17 pages, 13 figures, 1 table (submitted to APJ)
We study the long-term evolution of the global structure of axisymmetric accretion flows onto a black hole (BH) at rates substantially higher than the Eddington value ($\dot{M}_{\rm Edd}$), performing two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations with and without radiative diffusion. In the high-accretion optically-thick limit, where the radiation energy is efficiently trapped within the inflow, the accretion flow becomes adiabatic and comprises of turbulent gas in the equatorial region and strong bipolar outflows. As a result, the mass inflow rate decreases toward the center as $\dot{M}_{\rm in}\propto r^{p}$ with $p\sim 0.5-0.7$ and a small fraction of the inflowing gas feeds the nuclear BH. Thus, super-Eddington accretion is sustained only when a larger amount of gas is supplied from larger radii at $> 100-1000~\dot{M}_{\rm Edd}$. The global structure of the flow settles down to a quasi-steady state in millions of the orbital timescale at the BH event horizon, which is $> 10-100$ times longer than that addressed in previous (magneto-)RHD simulation studies. Energy transport via radiative diffusion accelerates the outflow near the poles in the inner region but does not change the overall properties of the accretion flow compared to the cases without diffusion. Based on our simulation results, we provide a mechanical feedback model for super-Eddington accreting BHs. This can be applied as a sub-grid model in large-scale cosmological simulations that do not sufficiently resolve galactic nuclei, and to the formation of the heaviest gravitational-wave sources via accretion in dense environments.
We have modeled the velocity-resolved reverberation response of the H\b{eta} broad emission line in nine Seyfert 1 galaxies from the Lick Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) Monitioring Project 2016 sample, drawing inferences on the geometry and structure of the low-ionization broad-line region (BLR) and the mass of the central supermassive black hole. Overall, we find that the H\b{eta} BLR is generally a thick disk viewed at low to moderate inclination angles. We combine our sample with prior studies and investigate line-profile shape dependence, such as log10(FWHM/{\sigma}), on BLR structure and kinematics and search for any BLR luminosity-dependent trends. We find marginal evidence for an anticorrelation between the profile shape of the broad H\b{eta} emission line and the Eddington ratio, when using the root-mean-square spectrum. However, we do not find any luminosity-dependent trends, and conclude that AGNs have diverse BLR structure and kinematics, consistent with the hypothesis of transient AGN/BLR conditions rather than systematic trends.
19 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal
Stellar rotation is a complex function of mass, metallicity, and age and can be altered by binarity. To understand the importance of these parameters in main sequence stars, we have assembled a sample of observations that spans a range of these parameters using a combination of observations from The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the Kepler Space Telescope. We find that while we can measure rotation periods and identify other classes of stellar variability (e.g., pulsations) from TESS lightcurves, instrument systematics prevent the detection of rotation signals longer than the TESS orbital period of 13.7 days. Due to this detection limit, we also utilize rotation periods constrained using rotational velocities measured by the APOGEE spectroscopic survey and radii estimated using the Gaia mission for both TESS and Kepler stars. From these rotation periods, we 1) find we can track rotational evolution along discrete mass tracks as a function of stellar age, 2) find we are unable to recover trends between rotation and metallicity that were observed by previous studies, and 3) note that our sample reveals that wide binary companions do not affect rotation, while close binary companions cause stars to exhibit more rapid rotation than single stars.
34 pages, 12 figures, 11 tables
Be stars are B-type main-sequence stars that display broad Balmer emission lines in their spectra. Identification of Be population is essential to further examine the formation and evolutionary models. We report the detection of classical Be (CBe) stars from observations with the Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope Medium Resolution Survey of Date Release 7 (LAMOST MRS DR7). We used a deep convolutional neural network, the ResNet, with an 18-layer module to examine the morphology of the H alpha profile. We identified 1,162 candidate Be stars from the collection of 2,260,387 spectra for 789,918 stars in the database. The ResNet network achieves a Be star classification accuracy of 99.5%. Among the detections, 151 of these are prior known Be stars cross-matched from the literature. By applying a three-step test, we identified 183 new CBe stars. We find that 41 CBe stars are members of known open clusters. Based upon an investigation of the kinematics of the identified CBe stars from the Gaia EDR3 astrometric solutions, we identified 16 new runaways. These new identifications will provide a reference for future follow-ups to further investigate their physical properties.
