The broad band spectral index of TeV blazars detected by Fermi LAT

Using γ-ray data detected by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and multi-wave band data for 35 TeV blazars sample, we have studied the possible correlations between different broad band spectral indices ( $\alpha_{\rm r.ir}$ , $\alpha_{\rm{r.o}}$ , $\alpha_{\rm r.x}$ , $\alpha_{\rm r.\gamma}$ , $\alpha_{\rm{ir.o}}$ , $\alpha_{\rm ir.x}$ , $\alpha_{\rm ir.\gamma}$ , $\alpha_{\rm o.x}$ , $\alpha_{\rm o.\gamma}$ , $\alpha_{\rm r.x}$ , $\alpha_{\rm x.\gamma}$ ) in all states (average/high/low). Our results are as follows: (1) For our TeV blazars sample, the strong positive correlations were found between $\alpha_{\rm r.ir}$ and $\alpha_{\rm{r.o}}$ , between $\alpha_{\rm r.ir}$ and $\alpha_{\rm r.x}$ , between $\alpha_{\rm r.ir}$ and $\alpha_{\rm r.\gamma}$ in all states (average/high/low); (2) For our TeV blazars sample, the strong anti-correlations were found between $\alpha_{\rm r.ir}$ and $\alpha_{\rm x.\gamma}$ , between $\alpha_{\rm{r.o}}$ and $\alpha_{\rm ir.\gamma}$ , between $\alpha_{\rm{r.o}}$ and $\alpha_{\rm o.\gamma}$ , between $\alpha_{\rm{r.o}}$ and $\alpha_{\rm x.\gamma}$ , between $\alpha_{\mathrm{ir.o}}$ and $\alpha_{\rm o.\gamma}$ , between $\alpha_{\rm r.x}$ and $\alpha_{\rm x.\gamma}$ , between $\alpha_{\rm ir.x}$ and $\alpha_{\rm x.\gamma}$ in all states (average/high/low). The results suggest that the synchrotron self-Compton radiation (SSC) is the main mechanism of high energy γ-ray emission and the inverse Compton scattering of circum-nuclear dust is likely to be a important complementary mechanism for TeV blazars. Our results also show that the possible correlations vary from state to state in the same pair of indices, Which suggest that there may exist differences in the emitting process and in the location of the emitting region for different states.     

On the Maximum Separation of Visual Binaries

In this paper, an efficient algorithm is established for computing the maximum (minimum) angular separation ρ _max(ρ _min), the corresponding apparent position angles ( $\theta|_{\rho_{\rm max}}$ , $\theta|_{\rho_{\rm min}}$ ) and the individual masses of visual binary systems. The algorithm uses Reed’s formulae (1984) for the masses, and a technique of one-dimensional unconstrained minimization, together with the solution of Kepler’s equation for $(\rho_{\rm max}, \theta|_{\rho_{\rm max}})$ and $(\rho_{\rm min}, \theta|_{\rho_{\rm min}})$ . Iterative schemes of quadratic coverage up to any positive integer order are developed for the solution of Kepler’s equation. A sample of 110 systems is selected from the Sixth Catalog of Orbits (Hartkopf et al. 2001). Numerical studies are included and some important results are as follows: (1) there is no dependence between ρ _max and the spectral type and (2) a minor modification of Giannuzzi’s (1989) formula for the upper limits of ρ _max functions of spectral type of the primary.     

