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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Time Variation Of The Broad Hβ And Hα Emission Lines In Active Galactic Nuclei, Bryan R. Scott
Time Variation Of The Broad Hβ And Hα Emission Lines In Active Galactic Nuclei, Bryan R. Scott
Physics
High-quality Keck/LRIS long-slit spectra for a sample of 97 active galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (redshift between 0.02 & 0.1; Black Hole Mass approximately 107 Solar Masses) were obtained between January 2009 and March 2010 in order to study the black hole (BH) mass scaling relation in the local universe. Typically, the width of the broad Hβ emission line is used to measure the mass of the black hole (MBH). However, signs of variability in the emission line profile are seen for eight objects: While broad Hβ emission lines had previously been observed in spectra from …
Counting Photons To Calibrate A Photometer For Stellar Intensity Interferometry, Jason Chew
Counting Photons To Calibrate A Photometer For Stellar Intensity Interferometry, Jason Chew
Physics
We use a telescope and photometer to observe stellar photons and measure the rate of observed photons. Based on intensity spectra from the Spectrophotometric Catalogue of Stars, we also predict expected values for the photon rates, which we compare to our measurements. From this comparison, we measure the local optical depth to be τ = 0.60±0.25, a reasonable value. We find that our predictions are directly proportional to our measurements by a factor of 0.98 (+0.02, -0.27) . The similarity between our measurements and expectations shows that we are able to both predict and measure photon rates with accuracy.
Determining The Location Of The Coronal Line Region Within Local Active Galactic Nuclei Using [Fe Vii] Emission Line Properties, Charles Grant Showley
Determining The Location Of The Coronal Line Region Within Local Active Galactic Nuclei Using [Fe Vii] Emission Line Properties, Charles Grant Showley
Physics
Given a sample of 99 local AGNs, we study the characteristics of the forbidden [Fe VII] coronal line for the purpose of determining the location of the coronal line region (CLR) within the AGN. We calculate the velocity of the clouds emitting [Fe VII] using the width of the [Fe VII] emission lines compared to [O II] emission lines to establish whether the clouds are inflowing or outflowing. We plot the [Fe VII] and [O II] flux ratios against the AGNs' known black hole masses and stellar velocity dispersions in order to see if there are any correlations between them. …
Selecting Island Pixels With A Likelihood Ratio, Jordan Tweddale
Selecting Island Pixels With A Likelihood Ratio, Jordan Tweddale
Physics
A new method, called the Log Likelihood Ratio (LLR), was employed in place of a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) to pick out signal pixels on the VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System ) telescopes. The LLR test was performed on both photoelectrons and timing for VERITAS to select island pixels in Stage 2 cleaning, which is where the camera image is processed to determine which pixels on the camera are signal, and which are background. The two LLRs were combined to form a final LLR, which has a numerical cut, LLR = 11.5, between signal and background pixels. The …
Modeling The Spectral Energy Distribution Of Mrk 421, Randall L. Oglesby
Modeling The Spectral Energy Distribution Of Mrk 421, Randall L. Oglesby
Physics
Blazars are astronomical objects thought to be powered by the release of gravitational energy by accretion of material into a supermassive black hole located in the central region of the host galaxy. Some AGN present strong relativistic outflows in the form of jets, with blazars being the particular subset whose jets are aligned with our line of sight. Even though blazars account for only a small fraction of all AGN, they are the dominant class source in the high-energy sky. In this thesis we study the spectral energy distribution of Mrk 421, a prototypical blazar. Using publicly available numerical code …