scholarly journals Conference Summary

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S304) ◽  
pp. 426-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Sanders

AbstractThis conference on “Multi-wavelength AGN Surveys and Studies” has provided a detailed look at the explosive growth over the past decade, of available astronomical data from a growing list of large scale sky surveys, from radio-to-gamma rays. We are entering an era were multi-epoch (months to weeks) surveys of the entire sky, and near-instantaneous follow-up observations of variable sources, are elevating time-domain astronomy to where it is becoming a major contributor to our understanding of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). While we can marvel at the range of extragalactic phenomena dispayed by sources discovered in the original “Markarian Survey” – the first large-scale objective prism survey of the Northern Sky carried out at the Byurakan Astronomical Observtory almost a half-century ago – it is clear from the talks and posters presented at this meeting that the data to be be obtained over the next decade will be needed if we are to finally understand which phase of galaxy evolution each Markarian Galaxy represents.

Galaxies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Lenain

Blazars are jetted active galactic nuclei with a jet pointing close to the line of sight, hence enhancing their intrinsic luminosity and variability. Monitoring these sources is essential in order to catch them flaring and promptly organize follow-up multi-wavelength observations, which are key to providing rich data sets used to derive e.g., the emission mechanisms at work, and the size and location of the flaring zone. In this context, the Fermi-LAT has proven to be an invaluable instrument, whose data are used to trigger many follow-up observations at high and very high energies. A few examples are illustrated here, as well as a description of different data products and pipelines, with a focus given on FLaapLUC, a tool in use within the H.E.S.S. collaboration.


High energy cosmic neutrinos can be produced by protons and nuclei accelerated in cosmic sources (‘acceleration neutrinos) as well as by relic Big Bang particles, cosmic strings, etc. (neutrinos of non-acceleration origin). The most promising ‘acceleration’ sources of neutrinos are supernovae in our Galaxy and active galactic nuclei (AGN). Detectable diffuse fluxes of ‘ acceleration ’ neutrinos can be produced by AGN and during the ‘bright phase’ of galaxy evolution. During the past few years it has been realized that the detectable flux of high energy neutrinos can be also produced by the relic Big Bang particles. The possible sources are annihilation of the neutralinos accumulated inside the Earth and the Sun, decay of neutralinos (due to the weak breaking of R-parity), and the decay of exotic long-lived particles from the Big Bang.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S284) ◽  
pp. 183-192
Author(s):  
Q. Daniel Wang

AbstractGalactic X-ray emission is a manifestation of various high-energy phenomena and processes. The brightest X-ray sources are typically accretion-powered objects: active galactic nuclei and low- or high-mass X-ray binaries. Such objects with X-ray luminosities of ≳ 1037 ergs s−1 can now be detected individually in nearby galaxies. The contributions from fainter discrete sources (including cataclysmic variables, active binaries, young stellar objects, and supernova remnants) are well correlated with the star formation rate or stellar mass of galaxies. The study of discrete X-ray sources is essential to our understanding of stellar evolution, dynamics, and end-products as well as accretion physics. With the subtraction of the discrete source contributions, one can further map out truly diffuse X-ray emission, which can be used to trace the feedback from active galactic nuclei, as well as from stars, both young and old, in the form of stellar winds and supernovae. The X-ray emission efficiency, however, is only about 1% of the energy input rate of the stellar feedback alone. The bulk of the feedback energy is most likely gone with outflows into large-scale galactic halos. Much is yet to be investigated to comprehend the role of such outflows in regulating the ecosystem, hence the evolution of galaxies. Even the mechanism of the diffuse X-ray emission remains quite uncertain. A substantial fraction of the emission cannot arise directly from optically-thin thermal plasma, as commonly assumed, and most likely originates in its charge exchange with neutral gas. These uncertainties underscore our poor understanding of the feedback and its interplay with the galaxy evolution.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (S359) ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
Kristina Nyland ◽  
Dillon Dong ◽  
Pallavi Patil ◽  
Mark Lacy ◽  
Amy Kimball ◽  
...  