A Statistical Study on Photospheric Magnetic Nonpotentiality of Active Regions and Its Relationship with Flares During Solar Cycles 22?–?23

A statistical study is carried out on the photospheric magnetic nonpotentiality in solar active regions and its relationship with associated flares. We select 2173 photospheric vector magnetograms from 1106 active regions observed by the Solar Magnetic Field Telescope at Huairou Solar Observing Station, National Astronomical Observatories of China, in the period of 1988??C?2008, which covers most of the 22nd and 23rd solar cycles. We have computed the mean planar magnetic shear angle ( $\overline{\Delta\phi}$ ), mean shear angle of the vector magnetic field ( $\overline{\Delta\psi}$ ), mean absolute vertical current density ( $\overline{|J_{z}|}$ ), mean absolute current helicity density ( $\overline{|h_{\mathrm{c}}|}$ ), absolute twist parameter (|?? _av|), mean free magnetic energy density ( $\overline{\rho_{\mathrm{free}}}$ ), effective distance of the longitudinal magnetic field (d _E), and modified effective distance (d _Em) of each photospheric vector magnetogram. Parameters $\overline{|h_{\mathrm{c}}|}$ , $\overline{\rho_{\mathrm{free}}}$ , and d _Em show higher correlations with the evolution of the solar cycle. The Pearson linear correlation coefficients between these three parameters and the yearly mean sunspot number are all larger than 0.59. Parameters $\overline {\Delta\phi}$ , $\overline{\Delta\psi}$ , $\overline{|J_{z}|}$ , |?? _av|, and d _E show only weak correlations with the solar cycle, though the nonpotentiality and the complexity of active regions are greater in the activity maximum periods than in the minimum periods. All of the eight parameters show positive correlations with the flare productivity of active regions, and the combination of different nonpotentiality parameters may be effective in predicting the flaring probability of active regions.     

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 $L_{\rm 5~GHz}\propto M_{\rm bh}^{0.67}(L_{\rm bol}/ L_{\rm EDD})^{1.32}$ .     

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.     

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 .     

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.     

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 $n_{\mathrm{O}^{-}}$ .     

Stability of the triangular Lagrange points beyond Gascheau��s value

We examine the stability of the triangular Lagrange points L ₄ and L ₅ for secondary masses larger than the Gascheau??s value ${\mu_{\rm G}= (1-\sqrt{23/27}/2)= 0.0385208\ldots}$ (also known as the Routh value) in the restricted, planar circular three-body problem. Above that limit the triangular Lagrange points are linearly unstable. Here we show that between??? _G and ${\mu \approx 0.039}$ , the L ₄ and L ₅ points are globally stable in the sense that a particle released at those points at zero velocity (in the corotating frame) remains in the vicinity of those points for an indefinite time. We also show that there exists a family of stable periodic orbits surrounding L ₄ or L ₅ for ${\mu \ge \mu_G}$ . We show that??? _G is actually the first value of a series ${\mu_0 (=\mu_G), \mu_1,\ldots, \mu_i,\ldots}$ corresponding to successive period doublings of the orbits, which exhibit ${1, 2, \ldots, 2^i,\ldots}$ cycles around L ₄ or L ₅. Those orbits follow a Feigenbaum cascade leading to disappearance into chaos at a value ${\mu_\infty = 0.0463004\ldots}$ which generalizes Gascheau??s work.     

Fundamental Emission of Type III Bursts Produced in Non-Maxwellian Coronal Plasmas with Kappa-Distributed Background Particles

Detailed simulations based on quasi-linear theory are presented for fundamental ( $f_{\rm p}$ ) emission of type III bursts produced in non-Maxwellian, suprathermal, background coronal plasma by injection of energetic electrons during flares with a power-law or Maxwellian velocity distribution, where $f_{\rm p}$ is the electron plasma frequency. The background plasma is assumed to have a kappa (κ) distribution, as inferred from solar wind data and proposed by theories for the corona and solar wind. The predicted type III beam speeds, Langmuir wave levels, and the drift rate and flux of $f_{\rm p}$ emission are strongly sensitive to the presence of suprathermal background electrons in the corona. The simulations show the following results. i) Fast beams with speeds $v_{\rm b}>0.5c$ are produced for coronal background electrons with small κ (κ?5) by injected electrons with power-law spectra. ii) Moderately fast beams with $v_{\rm b} \approx0.3\,\mbox{--}\,0.5c$ are generated in coronal plasma with κ?8 by injections of power-law or Maxwellian electrons. iii) Slow beams with $v_{\rm b}<0.3c$ are produced for coronal background electrons with large κ (κ>8), including the asymptotic limit κ→∞ where the electrons are Maxwellian, for both power-law and Maxwellian injections. The observation of fast type III beams (with $v_{\rm b}>0.5c$ ) thus suggests that these beams are produced in coronal regions where the background electron distribution has small κ by injected electrons with power-law spectra, at least when such beams are observed. The simulations, from the viewpoint of type III bursts, thus support: i) the presence, at least sometimes, of suprathermal background electrons in the corona and the associated mechanisms for coronal heating and solar wind acceleration; ii) power-law spectra for injected energetic electrons, consistent with observations of such electrons in situ and of X-ray emission.     