14 pages, 14 figures, accepted by MNRAS
Galaxy populations show bimodality in a variety of properties: stellar mass, colour, specific star-formation rate, size, and S\'ersic index. These parameters are our feature space. We use an existing sample of 7556 galaxies from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, represented using five features and the K-means clustering technique, showed that the bimodalities are the manifestation of a more complex population structure, represented by between 2 and 6 clusters. Here we use Self Organizing Maps (SOM), an unsupervised learning technique which can be used to visualize similarity in a higher dimensional space using a 2D representation, to map these five-dimensional clusters in the feature space onto two-dimensional projections. To further analyze these clusters, using the SOM information, we agree with previous results that the sub-populations found in the feature space can be reasonably mapped onto three or five clusters. We explore where the "green valley" galaxies are mapped onto the SOM, indicating multiple interstitial populations within the green valley population. Finally, we use the projection of the SOM to verify whether morphological information provided by GalaxyZoo users, for example, if features are visible, can be mapped onto the SOM-generated map. Voting on whether galaxies are smooth, likely ellipticals, or "featured" can reasonably be separated but smaller morphological features (bar, spiral arms) can not. SOMs promise to be a useful tool to map and identify instructive sub-populations in multidimensional galaxy survey feature space, provided they are large enough.
17 pages, 15 figures
As a completely independent method, the measurement of time delay of strongly lensed quasars (TDSL) are crucial to resolve the Hubble tension. Extensive monitoring is required but so far limited to a small sample of strongly lensed quasars. Together with several partner institutes, Beijing Normal University is constructing a 1.93m reflector telescope at the Muztagh-Ata site in west China, which has the world class observing conditions. The telescope will be equipped with both a three-channel imager/photometer which covers $3500-11000$ Angstrom wavelength band, and a low-medium resolution ($\lambda/\delta\lambda=500/2000/7500$) spectrograph. In this paper, we investigate the capability of Muztagh-Ata 1.93m telescope in measuring time delays of strongly lensed quasars. We generate mock strongly lensed quasar systems and light curves with microlensing effects based on five known strongly lensed quasars, i.e., RX J1131-1231, HE 0435-1223, PG 1115+080, WFI 2033-4723 and SDSS 1206+4332. In particular, RX J1131-1231 is generated with lens modeling in this work. Due to lack of enough information, we simulate the other 4 systems with the public data without lens modeling. According to simulations, for RX J1131-like systems (wide variation in time delay between images) the TDSL measurement can be achieved with the precision about $\Delta t=0.5$ day with 4 seasons campaign length and 1 day cadence. This accuracy is comparable to the up-coming TDCOSMO project. And it would be better when the campaign length keeps longer and with high cadence. As a result, the capability of Muztagh-Ata 1.93m telescope allows it to join the network of TDSL observatories. It will enrich the database for strongly lensed quasar observations and make more precise measurements of time delays, especially considering the unique coordinate of the site.
Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 9 pages, 5 figures. Interactive versions of Fig. 2 and data products are available at this https URL
22 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
7 pages + Supplemental Material, 5 figures, comments welcome
22 pages, 13 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal
16 pages, 10 figures
16 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&A
12 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRAS, comments welcome
Accepted for publication by A&A. 21 pages, 11 figures
15 pages, submitted to Physical Review E
12 page, 2 figures, 2 tables
25 pages, 7 figures, comments welcome!
5 pages
22 pages, 13 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in AAS journals
8 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS accepted
17 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS
14 pages, 8 figures, submitted to AAS Journals
Accepted for publication in ApJL
13 pages, 7 figures, submitted to The Astrophysical Journal, August 2021
19 pages, 14 figures, 2 Tables, Accepted for publication in ApJ main journal
Accepted in Phys. Rev. D
18 pages, 7 figures
14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS
20pages, 8 figures
22 pages, 14 figures, Resubmitted to ApJ after referee comments
Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy
accepted for publication in Science China Technological Sciences
Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 19 pages, 6 colour figures, 5 tables. Appendix not included but available from first author on request
13 pages, 10 Figures, 2 Tables
Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy
17 pages. 8 figures. ApJ submitted. Comments welcome
18 pages, 9 figures, submitted to A&A
31 pages, 17 figures, 10 tables, submitted to MNRAS
13 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRAS
Accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy
16 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy, CUBES Special Issue
Published in Experimental Astronomy
32 pages, 9 figures
11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Exp Astron (2022)
ApJ, accepted. 31 pages, 26 figures, 1 table
11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Section 9. The Sun and the Heliosphere of Astronomy and Astrophysics, comments are welcome
44 pages, 16 Figures. This Chapter will appear in the Section "Galaxy Clusters" (Section Editors: E. Pointecouteau, E. Rasia, A. Simionescu) of the "Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics" (Editors in chief: C. Bambi and A. Santangelo)
Proceeding accepted for publication in the 63 Bolet\'in de la Asociaci\'on Argentina de Astronom\'ia, in Spanish language
13 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to ApJ. Comments welcome
10 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, material provided through this https URL
11 pages, 11 figure, submitted to MNRAS
17 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in PSJ
35 pages, 9 figures, code publicly available at this https URL
29 pages, 8 figures
14 pages, 2 tables
9 pages plus appendixes, 4 figures
26 pages, 5 figures
5 pages, 3 figures