黑洞自转和类星体喷流射电辐射的相关性

利用Ｂｌａｎｄｆｏｒｄ－Ｚｎａｊｅｋ过程,得出了黑洞自转与活动星系核射电噪度的关系,在假设ＡＧＮ喷流的射电功率来自于所提取的黑洞旋转能量后,根据Ｆａｌｃｋｅ和Ｂｉｅｒｍａｎｎ提出的喷流－吸积耦合机制,估算了ＡＧＮ喷流的最大射电辐射功率,通过与ＰＧ类星体样本强射电源观测结果的比较,进一步证实强射电类星体除了其喷流方向与视向的夹角很小外,其中心的超大质量黑洞很可能是自转很快的旋转黑洞。     

射电噪类星体黑洞的质量和自旋与喷流能量的相关性

喷流的形成与黑洞质量及黑洞自旋之间存在着很大关系.讨论黑洞质量及黑洞自旋与喷流能量的关系对喷流形成及结构的研究有着重要的意义.从文献资料中收集了65个射电类星体源.这些源包含了35个陡谱射电类星体(SSRQs),30个平谱射电类星体(FSRQs).通过样本数据研究黑洞质量及黑洞自旋与喷流能量的相关性.研究结果表明:(1)65个射电类星体的黑洞质量与喷流能量存在明显的相关性,这与Zensus所得出的结论相同;(2)65个射电类星体的黑洞自旋与喷流能量存在相关性.尤其在爱丁顿磁场条件下(B=BEDD),黑洞自旋与喷流能量的相关性最为明显,其相关系数要比黑洞质量与喷流能量的相关系数高;(3)陡谱射电类星体与平谱射电类星体的自旋数据分布存在一定差异;(4)研究结果进一步证明了喷流能量不仅与黑洞质量有关,同时也很可能与黑洞的自旋能量存在关系.黑洞喷流的形成很可能是黑洞质量与黑洞自旋共同作用的结果.这些研究结果与其他方法获得的结果是一致的.     

耀变体亮温度与黑洞喷流能量的相关性讨论

耀变体(Blazars)的亮温度与黑洞喷流能量和吸积率有重要关系。搜集了53个耀变体源样本,包括22个蝎虎天体(BL Lacs)和31个平谱射电类星体(Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars,FSRQs),研究了耀变体亮温度与黑洞喷流能量的分布,并对子类中亮温度与黑洞喷流能量的相关性进行了讨论。研究结果表明:(1)蝎虎天体与平谱射电类星体的亮温度与黑洞喷流能量的分布存在明显差异,这可能与蝎虎天体与平谱射电类星体的内禀性质有关,也可能与其有无发射线及发射线的强弱有关;(2)蝎虎天体的亮温度与黑洞喷流能量之间的相关性较强,亮温度可以在一定程度上描述蝎虎天体的黑洞喷流能量,亮温度大的蝎虎天体喷流携带的能量也较大;(3)平谱射电类星体的亮温度与黑洞喷流能量之间有弱相关性,平谱射电类星体的亮温度不能清楚地描述黑洞喷流能量,黑洞喷流能量受亮温度影响较小,平谱射电类星体的黑洞喷流能量可能受到其他因素的影响;(4)耀变体的亮温度与黑洞吸积率之间有弱的相关性。     

黑洞吸积率与喷流能量相关性讨论

喷流的形成与黑洞吸积向来密不可分。分析黑洞吸积率与其喷流能量的相关性对研究黑洞内部结构以及喷流形成的具体原因具有重要的意义。从文献资料中收集了24个数据源,这些源包含了13个射电选BLLac天体(RBL)和11个平谱射电类星体(FSRQs)。通过样本数据研究黑洞吸积率与喷流能量以及γ射线流量密度的相关性。研究结果表明:(1)24个活动类星体的吸积率与喷流能量存在明显的相关性,这与Allen等得出的结论相同;(2)射电选BLLac天体与平谱射电类星体的喷流能量分布存在一定差异;(3)射电选BLLac天体的吸积率与γ射线流量密度相关性并不明显,但平谱射电类星体的吸积率与γ射线流量密度之间具有一定的相关性;(4)研究结果进一步证明了喷流能量不仅与黑洞质量有关,同时也很可能与黑洞的吸积存在关系。黑洞喷流的形成很可能是黑洞质量与吸积共同作用的结果。这些研究结果与其他方法获得的结果是一致的。     

