The contribution from active galactic nuclei to the diffuse 1 MeV background

A method is proposed to estimate the contribution from Seyfert galaxies and quasars to the diffuse 1 MeV background. First of all, we calculate the contribution from these active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to the 2 keV background using traditional methods. We then choose a suitable spectral X-ray index, which is found to be universal, to find the 1 MeV contribution from these AGNs by extrapolation. Results show that quasars generate about 40% of the 1 MeV background while Seyfert galaxies produce more than 40% taking into account the Penrose Compton Scattering gamma ray emissions. These results indicate that the 1 MeV background is likely to be generated by discrete objects.     

Two luminosity classes of quasars

Observations of quasars suggest that compact quasars with flat radio spectra belong to the class of dwarf galaxies and extended quasars with steep spectra to the one of bright galaxies. This can be seen also in the associations of quasars with clusters of galaxies, compact quasars occurring in nearby clusters and extended quasars in distant clusters.     

The Difference between the α-disks of Seyfert 1 Galaxiesand Quasars

In a previous paper, it was suggested that contamination of the nuclear luminosity by the host galaxy plays an important role in determining the parameters of the standard a disk of AGNs. Using the nuclear absolute B band magnitude instead of the total absolute B band magnitude, we have recalculated the central black hole masses, accretion rates and disk inclinations for 20 Seyfert 1 galaxies and 17 Palomar-Green (PG) quasars. It is found that a small value of a is needed for the Seyfert 1 galaxies than for the PG quasars. This difference in a possibly leads to the different properties of Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasars. Furthermore, we find most of the objects in this sample are not accreting at super-Eddington rates if we adopt the nuclear optical luminosity in our calculation.     

Quasars lensed by globular clusters of spiral and elliptical galaxies

Based on the SDSS catalog, we have found new close quasar—galaxy pairs. We analyze the radial distribution of quasars from pairs around galaxies of different types. We show that the quasars from pairs follow the density profile of halo globular clusters. This is new observational evidence that the quasars projected onto the halos of galaxies are magnified by gravitational lensing by halo globular clusters.     

Optical Identifications of X—ray Selected AGNs

During the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS; Voges 1992, 1997) about 80,000 X-ray sourceswith a detection likelihood 2 10 were detected, from which 18,811 sources having a PSPC countrate larger than 0.05 ets s--1 and detection likelihood 3 15 were compiled in the RASS-BSC(VOges et al. 1996a). More than 65% RASS sources remain unidentified (Voges et al. 1996b).The optical spectroscopic study of these RASS sources is essential for understanding them moreclearly.The idelltification of X-…     

The starburst-AGN connection: the role of stellar clusters in AGNs

Nuclear stellar clusters are a common phenomenon in spirals and in starburst galaxies, and they may be a natural consequence of the star formation processes in the central regions of galaxies. HST UV imaging of a few Seyfert 2 galaxies have resolved nuclear starbursts in Seyfert 2 revealing stellar clusters as the main components of the extended emission. However, we do not know whether stellar clusters are always associated with all types of nuclear activity. We present HST NUV and optical images to study the role that stellar clusters play in different types of AGNs. Also with these images, we study the circumnuclear dust morphology as a probe of the circumnuclear environment of AGNs.     

Radio-loudness of active galaxies and the black hole evolution

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) form two distinct sequences on the radio-loudness–Eddington ratio plane. The ‘upper’ sequence contains radio selected AGNs, the ‘lower’ sequence is composed mainly of optically selected AGNs. The sequences mark the upper bounds for the radio-loudness of two distinct populations of AGNs, hosted, respectively, by elliptical and disk galaxies. Both sequences show the same dependence of the radio-loudness on the Eddington ratio (an increase with decreasing Eddington ratio), which suggests that another parameter in addition to the accretion rate must play a role in determining the efficiency of jet production in AGNs. We speculate that this additional parameter is the spin of the black hole, assuming that black holes in giant elliptical galaxies have (on average) much larger spins than black holes in disc galaxies. Possible evolutionary scenarios leading to such a spin dichotomy are discussed. The galaxy-morphology related radio dichotomy breaks down at high accretion rates where the dominant fraction of luminous quasars being hosted by giant ellipticals is radio-quiet. This indicates that the production of powerful jets at high accretion rates is in most cases suppressed and, in analogy to X-ray binary systems (XRB) during high and very high states, may be intermittent. Such intermittency can be caused by switches between two different accretion modes, assuming that only during one of them an outflow from the central engine is sufficiently collimated to form a relativistic jet.     

