PKS 0521-36 is an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) with uncertain classification. We investigate the properties of this source from radio to gamma rays. The broad emission lines in the optical and UV bands and steep radio spectrum indicate a possible cl
assification as an intermediate object between broad-line radio galaxies (BLRG) and steep spectrum radio quasars (SSRQ). On pc-scales PKS 0521-36 shows a knotty structure similar to misaligned AGN. The core dominance and the gamma-ray properties are similar to those estimated for other SSRQ and BLRG detected in gamma rays, suggesting an intermediate viewing angle with respect to the observer. In this context the flaring activity detected from this source by Fermi-LAT between 2010 June and 2012 February is very intriguing. We discuss the gamma-ray emission of this source in the framework of the structured jet scenario, comparing the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the flaring state in 2010 June with that of a low state. We present three alternative models corresponding to three different choices of the viewing angles theta_v = 6, 15, and 20 deg. We obtain a good fit for the the first two cases, but the SED obtained with theta_v = 15 deg if observed at a small angle does not resemble that of a typical blazar since the synchrotron emission should dominate by a large factor (about 100) the inverse Compton component. This suggests that a viewing angle between 6 and 15 deg is preferred, with the rapid variability observed during gamma-ray flares favouring a smaller angle. However, we cannot rule out that PKS 0521-36 is the misaligned counterpart of a synchrotron-dominated blazar.
Relativistic jets are one of the most powerful manifestations of the release of energy related to the supermassive black holes at the centre of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Their emission is observed across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from
the radio band to gamma rays. Despite decades of efforts, many aspects of the physics of relativistic jets remain elusive. In particular, the location and the mechanisms responsible for the high-energy emission and the connection of the variability at different wavelengths are among the greatest challenges in the study of AGN. Recent high resolution radio observations of flaring objects locate the high-energy emitting region downstream the jet at parsec scale distance from the central engine, posing questions on the nature of the seed photons upscattered to gamma-rays. Furthermore, monitoring campaigns of the most active blazars indicate that not all the high energy flares have the same characteristics in the various energy bands, even from the same source, making the interpretation of the mechanism responsible for the high-energy emission not trivial. Although the variability of the most luminous blazars is well explained by the shock-in-jet scenario, the sub-class of TeV emitting objects suggests a more complex emission model with velocity gradients in a structured jet. This contribution presents results obtained by recent multiwavelength campaigns of blazars aimed at studying the radio and gamma-ray connection and the physical mechanisms at the basis of the emission in these low and high energy bands.
The intra-cluster medium contains cosmic rays and magnetic fields that are manifested through the large scale synchrotron sources, termed as radio halos, relics and mini-halos. The Extended Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) Radio Halo Survey (EG
RHS) is an extension of the GMRT Radio Halo Survey (GRHS) designed to search for radio halos using GMRT 610/235 MHz observations. The GRHS+EGRHS consists of 64 clusters in the redshift range 0.2 -- 0.4 that have an X-ray luminosity larger than 5x10^44 erg/s in the 0.1 -- 2.4 keV band and with declinations > -31 deg in the REFLEX and eBCS X-ray cluster catalogues. In this second paper in the series, GMRT 610/235 MHz data on the last batch of 11 galaxy clusters and the statistical analysis of the full sample are presented. A new mini-halo in RXJ2129.6+0005 and candidate diffuse sources in Z5247, A2552 and Z1953 are discovered. A unique feature of this survey are the upper limits on the detections of 1 Mpc sized radio halos; 4 new are presented here making a total of 31 in the survey. Of the sample, 58 clusters that have adequately sensitive radio information were used to obtain the most accurate occurrence fractions so far. The occurrence of radio halos in our X-ray selected sample is ~22%, that of mini-halos is 13% and that of relics is ~5%. The radio power - X-ray luminosity diagrams for the radio halos and mini-halos with the detections and upper limits are presented. The morphological estimators namely, centroid shift (w), concentration parameter (c) and power ratios (P_3/P_0) derived from the Chandra X-ray images are used as proxies for the dynamical states of the GRHS+EGRHS clusters. The clusters with radio halos and mini-halos occupy distinct quadrants in the c-w, c-P_3/P_0 and w - P_3/P_0 planes, corresponding to the more and less morphological disturbance, respectively. The non-detections span both the quadrants.