射电类星体黑洞质量和射电特性的研究

收集了117个类星体(20个射电宁静类星体和97个射电噪类星体)的红移、热光度、H_β发射线宽度、5 100 A的单色光度、射电噪度.利用反响映射法计算了样本的黑洞质量和爱丁顿比,利用总的5 GHz流量密度计算出射电光度.分析了它们之间的相关性,得到的结论如下:(1)射电宁静类星体的黑洞质量和热光度、射电噪度、射电光度之间具有弱相关性,而射电噪类星体黑洞质量和热光度、射电噪度、射电光度之间具有强相关性;(2)射电宁静类星体热光度和射电光度、5 100 A的单色光度之间具有弱的相关性,而射电噪类星体热光度和射电光度、5 100 A的单色光度之间具有强的相关性;(3)射电宁静和射电噪类星体的黑洞质量、发射线宽度和爱丁顿比分布有差异.基于这些结果得到:射电宁静和射电噪类星体发射线宽度的差异可能是导致它们黑洞质量不同的原因;射电宁静和射电噪类星体本质的不同是由于内秉物理性质的不同造成的;黑洞质量、黑洞自旋、爱丁顿比和寄主星系形态是解释射电噪度起源和双峰状分布的重要参量;射电喷流和盘的吸积率之间具有紧密的关系.     

射电类星体黑洞自旋与射电噪相关性研究

黑洞自旋及其参量能提供射电类星体射电噪度的信息。从文献资料中收集了69个射电类星体源。这些源包含了37个陡谱射电类星体(SSRQs),32个平谱射电类星体(FSRQs)。通过样本数据研究黑洞自旋能量与射电类星体射电噪的相关性。研究结果表明:(1)37个陡谱射电类星体与射电噪存在明显的相关性。这种相关性在3种磁场条件下都存在(B=BEDD,B=104G,B∝j);(2)陡谱射电类星体与射电噪之间的相关性不受相对论聚束效应的影响;(3)32个平谱射电类星体与射电噪之间不存在相关性,这说明黑洞自旋与射电噪的相关性与射电类星体的类型有很大关系;(4)陡谱射电类星体黑洞自旋与射电噪的强相关性表明,黑洞自旋能量在一定程度上给出陡谱射电类星体射电噪度的信息。这些研究结果与其他人提出的理论是一致的。     

由NVSS证认的射电类星体

通过对２０００年版Ｖｅｒｏｎ类星体星表和ＮＶＳＳ巡天数据进行交叉证认,得到了３０１颗新发现有射电辐射的类星体,计算了射电类星体的射电谱指数、射电光度、偏振度等物理量并进行了统计分析,讨论了射电类星体所理比例随红移和绝对星等的分布,以及夺度随红移的演化关系。结果发现,强射电类星体在所有类星体中所占的比例Ｆ（ＲＬＱ）随着ＭＢ的增加而增大,随红移的演化是ｚ＝０．０到ｚ＝０．８逐渐上升,在ｚ＝１．５附近开     

由NVSS证认的射电类星体

通过对２０００年版Ｖｅｒｏｎ类星体星表和ＮＶＳＳ巡天数据进行交叉证认,得到了３０１颗新发现有射电辐射的类星体．计算了射电类星体的射电话指数、射电光度、偏振度等物理量并进行了统计分析,讨论了射电类星体所占比例随红移和绝对星等的分布,以及偏振度随红移的演化关系．结果发现,强射电类星体在所有类星体中所占的比例Ｆ（ＲＬＱ）随着ＭＢ的增加而增大,随红移的演化是从。＝０．０到ｚ＝０．８逐渐上升,在ｚ＝１．５附近开始缓慢下降,到ｚ＝ ２．０附近降到谷底,然后又有上升趋势．射电偏振度大部分小于 ４．０％,偏振度越小,类星体数目越多．而射电偏振度与红移之间似乎没有相关性．     

费米耀变体喷流功率与多波段光度的相关性研究

耀变体的喷流辐射机制是一个非常重要的问题。从文献中收集了442个耀变体的数据,这些耀变体包括215个平谱射电类星体(Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars, FSRQ)和227个蝎虎天体(BL Lac),通过数据研究了耀变体的喷流功率与多波段光度的相关性。研究结果表明:(1)对于平谱射电类星体,喷流功率与射电波段、光学波段、X射线和γ射线的光度都有强相关性,且光度分布顺序为logL_γ logL_O logL_X logL_R。(2)对于蝎虎天体,喷流功率与射电波段、光学波段和γ射线的光度都有强相关性,但是喷流功率与X射线的光度只有弱相关性;蝎虎天体的光度分布顺序为logL_O logL_γ logL_X logL_R,而且蝎虎天体的各波段光度都小于平谱射电类星体。我们认为这些差异是由于平谱射电类星体与蝎虎天体的内禀属性不同导致的,即吸积模式不同和喷流辐射机制不同等。     

