Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity Commons^™

Neutrino’S Non-Zero Electric Potential As An Origin Of Gravitation, Domain Structure And Expansion Of The Universe., Polievkt Perov

College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Works

The axial electric potentials of neutrinos as neutral composite structures, while being very small at large distances, do not vanish, and the same can be said about the neutrino “asymmetric dipoles” (paired neutrinos of not the same kind). Depending on the orientation of the “asymmetric dipole”, its far-field electric potential in some direction can be positive or negative, interacting with other “dipoles” at that large distance attractively or repulsively depending on their mutual orientation. The mutual orientation of the dipoles locally (inside a galaxy) might be such that they are aligned and experience the attractive force toward the local center …

The Cosmic History Of X-Ray Binary Evolution, Woodrow Gilbertson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Chandra Deep Fields provide an extraordinary window into the high-energy history of the cosmos. Observations of non-active galaxies within the deep fields can be leveraged to extract information about the formation and evolution of X-ray binaries (XRBs). Previous studies have suggested that the evolution of XRB luminosity can be expressed a function of physical parameters such as star formation rate, stellar mass, stellar age, and metallicity. The goal of this work is to develop and implement a complete physical parameterization for the luminosity of XRB populations, which can be utilized for a variety of further studies.

Chapter 1 provides …

The Discovery Of A Gravitationally Lensed Supernova Ia At Redshift 2.22, David Rubin, Brian Hayden, Xiaosheng Huang, Greg Aldering, R Amanullah, K Barbary, K Boone, M Brodwin, S E. Deustua, S Dixon, P Eisenhardt, A S. Fruchter, A H. Gonzalez, A Goobar, R R. Gupta, I Hook, M. James Jee, A G. Kim, M Kowalski, C Lidman, E V. Linder, K Luther, J Nordin, R Pain, Saul Perlmutter, Z Raha, M Rigault, P Ruiz-Lapuente, C Saunders, C Sofiatti, A L. Spadafora, S A. Stanford, D Stern, N Suzuki, S C. Williams

Physics and Astronomy

We present the discovery and measurements of a gravitationally lensed supernova (SN) behind the galaxy cluster MOO J1014+0038. Based on multi-band Hubble Space Telescope and Very Large Telescope (VLT) photometry of the supernova, and VLT spectroscopy of the host galaxy, we find a 97.5% probability that this SN is a SN Ia, and a 2.5% chance of a CC SN. Our typing algorithm combines the shape and color of the light curve with the expected rates of each SN type in the host galaxy. With a redshift of 2.2216, this is the highest redshift SN Ia discovered with a spectroscopic …

How Many Quasars Have Extremely High Velocity Outflows?, Carla P. Quintero, Sean S. Haas, Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

No abstract provided.

Discovery Of Very-High-Energy Emission From Rgb J2243+203 And Derivation Of Its Redshift Upper Limit, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

Very-high-energy (VHE; > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the blazar RGB J2243+203 was discovered with the VERITAS Cherenkov telescope array, during the period between 2014 December 21 and 24. The VERITAS energy spectrum from this source can be fitted by a power law with a photon index of 4.6 ± 0.5, and a flux normalization at 0.15 TeV of . The integrated Fermi-LAT flux from 1 to 100 GeV during the VERITAS detection is , which is an order of magnitude larger than the four-year-averaged flux in the same energy range reported in the 3FGL catalog, (). The detection with …

Gamma-Rays From The Quasar Pks 1441+25: Story Of An Escape, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

Outbursts from gamma-ray quasars provide insights on the relativistic jets of active galactic nuclei and constraints on the diffuse radiation fields that fill the universe. The detection of significant emission above 100 GeV from a distant quasar would show that some of the radiated gamma-rays escape pair-production interactions with low-energy photons, be it the extragalactic background light (EBL), or the radiation near the supermassive black hole lying at the jet's base. VERITAS detected gamma-ray emission up to ~200 GeV from PKS 1441+25 (z = 0.939) during 2015 April, a period of high activity across all wavelengths. This observation of …

Lensed Type Ia Supernovae As Probes Of Cluster Mass Models, J Nordin, David Rubin, J Richard, E Rykoff, Greg Aldering, R Amanullah, H Atek, K Barbary, S Deustua, H K. Fakhouri, A S. Fruchter, A Goobar, I Hook, E Y. Hsiao, Xiaosheng Huang, J P. Kneib, C Lidman, J Meyers, S Perlmutter, C Saunders, A L. Spadafora, N Suzuki

