We obtained UV spectra of X-ray binary Scorpius X-1 in the 900-1200 A range with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer over the full 0.79 day binary orbit. The strongest emission lines are the doublet of O VI at 1032,1038 A and the C III complex
at 1175 A. The spectrum is affected by a multitude of narrow interstellar absorption lines, both atomic and molecular. Examination of line variability and Doppler tomograms suggests emission from both the neighborhood of the donor star and the accretion disk. Models of turbulence and Doppler broadened Keplerian disk lines Doppler shifted with the orbit of the neutron star added to narrow Gaussian emission lines with undetermined Doppler shift fit the data with consistent values of disk radius, inclination, and radial line brightness profile. The Doppler shift of the narrow component with the orbit suggests an association with the donor star. We test our line models with previously analyzed near UV spectra obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph and archival spectra obtained with the HST Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
Ultraviolet spectra of the extended solar corona have been routinely obtained by SoHO/UVCS since 1996. Sudden variations of spectral parameters are mainly due to the detection of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) crossing the instrumental slit. We presen
t a catalog of CME ultraviolet spectra based upon a systematic search of events in the LASCO CME catalog, and we discuss their statistical properties. Our catalog includes 1059 events through the end of 2005, covering nearly a full solar cycle. It is online available at the URL http://solarweb.oato.inaf.it/UVCS_CME and embedded in the online LASCO CME catalog (http://cdaw.gsfc.nasa.gov/CME_list). The emission lines observed provide diagnostics of CME plasma parameters, such as the light-of-sight velocity, density and temperature and allow to link the CME onset data to the extended corona white-light images. The catalog indicates whether there are clear signatures of features such as shock waves, current sheets, O VI flares, helical motions and which part of the CME structures (front, cavity or prominence material) are detected. The most common detected structure is the cool prominence material (in about 70% of the events). For each event, the catalog also contains movie, images, plots and information relevant to address detailed scientific investigations. The number of events detected in UV is about 1/10 of the LASCO CMEs, and about 1/4 of the halo events. We find that UVCS tends to detect faster, more massive and energetic CME than LASCO and for about 40% of the events events it has been possible to determine the plasma light-of-sight velocity.
We present a study of the mechanical power generated by both winds and jets across the black hole mass scale. We begin with the study of ionized X-ray winds and present a uniform analysis using Chandra grating spectra. The high quality grating spectr
a facilitate the characterization of the outflow velocity, ionization and column density of the absorbing gas. We find that the kinetic power of the winds scales with increasing bolometric luminosity as log(L_wind) propto (1.58 pm 0.07) log(L_Bol). This means that SMBH may be more efficient than stellar-mass black holes in launching winds. In addition, the simplicity of the scaling may suggest common driving mechanisms across the mass scale. For comparison, we next examine jet production, estimating jet power based on the energy required to inflate local bubbles. The jet relation is log(L_Jet)propto (1.18pm0.24) log(L_Bol). The energetics of the bubble associated with Cygnus X-1 are particularly difficult to determine, and the bubble could be a background SNR. If we exclude Cygnus X-1, then the jets follow a consistent relation to the winds within errors but with a higher normalization, log(L_Jet) propto (1.34 pm 0.50) log(L_Bol). The formal consistency in the wind and jet scaling relations suggests that a common launching mechanism may drive both flows; magnetic processes are viable possibilities. We also examine winds with especially high velocities, v > 0.01c. These ultra-fast outflows tend to resemble the jets more than the winds, indicating we may be observing a regime in which winds become jets. This study allows for the total power from black hole accretion, both mechanical and radiative, to be characterized in a simple manner and suggests a possible connection between winds and jets. Finally, we find at low Eddington fractions, the jet power is dominant, and at high Eddington fractions the wind power is dominant.
We present both phenomenological and more physical photoionization models of the Chandra HETG spectra of the Seyfert-1 AGN NGC 4051. We detect 40 absorption and emission lines, encompassing highly ionized charge states from O, Ne, Mg, Si, S and the F
e L-shell and K-shell. Two independent photoionization packages, XSTAR and Cloudy, were both used to self-consistently model the continuum and line spectra. These fits detected three absorbing regions in this system with densities ranging from 10^{10} to 10^{11} cm^{-3}. In particular, our XSTAR models require three components that have ionization parameters of log xi = 4.5, 3.3, & 1.0, and are located within the BLR at 70, 300, and 13,000 R_g, respectively, assuming a constant wind density. Larger radii are inferred for density profiles which decline with radius. The Cloudy models give a similar set of parameters with ionization parameters of log xi = 5.0, 3.6, & 2.2 located at 40, 200, and 3,300 R_g. We demonstrate that these regions are out-flowing from the system, and carry a small fraction of material out of the system relative to the implied mass accretion rate. The data suggest that magnetic fields may be an important driving mechanism.
{it Chandra} spectroscopy of transient stellar-mass black holes in outburst has clearly revealed accretion disk winds in soft, disk--dominated states, in apparent anti-correlation with relativistic jets in low/hard states. These disk winds are observ
ed to be highly ionized, dense, and to have typical velocities of $sim$1000 km/s or less projected along our line of sight. Here, we present an analysis of two {it Chandra} High Energy Transmission Grating spectra of the Galactic black hole candidate IGR J17091$-$3624 and contemporaneous EVLA radio observations, obtained in 2011. The second {it Chandra} observation reveals an absorption line at 6.91$pm$0.01 keV; associating this line with He-like Fe XXV requires a blue-shift of $9300^{+500}_{-400}$ km/s (0.03$c$, or the escape velocity at 1000 R$_{Schw}$). This projected outflow velocity is an order of magnitude higher than has previously been observed in stellar-mass black holes, and is broadly consistent with some of the fastest winds detected in active galactic nuclei. A potential feature at 7.32 keV, if due to Fe XXVI, would imply a velocity of $sim 14600$ km/s (0.05$c$), but this putative feature is marginal. Photoionization modeling suggests that the accretion disk wind in IGR J17091$-$3624 may originate within 43,300 Schwarzschild radii of the black hole, and may be expelling more gas than accretes. The contemporaneous EVLA observations strongly indicate that jet activity was indeed quenched at the time of our {it Chandra} observations. We discuss the results in the context of disk winds, jets, and basic accretion disk physics in accreting black hole systems.
We present an Ha spectral observation of a Balmer-dominated shock on the eastern side of Tychos supernova remnant using the Subaru Telescope. Utilizing the High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS), we measure the spatial variation of the line profile betwe
en preshock and postshock gas. Our observation clearly shows a broadening and centroid shift of the narrow-component postshock Ha line relative to the Ha emission from the preshock gas. The observation supports the existence of a thin precursor where gas is heated and accelerated ahead of the shock. Furthermore, the spatial profile of the emission ahead of the Balmer filament shows a gradual gradient in the Ha intensity and line width ahead of the shock. We propose that this region (~10^16 cm) is likely to be the spatially resolved precursor. The line width increases from ~30 up to ~45 km/s, and its central velocity shows a redshift of ~5 km/s across the shock front. The characteristics of the precursor are consistent with a cosmic-ray precursor, although the possibility of a fast neutral precursor is not ruled out.