活动星系核黑洞发电机研究进展

类星体被发现后,黑洞发电机研究成为阐述活动星系核（ＡＧＮ）的产能机制及其宇宙学演化的重要内容之一,主要涉及发电机物理和发电机输出特性两个方面,从广义相对论电动力学（ＧＲＥＤ）发电机理论和“膜模式”出发,在太阳发电机研究中引入引力磁项,形成和αωΩ黑洞发电机理论。发电机输出包括吸积盘辐射和喷流传播。辐射模型在于经典吸积模型的相对论扩展,已能说明ＳｇｒＡ＾＊的宽发射谱,燕可能根据谱特征确定发电机的构型     

Non-thermal transient sources from rotating black holes

Rotating black holes can power the most extreme non-thermal transient sources. They have a long-duration viscous time-scale of spin-down, and produce non-thermal emissions along their spin-axis, powered by a relativistic capillary effect. We report on the discovery of exponential decay in Burst and Triensient Source Experiment (BATSE) light curves of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by matched filtering, consistent with a viscous time-scale, and identify ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) about the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin (GZK) threshold with linear acceleration of ion contaminants along the black hole spin-axis, consistent with black hole masses and lifetimes of Fanaroff–Riley type II (FR II) active galactic nuclei (AGN). We explain the absence of UHECRs from BL Lac objects due to UHECR emissions preferably at appreciable angles away from the black hole spin-axis. Black hole spin may be the key to unification of GRBs and their host environments, and to AGN and their host galaxies. Our model points to long-duration bursts in radio from long GRBs without supernovae and gravitational waves from all long GRBs.     

A comparative HST imaging study of the host galaxies of radio-quiet quasars, radio-loud quasars and radio galaxies – I

We present the first results from a major HST WFPC2 imaging study aimed at providing the first statistically meaningful comparison of the morphologies, luminosities, scalelengths and colours of the host galaxies of radio-quiet quasars, radio-loud quasars and radio galaxies. We describe the design of this study and present the images that have been obtained for the first half of our 33-source sample. We find that the hosts of all three classes of luminous AGN are massive elliptical galaxies, with scalelengths ≃10 kpc, and R − K colours consistent with mature stellar populations. Most importantly, this is first unambiguous evidence that, just like radio-loud quasars, essentially all radio-quiet quasars brighter than M _R =−24 reside in massive ellipticals. This result removes the possibility that radio 'loudness' is directly linked to host galaxy morphology, but is however in excellent accord with the black hole/spheroid mass correlation recently highlighted by Magorrian et al. We apply the relations given by Magorrian et al. to infer the expected Eddington luminosity of the putative black hole at the centre of each of the spheroidal host galaxies we have uncovered. Comparison with the actual nuclear R -band luminosities suggests that the black holes in most of these galaxies are radiating at a few per cent of the Eddington luminosity; the brightest host galaxies in our low- z sample are capable of hosting quasars with M _R ≃− 28, comparable to the most luminous quasars at z ≃3. Finally, we discuss our host-derived black hole masses in the context of the radio luminosity:black hole mass correlation recently uncovered for nearby galaxies by Franceschini et al., and consider the resulting implications for the physical origin of radio loudness.     

The changing interstellar medium of massive elliptical galaxies and cosmic evolution of radio galaxies and quasars

The recently discovered apparent dramatic expansion in the effective radii of massive elliptical galaxies from   z ≃ 2  to ≃0.1 has been interpreted in terms of either galaxy mergers or the rapid loss of cold gas due to active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback. In examining the latter case, we have quantified the extent of the expansion, which is uncertain observationally, in terms of the star formation parameters and time of the expulsion of the cold gas. In either case, the large global decrease in stellar density should translate into a major drop in the interstellar medium density and pressure with cosmic epoch. These cosmological changes are expected to have a major influence on the gas accretion mode, which will shift from 'cold' thin disc accretion at high redshifts towards 'hot' Bondi fed Advection Dominated Accretion Flow (ADAF) accretion at low redshifts. The decline of angular momentum inflow would then lead to a spin down of the black hole, for which we have calculated more precise time-scales; a value of about 0.2 Gyr is typical for a  10⁹ M_⊙  central black hole. These results have implications for the different cosmological evolutionary patterns found for the luminosity functions of powerful and weak radio galaxies.     

