arXiv subjects

John N. Bahcall

Publications and source records attributed to John N. Bahcall.

96 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv1993

The Ultraviolet Emission Properties of Five Low-Redshift Active Galactic Nuclei at High Signal to Noise and Spectral Resolution

We analyze the ultraviolet (UV) emission line and continuum properties of five low-redshift active galactic nuclei (four luminous quasars: PKS~0405$-$123, H1821+643, PG~0953+414, and 3C273, and one bright Seyfert 1 galaxy: Mrk~205). The HST spectra have higher signal-to-noise ratios (typically $\sim 60$ per resolution element) and spectral resolution ($R = 1300$) than all previously- published UV spectra used to study the emission characteristics of active galactic nuclei. We include in the analysis ground-based optical spectra covering \hb\ and the narrow [O III] $λλ$4959,5007 doublet. The following new results are obtained: \lyb/\lya=0.03$-$0.12 for the four quasars, which is the first accurate measurement of the long-predicted \lyb\ intensity in QSOs. The cores of \lya\ and C~IV are symmetric to an accuracy of better than 2.5% within about 2000 km s$^{-1}$ of the line peak. This high degree of symmetry of \lya\ argues against models in which the broad line cloud velocity field has a significant radial component. The observed smoothness of the \lya\ and C~IV line profiles requires at least $\sim 10^4$ individual clouds if bulk velocity is the only line-broadening mechanism. The overall similarity of the \lya\ and C IV $λ$1549 profiles rules out models for the broad line region (BLR) with a radial distribution of virialized....

astro-ph↗

arXiv1993

Element Diffusion in the Solar Interior

We study the diffusion of helium and other heavy elements in the solar interior by solving exactly the set of flow equations developed by Burgers for a multi-component fluid, including the residual heat-flow terms. No approximation is made concerning the relative concentrations and no restriction is placed on the number of elements considered. We give improved diffusion velocities for hydrogen, helium, oxygen and iron, in the analytic form derived previously by Bahcall and Loeb. These expressions for the diffusion velocities are simple to program in stellar evolution codes and are expected to be accurate to $\sim 15\%$. Our complete treatment of element diffusion can be directly incorporated in a standard stellar evolution code by means of an exportable subroutine, but, for convenience, we also give simple analytical fits to our numerical results.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1993

g-modes and the Solar Neutrino Problem

We show that low-order g-modes with large enough amplitudes to affect significantly the solar neutrino fluxes would produce surface velocities that are $10^4$ times larger than the observed upper limits and hence are ruled out by existing data. We also demonstrate that any large-amplitude, short-period oscillations that grow on a Kelvin-Helmholtz time scale will require, to affect solar neutrino fluxes, a large amount of energy (for g-modes, $10^9$ times the energy in the observed $p-$ mode oscillations) and a tiny amount of dissipation (for g-modes, $10^{-8}$ the dissipation rate of the $p$-modes).

hep-ph↗

arXiv1992

Do Solar Neutrino Experiments Imply New Physics?

None of the 1000 solar models in a full Monte Carlo simulation is consistent with the results of the chlorine or the Kamiokande experiments. Even if the solar models are forced artifically to have a \b8 neutrino flux in agreeement with the Kamiokande experiment, none of the fudged models agrees with the chlorine observations. The GALLEX and SAGE experiments, which currently have large statistical uncertainties, differ from the predictions of the standard solar model by $2 σ$ and $3 σ$, respectively.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1992

What Do Solar Models Tell Us About Solar Neutrino Experiments?

If the published event rates of the chlorine and Kamiokande solar neutrino experiments are correct, then the energy spectrum of neutrinos produced by the decay of $^8$B in the sun must be different from the energy spectrum determined from laboratory nuclear physics measurements. This change in the energy spectrum requires physics beyond the standard electroweak model. In addition, the GALLEX and SAGE experiments, which currently have large statistical uncertainties, differ from the predictions of the standard solar model by $2 σ$ and $3 σ$, respectively.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1992

Recent Work on Standard Solar Models

Recent results on standard solar models are reviewed. I shall summarize briefly three of the themes that I stressed at the Neutrino '92 Conference: 1) Different solar model codes give the same answers when the same input data are used; 2) Improved calculations of standard solar models include helium diffusion, the Livermore radiative opacity, the meteoritic iron abundance, and a variety of other corrections; and 3) There are a few basic rules that should be followed in using standard solar models. At the Neutrino '92 Conference, I reviewed in more detail the recent work on standard solar models by Marc Pinsonneault and myself. This work has by now appeared in print (Rev. Mod. Phys. 64, 885, 1992, hereafter Paper I, and ApJ Letters, 69, 717, 1992, Paper II). Therefore, there is no need for me to repeat the details here.

hep-ph↗