Physics and Astronomy

Using three magnified Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) detected behind CLASH (Cluster Lensing and Supernovae with Hubble) clusters, we perform a first pilot study to see whether standardizable candles can be used to calibrate cluster mass maps created from strong lensing observations. Such calibrations will be crucial when next-generation Hubble Space Telescope cluster surveys (e.g. Frontier) provide magnification maps that will, in turn, form the basis for the exploration of the high-redshift Universe. We classify SNe using combined photometric and spectroscopic observations, finding two of the three to be clearly of Type Ia and the third probable. The SNe exhibit …

Deep Broadband Observations Of The Distant Gamma-Ray Blazar Pks 1424+240, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope, and Swift UV Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar resides at a redshift of z ≥ 0.6035, displaying a significantly attenuated gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hr of VERITAS observations over three years, a multiwavelength light curve, and the contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux of (2.1 ± 0.3) × 10–7 photons m–2 …

Hard X-Ray Lags In Active Galactic Nuclei: Testing The Distant Reverberation Hypothesis With Ngc 6814, D. J. Walton, A. Zoghbi, E. M. Cackett, P. Uttley, F. A. Harrison, A. C. Fabian, E. Kara, J. M. Miller, R. C. Reis, C. S. Reynolds

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We present an X-ray spectral and temporal analysis of the variable active galaxy NGC 6814, observed with Suzaku during 2011 November. Remarkably, the X-ray spectrum shows no evidence for the soft excess commonly observed amongst other active galaxies, despite its relatively low level of obscuration, and is dominated across the whole Suzaku bandpass by the intrinsic powerlaw-like continuum. Despite this, we clearly detect the presence of a low-frequency hard lag of ~1600 s between the 0.5-2.0 and 2.0-5.0 keV energy bands at greater than 6σ significance, similar to those reported in the literature for a variety of other active galactic …

Calculating Time Lags From Unevenly Sampled Light Curves, A. Zoghbi, C. Reynolds, E. M. Cackett

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

Timing techniques are powerful tools to study dynamical astrophysical phenomena. In the X-ray band, they offer the potential of probing accretion physics down to the event horizon. Recent work has used frequency- and energy-dependent time lags as tools for studying relativistic reverberation around the black holes in several Seyfert galaxies. This was achieved due to the evenly sampled light curves obtained using XMM-Newton. Continuously sampled data are, however, not always available and standard Fourier techniques are not applicable. Here, building on the work of Miller et al., we discuss and use a maximum likelihood method to obtain frequency-dependent lags that …

Discovery Of High-Frequency Iron K Lags In Ark 564 And Mrk 335, E. Kara, A. C. Fabian, E. M. Cackett, P. Uttley, D. R. Wilkins, A. Zoghbi

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We use archival XMM-Newton observations of Ark 564 and Mrk 335 to calculate the frequency-dependent time lags for these two well-studied sources. We discover high-frequency Fe K lags in both sources, indicating that the red wing of the line precedes the rest-frame energy by roughly 100 and 150 s for Ark 564 and Mrk 335, respectively. Including these two new sources, Fe K reverberation lags have been observed in seven Seyfert galaxies. We examine the low-frequency lag-energy spectrum, which is smooth, and shows no feature of reverberation, as would be expected if the low-frequency lags were produced by distant reflection …

Discovery Of Fe Kα X-Ray Reverberation Around The Black Holes In Mcg-5-23-16 And Ngc 7314, A. Zoghbi, C. Reynolds, E. M. Cackett, G. Miniutti, E. Kara, A. C. Fabian

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

Several X-ray observations have recently revealed the presence of reverberation time delays between spectral components in active galactic nuclei. Most of the observed lags are between the power-law Comptonization component, seen directly, and the soft excess produced by reflection in the vicinity of the black hole. NGC 4151 was the first object to show these lags in the iron K band. Here, we report the discovery of reverberation lags in the Fe K band in two other sources: MCG-5-23-16 and NGC 7314. In both objects, the 6-7 keV band, where the Fe Kα line peaks, lags the bands at lower …

Confirmation Of The Nature Of The Absorber In Iras 09104+4109, Chia-Ying Chiang, E. M. Cackett, P. Gandhi, A. C. Fabian

