The Chandra X-ray galaxy clusters at z<1.4: constraints on the evolution of L X −T−M g relations

We analyzed the luminosity-temperature-mass of gas (L _X ?T?M _g ) relations for a sample of 21 Chandra galaxy clusters. We used the standard approach (β?model) to evaluate these relations for our sample that differs from other catalogues since it considers galaxy clusters at higher redshifts (0.4<z<1.4). We assumed power-law relations in the form $L_{X} \sim(1 +z)^{A_{L_{X}T}} T^{\beta_{L_{X}T}}$ , $M_{g} \sim(1 + z)^{A_{M_{g}T}} T^{\beta_{M_{g}T}}$ , and $M_{g} \sim(1 + z)^{A_{M_{g}L_{X}}} L^{\beta_{M_{g}L_{X}}}$ . We obtained the following fitting parameters with 68 % confidence level: $A_{L_{X}T} = 1.50 \pm0.23$ , $\beta_{L_{X}T} = 2.55 \pm0.07$ ; $A_{M_{g}T} = -0.58 \pm0.13$ and $\beta_{M_{g}T} = 1.77 \pm0.16$ ; $A_{M_{g}L_{X}} \approx-1.86 \pm0.34$ and $\beta_{M_{g}L_{X}} = 0.73 \pm0.15$ , respectively. We found that the evolution of the M _g ?T relation is small, while the M _g ?L _X relation is strong for the cosmological parameters Ω _m =0.27 and Ω _Λ =0.73. In overall, the clusters at high-z have stronger dependencies between L _X ?T?M _g correlations, than those for clusters at low-z. For most of galaxy clusters (first of all, from MACS and RCS surveys) these results are obtained for the first time.     

Ultra-high energy neutrino fluxes from supermassive AGN black holes

We compute the ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrino fluxes from plausible accreting supermassive black holes closely linking to the 377 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). They have well-determined black hole masses collected from the literature. The neutrinos are produced via simple or modified URCA processes, even after the neutrino trapping, in superdense proto-matter medium. The resulting fluxes are ranging from: (1) (quark reactions)— $J^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}/(\varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1})\simeq8.29\times 10^{-16}$ to 3.18×10^?4, with the average $\overline{J}^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}\simeq5.53\times 10^{-10}\varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ , where ε _d ～10^?12 is the opening parameter; (2) (pionic reactions)— $J^{\pi}_{\nu\varepsilon} \simeq0.112J^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}$ , with the average $J^{\pi}_{\nu\varepsilon} \simeq3.66\times 10^{-11}\varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ ; and (3) (modified URCA processes)— $J^{URCA}_{\nu\varepsilon}\simeq7.39\times10^{-11} J^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}$ , with the average $\overline{J}^{URCA}_{\nu\varepsilon} \simeq2.41\times10^{-20} \varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ . We conclude that the AGNs are favored as promising pure neutrino sources, because the computed neutrino fluxes are highly beamed along the plane of accretion disk, peaked at high energies and collimated in smaller opening angle θ～ε _d .     

Stability of ion-acoustic waves in a pair-ion plasma with a third species of ions: application to cometary plasmas

A popular model of a cometary plasma is hydrogen (H⁺) with positively charged oxygen (O⁺) as a heavier ion component. However, the discovery of negatively charged oxygen (O^?) ions enables one to model a cometary plasma as a pair-ion plasma (of O⁺ and O^?) with hydrogen as a third ion constituent. We have, therefore, studied the stability of the ion-acoustic wave in such a pair-ion plasma with hydrogen and electrons streaming with velocities $V_{d\mathrm{H}^{+}}$ and V _de , respectively, relative to the oxygen ions. We find the calculated frequency of the ion-acoustic wave with this model to be in good agreement with the observed frequencies. The ion-acoustic wave can also be driven unstable by the streaming velocity of the hydrogen ions. The growth rate increases with increasing hydrogen density $n_{\mathrm{H}^{+}}$ , and streaming velocities $V_{d\mathrm{H}^{+}}$ and V _de . It, however, decreases with increasing oxygen ion densities $n_{\mathrm{O}^{+}}$ and $n_{\mathrm{O}^{-}}$ .     

