Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Jianyan Wei

Publications and source records attributed to Jianyan Wei.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Three Spectacular HII-buried-AGN Galaxies from SDSS

We present our analysis of the three HII-buried-AGN: SDSS J091053+333008, SDSS J121837+091324, and SDSS J153002-020415, by studying their optical spectra extracted from SDSS. The location in the BPT diagnostic diagrams of the three galaxies indicates that the narrow emission lines are mainly exited from HII regions. However, after the removal of the host galaxy's stellar emission, the emission lines display the typical feature of Narrow-line Seyfert 1-like. All of the three objects have large Eddington ratio, small black hole mass, and low star formation rate. We propose that the three galaxies are at the transit stage from the starburst-dominated phase to AGN-dominated phase.

astro-ph.CO↗

Extending the Eigenvector 1 Space to the Optical Variability of Quasars

We introduce a new physical parameter, the optical variability amplitude, to the well-established Eigenvector 1 space of quasars and test a sample of long-term B-band light curves of 42 PG quasars monitored by Giveon et al. (1999). We find that the optical variability amplitude strongly correlates with the intensity ratio of Fe II to H$β$, H$β$ width and peak luminosity at 5007$\rmÅ$. We briefly discuss the physical meaning of our findings and suggest that the Eddington ratio may be a key factor in determining a quasar's variability.

astro-ph.CO↗

The Rapidly Flaring Afterglow of the Very Bright and Energetic GRB 070125

We report on multi-wavelength observations, ranging from the X-ray to radio wave bands, of the IPN-localized gamma-ray burst GRB 070125. Spectroscopic observations reveal the presence of absorption lines due to O I, Si II, and C IV, implying a likely redshift of z = 1.547. The well-sampled light curves, in particular from 0.5 to 4 days after the burst, suggest a jet break at 3.7 days, corresponding to a jet opening angle of ~7.0 degrees, and implying an intrinsic GRB energy in the 1 - 10,000 keV band of around E = (6.3 - 6.9)x 10^(51) erg (based on the fluences measured by the gamma-ray detectors of the IPN network). GRB 070125 is among the brightest afterglows observed to date. The spectral energy distribution implies a host extinction of Av < 0.9 mag. Two rebrightening episodes are observed, one with excellent time coverage, showing an increase in flux of 56% in ~8000 seconds. The evolution of the afterglow light curve is achromatic at all times. Late-time observations of the afterglow do not show evidence for emission from an underlying host galaxy or supernova. Any host galaxy would be subluminous, consistent with current GRB host-galaxy samples. Evidence for strong Mg II absorption features is not found, which is perhaps surprising in view of the relatively high redshift of this burst and the high likelihood for such features along GRB-selected lines of sight.

astro-ph↗

Testing the External Shock Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts using the Late-Time Simultaneous Optical and X-ray Afterglows

We study the ``normal'' decay phase of the X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which follows the shallow decay phase, using the events simultaneously observed in the R-band. The classical external shock model -- in which neither the delayed energy injection nor time-dependency of shock micro-physics is considered -- shows that the decay indices of the X-ray and R-band light curves, $α_{\rm X}$ and $α_{\rm O}$, obey a certain relation, and that in particular, $α_{\rm O}-α_{\rm X}$ should be larger than -1/4 unless the ambient density increases with the distance from the central engine. For our selected 14 samples, we have found that 4 events violate the limit at more than the 3$σ$ level, so that a fraction of events are outliers of the classical external shock model at the ``normal'' decay phase.

astro-ph↗

The narrow-line region of narrow-line and broad-line type 1 AGN I. A zone of avoidance in density

The properties of narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies, the links and correlations between them, and the physics behind them, are still not well understood. Apart from accretion rates and black hole masses, density and outflows were speculated to be among the main drivers of the NLS1 phenomenon. Here, we utilize the diagnostic power of the [SII]6716,6731 intensity ratio to measure the density of the NLR systematically and homogeneously for a large sample of NLS1 galaxies, and we perform a comparison with a sample of broad-line type 1 AGN. We report the discovery of a zone of avoidance in density in the sense that AGN with broad lines (FWHM_Hbeta > 2000 km/s) avoid low densities, while NLS1 galaxies show a wider distribution in the NLR density, including a significant number of objects with low densities. A correlation analysis further shows that the Eddington ratio L/L_Edd anti-correlates with density. We investigate a number of different models for the zone of avoidance in density. Supersolar metallicities and temperature effects, a strong starburst contribution in NLS1 galaxies, different NLR extents and selective obscuration are considered unlikely. Possible differences in the fraction of matter-bounded clouds and differences in the interstellar media of the host galaxies of NLS1 galaxies and broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies can only be tested further with future observations. We tentatively favor the effects of winds/outflows, stronger in NLS1 galaxies than in BLS1 galaxies, to explain the observations.

astro-ph↗

A multi band study of the optically dark GRB 051028

Observations were made of the optical afterglow of GRB 051028 with the Lulin observatory's 1.0 m telescope and the WIDGET robotic telescope system. R band photometric data points were obtained on 2005 October 28 (UT), or 0.095-0.180 days after the burst. There is a possible plateau in the optical light curve around 0.1 days after the burst; the light curve resembles optically bright afterglows (e.g. GRB 041006, GRB 050319, GRB060605) in shape of the light curve but not in brightness. The brightness of the GRB 051028 afterglow is 3 magnitudes fainter than that of one of the dark events, GRB 020124. Optically dark GRBs have been attributed to dust extinction within the host galaxy or high redshift. However, the spectrum analysis of the X-rays implies that there is no significant absorption by the host galaxy. Furthermore, according to the model theoretical calculation of the Ly$α$ absorption to find the limit of GRB 051028's redshift, the expected $R$ band absorption is not high enough to explain the darkness of the afterglow. While the present results disfavor either the high-redshift hypothesis or the high extinction scenario for optically dark bursts, they are consistent with the possibility that the brightness of the optical afterglow, intrinsically dark.

astro-ph↗

Variability of Soft X-ray Spectral Shape: Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies versus Broad-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies

In order to understand how the soft X-ray spectra vary we present the Hardness Ratio 1 versus Count Rates (HR1-CTs) correlation of 8 Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxies (NLS1s) and 14 Broad-line Seyfert1 Galaxies (BLS1s) obtained during the ROSAT PSPC pointing observations. According to our criteria, six of the NLS1s show a positive HR1-CTs correlation, and seven of the BLS1s display an anti-correlation of HR1 versus CTs. The other 2 NLS1s and 7 BLS1s do not show a clear HR1-CTs correlation. From these we can see that the NLS1s statistically show a different spectral shape variability with flux change from the BLS1s: the spectra of NLS1s become harder as total flux increases while those of BLS1s soften. We attribute the different spectral variations to a strong stable 'soft excess' in NLS1s, while it is weak in BLS1s. For two types of objects, the power law component similarly becomes softer with increasing intensity. These imply that the soft excess originates from the Big Blue Bump and power law emission is from Compton upscattering of UV or Soft X-ray photons. Our results are consistent with what is widely accepted that NLS1s have smaller black hole masses and higher accretion rates than BLS1s.

astro-ph↗