Before the launch of the Fermi satellite only two classes of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) were known to generate relativistic jets and thus to emit up to the gamma-ray energy range: blazars and radio galaxies, both hosted in giant elliptical galaxies
. The first four years of observations by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board Fermi confirmed that these two populations represent the most numerous identified sources in the extragalactic gamma-ray sky, but the discovery of variable gamma-ray emission from 5 radio-loud Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies revealed the presence of a possible emerging third class of AGN with relativistic jets. Considering that NLSy1 are thought to be hosted in spiral galaxies, this finding poses intriguing questions about the nature of these objects, the knowledge of the development of relativistic jets, and the evolution of radio-loud AGN. In this context, the study of the radio-loud NLSy1 from radio to gamma-rays has received increasing attention. Here we discuss the radio-to-gamma-rays properties of the gamma-ray emitting NLSy1, also in comparison with the blazar scenario.
The Lick-index spectrophotometric system is investigated in its inherent statistical and operational properties to ease a more appropriate use for astrophysical studies. Non-Gaussian effects in the index standardization procedure suggest that a minim
um S/N ratio has to be reached by spectral data, such as S/N >= 5 px^{-1} for a spectral resolution R~2000. In addition, index (re-)definition in terms of narrow-band color should be preferred over the classical pseudo-equivalent width scheme. The overlapping wavelength range among different indices is also an issue, as it may lead the latter ones to correlate, beyond any strictly physical relationship. The nested configuration of the Fe5335, Fe5270 indices, and the so-called Mg complex (including Mg1, Mg2 and Mgb) is analysed, in this context, by assessing the implied bias when joining entangled features into global diagnostic meta-indices, like the perused [MgFe] metallicity tracer. The perturbing effect of [OIII](5007) and [NI](5199) forbidden gas emission on Fe5015 and Mgb absorption features is considered, and an updated correction scheme is proposed when using [OIII](5007) as a proxy to appraise Hbeta residual emission. When applied to present-day elliptical galaxy population, the revised Hbeta scale leads, on average, to 20-30% younger age estimates. Finally, the misleading role of the christening element in Lick-based chemical analyses is illustrated for the striking case of Fe4531. In fact, while Iron is nominally the main contributor to the observed feature in high-resolution spectra, we have shown that the Fe4531 index actually maximizes its responsiveness to Titanium abundance.
We present the analytical solution of the two-integrals Jeans equations for Miyamoto-Nagai discs embedded in Binney logarithmic dark matter haloes. The equations can be solved (both with standard methods and with the Residue Theorem) for arbitrary ch
oices of the parameters, thus providing a very flexible two-component galaxy model, ranging from flattened discs to spherical systems. A particularly interesting case is obtained when the dark matter halo reduces to the Singular Isothermal Sphere. Azimuthal motions are separated in the ordered and velocity dispersion components by using the Satoh decomposition. The obtained formulae can be used in numerical simulations of galactic gas flows, for testing codes of stellar dynamics, and to study the dependence of the stellar velocity dispersion and of the asymmetric drift in the equatorial plane as a function of disc and halo flattenings. Here, we estimate the inflow radial velocities of the interstellar medium, expected by the mixing of the stellar mass losses of the lagging stars in the disc with a pre-existing gas in circular orbit.
This volume contains the proceedings of the First Workshop on Logics and Model-checking for self-* systems (MOD* 2014). The worshop took place in Bertinoro, Italy, on 12th of September 2014, and was a satellite event of iFM 2014 (the 11th Internation
al Conference on Integrated Formal Methods). The workshop focuses on demonstrating the applicability of Formal Methods on modern complex systems with a high degree of self-adaptivity and reconfigurability, by bringing together researchers and practitioners with the goal of pushing forward the state of the art on logics and model checking.