The cool companion of AA Doradus—Brown dwarf or late M star?

AA Dor is one of only seven known eclipsing binaries consisting of a hot subdwarf star and a low-mass companion. Although AA Dor has been studied in many investigations, a controversy about the nature of its companion persists. Is it a brown dwarf or a low-mass main sequence star? We reanalyse high resolution spectra using metal enhanced LTE model atmospheres. The optical spectra are polluted by reflected light from the companion. Using spectra taken during secondary eclipse, we derive atmospheric parameters consistent with results from the light curve. For the first time we achieve a self-consistent solution that matches all available observations, i.e. the light and radial velocity curves, as well as the atmospheric parameters. The resulting masses $M_{1}=0.510^{+0.125}_{-0.108}\ \mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ and $M_{2}=0.085^{+0.031}_{-0.023}\ \mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ are consistent with the canonical mass of an sdB star and a low-mass main sequence star. However, a brown dwarf companion cannot be excluded.     

Changes in binding energy of interacting galaxies

It is shown that the fractional increase in binding energy of a galaxy in a fast collision with another galaxy of the same size can be well represented by the formula $$\xi _2 = 3({G \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {G {M_2 \bar R}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {M_2 \bar R}}) ({{M_1 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{M_1 } {V_p }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {V_p }})^2 e^{ - p/\bar R} = \xi _1 ({{M_1 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{M_1 } {M_2 }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {M_2 }})^3 ,$$ whereM ₁,M ₂ are the masses of the perturber and the perturbed galaxy, respectively,V _p is the relative velocity of the perturber at minimum separationp, and \(\bar R\) is the dynamical radius of either galaxy.     

A few observations of and remarks on V1500 Cygni

The development of the post-nova light curve of V1500 Cyg inUBV andHβ, for 15 nights in September and October 1975 are presented. We confirm previous reports that superimposed on the steady decline of the light curve are small amplitude cyclic variations. The times of maxima and minima are determined. These together with other published values yield the following ephemerides from JD 2 442 661 to JD 2 442 674: $$\begin{gathered} {\text{From}} 17 {\text{points:}} {\text{JD}}_{ \odot \min } = 2 442 661.4881 + 0_{^. }^{\text{d}} 140 91{\text{n}} \hfill \\ \pm 0.0027 \pm 0.000 05 \hfill \\ {\text{From}} 15 {\text{points:}} {\text{JD}}_{ \odot \max } = 2 442 661.5480 + 0_{^. }^{\text{d}} 140 89{\text{n}} \hfill \\ \pm 0.0046 \pm 0.0001 \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ with standard errors of the fits of ±0 _. ^d 0052 for the minima and ±0 _. ^d 0091 for the maxima. Assuming V1500 Cyg is similar to novae in M31, we foundr=750 pc and a pre-nova absolute photographic magnitude greater than 9.68.     

Investigation of X-ray cavities in the cooling flow system Abell 1991

We present results based on the systematic analysis of Chandra archive data on the X-ray bright Abell Richness class-I type cluster Abell 1991 with an objective to investigate properties of the X-ray cavities hosted by this system. The unsharp masked image as well as 2-d β model subtracted residual image of Abell 1991 reveals a pair of X-ray cavities and a region of excess emission in the central ～12 kpc region. Both the cavities are of ellipsoidal shape and exhibit an order of magnitude deficiency in the X-ray surface brightness compared to that in the undisturbed regions. Spectral analysis of X-ray photons extracted from the cavities lead to the temperature values equal to $1.77_{-0.12}^{+0.19}~\mathrm{keV}$ for N-cavity and $1.53_{-0.06}^{+0.05}~\mathrm{keV}$ for S-cavity, while that for the excess X-ray emission region is found to be equal to $2.06_{-0.07}^{+0.12}~\mathrm{keV}$ . Radial temperature profile derived for Abell 1991 reveals a positive temperature gradient, reaching to a maximum of 2.63 keV at ～76 kpc and then declines in outward direction. 0.5–2.0 keV soft band image of the central 15′′ region of Abell 1991 reveals relatively cooler three different knot like features that are about 10′′ off the X-ray peak of the cluster. Total power of the cavities is found to be equal to ${\sim}8.64\times10^{43}~\mathrm{erg\,s}^{-1}$ , while the X-ray luminosity within the cooling radius is found to be $6.04 \times10^{43}~\mathrm{erg\,s}^{-1}$ , comparison of which imply that the mechanical energy released by the central AGN outburst is sufficient to balance the radative loss.     

