanol masers, suggesting that 44 GHz masers also arise in regions too hot and too dense for 36 GHz masers to form. This agrees with the non-detection of 1720 MHz OH masers in the same area, which are thought to be excited under even cooler and less dense conditions. We speculate that the geometry of the 36 GHz masers outlines the current location of a shock front
EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE EVIDENCE FOR ALIGNMENT OF THE BLACK HOLE IN THE CENTER OF THE MILKY WAY WITH THE INNER STELLAR DISK
No full textObservations of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way with the Event Horizon Telescope at 1.3 mm have revealed a size of the emitting region that is smaller than the size of the black-hole shadow. This can be reconciled with the spectral properties of the source, if the accretion flow is seen at a relatively high inclination (50°-60°). Such an inclination makes the angular momentum of the flow, and perhaps of the black hole, nearly aligned with the angular momenta of the orbits of stars that lie within sime 3'' from the black hole. We discuss the implications of such an alignment for the properties of the black hole and of its accretion flow. We argue that future Event Horizon Telescope observations will not only refine the inclination of Sgr A* but also measure precisely its orientation on the plane of the sky.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF CAREER award AST 0746549)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA/NSF TCAN award NNX14AB48G)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF award AST 1312034)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant AST 1312651)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant AST 0907890)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant AST 1312034)Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF-3561)Perimeter Institute for Theoretical PhysicsNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant
USING MILLIMETER VLBI TO CONSTRAIN RIAF MODELS OF SAGITTARIUS A*
Full text linkThe recent detection of Sagittarius A* at λ = 1.3 mm on a baseline from Hawaii to Arizona demonstrates that millimeter wavelength very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) can now spatially resolve emission from the innermost accretion flow of the Galactic center region. Here, we investigate the ability of future millimeter VLBI arrays to constrain the spin and inclination of the putative black hole and the orientation of the accretion disk major axis within the context of radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models. We examine the range of baseline visibility and closure amplitudes predicted by RIAF models to identify critical telescopes for determining the spin, inclination, and disk orientation of the Sgr A* black hole and accretion disk system. We find that baseline lengths near 3 Gλ have the greatest power to distinguish amongst RIAF model parameters, and that it will be important to include new telescopes that will form north-south baselines with a range of lengths. If an RIAF model describes the emission from Sgr A*, it is likely that the orientation of the accretion disk can be determined with the addition of a Chilean telescope to the array. Some likely disk orientations predict detectable fluxes on baselines between the continental United States and even a single 10-12 m dish in Chile. The extra information provided from closure amplitudes by a four-antenna array enhances the ability of VLBI to discriminate amongst model parameters.National Science Foundation (U.S.
ESTIMATING THE PARAMETERS OF SAGITTARIUS A*'s ACCRETION FLOW VIA MILLIMETER VLBI
Full text linkRecent millimeter-VLBI observations of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) have, for the first time, directly probed distances comparable to the horizon scale of a black hole. This provides unprecedented access to the environment immediately around the horizon of an accreting black hole. We leverage both existing spectral and polarization measurements and our present understanding of accretion theory to produce a suite of generic radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models of Sgr A*, which we then fit to these recent millimeter-VLBI observations. We find that if the accretion flow onto Sgr A* is well described by an RIAF model, the orientation and magnitude of the black hole's spin are constrained to a two-dimensional surface in the spin, inclination, position angle parameter space. For each of these, we find the likeliest values and their 1σ and 2σ errors to be a = 0[superscript +0.4 +0.7], ϴ = 50° [superscript +10° +30° subscript -10° -10°] and ξ = -20° [superscript +31° +107° subscript -16° -29°], when the resulting probability distribution is marginalized over the others. The most probable combination is a = 0+0.2+0.4, ϴ =90° [subscript -40° -50°], and ξ = -14° [superscript +7° +11° subscript -7° -11°], though the uncertainties on these are very strongly correlated, and high probability configurations exist for a variety of inclination angles above 30° and spins below 0.99. Nevertheless, this demonstrates the ability millimeter-VLBI observations, even with only a few stations, to significantly constrain the properties of Sgr A*
DETECTING CHANGING POLARIZATION STRUCTURES IN SAGITTARIUS A* WITH HIGH FREQUENCY VLBI
Full text linkSagittarius A* is the source of near infrared, X-ray, radio, and (sub)millimeter emission associated with the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. In the submillimeter regime, Sgr A* exhibits time-variable linear polarization on timescales corresponding to <10 Schwarzschild radii of the presumed 4 × 10[superscript 6] M[subscript ☉] black hole. In previous work, we demonstrated the potential for total-intensity (sub)millimeter-wavelength very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) to detect time-variable—and periodic—source structure changes in the Sgr A* black hole system using nonimaging analyses. Here, we extend this work to include full polarimetric VLBI observations. We simulate full-polarization (sub)millimeter VLBI data of Sgr A* using a hot spot model that is embedded within an accretion disk, with emphasis on nonimaging polarimetric data products that are robust against calibration errors. Although the source-integrated linear polarization fraction in the models is typically only a few percent, the linear polarization fraction on small angular scales can be much higher, enabling the detection of changes in the polarimetric structure of Sgr A* on a wide variety of baselines. The shortest baselines track the source-integrated linear polarization fraction, while longer baselines are sensitive to polarization substructures that are beam-diluted by connected-element interferometry. The detection of periodic variability in source polarization should not be significantly affected even if instrumental polarization terms cannot be calibrated out. As more antennas are included in the (sub)millimeter-VLBI array, observations with full polarization will provide important new diagnostics to help disentangle intrinsic source polarization from Faraday rotation effects in the accretion and outflow region close to the black hole event horizon.National Science Foundation (U.S.
RELATIVE ASTROMETRY OF COMPACT FLARING STRUCTURES IN Sgr A* WITH POLARIMETRIC VERY LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY
No full textWe demonstrate that polarimetric interferometry can be used to extract precise spatial information about compact polarized flares of Sgr A*. We show that, for a faint dynamical component, a single interferometric baseline suffices to determine both its polarization and projected displacement from the quiescent intensity centroid. A second baseline enables two-dimensional reconstruction of the displacement, and additional baselines can self-calibrate using the flare, enhancing synthesis imaging of the quiescent emission. We apply this technique to simulated 1.3 mm wavelength observations of a "hot spot" embedded in a radiatively inefficient accretion disk around Sgr A*. Our results indicate that, even with current sensitivities, polarimetric interferometry with the Event Horizon Telescope can achieve ~5 μas relative astrometry of compact flaring structures near Sgr A* on timescales of minutes.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AST-1207752)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AST-1310896)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AST-1211539)Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF-3561
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