1,721,019 research outputs found
Modeling the spectral signatures of accretion disk winds: a new Monte Carlo approach
No full textBipolar outflows are present in many disk-accreting astrophysical systems. In disk-accreting cataclysmic variables (CVs), these outflows are responsible for most of the strong features in the ultraviolet spectra of these systems. However, there have been few attempts to model these features quantitatively. Here we describe a new, hybrid Monte Carlo/Sobolev code, which allows us to synthesize the complete spectrum of a disk-dominated, mass-losing CV. The line profiles that we calculate for C IV resemble those calculated by previous workers when an identical geometry is assumed. However, our synthetic spectra exhibit not only the well-known resonance lines of O VI, N V, Si IV, and C IV but, with an appropriate choice of mass-loss rate and wind geometry, also many lines originating from excited lower states. Many of these lines have already been seen in the far-ultraviolet spectra of CVs obtained with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, and the Hubble Space Telescope. In order to illustrate the degree to which we are currently able to reproduce observed spectra, we finally present a preliminary fit to the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope spectrum of the dwarf nova Z Cam in outburst
A far-ultraviolet survey of 47 Tucanae. I. Imaging
No full textWe present results from the imaging portion of a far-ultraviolet (FUV) survey of the core of 47 Tucanae. We have detected 767 FUV sources, 527 of which have optical counterparts in archival HST/WFPC2 images of the same field. Most of our FUV sources are main-sequence (MS) turnoff stars near the detection limit of our survey. However, the FUV/optical color-magnitude diagram (CMD) also reveals 19 blue stragglers (BSs), 17 white dwarfs (WDs), and 16 cataclysmic variable (CV) candidates. The BSs lie on the extended cluster MS, and four of them are variable in the FUV data. The WDs occupy the top of the cluster cooling sequence, down to an effective temperature of Teff~=20,000 K. Our FUV source catalog probably contains many additional, cooler WDs without optical counterparts. Finally, the CV candidates are objects between the WD cooling track and the extended cluster MS. Four of the CV candidates are previously known or suspected cataclysmics. All of these are bright and variable in the FUV. Another CV candidate is associated with the semidetached binary system V36 that was recently found by M. D. Albrow and coworkers. V36 has an orbital period of 0.4 or 0.8 days, blue optical colors, and is located within 1" of a Chandra X-ray source. A few of the remaining CV candidates may represent chance superpositions or SMC interlopers, but at least half are expected to be real cluster members with peculiar colors. However, only a few of these CV candidates are possible counterparts to Chandra X-ray sources. Thus, it is not yet clear which, if any, of them are true CVs, rather than noninteracting MS/WD binaries or helium WDs
Plateaus, dips, and rebrightenings during the outbursts of WZ Sge: no magnetic propeller, but a veiling curtain
No full textWZ Sge is the prototype of highly evolved, low-accretion rate dwarf novae (DNe). During the decline from eruptions, its light curve displays a ‘dip’ followed by ≃10 ‘echo outbursts’. The standard disc instability model does not account for this behaviour, which is also seen in other low-accretion rate DNe. One recent interpretation for these rapid brightness changes is that they represent transitions into and out of a magnetic propeller regime. Here, we test this scenario with time-resolved, ultraviolet spectroscopy taken with the Hubble Space Telescope just before, during and after the dip in WZ Sge’s 2001 eruption. We find no distinctive or unique signatures that could be attributed to a propeller in either the time-averaged UV spectrum or the variability spectrum. Thus the data do not support the magnetic propeller scenario. Instead of resolving the mystery of WZ Sge’s outburst light curve, our study has actually added another: the origin of the narrow absorption features seen in all outburst phases. We show explicitly that these features are likely formed in a high-density ‘veiling curtain’ with a characteristic temperature T≈17,000 KT≃17,000 K. However, the nature and origin of this veil are unclear. Given that WZ Sge-type DNe are the most intrinsically common class of accreting white dwarfs, resolving these questions should be a high priority
An ultracompact X-ray binary in the globular cluster NGC 1851
No full textWe present far-ultraviolet photometry obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope of the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 0513-40 in the globular cluster NGC 1851. Our observations reveal a clear, roughly sinusoidal periodic signal with P sime 17 minutes and amplitude 3%-10%. The signal appears fully coherent and can be modeled as a simple reprocessing effect associated with the changing projected area presented by the irradiated face of a white dwarf donor star in the system. All of these properties suggest that the signal we have detected is orbital in nature, thus confirming 4U 0513-40 as an ultracompact X-ray binary (UCXB). All four confirmed UCXBs in globular clusters have orbital periods below 30 minutes, whereas almost all UCXBs in the Galactic field have orbital periods longer than this. This suggests that dynamical formation processes dominate UCXB production in clusters, producing a different orbital period distribution than observed among field UCXBs. Based on the likely system parameters, we show that 4U 0513-40 should be a strong gravitational wave source and may be detectable by Laser Interferometer Space Antenna over the course of a multiyear mission