A note on theH-functions of transfer problems in multiplying media

Some useful results and remodelled representations ofH-functions corresponding to the dispersion function $$T\left( z \right) = 1 - 2z^2 \sum\limits_1^n {\int_0^{\lambda r} {Y_r } \left( x \right){\text{d}}x/\left( {z^2 - x^2 } \right)} $$ are derived, suitable to the case of a multiplying medium characterized by $$\gamma _0 = \sum\limits_1^n {\int_0^{\lambda r} {Y_r } \left( x \right){\text{d}}x > \tfrac{1}{2} \Rightarrow \xi = 1 - 2\gamma _0< 0} $$      

On pulsar-driven isothermal blast-wave models of supernova remanants

We investigate the ‘equilibrium’ and stability of spherically-symmetric self-similar isothermal blast waves with a continuous post-shock flow velocity expanding into medium whose density varies asr ^?ω ahead of the blast wave, and which are powered by a central source (a pulsar) whose power output varies with time ast ^ω?3. We show that:

1. for ω<0, no physically acceptable self-similar solution exists;
2. for ω>3, no solution exists since the mass swept up by the blast wave is infinite;
3. ? must exceed zero in order that the blast wave expand with time, but ?<2 in order that the central source injects a finite total energy into the blast wave;
4. for 3>ω_min(?)>ω>ω_max(?)>0, where $$\begin{gathered} \omega _{\min } (\varphi ){\text{ }} = {\text{ }}2[5{\text{ }} - {\text{ }}\varphi {\text{ }} + {\text{ }}(10{\text{ }} + {\text{ 4}}\varphi {\text{ }} - {\text{ 2}}\varphi ^2 )^{1/2} ]^2 [2{\text{ }} + {\text{ (10 }} + {\text{ 4}}\varphi {\text{ }} - {\text{ 2}}\varphi ^2 {\text{)}}^{{\text{1/2}}} ]^{ - 2} , \hfill \\ \omega _{\max } (\varphi ){\text{ }} = {\text{ }}2[5{\text{ }} - {\text{ }}\varphi {\text{ }} - {\text{ }}(10{\text{ }} + {\text{ 4}}\varphi {\text{ }} - {\text{ 2}}\varphi ^2 )^{1/2} ]^2 [2{\text{ }} - {\text{ (10 }} + {\text{ 4}}\varphi {\text{ }} - {\text{ 2}}\varphi ^2 {\text{)}}^{{\text{1/2}}} ]^{ - 2} , \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ two critical points exist in the flow velocity versus position plane. The physically acceptable solution must pass through the origin with zero flow speed and through the blast wave. It must also pass throughboth critical points if \(\varphi > \tfrac{5}{3}\) , while if \(\varphi< \tfrac{5}{3}\) it must by-pass both critical points. It is shown that such a solution exists but a proper connection at the lower critical point (for ?>5/3) (through whichall solutions pass with thesame slope) has not been established;
5. for 3>ω>ω_min(?) it is shown that the two critical points of (iv) disappear. However a new pair of critical points form. The physically acceptable solution passing with zero flow velocity through the origin and also passing through the blast wave mustby-pass both of the new critical points. It is shown that the solution does indeed do so;
6. for 3>ω_min(?)>ω_max(?)>ω it is shown that the dependence of the self-similar solution on either ω or ? is non-analytic and therefore, inferences drawn from any solutions obtained in ω>ω_max(?) (where the dependence of the solutionis analytic on ω and ?) are not valid when carried over into the domain 3>ω_min(?)>ω_max(?)>ω;
7. all of the physically acceptable self-similar solutions obtained in 3>ω>0 are unstable to short wavelength, small amplitude but nonself-similar radial velocity perturbations near the origin, with a growth which is a power law in time;
8. the physical self-similar solutions are globally unstable in a fully nonlinear sense to radial time-dependent flow patterns. In the limit of long times, the nonlinear growth is a power law in time for 5<ω+2?, logarithmic in time for 5>ω+2?, and the square of the logarithm in time for 5=ω+2?.