In galaxy clusters, the relations between observables in X-ray and millimeter wave bands and the total mass have normalizations, slopes and redshift evolutions that are simple to estimate in a self-similar scenario. We study these scaling relations a
nd show that they can be efficiently expressed, in a more coherent picture, by fixing the normalizations and slopes to the self-similar predictions, and advocating, as responsible of the observed deviations, only three physical mass-dependent quantities: the gas clumpiness $C$, the gas mass fraction $f_g$ and the logarithmic slope of the thermal pressure profile $beta_P$. We use samples of the observed gas masses, temperature, luminosities, and Compton parameters in local clusters to constrain normalization and mass dependence of these 3 physical quantities, and measure: $C^{0.5} f_g = 0.110 (pm 0.002 pm 0.002) left( E_z M / 5 times 10^{14} M_{odot} right)^{0.198 (pm 0.025 pm 0.04)}$ and $beta_P = -d ln P/d ln r = 3.14 (pm 0.04 pm 0.02) left( E_z M / 5 times 10^{14} M_{odot} right)^{0.071 (pm 0.012 pm 0.004)}$, where both a statistical and systematic error (the latter mainly due to the cross-calibration uncertainties affecting the cxo and xmm results used in the present analysis) are quoted. The degeneracy between $C$ and $f_g$ is broken by using the estimates of the Compton parameters. Together with the self-similar predictions, these estimates on $C$, $f_g$ and $beta_P$ define an inter-correlated internally-consistent set of scaling relations that reproduces the mass estimates with the lowest residuals.
We report on multifrequency observations performed during 2012 December-2013 August of the first narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy detected in gamma rays, PMN J0948+0022 ($z$ = 0.5846). A gamma-ray flare was observed by the Large Area Telescope on board F
ermi during 2012 December-2013 January, reaching a daily peak flux in the 0.1-100 GeV energy range of (155 $pm$ 31) $times$10$^{-8}$ ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ on 2013 January 1, corresponding to an apparent isotropic luminosity of about 1.5$times$10$^{48}$ erg s$^{-1}$. The gamma-ray flaring period triggered Swift and VERITAS observations in addition to radio and optical monitoring by OVRO, MOJAVE, and CRTS. A strong flare was observed in optical, UV, and X-rays on 2012 December 30, quasi-simultaneously to the gamma-ray flare, reaching a record flux for this source from optical to gamma rays. VERITAS observations at very high energy (E > 100 GeV) during 2013 January 6-17 resulted in an upper limit of F (> 0.2 TeV) < 4.0$times$10$^{-12}$ ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. We compared the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the flaring state in 2013 January with that of an intermediate state observed in 2011. The two SEDs, modelled as synchrotron emission and an external Compton scattering of seed photons from a dust torus, can be modelled by changing both the electron distribution parameters and the magnetic field.
Simulations of the clustering of cold dark matter yield dark-matter halos that have central density cusps, but observations of totally dark-matter dominated dwarf spheroidal galaxies imply that they do not have cuspy central density profiles. We use
analytic calculations and numerical modelling to argue that whenever stars form, central density cusps are likely to be erased. Gas that accumulates in the potential well of an initially cuspy dark-matter halo settles into a disc. Eventually the surface density of the gas exceeds the threshold for fragmentation into self-gravitating clouds. The clouds are massive enough to transfer energy to the dark-matter particles via dynamical friction on a short time-scale. The halos central cusp is heated to form a core with central logarithmic density slope gamma=0 before stellar feedback makes its impact. Since star formation is an inefficient process, the clouds are disrupted by feedback when only a small fraction of their mass has been converted to stars, and the dark matter dominates the final mass distribution.
