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971. Ultracompact extragalactic radio sources at 86GHz
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/622/A92
Title:
Ultracompact extragalactic radio sources at 86GHz
Short Name:
J/A+A/622/A92
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations at 86 GHz (wavelength, {lambda}=3mm) reach a resolution of about 50{mu}as, probing the collimation and acceleration regions of relativistic outflows in active galactic nuclei (AGN). The physical conditions in these regions can be studied by performing 86GHz VLBI surveys of representative samples of compact extragalactic radio sources. To extend the statistical studies of compact extragalactic jets, a large global 86GHz VLBI survey of 162 compact radio sources was conducted in 2010-2011 using the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA). The survey observations were made in a snapshot mode, with up to five scans per target spread over a range of hour angles in order to optimize the visibility coverage. The survey data attained a typical baseline sensitivity of 0.1Jy and a typical image sensitivity of 5mJy/beam, providing successful detections and images for all of the survey targets. For 138 objects, the survey provides the first ever VLBI images made at 86GHz. Gaussian model fitting of the visibility data was applied to represent the structure of the observed sources and to estimate the flux densities and sizes of distinct emitting regions (components) in their jets. These estimates were used for calculating the brightness temperature (Tb) at the jet base (core) and in one or more moving regions (jet components) downstream from the core. These model-fit-based estimates of Tb were compared to the estimates of brightness temperature limits made directly from the visibility data, demonstrating a good agreement between the two methods. The apparent brightness temperature estimates for the jet cores in our sample range from 2.5x10^9^K to 1.3x10^12^K, with the mean value of 1.8x10^11^K. The apparent brightness temperature estimates for the inner jet components in our sample range from 7.0x10^7^K to 4.0x10^11^K. A simple population model with a single intrinsic value of brightness temperature, T0, is applied to reproduce the observed distribution. It yields T0=(3.77^+0.10^_0.14_)10^11^K for the jet cores, implying that the inverse Compton losses dominate the emission. In the nearest jet components, T0=(1.42^+0.16^_0.19_)10^11^K is found, which is slightly higher than the equipartition limit of 5x10^10^K expected for these jet regions. For objects with sufficient structural detail detected, the adiabatic energy losses are shown to dominate the observed changes of brightness temperature along the jet.
972. Ultraviolet quasi-stellar objects
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/137/3761
Title:
Ultraviolet quasi-stellar objects
Short Name:
J/AJ/137/3761
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present a sample of spectroscopically confirmed quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) with FUV-NUV color (as measured by Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) photometry, FUV band: 1344-1786{AA}, NUV band: 1771-2831{AA}) bluer than canonical QSO templates and than the majority of known QSOs. We analyze their FUV to NIR colors, luminosities, and optical spectra. The sample includes a group of 150 objects at low redshift (z<0.5), and a group of 21 objects with redshift 1.7<z<2.6.
973. 0.8-2.5um spectra of 2 red quasars
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/610/A31
Title:
0.8-2.5um spectra of 2 red quasars
Short Name:
J/A+A/610/A31
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Red quasars are very red in the optical through near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths, which is possibly due to dust extinction in their host galaxies as expected in a scenario in which red quasars are an intermediate population between merger-driven star-forming galaxies and unobscured type 1 quasars. However, alternative mechanisms also exist to explain their red colors: (i) an intrinsically red continuum; (ii) an unusual high covering factor of the hot dust component, that is, CF_HD_=L_HD_/L_bol_, where the L_HD_ is the luminosity from the hot dust component and the L_bol_ is the bolometric luminosity; and (iii) a moderate viewing angle. In order to investigate why red quasars are red, we studied optical and NIR spectra of 20 red quasars at z~0.3 and 0.7, where the usage of the NIR spectra allowed us to look into red quasar properties in ways that are little affected by dust extinction. The Paschen to Balmer line ratios were derived for 13 red quasars and the values were found to be ~10 times higher than unobscured type 1 quasars, suggesting a heavy dust extinction with A_V_>2.5mag. Furthermore, the Paschen to Balmer line ratios of red quasars are difficult to explain with plausible physical conditions without adopting the concept of the dust extinction. The CF_HD_ of red quasars are similar to, or marginally higher than, those of unobscured type 1 quasars. The Eddington ratios, computed for 19 out of 20 red quasars, are higher than those of unobscured type 1 quasars (by factors of 3-5), and hence the moderate viewing angle scenario is disfavored. Consequently, these results strongly suggest the dust extinction that is connected to an enhanced nuclear activity as the origin of the red color of red quasars, which is consistent with the merger-driven quasar evolution scenario.