The results of (vii) and (viii) imply that the memory of the system to initial and boundary values does not decay as time progresses and so the system does not tend to a self-similar form. These results strongly suggest that the evolution of supernova remnants is not according to the self-similar form.     

Radio AGN in the local universe: unification,triggering and evolution

Associated with one of the most important forms of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, and showing a strong preference for giant elliptical host galaxies, radio AGN (\(L_{1.4\,\mathrm{GHz}} > 10^{24}\) W \(\hbox {Hz}^{-1}\)) are a key sub-class of the overall AGN population. Recently their study has benefitted dramatically from the availability of high-quality data covering the X-ray to far-IR wavelength range obtained with the current generation of ground- and space-based telescope facilities. Reflecting this progress, here I review our current state of understanding of the population of radio AGN at low and intermediate redshifts (\(z < 0.7\)), concentrating on their nuclear AGN and host galaxy properties, and covering three interlocking themes: the classification of radio AGN and its interpretation; the triggering and fuelling of the jet and AGN activity; and the evolution of the host galaxies. I show that much of the observed diversity in the AGN properties of radio AGN can be explained in terms of a combination of orientation/anisotropy, mass accretion rate, and variability effects. The detailed morphologies of the host galaxies are consistent with the triggering of strong-line radio galaxies (SLRG) in galaxy mergers. However, the star formation properties and cool ISM contents suggest that the triggering mergers are relatively minor in terms of their gas masses in most cases, and would not lead to major growth of the supermassive black holes and stellar bulges; therefore, apart from a minority (<20 %) that show evidence for higher star formation rates and more massive cool ISM reservoirs, the SLRG represent late-time re-triggering of activity in mature giant elliptical galaxies. In contrast, the host and environmental properties of weak-line radio galaxies (WLRG) with Fanaroff–Riley class I radio morphologies are consistent with more gradual fuelling of the activity via gas accretion at low rates onto the supermassive black holes.     

Optical spectral decomposition of NGC 4051

Considering the host galaxy contribution, a spectral decomposition method is used to reanalyzed the archive data of optical spectra for a narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy, NGC 4051. The light curves of the continuum f _λ (5100 Å), and Hβ, He ii, Fe ii emission lines are given. We find strong flux correlations between line emissions of Hβ, He ii, Fe ii and the continuum f _λ (5100 Å). These low-ionization lines (Hβ, Fe ii, He ii) have “inverse” intrinsic Baldwin effects. Using the methods of the cross-correlation function and the Monte Carlo simulation, we find the time delays, with respect to the continuum, are $3.45^{+12.0}_{-0.5}~\mbox{days}$ with the probability of 34 % for the intermediate component of Hβ, $6.45^{+13.0}_{-1.0}~\mbox{days}$ with the probability of 65 % for the intermediate component of He ii. From these intermediate components of Hβ and He ii, the calculated central black hole masses are $0.86^{+4.35}_{-0.33}\times 10^{6}$ and $0.82^{+3.12}_{-0.45}\times 10^{6}~M_{\odot }$ . We also find that the time delays for Fe ii are $9.7^{+3.0}_{-5.0}~\mbox{days}$ with the probability of 36 %, $8.45^{+1.0}_{-2.0}~\mbox{days}$ with the probability of 18 % for the total epochs and “subset 1” data, respectively. It seems that the Fe ii emission region is outside of the Hβ emission region.     

