- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/566/A24
- Title:
- Extremely strong damped Lyman-{alpha} systems
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/566/A24
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a study of ~100 high redshift (z ~2-4) extremely strong damped Lyman-{alpha} systems (ESDLA, with N(HI)>=0.5x10^22^cm^-2^) detected in quasar spectra from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) Data Release 11. We study the neutral hydrogen, metal, and dust content of this elusive population of absorbers and confirm our previous finding that the high column density end of the N(HI) frequency distribution has a relatively shallow slope with power-law index -3.6, similar to what is seen from 21-cm maps in nearby galaxies. The stacked absorption spectrum indicates a typical metallicity ~1/20th solar, similar to the mean metallicity of the overall DLA population. The relatively small velocity extent of the low-ionisation lines suggests that ESDLAs do not arise from large-scale flows of neutral gas. The high column densities involved are in turn more similar to what is seen in DLAs associated with gamma-ray burst afterglows (GRB-DLAs), which are known to occur close to star-forming regions. This indicates that ESDLAs arise from a line of sight passing at very small impact parameters from the host galaxy, as observed in nearby galaxies. This is also supported by simple theoretical considerations and recent high-z hydrodynamical simulations. We strongly substantiate this picture by the first statistical detection of Ly{alpha} emission with <L_ESDLA_(Ly{alpha})>=~(0.6+/-0.2)x10^42^erg/s in the core of ESDLAs (corresponding to about 0.1L^*^ at z~2-3), obtained through stacking the fibre spectra (of radius 1" corresponding to ~8kpc at z~2.5). Statistical errors on the Ly{alpha} luminosity are of the order of 0.1x10^42^erg/s but we caution that the measured Ly{alpha} luminosity may be overestimated by ~35% due to sky light residuals and/or FUV emission from the quasar host and that we have neglected flux-calibration uncertainties. We estimate a more conservative uncertainty of 0.2x10^42^erg/s. The properties of the Ly{alpha} line (luminosity distribution, velocity width and velocity offset compared to systemic redshift) are very similar to that of the population of Lyman-{alpha} emitting galaxies (LAEs) with L_LAE_(Ly{alpha})>=10^41^erg/s detected in long-slit spectroscopy or narrow-band imaging surveys. By matching the incidence of ESDLAs with that of the LAEs population, we estimate the high column density gas radius to be about r_gas_=2.5kpc, i.e., significantly smaller than the radius corresponding to the BOSS fibre aperture, making fibre losses likely negligible. Finally, the average measured Ly{alpha} luminosity indicates a star-formation rate consistent with the Schmidt-Kennicutt law, SFR (M_{sun}_/yr)=~0.6/f_esc_, where f_esc_<1 is the Ly{alpha} escape fraction. Assuming the typical escape fraction of LAEs, f_esc_~0.3, the Schmidt-Kennicutt law implies a galaxy radius of about r_gal_=~2.5kpc. Finally, we note that possible overestimation of the Ly{alpha} emission would result in both smaller r_gas_ and r_gal_. Our results support a close association between LAEs and strong DLA host galaxies.