974. Unbiased census of AGN in 2MASS
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/127/646
Title:
Unbiased census of AGN in 2MASS
Short Name:
J/AJ/127/646
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present an unbiased near-IR-selected AGN sample, covering 12.56deg^2^ down to Ks~15.5, selected from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Our only selection effect is a moderate color cut (J-Ks>1.2) designed to reduce contamination from Galactic stars. We observed both pointlike and extended sources.
975. Updated 3CRR sample of radio sources
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/148/16
Title:
Updated 3CRR sample of radio sources
Short Name:
J/AJ/148/16
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We examine the consistency of the unified scheme of Fanaroff-Riley type II radio galaxies and quasars with their observed number and size distributions in the 3CRR sample. We separate the low-excitation galaxies from the high-excitation ones, as the former might not harbor a quasar within and thus may not be partaking in the unified scheme models. In the updated 3CRR sample, at low redshifts (z<0.5), the relative number and luminosity distributions of high-excitation galaxies and quasars roughly match the expectations from the orientation-based unified scheme model. However, a foreshortening in the observed sizes of quasars, which is a must in the orientation-based model, is not seen with respect to radio galaxies even when the low-excitation galaxies are excluded. This dashes the hope that the unified scheme might still work if one includes only the high-excitation galaxies.
976. UV and X-Ray radio-quiet QSOs
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/696/924
Title:
UV and X-Ray radio-quiet QSOs
Short Name:
J/ApJ/696/924
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We examine the ultraviolet and X-ray properties of 256 radio-quiet Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars (QSOs) observed in X-rays with Chandra and/or XMM-Newton in order to study the relationship between QSOs with broad CIV absorption lines (BALs; width>2000km/s) and those with CIV mini-BALs (here defined to have widths of 1000-2000km/s). Our sample includes 42 BAL and 48 mini-BAL QSOs. The relative X-ray brightness and hard spectral slopes of the mini-BAL population are, on average, intermediate between those of BAL and non-BAL QSOs, as might be expected if narrower and broader absorption line outflows are physically related. However, a significant population of mini-BALs has outflow velocities higher than would be expected for BAL QSOs of the same relative X-ray brightness. Consistently strong X-ray absorption is apparently not required to accelerate at least some mini-BALs to high outflow velocities.
977. UV-bright quasars
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/185/20
Title:
UV-bright quasars
Short Name:
J/ApJS/185/20
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Absorption along quasar sightlines remains among the most sensitive direct measures of HeII reionization in much of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Until recently, fewer than a half-dozen unobscured quasar sightlines suitable for the HeII Gunn-Peterson test were known; although these handful demonstrated great promise, the small sample size limited confidence in cosmological inferences. We have recently added nine more such clean HeII quasars, exploiting Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasar samples, broadband ultraviolet (UV) imaging from Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), and high-yield UV spectroscopic confirmations from Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Here we markedly expand this approach by cross-correlating SDSS DR7 and GALEX GR4+5 to catalog 428 SDSS and 165 other quasars with z>2.78 having likely (~70%) GALEX detections, suggesting they are bright into the far-UV. Reconnaissance HST Cycle 16 Supplemental prism data for 29 of these new quasar-GALEX matches spectroscopically confirm 17 as indeed far-UV bright. At least 10 of these confirmations have clean sightlines all the way down to HeII Ly{alpha}, substantially expanding the number of known clean HeII quasars, and reaffirming the order of magnitude enhanced efficiency of our selection technique. Combined confirmations from this and our past programs yield more than 20 HeII quasars, quintupling the sample. These provide substantial progress toward a sample of HeII quasar sightlines large enough, and spanning a sufficient redshift range, to enable statistical IGM studies that may avoid individual object peculiarity and sightline variance. Our expanded catalog of hundreds of high-likelihood far-UV-bright QSOs additionally will be useful for understanding the extreme-UV properties of the quasars themselves.