AbstractAs part of an on-going study of radio transients in Epoch 1 (2017–2019) of the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS), we have discovered a sample of 0.2 < z < 3.2 active galactic nuclei (AGN) selected in the optical/infrared that have recently brightened dramatically in the radio. These sources would have previously been classified as radio-quiet based on upper limits from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-centimeters (FIRST; 1993-2011) survey; however, they are now consistent with radio-loud quasars. We present a quasi-simultaneous, multi-band (1–18 GHz) VLA follow-up campaign of our sample of AGN with extreme radio variability. We conclude that the radio properties are most consistent with AGN that have recently launched jets within the past few decades, potentially making them among the youngest radio AGN known.


1989 ◽  
Vol 134 ◽  
pp. 365-371
Author(s):  
A.F.M. Moorwood ◽  
E. Oliva

Infrared spectra around [FeII](1.644μm), H2 (v = 1-0 S(1) at 2.121μm) and Brγ (H 7-4 at 2.167μm) have been obtained of 35 emission line nuclei whose optical spectra range from pure HII regionlike to Seyfert 1. All three emission lines have been detected in a large fraction of those nuclei exhibiting starburst activity but not in “pure” Seyferts. The highest detection frequency, however, was found for composite nuclei showing evidence for both starburst and Seyfert activity. Several arguments suggest that both the [FeII] and H2 are shock excited and could be largely attributed to supernova remnants. The fact that the [FeII]/Brγ and H2/Brγ ratios tend to be somewhat larger in composite than in pure starburst nuclei, however, plus significant spatial displacements between the [FeII] and H2 emitting regions found recently during follow-up observations of selected galaxies suggest that large scale phenomena, e.g. SN winds or mass outflows from AGN, may also be important.


Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Dominique Eckert ◽  
Massimo Gaspari ◽  
Fabio Gastaldello ◽  
Amandine M. C. Le Brun ◽  
Ewan O’Sullivan

The co-evolution between supermassive black holes and their environment is most directly traced by the hot atmospheres of dark matter halos. The cooling of the hot atmosphere supplies the central regions with fresh gas, igniting active galactic nuclei (AGN) with long duty cycles. Outflows from the central engine tightly couple with the surrounding gaseous medium and provide the dominant heating source preventing runaway cooling by carving cavities and driving shocks across the medium. The AGN feedback loop is a key feature of all modern galaxy evolution models. Here, we review our knowledge of the AGN feedback process in the specific context of galaxy groups. Galaxy groups are uniquely suited to constrain the mechanisms governing the cooling–heating balance. Unlike in more massive halos, the energy that is supplied by the central AGN to the hot intragroup medium can exceed the gravitational binding energy of halo gas particles. We report on the state-of-the-art in observations of the feedback phenomenon and in theoretical models of the heating-cooling balance in galaxy groups. We also describe how our knowledge of the AGN feedback process impacts galaxy evolution models and large-scale baryon distributions. Finally, we discuss how new instrumentation will answer key open questions on the topic.


Galaxies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Claudia M. Raiteri ◽  
Massimo Villata

Active galactic nuclei come in many varieties. A minority of them are radio-loud, and exhibit two opposite prominent plasma jets extending from the proximity of the supermassive black hole up to megaparsec distances. When one of the relativistic jets is oriented closely to the line of sight, its emission is Doppler beamed and these objects show extreme variability properties at all wavelengths. These are called “blazars”. The unpredictable blazar variability, occurring on a continuous range of time-scales, from minutes to years, is most effectively investigated in a multi-wavelength context. Ground-based and space observations together contribute to give us a comprehensive picture of the blazar emission properties from the radio to the γ-ray band. Moreover, in recent years, a lot of effort has been devoted to the observation and analysis of the blazar polarimetric radio and optical behaviour, showing strong variability of both the polarisation degree and angle. The Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration, involving many tens of astronomers all around the globe, has been monitoring several blazars since 1997. The results of the corresponding data analysis have contributed to the understanding of the blazar phenomenon, particularly stressing the viability of a geometrical interpretation of the blazar variability. We review here the most significant polarimetric results achieved in the WEBT studies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S292) ◽  
pp. 188-188
Author(s):  
J. R. Allison ◽  
E. M. Sadler ◽  
S. J. Curran ◽  
S. N. Reeves

