astrobites
AGN
Going Big with LOFAR
Check out these cool new results from LOFAR which is boldly going to some of the longest wavelengths astronomers have ever observed! An active galaxy has a less active past than we might expect, pulsating neutron stars are behaving strangely, and even at wavelengths as long as meters, there are still spectral lines from extremely low-energy atomic transitions.
The Spinning Black Hole at the Center of NGC 1365
Previous authors have claimed that the black hole at the center of NGC 1365 is spinning extremely rapidly. But these claims are based on certain assumptions about the dominance of relativistic effects on the spectrum of NGC 1365. Risaliti et al., dig deeper into the spectral data of this X-ray source and use simulations to determine whether the signatures we see are caused by a rapidly-spinning black hole, or just cloudy (galactic) weather.
Active Galactic Nuclei: How to Stop Star Formation
The authors investigate the fraction of massive galaxies at z ~ 2 that contains an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), in hopes of understanding the importance of AGN in quenching star formation.
Separating AGN activity from star formation at high redshift
Using new data from the MOSFIRE spectrograph, the authors of this paper test the ability of classic emission line diagnostics to separate star formation activity from supermassive black hole accretion at high redshift. What they find may be important for understanding how the growth galaxies and black holes affect one another over cosmic time.
Can you hide a super-massive black hole?
Observational surveys looking for the smallest super-massive black holes come up empty; could they be hiding in plain sight?
Gravitational Lensing in the Canary Islands
I recently attended a two-week crash course in the “Astrophysical Applications of Gravitational Lensing”. In this post, I overview a few of the ways astronomers employ lensing to study the Universe, from extrasolar planets to distant quasars and large-scale structure.
The Hole-y Grail: Looking into (near) the singularity
Title: Jet Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87 Authors: Sheperd S. Doeleman, Vincent L. Fish, David E. Schenck, Christopher Beaudoin, Ray Blundell, Geoffrey C. Bower, Avery E. Broderick, Richard Chamberlin, Robert Freund, Per Friberg, Mark A. Gurwell, Paul T. P. Ho, Mareki Honma, Makoto Inoue, Thomas P. Krichbaum, James Lamb, Abraham [...]
A deep X-ray observation of Hickson Compact Group 62
Rafferty et al. study the effect of radio jets on the intracluster gas in Hickson Compact Group 62.
Massive and Passive Galaxies due to Early Quasar Driven Outflows
In the nearby Universe, massive galaxies contain very little interstellar gas and old stellar populations. But theoretical models predict that such galaxies should have much younger stellar populations. In order to solve this discrepancy models invoke quasar outflows in the early Universe. Such outflows would expel the gas from a galaxy and quench star formation. Presented here are the results from the first massive quasar outflow observer at z ~ 6.4189.
Does AGN feedback trigger star formation?
Active galactic nuclei are some of the most luminous objects in the universe. This paper explores how feedback from AGN could trigger star formation in their host galaxies.
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