Fundamental Plane of FSRQs from SDSS DR5 Quasar Catalogue

In this work, we explore a sample of 362 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) to investigate the jet formation. We find that the fundamental plane for our FSRQs can be expressed as $L_{\rm 5~GHz}\propto M_{\rm bh}^{-0.19}L_{\rm 2~keV}^{1.08}$ . We also find that the 5?GHz luminosities are tightly related to both black hole mass and Eddington ratio, which is established as $L_{\rm 5~GHz}\propto M_{\rm bh}^{0.67}(L_{\rm bol}/ L_{\rm EDD})^{1.32}$ .     

Perspectives on effectively constraining the location of a massive trans-Plutonian object with the New Horizons spacecraft: a sensitivity analysis

The radio tracking apparatus of the New Horizons spacecraft, currently traveling to the Pluto system where its arrival is scheduled for July 2015, should be able to reach an accuracy of 10 m (range) and 0.1  $\text{ mm } \text{ s }^{-1}$ mm s ? 1 (range-rate) over distances up to 50 au. This should allow to effectively constrain the location of a putative trans-Plutonian massive object, dubbed Planet X (PX) hereafter, whose existence has recently been postulated for a variety of reasons connected with, e.g., the architecture of the Kuiper belt and the cometary flux from the Oort cloud. Traditional scenarios involve a rock-ice planetoid with $m_\mathrm{X}\approx 0.7\,m_{\oplus }$ m X ≈ 0.7 m ⊕ at some 100–200 au, or a Jovian body with $m_\mathrm{X}\lesssim 5\,m_\mathrm{J}$ m X ? 5 m J at about 10,000–20,000 au; as a result of our preliminary sensitivity analysis, they should be detectable by New Horizons since they would impact its range at a km level or so over a time span 6 years long. Conversely, range residuals statistically compatible with zero having an amplitude of 10 m would imply that PX, if it exists, could not be located at less than about 4,500 au ( $m_\mathrm{X}=0.7\,m_{\oplus }$ m X = 0.7 m ⊕ ) or 60,000 au ( $m_\mathrm{X}=5\,m_\mathrm{J}$ m X = 5 m J ), thus making a direct detection quite demanding with the present-day technologies. As a consequence, it would be appropriate to rename such a remote body as Thelisto. Also fundamental physics would benefit from this analysis since certain subtle effects predicted by MOND for the deep Newtonian regions of our Solar System are just equivalent to those of a distant pointlike mass.     

Ratio of the Core to the Extended Emissions in the Comoving Frame for Blazars

In a two-component jet model, the emissions are the sum of the core and extended emissions: \(S^{\mathrm{ob}}=S_{\mathrm{core}}^{\mathrm{ob}}+S_{\mathrm{ext}}^{\mathrm{ob}}\), with the core emissions, \(S_{\mathrm{core}}^{\mathrm{ob}}= f S_{\mathrm{ext}}^{\mathrm{ob}}\delta ^{q}\) being a function of the Doppler factor \(\delta \), the extended emission \(S_{\mathrm{ext}}^{\mathrm{ob}}\), the jet type dependent factor q, and the ratio of the core to the extended emissions in the comoving frame, f. The f is an unobservable but important parameter. Following our previous work, we collect 65 blazars with available Doppler factor \(\delta \), superluminal velocity \(\beta _{\mathrm{app}}\), and core-dominance parameter, R, and calculated the ratio, f, and performed statistical analyses. We found that the ratio, f, in BL Lacs is on average larger than that in FSRQs. We suggest that the difference of the ratio f between FSRQs and BL Lacs is one of the possible reasons that cause the difference of other observed properties between them. We also find some significant correlations between \(\log f\) and other parameters, including intrinsic (de-beamed) peak frequency, \(\log \nu _{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{in}}\), intrinsic polarization, \(\log P^{\mathrm{in}}\), and core-dominance parameter, \(\log R\), for the whole sample. In addition, we show that the ratio, f, can be estimated by R.     