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We present the first long Suzaku observation of the hyperluminous infrared galaxy IRAS 09104+4109 which is dominated by a Type 2 AGN. The infrared to X-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) indicates that the source is an obscured quasar with a Compton-thin absorber. However, the 3σ hard X-ray detection of the source with the BeppoSAX PDS suggested a reflection-dominated, Compton-thick view. The high-energy detection was later found to be possibly contaminated by another Type 2 AGN, NGC 2785, which is only 17 arcmin away. Our new Suzaku observation offers simultaneous soft and hard X-ray coverage and excludes contamination from NGC 2785. …

Revealing The X-Ray Source In Iras 13224-3809 Through Flux-Dependent Reverberation Lags, E. Kara, A. C. Fabian, E. M. Cackett, G. Miniutti, P. Uttley

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

IRAS 13224-3809 was observed in 2011 for 500 ks with the XMM-Newton observatory. We detect highly significant X-ray lags between soft (0.3-1 keV) and hard (1.2-5 keV) energies. The hard band lags the soft at low frequencies (i.e. hard lag), while the opposite (i.e. soft lag) is observed at high frequencies. In this paper, we study the lag during flaring and quiescent periods. We find that the frequency and absolute amplitude of the soft lag are different during high-flux and low-flux periods. During the low-flux intervals, the soft lag is detected at higher frequencies and with smaller amplitude. Assuming that …

A Soft X-Ray Reverberation Lag In The Agn Eso 113-G010, E. M. Cackett, A. C. Fabian, A. Zogbhi, E. Kara, C. Reynolds, P. Uttley

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

Reverberation lags have recently been discovered in a handful of nearby, variable active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Here, we analyze a ~100 ks archival XMM-Newton observation of the highly variable AGN, ESO 113-G010, in order to search for lags between hard, 1.5-4.5 keV, and soft, 0.3-0.9 keV, energy X-ray bands. At the lowest frequencies available in the light curve (lsim 1.5 × 10^-4 Hz), we find hard lags where the power-law-dominated hard band lags the soft band (where the reflection fraction is high). However, at higher frequencies in the range (2-3) × 10^-4 Hz we find a soft lag …

Regulation Of Black Hole Winds And Jets Across The Mass Scale, A. L. King, J. M. Miller, J. Raymond, A. C. Fabian, C. S. Reynolds, K. Gültekin, E. M. Cackett, S. W. Allen, D. Proga, T. R. Kallman

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

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 spectra facilitate the characterization of the outflow velocity, ionization, and column density of the absorbing gas. We find that the kinetic power of the winds, derived from these observed quantities, scales with increasing bolometric luminosity as log (L _{wind, 42}/C_v ) = (1.58 ± 0.07)log (L _{Bol, 42}) - (3.19 ± 0.19). This suggests that supermassive …

A Chandra Survey Of Supermassive Black Holes With Dynamical Mass Measurements, Kayhan Gültekin, Edward M. Cackett, Jon M. Miller, Tiziana Di Matteo, Sera Markoff, Douglas O. Richstone

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We present Chandra observations of 12 galaxies that contain supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with dynamical mass measurements. Each galaxy was observed for 30 ks and resulted in a total of 68 point-source detections in the target galaxies including SMBH sources, ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), and extragalactic X-ray binaries. Based on our fits of the X-ray spectra, we report fluxes, luminosities, Eddington ratios, and slope of the power-law spectrum. Normalized to the Eddington luminosity, the 2-10 keV band X-ray luminosities of the SMBH sources range from 10^-8 to 10^-6, and the power-law slopes are centered at ~2 with …

Veritas Observations Of The Unusual Extragalactic Transient Swift J164449.3+573451, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

We report on very high energy (>100 GeV) gamma-ray observations of Swift J164449.3+573451, an unusual transient object first detected by the Swift Observatory and later detected by multiple radio, optical, and X-ray observatories. A total exposure of 28 hr was obtained on Swift J164449.3+573451 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) during 2011 March 28-April 15. We do not detect the source and place a differential upper limit on the emission at 500 GeV during these observations of 1.4 × 10–12 erg cm–2 s–1 (99% confidence level). We also present time-resolved upper limits and use a …

A Distinctive Disk-Jet Coupling In The Seyfert-1 Active Galactic Nucleus Ngc 4051, A. L. King, J. M. Miller, E. M. Cackett, A. C. Fabian, S. Markoff, M. A. Nowak, M. Rupen, K. Gültekin, M. T. Reynolds

