arXiv subjects

J. T. Stocke

Publications and source records attributed to J. T. Stocke.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

High-Resolution Radio Imaging of Gravitational Lensing Candidates in the 1 Jansky BL Lac Sample

While BL Lacertae objects are widely believed to be highly beamed, low-luminosity radio galaxies, many radio-selected BL Lacs have extended radio power levels and optical emission lines that are too luminous to be low-luminosity radio galaxies. Also, Stocke & Rector discovered an excess of MgII absorption systems along BL Lac sightlines compared to quasars, suggesting that gravitational lensing may be another means of creating the BL Lac phenomenon in some cases. We present a search for gravitationally-lensed BL Lacs with deep, high-resolution, two-frequency VLA radio maps of seven lensing candidates from the 1 Jansky BL Lac sample. We find that none of these objects are resolved into an Einstein ring like B 0218+357, nor do any show multiple images of the core. All of the lensing candidates that were resolved show a flat-spectrum core and very unusual, steep-spectrum extended morphology that is incompatible with a multiply lensed system. Thus, while these observations do not rule out microlensing, no macrolensing is observed.

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arXiv2001

Astronomical Constraints on the Cosmic Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant and Possible Quantum Dimensions

We present measurements of absorption by the 21cm hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen toward radio sources at substantial look-back times. These data are used in combination with observations of rotational transitions of common interstellar molecules, to set limits on the evolution of the fine structure constant: (dot alpha)/alpha < 3.5e-15/yr to a look-back time of 4.8 Gyr. The neutral hydrogen observations employed Very Long Baseline Interferometry in order to mitigate the substantial uncertainty arising from the fact that observations at very different wavelengths may probe different lines-of-site due to frequency dependent structure of the background source. We discuss the implication of these results on theories unifying natural forces based on compact quantum dimensions. In the context of string theory, the limit on the secular evolution of the scale factor of these compact dimensions, R, is (dot R)/R < 1e-15/yr. Including terrestrial and other astronomical measurements places limits (2sigma) on slow oscillations of R from the present to the epoch of cosmic nucleosynthesis, just seconds after the big bang, of (Delta R)/R < 1e-5.

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arXiv2000

Surveys and the Blazar Parameter Space

The rareness of blazars, combined with the previous history of relatively shallow, single-band surveys, has dramatically colored our perception of these objects. Despite a quarter-century of research, it is not at all clear whether current samples can be combined to give us a relatively unbiased view of blazar properties, or whether they present a view so heavily affected by biases inherent in single-band surveys that a synthesis is impossible. We will use the coverage of X-ray/radio flux space for existing surveys to assess their biases. Only new, deeper blazar surveys approach the level needed in depth and coverage of parameter space to give us a less biased view of blazars. These surveys have drastically increased our knowledge of blazars' properties. We will specifically review the discovery of ``blue'' blazars, objects with broad emission lines but broadband spectral characteristics similar to HBL BL Lac objects.

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arXiv2000

The Properties of the X-Ray-Selected EMSS Sample of BL Lac Objects

We present updated and complete radio, optical and X-ray data for BL Lacs in the Einstein Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS). The complete "M91" sample first presented in Morris et al. is updated to include 26 BL Lacs in total and we define a new, virtually complete sample consisting of 41 EMSS BL Lacs (the "D40" sample). New high signal-to-noise, arcsecond-resolution VLA observations are also presented for eleven EMSS BL Lacs, completing VLA observations of the M91 sample. The addition of four new objects, as well as updated X-ray flux and redshift information, has increased the v/v_max value for the M91 sample to 0.399\pm0.057; and v/v_max = 0.427\pm0.045 for the newly defined D40 sample. In conjunction with other studies of X-ray-selected BL Lac (XBL) samples, these results solidify negative evolution for XBLs, especially for more extreme high-energy-peaked BL Lacs. The observed v/v_max, spectral and radio properties of XBLs are completely consistent with being the beamed population of low-luminosity, FR-1 radio galaxies. However, our VLA observations do confirm that XBLs are too core-dominated to be consistent with a beamed population of FR-1s seen at intermediate angles, as suggested by the unified model, if XBLs have moderate outflow velocities (gamma approx 5).

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arXiv2000

FUSE Observations of the Low-Redshift Lyman-beta Forest

We describe a moderate-resolution (20-25 km/s) FUSE study of the low-redshift intergalactic medium. We report on studies of 7 extragalactic sightlines and 12 Ly-beta absorbers that correspond to Ly-alpha lines detected by HST/GHRS and STIS. These absorbers appear to contain a significant fraction of the low-z baryons and were a major discovery of the HST spectrographs. Using FUSE data, with 40 mA (4-sigma) Lyb detection limits, we have employed the equivalent width ratio of Lyb/Lya and occasionally higher Lyman lines, to determine the doppler parameter, b, and accurate column densities, N(HI), for moderately saturated lines. We detect Lyb absorption corresponding to all Lya lines with EW > 200 mA. The Lyb/Lya ratios yield a preliminary distribution function of doppler parameters, with mean = 31.4 +/- 7.4 km/s and median b = 28 km/s, comparable to values at redshifts z = 2.0-2.5. If thermal, these b-values correspond to T(HI) ~ 50,000 K, although the inferred doppler parameters are considerably less than the widths derived from Lya profile fitting, = 0.52. The typical increase in column density over that derived from profile fitting is Delta[log N(HI)] = 0.3, but ranges up to 1.0 dex. Our data suggest that the low-z Lya absorbers contain sizable non-thermal motions or velocity components in the line profile, perhaps arising from cosmological expansion and infall.

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