Non-minimal derivatively coupled quintessence in the Palatini formalism

The quintessence dark energy model with a kinetic coupling to gravity within the Palatini formalism is studied in this paper. Two different coupling forms: $\hat{R}\partial^{\mu}\phi\partial_{\mu}\phi$ and $\hat {R}_{\mu\nu}\partial^{\mu}\phi\partial^{\nu}\phi$ are analyzed, respectively. We find that both the model with the $\hat{R}\partial^{\mu}\phi\partial_{\mu}\phi$ coupling and the one with the $\hat{R}_{\mu\nu}\partial^{\mu}\phi\partial^{\nu}\phi$ coupling can realize the phantom divide line crossing from phantom to quintessence at late time for its effective equation-of-state. Furthermore, the former can behave like phantom. These features are different from those found in the $\hat {R}\phi^{2}$ coupling case.     

Multi-Band Spectral Properties of Fermi Blazars

The multi-band data covering optical, X-ray and γ-ray energy regions of 130 Fermi blazars in the First LAT AGN Catalog (1LAC) were collected to investigate the broadband spectral properties. The composite spectral indices show that HBLs have convex optical-to-X-ray continua and concave X-ray-to-γ-ray continua, α _{γX γ} >0 and α _XOX ?<?0, while FSRQs and LBLs have α _{γX γ} ?<?0. The α _XOX distribution of FSRQs and LBLs extends from negative to positive values. We suggest α _{γX γ} ?>?0 and α _XOX ?<?0 could be considered as a criterion for HBLs. Moreover, HBLs have narrow distribution of peak interval of $\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm ic}-\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm syn}$ , and FSRQs have significant anti-correlation between $\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm ic}-\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm syn}$ and $\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm syn}$ . This indicates that SSC model is responsible for high energy emission of HBLs, while EC for FSRQs. Our results also indicate that FSRQs with larger break energy of electrons have smaller bulk Lorentz factor of dissipation region.     

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.     

Bimodal Distribution of Magnetic Fields and Areas of Sunspots

We applied automatic identification of sunspot umbrae and penumbrae to daily observations from the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study their magnetic flux density (B) and area (A). The results confirm an already known logarithmic relationship between the area of sunspots and their maximum flux density. In addition, we find that the relation between average magnetic flux density ( $B_{\rm avg}$ ) and sunspot area shows a bimodal distribution: for small sunspots and pores (A≤20 millionth of solar hemisphere, MSH), $B_{\rm avg} \approx 800~\mbox{G}$ (gauss), and for large sunspots (A≥100 MSH), $B_{\rm avg}$ is about 600 G. For intermediate sunspots, average flux density linearly decreases from about 800 G to 600 G. A similar bimodal distribution was found in several other integral parameters of sunspots. We show that this bimodality can be related to different stages of sunspot penumbra formation and can be explained by the difference in average inclination of magnetic fields at the periphery of small and large sunspots.     