978. UV-bright quasars
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/690/1181
Title:
UV-bright quasars
Short Name:
J/ApJ/690/1181
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Investigations of HeII Ly{alpha} (304{AA} rest-frame) absorption toward a half-dozen quasars at z~3-4 have demonstrated the great potential of helium studies of the intergalactic medium, but the current critically small sample size of clean sightlines for the HeII Gunn-Peterson test limits confidence in cosmological inferences, and a larger sample is required. Although the unobscured quasar sightlines to high redshift are extremely rare, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR6 provides thousands of z>2.8 quasars. We have cross-correlated these SDSS quasars with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) GR2/GR3 to establish a catalog of 200 higher-confidence (~70% secure) cases of quasars at z=2.8-5.1 potentially having surviving far-UV (rest-frame) flux. We also catalog another 112 likely far-UV-bright quasars from GALEX cross-correlation with other (non-SDSS) quasar compilations. Reconnaissance UV prism observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) of 24 of our SDSS/GALEX candidates confirm 12 as detected in the far-UV, with at least nine having flux extending to very near the HeII break; with refinements our success rate is even higher. Our SDSS/GALEX selection approach is thereby confirmed to be an order of magnitude more efficient than previous HeII quasar searches, more than doubles the number of spectroscopically confirmed clean sightlines to high redshift, and provides a resource list of hundreds of high-confidence sightlines for upcoming HeII and other far-UV studies from the HST. Our reconnaissance HST prism spectra suggest some far-UV diversity, confirming the need to obtain a large sample of independent quasar sightlines across a broad redshift range to assess such issues as the epoch(s) of helium reionization, while averaging over individual-object pathology and/or cosmic variance.
979. UV-bright sources behind M31 halo
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/399/728
Title:
UV-bright sources behind M31 halo
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/399/728
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We have performed a wide-area ultraviolet (UV) imaging survey using the GALaxy Evolution eXplorer to search for bright, point-like UV sources behind M31's extended halo. Our survey consisted of 46 pointings covering an effective area of ~50deg^2^, in both the far-UV and near-UV channels. We combined these data with optical R-band observations acquired with the WIYN Mosaic-1 imager on the Kitt Peak National Observatory 0.9-m WIYN telescope. An analysis of the brightness and colours of sources matched between our photometric catalogues yielded ~100 UV-bright quasar candidates. We have obtained discovery spectra for 76 of these targets with the Kast spectrometer on the Lick 3-m telescope and confirmed 30 active galactic nuclei and quasars, 29 galaxies at z>0.02 including several early-type systems, 16 Galactic stars (hot main-sequence stars) and one featureless source previously identified as a BL Lac object. Future UV spectroscopy of the brightest targets with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope will enable a systematic search for diffuse gas in the extended halo of M31.
980. UVES Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample. VI.
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/458/4074
Title:
UVES Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample. VI.
Short Name:
J/MNRAS/458/4074
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) can be probed through the analysis of absorbing systems in the line of sight to bright background quasars. We present measurements of the metallicity of a new sample of 15 sub-damped Lyman {alpha} absorbers (sub-DLAs, defined as absorbers with 19.0 z_abs_<=3.104 from the ESO Ultra-Violet Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample (EUADP). We combine these results with other measurements from the literature to produce a compilation of metallicity measurements for 92 sub-DLAs as well as a sample of 362 DLAs. We apply a multi-element analysis to quantify the amount of dust in these two classes of systems. We find that either the element depletion patterns in these systems differ from the Galactic depletion patterns or they have a different nucleosynthetic history than our own Galaxy. We propose a new method to derive the velocity width of absorption profiles, using the modelled Voigt profile features. The correlation between the velocity width {Delta}V_90_ of the absorption profile and the metallicity is found to be tighter for DLAs than for sub-DLAs. We report hints of a bimodal distribution in the [Fe/H] metallicity of low redshift (z<1.25) sub-DLAs, which is unseen at higher redshifts. This feature can be interpreted as a signature from the metal-poor, accreting gas and the metal-rich, outflowing gas, both being traced by sub-DLAs at low redshifts.