AbstractRecent targeted studies of associated H i absorption in radio galaxies are starting to map out the location, and potential cosmological evolution, of the cold gas in the host galaxies of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). The observed 21 cm absorption profiles often show two distinct spectral-line components: narrow, deep lines arising from cold gas in the extended disc of the galaxy, and broad, shallow lines from cold gas close to the AGN (e.g. Morganti et al. 2011). Here, we present results from a targeted search for associated H i absorption in the youngest and most recently-triggered radio AGN in the local universe (Allison et al. 2012b). So far, by using the recently commissioned Australia Telescope Compact Array Broadband Backend (CABB; Wilson et al. 2011), we have detected two new absorbers and one previously-known system. While two of these show both a broad, shallow component and a narrow, deep component (see Fig. 1), one of the new detections has only a single broad, shallow component. Interestingly, the host galaxies of the first two detections are classified as gas-rich spirals, while the latter is an early-type galaxy. These detections were obtained using a spectral-line finding method, based on Bayesian inference, developed for future large-scale absorption surveys (Allison et al. 2012a).


Author(s):  
L. Spinoglio ◽  
A. Alonso-Herrero ◽  
L. Armus ◽  
M. Baes ◽  
J. Bernard-Salas ◽  
...  

AbstractIR spectroscopy in the range 12–230 μm with the SPace IR telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) will reveal the physical processes governing the formation and evolution of galaxies and black holes through cosmic time, bridging the gap between the James Webb Space Telescope and the upcoming Extremely Large Telescopes at shorter wavelengths and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array at longer wavelengths. The SPICA, with its 2.5-m telescope actively cooled to below 8 K, will obtain the first spectroscopic determination, in the mid-IR rest-frame, of both the star-formation rate and black hole accretion rate histories of galaxies, reaching lookback times of 12 Gyr, for large statistically significant samples. Densities, temperatures, radiation fields, and gas-phase metallicities will be measured in dust-obscured galaxies and active galactic nuclei, sampling a large range in mass and luminosity, from faint local dwarf galaxies to luminous quasars in the distant Universe. Active galactic nuclei and starburst feedback and feeding mechanisms in distant galaxies will be uncovered through detailed measurements of molecular and atomic line profiles. The SPICA’s large-area deep spectrophotometric surveys will provide mid-IR spectra and continuum fluxes for unbiased samples of tens of thousands of galaxies, out to redshifts of z ~ 6.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
David Garofalo

While the basic laws of physics seem time-reversal invariant, our understanding of the apparent irreversibility of the macroscopic world is well grounded in the notion of entropy. Because astrophysics deals with the largest structures in the Universe, one expects evidence there for the most pronounced entropic arrow of time. However, in recent theoretical astrophysics work it appears possible to identify constructs with time-reversal symmetry, which is puzzling in the large-scale realm especially because it involves the engines of powerful outflows in active galactic nuclei which deal with macroscopic constituents such as accretion disks, magnetic fields, and black holes. Nonetheless, the underlying theoretical structure from which this accreting black hole framework emerges displays a time-symmetric harmonic behavior, a feature reminiscent of basic and simple laws of physics. While we may expect such behavior for classical black holes due to their simplicity, manifestations of such symmetry on the scale of galaxies, instead, surprise. In fact, we identify a parallel between the astrophysical tug-of-war between accretion disks and jets in this model and the time symmetry-breaking of a simple overdamped harmonic oscillator. The validity of these theoretical ideas in combination with this unexpected parallel suggests that black holes are more influential in astrophysics than currently recognized and that black hole astrophysics is a more fundamental discipline.


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