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Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/498/4033
- Title:
- Extreme quasar X-ray variability
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/498/4033
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We analyze 1598 serendipitous Chandra X-ray observations of 462 radio-quiet quasars to constrain the frequency of extreme amplitude X-ray variability that is intrinsic to the quasar corona and innermost accretion flow. The quasars in this investigation are all spectroscopically confirmed, optically bright (m_i_<=20.2), and contain no identifiable broad absorption lines in their optical/ultraviolet spectra. This sample includes quasars spanning z~0.1-4 and probes X-ray variability on timescales of up to ~12 rest-frame years. Variability amplitudes are computed between every epoch of observation for each quasar and are analyzed as a function of timescale and luminosity. The tail-heavy distributions of variability amplitudes at all timescales indicate that extreme X-ray variations are driven by an additional physical mechanism and not just typical random fluctuations of the coronal emission. Similarly, extreme X-ray variations of low-luminosity quasars seem to be driven by an additional physical mechanism, whereas high-luminosity quasars seem more consistent with random fluctuations. The amplitude at which an X-ray variability event can be considered extreme is quantified for different timescales and luminosities. Extreme X-ray variations occur more frequently at long timescales ({DELTA}t>=300-days) than at shorter timescales, and in low-luminosity quasars compared to high-luminosity quasars over a similar timescale. A binomial analysis indicates that extreme intrinsic X-ray variations are rare, with a maximum occurrence rate of <2.4% of observations. Finally, we present X-ray variability and basic optical emission-line properties of three archival quasars that have been newly discovered to exhibit extreme X-ray variability.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/153/119
- Title:
- Faint blue objects at high galactic latitude
- Short Name:
- J/ApJS/153/119
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The US (UV-excess Starlike) survey has cataloged 3987 objects in 7 high Galactic latitude fields according to their optical colors, magnitudes, and morphologies using photographic techniques. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the survey at producing finding lists for complete samples of hot stars and quasars that exhibit blue and/or ultraviolet excess (B-UVX) relative to the colors of halo F and G subdwarf stars. A table of 599 spectroscopic identifications summarizes the spectroscopic coverage of the US objects that has been accomplished to date.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/III/74
- Title:
- Faint Blue Stars near the South Galactic Pole
- Short Name:
- III/74
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A search for faint blue stars conducted at the Observatories of Tonantzintla and Minnesota has yielded 8746 objects which are somewhat blue. The data file is organized into three sections with the same column format. The first 1569 records are for stars with U-V of -0.4 or bluer, which are very definitely blue (Table II of the paper). The next 2929 stars are somewhat blue, with U-V values of -0.3 or -0.2 (Table III of the paper). The final 4248 records give data for stars with U-V of -0.1 or 0.0 (Table IV of the paper). Photometric, spectroscopic, and proper-motion data have later been acquired for these objects, which revealed the great variety of the objects in this catalogue: white dwarfs, subdwarfs, QSOs (quasars), compact and active galaxies. Finding charts and details about the nature of these blue objects can be found in the following papers: Haro G., and Chavira E.: 1987RMxAA..15..107H ; Chavira E.: 1988RMxAA..16..123C, Chavira E., 1990RMxAA..20...47C, and 1992RMxAA..24..139C
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/127/2565
- Title:
- Faint FIRST variable radio sources
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/127/2565
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- A sample of 123 radio sources that exhibit significant variations at 1.4GHz on a 7 year baseline has been created using FIRST VLA B-configuration data from 1995 and 2002 on a strip at {delta}=0 near the south Galactic cap. This sample spans the range of radio flux densities from ~2 to 1000mJy. It presents both in size and radio flux density range a unique starting point for variability studies of galaxies and quasars harboring lower luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/795/63
- Title:
- Faraday rotation from magnesium II absorbers
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/795/63
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Strong singly ionized magnesium (Mg II) absorption lines in quasar spectra typically serve as a proxy for intervening galaxies along the line of sight. Previous studies have found a correlation between the number of these Mg II absorbers and the Faraday rotation measure (RM) at ~5 GHz. We cross-match a sample of 35752 optically identified non-intrinsic Mg II absorption systems with 25649 polarized background radio sources for which we have measurements of both the spectral index and RM at 1.4 GHz. We use the spectral index to split the resulting sample of 599 sources into flat-spectrum and steep-spectrum subsamples. We find that our flat-spectrum sample shows significant (~3.5{sigma}) evidence for a correlation between Mg II absorption and RM at 1.4 GHz, while our steep-spectrum sample shows no such correlation. We argue that such an effect cannot be explained by either luminosity or other observational effects, by evolution in another confounding variable, by wavelength-dependent polarization structure in an active galactic nucleus, by the Galactic foreground, by cosmological expansion, or by partial coverage models. We conclude that our data are most consistent with intervenors directly contributing to the Faraday rotation along the line of sight, and that the intervening systems must therefore have coherent magnetic fields of substantial strength (B{bar}=1.8+/-0.4{mu}G). Nevertheless, the weak nature of the correlation will require future high-resolution and broadband radio observations in order to place it on a much firmer statistical footing.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/other/Ap/42.1
