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Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy
Multiwavelength Blazar Studies, Menas Kafatos
Multiwavelength Blazar Studies, Menas Kafatos
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
The present report concerns the following projects 'High energy emission from hot accretion disks from active galactic nuclei'; 'OSSE spectral timing and monitoring observations of Cygnus X- 1'; 'OSSE observations of blazars'; and 'Search for correlated time variations of bright EGRET blazars'. The most favored model for the central engine inAGNs is the supermassive black hole hypothesis (Rees 1978). The observed luminosities range from approx. 10 logical and 44-45 erg /s for objects such as Mk 421 and Seyferts to as much as approx. 10logical and 47 for powerful QSOs such as 3C 273 and 3C 279, a large fraction …
Gamma Rays From Penrose Powered Black Holes In Centaurus A, 3c 273, And Ngc 4151, Menas Kafatos
Gamma Rays From Penrose Powered Black Holes In Centaurus A, 3c 273, And Ngc 4151, Menas Kafatos
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
Gamma-ray observations of active galaxies have important consequences for theories of the activity in their nuclei. The observations of Cen A, 3C 273, and NGC 4151 are examined under the assumption that Penrose collision processes in the ergospheres of massive black holes power their nuclei. The observed sharp break in the MeV region of the NGC 4151 spectrum cannot be due to the γ-γ pair production process. We attribute this break to the Penrose Compton scattering (PCS), in which γ-rays escape from the ergosphere as a result of Penrose processes involving electrons and lower energy X-ray photons in the ergosphere …
The Central, Compact Source In The Cygnus A Galaxy, Menas Kafatos
The Central, Compact Source In The Cygnus A Galaxy, Menas Kafatos
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
Single, optically thin, component models as well as double, optically thick at low frequencies, component models have been examined in trying to explain the central source in the nucleus of Cygnus A. In the course of exploring those models, it is found that this compact radio source may be quite similar to other compact and variable sources in Seyfert galaxies and quasars. Double component models generally do better because they fit the X-rays, and there is a good chance that the X-rays arise in the central source; these models can naturally explain variability which may already have been detected in …
Penrose Pair Production In Massive, Extreme Kerr Black Holes, D. Leiter, Menas Kafatos
Penrose Pair Production In Massive, Extreme Kerr Black Holes, D. Leiter, Menas Kafatos
Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research
We show that in the case of very massive (M > 108 M0 ) Kerr black holes with extreme ranges of angular momentum 1 ≥ a/M > 0.998, the possibility of photon-induced Penrose pair production (PPP) in the ergosphere is very plausible. The pairs that escape the ergosphere are very high energy and on the order of the GeV rest mass of the Penrose accreted protons which participate in the photon-induced pair production process. Application of this model to the case of quasistellar objects (QSOs) is shown to lead to reasonable predictions about their masses, lifetimes, and luminosities. The physical mechanism is …