Supermassive Black Holes in Early-Type Galaxies: Relationship with Radio Emission and Constraints on the Black Hole Mass Function

Using recently published estimates — based on high spatial resolution spectroscopy — of the mass M _BH of nuclear black holes for a sample of nearby galaxies, we explore the dependence of galaxy nucleus emissivity at various wavelengths on M _BH. We confirm an almost linear scaling of the black hole mass with the baryonic mass of the host spheroidal galaxy. A remarkably tight relationship is also found with both nuclear and total radio centimetric flux, with a very steep dependence of the radio flux on M _BH ( P  ∝  M ^2.5_BH). The high-frequency radio power is thus a very good tracer of a supermassive black hole, and a good estimator of its mass. This, together with the lack of significant correlations with the low-energy X-ray and far-IR flux, supports the view that advection-dominated accretion is ruling the energy output in the low accretion rate regime. Using the tight dependence of total radio power on M _BH and the rich statistics of radio emission of galaxies, we derive an estimate of the mass function of remnants in the nearby Universe. This is compared with current models of quasar and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity and of the origin of the hard X-ray background (HXRB). As for the former, continuous long-lived AGN activity is excluded by the present data with high significance, whereas the assumption of a short-lived, possibly recurrent, activity pattern gives remarkable agreement. The presently estimated black hole mass function also implies that the HXRB has been produced by a numerous population (∼ 10⁻² Mpc⁻³) of moderately massive ( M _BH ∼ 10⁷ M⊙) black holes.     

The evolution of misaligned accretion discs and spinning black holes

In this paper, we consider the process of alignment of a spinning black hole and a surrounding misaligned accretion disc. We use a simplified set of equations, that describe the evolution of the system in the case where the propagation of warping disturbances in the accretion disc occurs diffusively, a situation likely to be common in the thin discs in active galactic nuclei (AGN). We also allow the direction of the hole spin to move under the action of the disc torques. In such a way, the evolution of the hole–disc system is computed self-consistently. We consider a number of different situations and we explore the relevant parameter range, by varying the location of the warp radius R _w and the propagation speed of the warp. We find that the dissipation associated with the twisting of the disc results in a large increase in the accretion rate through the disc, so that AGN accreting from a misaligned disc are likely to be significantly more luminous than those accreting from a flat disc. We compute explicitly the time-scales for the warping of the disc and for the alignment process and compare our results with earlier estimates based on simplified steady-state solutions. We also confirm earlier predictions that, under appropriate circumstances, accretion can proceed in a counter-aligned fashion, so that the accreted material will spin-down the hole, rather than spinning it up. Our results have implication in a number of different observational features of AGN such as the orientation and shape of jets, the shape of X-ray iron lines and the possibility of obscuration and absorption of X-ray by the outer disc as well as the general issue of the spin history of black holes during their growth.     

A short review of relativistic iron lines from stellar‐mass black holes

In this contribution, I briefly review recent progress in detecting and measuring the properties of relativistic iron lines observed in stellar‐mass black hole systems, and the aspects of these lines that are most relevant to studies of similar lines in Seyfert‐1 AGN. In particular, the lines observed in stellar‐mass black holes are not complicated by complex low‐energy absorption or partial‐covering of the central engine, and strong lines are largely independent of the model used to fit the underlying broad‐band continuum flux. Indeed, relativistic iron lines are the most robust diagnostic of black hole spin that is presently available to observers, with specific advantages over the systematics–plagued disk continuum. If accretion onto stellar‐mass black holes simply scales with mass, then the widespread nature of lines in stellar‐mass black holes may indicate that lines should be common in Seyfert‐1 AGN, though perhaps harder to detect. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Timing evidence in determining the accretion state of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3783