Quasar emission lines as probes of orientation: implications for disc wind geometries and unification
Full text linkThe incidence of broad absorption lines (BALs) in quasar samples is often interpreted in the context of a geometric unification model consisting of an accretion disc and an associated outflow. We use the Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar sample to test this model by examining the equivalent widths (EWs) of C iv 1550 Å, Mg ii 2800 Å, [O iii] 5007 Å and C iii] 1909 Å. We find that the emission line EW distributions in BAL and non-BAL quasars are remarkably similar – a property that is inconsistent with scenarios in which a BAL outflow rises equatorially from a geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disc. We construct simple models to predict the distributions from various geometries; these models confirm the above finding and disfavour equatorial geometries. We show that obscuration, line anisotropy and general relativistic effects on the disc continuum are unlikely to hide an EW inclination dependence. We carefully examine the radio and polarization properties of BAL quasars. Both suggest that they are most likely viewed (on average) from intermediate inclinations, between type 1 and type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGN). We also find that the low-ionization BAL quasars in our sample are not confined to one region of the ‘Eigenvector 1’ parameter space. Overall, our work leads to one of the following conclusions, or some combination thereof: (i) the continuum does not emit like a geometrically thin, optically thick disc; (ii) BAL quasars are viewed from similar angles to non-BAL quasars, that is, low inclinations and (iii) geometric unification does not explain the fraction of BALs in quasar samples
Thermal disk winds in x-ray binaries: realistic heating and cooling rates give rise to slow, but massive, outflows
No full textA number of X-ray binaries exhibit clear evidence for the presence of disk winds in the high/soft state. A promising driving mechanism for these outflows is mass loss driven by the thermal expansion of X-ray heated material in the outer disk atmosphere. Higginbottom & Proga recently demonstrated that the properties of thermally driven winds depend critically on the shape of the thermal equilibrium curve, since this determines the thermal stability of the irradiated material. For a given spectral energy distribution, the thermal equilibrium curve depends on an exact balance between the various heating and cooling mechanisms at work. Most previous work on thermally driven disk winds relied on an analytical approximation to these rates. Here, we use the photoionization code cloudy to generate realistic heating and cooling rates which we then use in a 2.5D hydrodynamic model computed in ZEUS to simulate thermal winds in a typical black hole X-ray binary. We find that these heating and cooling rates produce a significantly more complex thermal equilibrium curve, with dramatically different stability properties. The resulting flow, calculated in the optically thin limit, is qualitatively different from flows calculated using approximate analytical rates. Specifically, our thermal disk wind is much denser and slower, with a mass-loss rate that is a factor of two higher and characteristic velocities that are a factor of three lower. The low velocity of the flow— km s−1—may be difficult to reconcile with observations. However, the high mass-loss rate—15 × the accretion rate—is promising, since it has the potential to destabilize the disk. Thermally driven disk winds may therefore provide a mechanism for state changes
The impact of accretion disc winds on the optical spectra of cataclysmic variables
No full textMany high-state non-magnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs) exhibit blueshifted absorption or P-Cygni profiles associated with ultraviolet (UV) resonance lines. These features imply the existence of powerful accretion disc winds in CVs. Here, we use our Monte Carlo ionization and radiative transfer code to investigate whether disc wind models that produce realistic UV line profiles are also likely to generate observationally significant recombination line and continuum emission in the optical waveband. We also test whether outflows may be responsible for the single-peaked emission line profiles often seen in high-state CVs and for the weakness of the Balmer absorption edge (relative to simple models of optically thick accretion discs). We find that a standard disc wind model that is successful in reproducing the UV spectra of CVs also leaves a noticeable imprint on the optical spectrum, particularly for systems viewed at high inclination. The strongest optical wind-formed recombination lines are H alpha and He ii lambda 4686. We demonstrate that a higher density outflow model produces all the expected H and He lines and produces a recombination continuum that can fill in the Balmer jump at high inclinations. This model displays reasonable verisimilitude with the optical spectrum of RW Trianguli. No single-peaked emission is seen, although we observe a narrowing of the double-peaked emission lines from the base of the wind. Finally, we show that even denser models can produce a single-peaked H alpha line. On the basis of our results, we suggest that winds can modify, and perhaps even dominate, the line and continuum emission from CVs.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Erratum: "unveiling the core of the globular cluster M 15 in the ultraviolet" (2007, ApJ, 670, 379)
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