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We report on the results of a simultaneous monitoring campaign employing eight Chandra X-ray (0.5-10 keV) and six Very Large Array/Extended Very Large Array (8.4 GHz) radio observations of NGC 4051 over seven months. Evidence for compact jets is observed in the 8.4 GHz radio band; this builds on mounting evidence that jet production may be prevalent even in radio-quiet Seyferts. Assuming comparatively negligible local diffuse emission in the nucleus, the results also demonstrate an inverse correlation of L _radio ∝ L ^-0.72±0.04 _X-ray . If the A configuration is excluded in the case where diffuse emission plays a significant …

Stirring Up The Pot: Can Cooling Flows In Galaxy Clusters Be Quenched By Gas Sloshing?, J. A. A. Zuhone, M. Markevitch, R. E. Johnson

Dartmouth Scholarship

X-ray observations of clusters of galaxies reveal the presence of edges in surface brightness and temperature, known as "cold fronts." In relaxed clusters with cool cores, these commonly observed edges have been interpreted as evidence for the "sloshing" of the core gas in the cluster's gravitational potential. Such sloshing may provide a source of heat to the cluster core by mixing hot gas from the cluster outskirts with the cool-core gas. Using high-resolution N-body/Eulerian hydrodynamic simulations, we model gas sloshing in galaxy clusters initiated by mergers with subclusters. The simulations include merger scenarios with gas-filled and gasless subclusters. The …

The Fundamental Plane Of Accretion Onto Black Holes With Dynamical Masses, Kayhan Gültekin, Edward M. Cackett, Jon M. Miller, Tiziana Di Matteo, Sera Markoff, Douglas O. Richstone

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

Black hole accretion and jet production are areas of intensive study in astrophysics. Recent work has found a relation between radio luminosity, X-ray luminosity, and black hole mass. With the assumption that radio and X-ray luminosities are suitable proxies for jet power and accretion power, respectively, a broad fundamental connection between accretion and jet production is implied. In an effort to refine these links and enhance their power, we have explored the above relations exclusively among black holes with direct, dynamical mass-measurements. This approach not only eliminates systematic errors incurred through the use of secondary mass measurements, but also effectively …

Effects Of Gravitational Slip On The Higher-Order Moments Of The Matter Distribution, Scott F. Daniel

Dartmouth Scholarship

Cosmological departures from general relativity offer a possible explanation for the cosmic acceleration. To linear order, these departures (quantified by the model-independent parameter ϖ, referred to as a “gravitational slip”) amplify or suppress the growth of structure in the universe relative to what we would expect to see from a general relativistic universe lately dominated by a cosmological constant. As structures collapse and become more dense, linear perturbation theory is an inadequate descriptor of their behavior, and one must extend calculations to nonlinear order. If the effects of gravitational slip extend to these higher orders, we might expect to see …

Constraining The Spin Of The Black Hole In Fairall 9 With Suzaku, S. Schmoll, J. M. Miller, M. Volonteri, E. Cackett, C. S. Reynolds, A. C. Fabian, L. W. Brenneman, G. Miniutti, L. C. Gallo

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We report on the results of spectral fits made to data obtained from a 168 ks Suzaku observation of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Fairall 9. The source is clearly detected out to 30 keV. The observed spectrum is fairly simple; it is well described by a power law with soft excess and disk reflection. A broad iron line is detected, and easily separated from distinct narrow components owing to the resolution of the CCDs in the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS). The broad line is revealed to be asymmetric, consistent with a disk origin. We fit the XIS and Hard X-ray …

Dark Matter Scaling Relations And The Assembly Epoch Of Coma Early-Type Galaxies, J. Thomas, R. P. Saglia, R. Bender, D. Thomas, K. Gebhardt, J Magorrian, E. M. Corsini, G. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

Axisymmetric, orbit-based dynamical models are used to derive dark matter scaling relations for Coma early-type galaxies. From faint to bright galaxies, halo core radii and asymptotic circular velocities increase. Compared to spirals of the same brightness, the majority of Coma early-type galaxies—those with old stellar populations—have similar halo core radii but more than two times larger asymptotic halo velocities. The average dark matter density inside 2 r _eff decreases with increasing luminosity and is 6.8 times larger than in disk galaxies of the same B-band luminosity. Compared at the same stellar mass, dark matter densities in ellipticals are 13.5 …

Ages And Metallicities Of Early-Type Void Galaxies From Line Strength Measurements, Gary Wegner, Norman A. Grogin