Previous observations with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer ( RXTE ) have suggested that the power spectral density (PSD) of NGC 3783 flattens to a slope near zero at low frequencies, in a similar manner to that of Galactic black hole X-ray binary systems (GBHs) in the 'hard' state. The low radio flux emitted by this object, however, is inconsistent with a hard state interpretation. The accretion rate of NGC 3783 (∼7 per cent of the Eddington rate) is similar to that of other active galactic nuclei (AGN) with 'soft'-state PSDs and higher than that at which the GBH Cyg X-1, with which AGN are often compared, changes between 'hard' and 'soft' states (∼2 per cent of the Eddington rate). If NGC 3783 really does have a 'hard'-state PSD, it would be quite unusual and would indicate that AGN and GBHs are not quite as similar as we currently believe. Here we present an improved X-ray PSD of NGC 3783, spanning from ∼10⁻⁸ to ∼10⁻³ Hz, based on considerably extended (5.5 yr) RXTE observations combined with two orbits of continuous observation by XMM–Newton . We show that this PSD is, in fact, well fitted by a 'soft' state model which has only one break, at high frequencies. Although a 'hard'-state model can also fit the data, the improvement in fit by adding a second break at low frequency is not significant. Thus NGC 3783 is not unusual. These results leave Arakelian 564 as the only AGN which shows a second break at low frequencies, although in that case the very high accretion rate implies a 'very high', rather than 'hard' state PSD. The break frequency found in NGC 3783 is consistent with the expectation based on comparisons with other AGN and GBHs, given its black hole mass and accretion rate.     

Interactions, star formation and AGN activity

It has long been known that galaxy interactions are associated with enhanced star formation. In a companion paper, we explored this connection by applying a variety of statistics to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data. In particular, we showed that specific star formation rates of galaxies are higher if they have close neighbours. Here, we apply exactly the same techniques to active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the survey, showing that close neighbours are not associated with any similar enhancement of nuclear activity. Star formation is enhanced in AGN with close neighbours in exactly the same way as in inactive galaxies, but the accretion rate on to the black hole, as estimated from the extinction-corrected [O  iii ] luminosity, is not influenced by the presence or absence of companions. Previous work has shown that galaxies with more strongly accreting black holes contain more young stars in their inner regions. This leads us to conclude that star formation induced by a close companion and star formation associated with black hole accretion are distinct events. These events may be part of the same physical process, for example a merger, provided they are separated in time. In this case, accretion on to the black hole and its associated star formation would occur only after the two interacting galaxies have merged. The major caveat in this work is our assumption that the extinction-corrected [O  iii ] luminosity is a robust indicator of the bolometric luminosity of the central black hole. It is thus important to check our results using indicators of AGN activity at other wavelengths.     

The Black Hole Masses and Radio Characteristics of Radio Quasars

In this paper, we collect the redshift, bolometric luminosity, the full- width at half maximum of the H_β emission line, the monochromatic luminosity at 5100 Å and the radio loudness for the sample of 117 quasars, including 20 radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) and 97 radio-loud quasars (RLQs). With the reverberation mapping method we calculate the black hole mass and Eddington ratio for this sample, as well as the radio luminosity from the total 5 GHz ?ux density. By analyzing the correlations among them, we obtain the following conclusions: (1) The black hole mass has weak correlations with the bolometric luminosity, radio loudness and radio luminosity for the RQQs, and has strong correlations with the bolometric luminosity, radio loudness and radio luminosity for the RLQs; (2) For the RQQs, the bolometric luminosity has weak correlations with the radio luminosity and 5 100 Å monochromatic luminosity, and for the RLQs, the bolometric luminosity has strong correlations with the radio luminosity and 5 100 Å monochromatic luminosity; (3) The RQQs and RLQs differ in the distributions of the black hole mass, emission line width and Eddington ratio. Based on these results, we suggest: the difference of emission line width between RQQs and RLQs is probably caused by the difference of black hole mass; the fundamental difference between RQQs and RLQs is caused by the difference of their intrinsic physical nature; the black hole mass, black hole spin, Eddington ratio, and host galaxy morphology are the important parameters to explain the origin of radio loudness and the double-peaked distribution; and the radio jet is closely related with the accretion rate of disk.     

Disks, tori, and cocoons: emission and absorption diagnostics of AGN environments

One of the most important problems in the study of active galaxies is understanding the detailed geometry, physics, and evolution of the central engines and their environments. The leading models involve an accretion disk and torus structure around a central dense object, thought to be a supermassive black hole. Gas found in the environment of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is associated with different structures: molecular accretion disks, larger scale atomic tori, ionized and neutral “cocoons” in which the nuclear regions can be embedded. All of them can be studied at radio wavelengths by various means. Here, we summarize the work that has been done to date in the radio band to characterize these structures. Much has been learned about the central few parsecs of AGN in the last few decades with contemporary instruments but the picture remains incomplete. In order to be able to define a more accurate model of this region, significant advances in sensitivity, spectral and angular resolution, and bandpass stability are required. The necessary advances will only be provided by the Square Kilometer Array and we discuss the possibilities that these dramatic improvements will open for the study of the gas in the central region of AGN.