On the connection between the Nekhoroshev theorem and Arnold diffusion

The analytical techniques of the Nekhoroshev theorem are used to provide estimates on the coefficient of Arnold diffusion along a particular resonance in the Hamiltonian model of Froeschlé et al. (Science 289:2108–2110, 2000). A resonant normal form is constructed by a computer program and the size of its remainder ||R _opt || at the optimal order of normalization is calculated as a function of the small parameter ${\epsilon}$ . We find that the diffusion coefficient scales as ${D \propto ||R_{opt}||^3}$ , while the size of the optimal remainder scales as ${||R_{opt}|| \propto {\rm exp}(1/\epsilon^{0.21})}$ in the range ${10^{-4} \leq \epsilon \leq 10^{-2}}$ . A comparison is made with the numerical results of Lega et al. (Physica D 182:179–187, 2003) in the same model.     

Nonlinear newtonian theory and the effect of time dilatation

The fact that the energy density ρ_g of a static spherically symmetric gravitational field acts as a source of gravity, gives us a harmonic function \(f\left( \varphi \right) = e^{\varphi /c^2 } \) , which is determined by the nonlinear differential equation $$\nabla ^2 \varphi = 4\pi k\rho _g = - \frac{1}{{c^2 }}\left( {\nabla \varphi } \right)^2 $$ Furthermore, we formulate the infinitesimal time-interval between a couple of events measured by two different inertial observers, one in a position with potential φ-i.e., dt _φ and the other in a position with potential φ=0-i.e., dt ₀, as $${\text{d}}t_\varphi = f{\text{d}}t_0 .$$ When the principle of equivalence is satisfied, we obtain the well-known effect of time dilatation.     

Pulse phase-resolved analysis of SMC X-3 during its 2016–2017 super-Eddington outburst

The Be X-ray pulsar SMC X-3 underwent an extra long and ultraluminous giant outburst from 2016 August to 2017 March. The peak X-ray luminosity is up to \(\sim10^{39}~\mbox{erg/s}\), suggesting a mildly super-Eddington accretion onto the strongly magnetized neutron star. It therefore bridges the gap between the Galactic Be/X-ray binaries (\(L_{\mathrm{X}}^{\mathrm{peak}} \leq10^{38}~\mbox{erg/s}\)) and the ultraluminous X-ray pulsars (\(L_{\mathrm{X}}^{\mathrm{peak}} \geq10^{40}~\mbox{erg/s}\)) found in nearby galaxies. A number of observations were carried out to observe the outburst. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive phase-resolved analysis on the high quality data obtained with the Nustar and XMM-Newton, which were observed at a high and intermediate luminosity levels. In order to get a better understanding on the evolution of the whole extreme burst, we take the Swift results at the low luminosity state into account as well. At the early stage of outburst, the source shows a double-peak pulse profile, the second main peak approaches the first one and merges into the single peak at the low luminosity. The second main peak vanishes beyond 20 keV, and its radiation becomes much softer than that of the first main peak. The line widths of fluorescent iron line vary dramatically with phases, indicating a complicated geometry of accretion flows. In contrast to the case at low luminosity, the pulse fraction increases with the photon energy. The significant small pulse fraction detected below 1 keV can be interpreted as the existence of an additional thermal component located at far away from the central neutron star.     