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present spectroscopic observations of 26 galaxies of type E and S0, based on their blue morphologies, located in voids by the study of Grogin & Geller in 1999. Measurements of redshift, velocity dispersion, and four Lick line indices, Mg _b , Fe5270, Fe5335, and Hβ with their errors are given for all of these galaxies, along with Hβ, [O III], Hα, and [N II] emission line strengths for a subset of these objects. These sources are brighter than M* for low-density regions and tend to be bluer than their counterpart early-type objects in high-density regions. Using the models …

Large Scale Structure As A Probe Of Gravitational Slip, Scott F. Daniel, Robert R. Caldwell, Asantha Cooray, Alessandro Melchiorri

Dartmouth Scholarship

A new time-dependent, scale-independent parameter, ϖ, is employed in a phenomenological model of the deviation from general relativity in which the Newtonian and longitudinal gravitational potentials slip apart on cosmological scales as dark energy, assumed to be arising from a new theory of gravitation, appears to dominate the Universe. A comparison is presented between ϖ and other parametrized post-Friedmannian models in the literature. The effect of ϖ on the cosmic microwave background anisotropy spectrum, the growth of large-scale structure, the galaxy weak-lensing correlation function, and cross correlations of cosmic microwave background anisotropy with galaxy clustering are illustrated. Cosmological models with …

Observational Constraints On General Relativistic Energy Conditions, Cosmic Matter Density And Dark Energy From X-Ray Clusters Of Galaxies And Type-La Supernovae, P. Schuecker, R. R. Caldwell, H. Böhringer, C. A. Collins

Dartmouth Scholarship

New observational constraints on the cosmic matter density Ωm and an effectively redshift-independent equation

of state parameter wx of the dark energy are obtained while simultaneously testing the strong and null energy conditions of

general relativity on macroscopic scales. The combination of REFLEX X-ray cluster and type-Ia supernova data shows that

for a flat Universe the strong energy condition might presently be violated whereas the null energy condition seems to be

fulfilled. This provides another observational argument for the present accelerated cosmic expansion and the absence of exotic

physical phenomena related to a broken null energy condition. The marginalization of …

Comparing The Sfi Peculiar Velocities With The Pscz Gravity Field: A Velmod Analysis, E. Branchini, W. Freudling, L. N. Da Costa, C. S. Frenk, R. Giovanelli, M. P. Haynes, J. J. Salzer, G. Wegner, I. Zehavi

Dartmouth Scholarship

We compare the peculiar velocities derived from the I-band Tully–Fisher (TF) relation for 989 field spiral galaxies in the SFI catalogue with the predicted velocity field derived from the IRAS PSCz galaxy redshift survey. We assume linear gravitational instability theory and apply the maximum likelihood technique, VELMOD to SFI galaxies within a redshift cz LG =6000 km s⁻¹. The resulting calibration of the TF relation is consistent with a previous, independent calibration for a similar sample of spirals residing in clusters. Our analysis provides an accurate estimate of the quantity β_I ≡ Ω_m^{0.6 …}

Large-Scale Power Spectrum And Structures From The Enear Galaxy Peculiar Velocity Catalogue, S. Zaroubi, M. Bernardi, L. N. Da Costa, Y. Hoffman, M. V. Alonso, G. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

We estimate the mass density fluctuations power spectrum (PS) on large scales by applying a maximum likelihood technique to the peculiar velocity data of the recently completed redshift—distance survey of early-type galaxies (hereafter ENEAR). Parametric cold dark matter (CDM)-like models for the PS are assumed, and the best-fitting parameters are determined by maximizing the probability of the model given the measured peculiar velocities of the galaxies, their distances and estimated errors. The method has been applied to CDM models with and without COBE normalization. The general results are in agreement with the high-amplitude power spectra found from similar analyses of …

A Spectroscopic Redshift For The Cl 0024+16 Multiple Arc System: Implications For The Central Mass Distribution, Tom Broadhurst, Xiaosheng Huang, Brenda Frye, Richard Ellis

Physics and Astronomy

We present a spectroscopic redshift of z = 1.675 for the well-known multiply lensed system of arcs seen in the z = 0.39 cluster Cl 0024+16. In contrast to earlier work, we find that the lensed images are accurately reproduced by a projected mass distribution which traces the locations of the brightest cluster elliptical galaxies, suggesting that the most significant minima of the cluster potential are not dynamically erased. The averaged mass profile is shallow and consistent with predictions of recent numerical simulations. The source redshift enables us to determine an enclosed cluster mass of M(<100 kpc h-1) = …