- Title:
- FBS blue stellar objects
- Short Name:
- J/other/Ap/42.1
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The second part of the First Byurakan Survey is aimed at detecting all bright (B<16.5) UV-excess starlike objects in a large area of the sky. By comparison with other major surveys such as the ROSAT All Sky Survey (Cat. <IX/10>, the ROSAT WGACAT (Cat. <IX/12>) catalogue of point sources, the IRAS (Cat. <II/125>) survey, the 6cm Green Bank (Cat. <VIII/52>, the 1.4GHz NRAO VLA (Cat. <J/AJ/115/1693>, and the 92cm Westerbork Northern sky surveys (Cat. <VIII/62>) and with the catalogue of mean UBV data on stars, we estimate the number of AGNs present in the FBS survey and its completeness. We have made spectroscopic observations of nine of the most promising FBS candidates. We have found six new QSOs, bringing the total number of known QSOs in this survey to 42. By comparison with the Bright Quasar Survey, we found that the completeness of this last survey is of the order of 70% rather than 30-50% as suggested by several authors.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/687/78
- Title:
- FeII emission in quasars
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/687/78
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Broad FeII emission is a prominent feature of the optical and ultraviolet spectra of quasars. We report on a systematical investigation of optical FeII emission in a large sample of 4037 z<0.8 quasars selected from the SDSS-DR5 quasar catalog (Cat. VII/252). We have developed and tested a detailed line-fitting technique, taking into account the complex continuum and narrow and broad emission-line spectra. Our primary goal is to quantify the velocity broadening and velocity shift of the FeII spectrum in order to constrain the location of the FeII-emitting region and its relation to the broad-line region. We find that the majority of quasars show FeII emission that is redshifted, typically by ~400km/s, but up to 2000km/s, with respect to the systemic velocity of the narrow-line region or of the conventional broad-line region as traced by the H{beta} line. Moreover, the line width of FeII is significantly narrower than that of the broad component of H{beta}. We show that the magnitude of the FeII redshift correlates inversely with the Eddington ratio, and that there is a tendency for sources with redshifted FeII emission to show red asymmetry in the H{beta} line. These characteristics strongly suggest that FeII originates from a location different from, and most likely exterior to, the region that produces most of H{beta}. The FeII-emitting zone traces a portion of the broad-line region of intermediate velocities whose dynamics may be dominated by infall.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/835/L38
- Title:
- Fermi blazars with Doppler factors
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/835/L38
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Blazars are an extreme subclass of active galactic nuclei. Their rapid variability, luminous brightness, superluminal motion, and high and variable polarization are probably due to a beaming effect. However, this beaming factor (or Doppler factor) is very difficult to measure. Currently, a good way to estimate it is to use the timescale of their radio flares. In this Letter, we use multiwavelength data and Doppler factors reported in the literature for a sample of 86 flaring blazars detected by Fermi to compute their intrinsic multiwavelength data and intrinsic spectral energy distributions and investigate the correlations among observed and intrinsic data. Quite interestingly, intrinsic data show a positive correlation between luminosity and peak frequency, in contrast with the behavior of observed data, and a tighter correlation between {gamma}-ray luminosity and the lower-energy ones. For flaring blazars detected by Fermi, we conclude that (1) observed emissions are strongly beamed; (2) the anti-correlation between luminosity and peak frequency from the observed data is an apparent result, the correlation between intrinsic data being positive; and (3) intrinsic {gamma}-ray luminosity is strongly correlated with other intrinsic luminosities.
240. Fermi bright blazars
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/441/1899
- Title:
- Fermi bright blazars
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/441/1899
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The exact location of the {gamma}-ray emitting region in blazars is still controversial. In order to attack this problem we present first results of a cross-correlation analysis between radio (11cm to 0.8mm wavelength, F-GAMMA programme) and {gamma}-ray (0.1-300GeV) ~3.5yr light curves of 54 Fermi-bright blazars. We perform a source stacking analysis and estimate significances and chance correlations using mixed source correlations.