Effect of oblateness on the non-linear stability of L 4 in the restricted three-body problem

Non-linear stability of the libration point L ₄ of the restricted three-body problem is studied when the more massive primary is an oblate spheroid with its equatorial plane coincident with the plane of motion, Moser's conditions are utilised in this study by employing the iterative scheme of Henrard for transforming the Hamiltonian to the Birkhoff's normal form with the help of double D'Alembert's series. It is found that L ₄ is stable for all mass ratios in the range of linear stability except for the three mass ratios: $$\begin{gathered} \mu _{c1} = 0.0242{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}{}^{{\text{\_\_}}}0.1790{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}A_1 , \hfill \\ \mu _{c2} = 0.0135{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}{}^{{\text{\_\_}}}0.0993{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}A_1 , \hfill \\ \mu _{c3} = 0.0109{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}{}^{{\text{\_\_}}}0.0294{\text{ }}...{\text{ }}A_1 . \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$      

Probing the mass and anisotropy of the Milky Way gaseous halo: sight-lines toward Mrk 421 and PKS 2155-304

We recently found that the halo of the Milky Way contains a large reservoir of warm-hot gas that accounts for large fraction of the missing baryons from the Galaxy. The average physical properties of this circumgalactic medium (CGM) are determined by combining average absorption and emission measurements along several extragalactic sightlines. However, there is a wide distribution of both, the halo emission measure and the O?vii column density, suggesting that the Galactic warm-hot gaseous halo is anisotropic. We present Suzaku observations of fields close to two sightlines along which we have precise O?vii absorption measurements with Chandra. The column densities along these two sightlines are similar within errors, but we find that the emission measures are different: 0.0025±0.0006 cm^?6?pc near the Mrk 421 direction and 0.0042±0.0008 cm^?6?pc close to the PKS 2155-304 sightline. Therefore the densities and pathlengths in the two directions must be different, providing a suggestive evidence that the warm-hot gas in the CGM of the Milky Way is not distributed uniformly. However, the formal errors on derived parameters are too large to make such a claim. In the Mrk 421 direction we derive the density of \(1.6^{+2.6}_{-0.8} \times 10^{-4}~\mbox{cm}^{-3}\) and pathlength of \(334^{+685}_{-274}~\mbox{kpc}\) . In the PKS 2155-304 direction we measure the gas density of \(3.6^{+4.5}_{-1.8} \times10^{-4}~\mbox{cm}^{-3}\) and path-length of \(109^{+200}_{-82}~\mbox{kpc}\) . Thus the density and pathlength along these sightlines are consistent with each other within errors. The average density and pathlength of the two sightlines are similar to the global averages, so the halo mass is still huge, over 10 billion solar masses. With more such studies, we will be able to better characterize the CGM anisotropy and measure its mass more accurately. We can then compare the observational results with theoretical models and investigate if/how the CGM structure is related to the larger scale environment of the Milky Way. We also show that the Galactic disk makes insignificant contribution to the observed O?vii absorption; a similar conclusion was also reached by Henley and Shelton (2013) about the emission measure. We further argue that any density inhomogeneity in the warm-hot gas, be it from clumping, from the disk, or from a non-constant density gradient, would strengthen our result in that the Galactic halo path-length and the mass would become larger than what we estimate here. As such, our results are conservative and robust.     

Physical properties of X-ray gas in galaxy cluster CL0024+17

We analyzed the X-ray data obtained by the Chandra telescope for the galaxy cluster CL0024+17 (z = 0.39). The mean temperature of the cluster is estimated (kT = 4.35 _?0.44 ^+0.51 keV) and the surface brightness profile is derived. We generated the mass and density profiles for dark matter and gas using numerical simulations and the Navarro-Frenk-White dark matter density profile (Navarro et al., 1995) for a spherically symmetric cluster in which gas is in hydrostatic equilibrium with the cluster field. The total mass of the cluster is estimated to be M ₂₀₀ = 3.51 _?0.47 ^+0.38 × 10 _Sun ¹⁴ within a radius of R ₂₀₀ = 1.24 _?0.17 ^+0.12 Mpc of the cluster center. The contribution of dark matter to the total mass of the cluster is estimated as ${{M_{200_{DM} } } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{M_{200_{DM} } } {M_{tot} }}} \right. \kern-0em} {M_{tot} }} = 0.89$ .