X线选射电噪活动星系核的多波段性质

基于被ROSAT全天区巡天观测和射电4．85GHz巡天观测同时探测到的活动星系核的大样本,研究了X射线选的射电噪活动星系核的多波段性质．通过分析该样本中的活动星系核的宽波段能量分布,确认了来自射电、光学和X射线波段的辐射光度之间的显著相关性．这种相关性对于类星体、赛弗特、蝎虎座天体和射电星系是有区别的．同时,探讨了从光学到X射线波段之间的谱指数与红移以及5000A和4．85GHz处的单色光度的相关性．     

Quasar creation and evolution into galaxies

Building on evidence starting from 1966, X-ray observations have once again confirmed the association of quasars with low redshift galaxies. Enough examples of quasar-like objects ejected in opposite directions from nearby, active galaxies have accumulated so that an empirical evolutionary sequence can be outlined. The quasars start out with low luminosity and high (z > 2) redshift. As they travel away from their galaxy of origin they grow in size and decay in redshift. The redshifts drop in steps and near the quantized values of z = 0.6, 0.3, and 0.06 the quasars become particularly active, ejecting or breaking up into many objects which evolve finally into groups and clusters of galaxies. The observations massively violate the assumptions of the Big Bang and require continuous, episodic creation in a non expanding universe of indefinitely large size and age.     

The temperatures of dust-enshrouded active galactic nuclei

A high density of massive dark objects (MDOs), probably supermassive black holes, in the centres of nearby galaxies has been inferred from recent observations. There are various indications that much of the accretion responsible for producing these objects took place in dust-enshrouded active galactic nuclei (AGNs). If so, then measurements of the intensity of background radiation and the source counts in the far-infrared and submillimetre wavebands constrain the temperature of dust in these AGNs. An additional constraint comes from the hard X-ray background, if this is produced by accretion. One possibility is that the dust shrouds surrounding the accreting AGNs are cold, about 30 K. In this event, the dusty AGNs could be some subset of the population of luminous distant sources discovered at 850 μm using the SCUBA array on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, as proposed by Almaini, Lawrence & Boyle. An alternative is that the dust shrouds surrounding the accreting AGNs are much hotter (>60 K). These values are closer to the dust temperatures of a number of well-studied low-redshift ultraluminous galaxies that are thought to derive their power from accretion. If the local MDO density is close to the maximum permitted, then cold sources cannot produce this density without the submillimetre background being overproduced if they accrete at high radiative efficiency, and thus a hot population is required. If the dust-enshrouded accretion occurred at similar redshifts to that taking place in unobscured optical quasars, then a significant fraction of the far-infrared background radiation measured by COBE at 140 μm, but very little of the submillimetre background at 850 μm, may have been produced by hot dust-enshrouded AGNs which may have already been seen in recent Chandra X-ray surveys.     

Learning Vector Quantization for Classifying Astronomical Objects

The sizes of astronomical surveys in different wavebands are increasing rapidly. Therefore, automatic classification of objects is becoming ever more important. We explore the performance of learning vector quantization (LVQ) in classifying multi-wavelength data. Our analysis concentrates on separating active sources from non-active ones. Different classes of X-ray emitters populate distinct regions of a multidimensional parameter space. In order to explore the distribution of various objects in a multidimensional parameter space, we positionally cross-correlate the data of quasars, BL Lacs, active galaxies, stars and normal galaxies in the optical, X-ray and infrared bands. We then apply LVQ to classify them with the obtained data. Our results show that LVQ is an effective method for separating AGNs from stars and normal galaxies with multi-wavelength data.     