The planetary spin and rotation period: a modern approach

Using a new approach, we have obtained a formula for calculating the rotation period and radius of planets. In the ordinary gravitomagnetism the gravitational spin (S) orbit (L) coupling, $\vec{L}\cdot\vec{S}\propto L^{2}$ , while our model predicts that $\vec{L}\cdot\vec{S}\propto\frac{m}{M}L^{2}$ , where M and m are the central and orbiting masses, respectively. Hence, planets during their evolution exchange L and S until they reach a final stability at which MS∝mL, or $S\propto\frac{m^{2}}{v}$ , where v is the orbital velocity of the planet. Rotational properties of our planetary system and exoplanets are in agreement with our predictions. The radius (R) and rotational period (D) of tidally locked planet at a distance a from its star, are related by, $D^{2}\propto\sqrt{\frac{M}{m^{3}}}R^{3}$ and that $R\propto\sqrt{\frac {m}{M}}a$ .     

Observational constraints on G-corrected holographic dark energy using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method

We constrain holographic dark energy (HDE) with time varying gravitational coupling constant in the framework of the modified Friedmann equations using cosmological data from type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic microwave background radiation and X-ray gas mass fraction. Applying a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation, we obtain the best fit values of the model and cosmological parameters within 1σ confidence level (CL) in a flat universe as: $\varOmega_{b}h^{2}=0.0222^{+0.0018}_{-0.0013}$ , $\varOmega_{c}h^{2}=0.1121^{+0.0110}_{-0.0079}$ , $\alpha_{G}\equiv \dot{G}/(HG) =0.1647^{+0.3547}_{-0.2971}$ and the HDE constant $c=0.9322^{+0.4569}_{-0.5447}$ . Using the best fit values, the equation of state of the dark component at the present time w _d0 at 1σ CL can cross the phantom boundary w=?1.     

A Note on Computation of Relative Magnetic-Helicity Flux Across the Photosphere

A number of investigations of the rate of relative magnetic-helicity transport across the photosphere [ ${{{\rm d} H}/{{\rm d}t}}|_{S}$ ] have reported differences in the estimates computed from two different formulations of the relative-helicity flux-density proxy G _A and G _θ . There have been suggestions that G _θ is a more robust helicity-flux density proxy and that the differences in the estimates of ${{{\rm d} H}/{{\rm d}t}}|_{S}$ are caused by biases in G _A, noise, and/or the boundary conditions. In this note, we prove that the differences are caused by the inconsistent choice of boundary conditions in the explicit or implicit Green’s function [ $\mathcal{G}(\mathbf {x},\mathbf{x}')$ ] used for computing G _A and G _θ when comparing the helicity-flux estimates based on G _A and G _θ . When the boundary conditions in $\mathcal{G}$ are chosen consistently, the two helicity-flux density proxies, [G _A and G _θ ] produce essentially identical results for the rate of helicity transport across the photosphere. They also yield essentially identical results for the rate of helicity transport of the shearing and advection terms separately. Using MHD simulation, HMI observational data, and Monte Carlo simulations of noise we show that this result is robust. Neither the shape of the active region, nor the shape of the boundary, nor data noise causes any difference in the rate of helicity transport computed via G _A and G _θ .     

On the “blue sky catastrophe” termination in the restricted four-body problem

The restricted three-body problem (R3BP) possesses the property that some classes of doubly asymptotic (i.e., homoclinic or heteroclinic) orbits are limit members of families of periodic orbits, this phenomenon has been known as the “blue sky catastrophe” termination principle. A similar case occurs in the restricted four body problem for the collinear equilibrium point $L_{2}$ L 2 . In the restricted four body problem with primaries in a triangle relative equilibrium, we show that the same phenomenon observed in the R3BP occurs. We prove that there exists a critical value of the mass parameter $\mu _{b}$ μ b such that for $\mu =\mu _{b}$ μ = μ b a Hamiltonian Hopf bifurcation takes place. Moreover we show that for $\mu >\mu _{b}$ μ > μ b the stable and unstable manifolds of $L_{2}$ L 2 intersect transversally and the spectrum corresponds to a complex saddle. This proves that Henrard’s theorem applies at least for $\mu $ μ close to $\mu _{b}$ μ b . In particular there exists a family of periodic orbits having the homoclinic orbit as a limit.     

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.