Radio continuum and far-infrared emission from the galaxies in the Eridanus group

The Eridanus galaxies follow the well-known radio—FIR correlation. The majority (70%) of these galaxies have their star formation rates below that of the Milky Way. The galaxies that have a significant excess of radio emission are identified as low luminosity AGNs based on their radio morphologies obtained from the GMRT observations. There are no powerful AGNs (L _20cm > 10²³ W Hz⁻¹) in the group. The two most far-infrared and radio luminous galaxies in the group have optical and HI morphologies suggestive of recent tidal interactions. The Eridanus group also has two far-infrared luminous but radio-deficient galaxies. It is believed that these galaxies are observed within a few Myr of the onset of an intense star formation episode after being quiescent for at least a 100 Myr. The upper end of the radio luminosity distribution of the Eridanus galaxies (L _20cm ∼ 10²² W Hz⁻¹) is consistent with that of the field galaxies, other groups, and late-type galaxies in nearby clusters.     

Optical,UV, and X-ray clues to the nature of narrow-line AGNs

AGNs with narrow Balmer lines show various extreme properties. In particular, rapid X-ray variability, steep X-ray spectra, peculiar optical and UV line ratios, and possibly peculiar line profiles. Since all these phenomena occur together they are likely to be related to one specific underlying physical parameter. I review recent evidence, based on HST imaging of low z quasars, which suggests that the Hβ line width and continuum luminosity of quasars provide a reasonably accurate estimate of the black hole mass. This implies that narrow-line AGN have relatively low black hole masses, and thus high L/L_Edd, as independently suggested based on their steep X-ray spectra. I present additional evidence suggesting that the X-ray variability and the radio loudness are primarily driven by the black hole mass. The high mass inflow rate into the core of narrow-line AGNs may produce a denser and more enriched BLR, a high column radiation pressure driven outflow, and a smaller illumination angle for the NLR, as suggested by the observed emission line properties. Narrow-line AGNs may thus provide important clues for understanding the rich overall phenomenology of AGNs.     

Radio-quiet quasar environments at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.8

We quantify the galaxy environments around a sample of 0.5≤ z ≤0.8 radio-quiet quasars using the amplitude of the spatial galaxy–quasar correlation function, B _gq. The quasars exist in a wide variety of environments; some sources are located in clusters as rich as Abell class 1–2 clusters, whereas others exist in environments comparable to the field. We find that, on average, the quasars prefer poorer clusters of ≈Abell class 0, which suggests that quasars are biased tracers of mass compared with galaxies. The mean B _gq for the sample is found to be indistinguishable from the mean amplitude for a sample of radio-loud quasars matched in redshift and optical luminosity. These observations are consistent with recent studies of the hosts of radio-quiet quasars at low to intermediate redshifts, and suggest that the mechanism for the production of powerful radio jets in radio-loud quasars is controlled by processes deep within the active galactic nucleus itself, and is unrelated to the nature of the hosts or their environments.     

Clustering of galaxies around radio quasars at 0.5≤z≤0.8

We have observed the galaxy environments around a sample of 21 radio-loud, steep-spectrum quasars at 0.5≤ z ≤0.82, spanning several orders of magnitude in radio luminosity. The observations also include background control fields used to obtain the excess number of galaxies in each quasar field. The galaxy excess was quantified using the spatial galaxy–quasar correlation amplitude, B _gq, and an Abell-type measurement, N _0.5. A few quasars are found in relatively rich clusters, but on average, they seem to prefer galaxy groups or clusters of approximately Abell class 0. We have combined our sample with literature samples extending down to z ≈0.2 and covering the same range in radio luminosity. By using the Spearman statistic to disentangle redshift and luminosity dependences, we detect a weak, but significant, positive correlation between the richness of the quasar environment and the radio luminosity of the quasar. However, we do not find any epoch dependence in B _gq, as has previously been reported for radio quasars and galaxies. We discuss the radio luminosity–cluster richness link and possible explanations for the weak correlation that is seen.     

A Model of Quasars and AGNs with Magnetic Monopoles

An evolutionary model of quasars and AGNs with magnetic monopoles is proposed. Their energy source is due to nucleon decay induced by the monopoles. Both the mass and the luminosity of quasars and AGNs will gradually decrease in time because their constituent baryons are kept decaying and are transformed into radiation. The physical significance and theoretical predictions of our evolutionary model are stressed.     

Optical and near-infrared imaging of faint Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum sources

A sample of 47 faint Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio sources selected from the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) has been imaged in the optical and near-infrared, resulting in an identification fraction of 87 per cent. The R  −  I R  −  K colours of the faint optical counterparts are as expected for passively evolving elliptical galaxies, assuming that they follow the R -band Hubble diagram as determined for radio-bright GPS galaxies. We find evidence that the radio spectral properties of the GPS quasars are different from those of GPS galaxies. The observed distribution of radio spectral peak frequencies for GPS sources optically identified with bright stellar objects (presumably quasars) is shifted compared with GPS sources identified with faint or extended optical objects (presumably galaxies), in the sense that a GPS quasar is likely to have a higher peak frequency than a GPS galaxy. This means that the true peak frequency distribution is different for the GPS galaxies and quasars, because the sample selection effects are independent of optical identification. The correlation between peak frequency and redshift that has been suggested for bright sources has not been found in this sample; no correlation exists between R magnitude (and therefore redshift) and peak frequency for the GPS galaxies. We therefore believe that the claimed correlation is actually caused by the dependence of the peak frequency on optical host, because the GPS galaxies are generally at lower redshifts than the quasars. The difference in the peak frequency distributions of the GPS galaxies and quasars is further evidence against the hypothesis that they form a single class of object.     

A search for steep low-frequency radio spectra among quasars and clusters of galaxies

Using published flux densitiesS at low frequenciesv, radio spectra were constructed for 3C, 4C, and 4CT radio sources in Abell clusters of galaxies, radio galaxies outside Abell clusters, and quasars with known redshifts. About half the sources in rich Abell clusters (richness classesR>-2) have steep spectra between 38 and 178 MHz with spectral indices ₃₈ ¹⁷⁸ > whereSv ^–. However, radio galaxies outside clusters have values of ₃₈ ¹⁷⁸ 1.2, and no steep spectra were found among 170 quasars. The radio sources in rich clusters are probably confined by intergalactic gas, and the steep spectra develop over a period of 10⁹ yr as relativistic electrons lose energy. The absence of steep spectra among quasars does not necessarily mean that quasars never occur in rich clusters of galaxies, since quasars are probably being observed only in their early high-luminosity phases. The possibility that some quasar events occur in the nuclei of the dominant cD galaxies in clusters is discussed, but quasar events may occur in more than one type of galaxy.     

Optical‐NIR spectra of quasars close to reionization (z ∼ 6)

X‐shooter, with its characteristics of resolution, spectral coverage and efficiency, provides a unique opportunity to obtain spectra of the highest‐redshift quasars (z ∼ 6) that will allow us to carry out successful investigations on key cosmological issues, from the details of the re‐ionization process, to the evolution of the first galaxies and AGNs. In this paper, we present the spectra of three z ∼ 6 quasars: one obtained during the commissioning of X‐shooter and two in the context of our ongoing GTO programme. Combining this sample with data in the literature, we update the value of the C IV cosmic mass density in the range 4.5 ≤ z ≤ 5, confirming the constant trend with redshift between 2.5 and 5 (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Quasars in Regions of Rich Clusters of Galaxies

Certain characteristics of quasars observed in the regions of three rich clusters of galaxies are investigated. It is shown that the luminosity functions constructed for samples of quasars from the regions of the Virgo and Fornax clusters are similar to each other and show a very sharp maximum at a stellar magnitude of 18^m.0-18^m.3. The maximum of the luminosity function for quasars from the region of the Coma cluster (A 1656) is shifted toward fainter magnitudes and lies at 21^m. This effect is explained by the affiliation of the majority of the quasars to the respective clusters. It is shown that the absolute stellar magnitude of these quasars is –13^m, which corresponds to the luminosity of dwarf galaxies of low luminosity. It is suggested that the local quasars are formed in two ways: by ejection from galactic nuclei and in quasar associations without a parent galaxy, directly from protostellar matter.