arXiv subjects

Lucie Cros

Publications and source records attributed to Lucie Cros.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Low-Frequency Recombination Lines from Galaxies and AGN over Cosmic Time

Radio recombination lines (RRLs) at low frequencies (<10 GHz) can provide a multi-phase view of interstellar gas in nearby galaxies, absorption-line-systems, and AGN. Hydrogen RRLs arise in fully ionized gas and carbon RRLs trace elusive cold-HI and CO-dark molecular gas. Low frequency RRLs are typically stimulated by the radio continuum and thus may be observable within or against radio bright sources out to cosmological distances (z ~ 6). Although long sought after, RRLs were only recently detected outside of the local universe (z ~ 1; Emig et al., 2020, 2023). Such detections have been made possible by the advancement of wide-bandwidth spectral-line surveys on next-generation low-frequency telescopes. Precursors and pathfinders to the SKA have opened up this field of research and will make significant advancements over the next years by enabling surveys over large source samples. The SKA will provide access to the crucial frequency ranges where RRL line intensity is brightest. Furthermore, multi-band SKA measurements will fully characterize gas physical conditions. Key extragalactic science of low frequency RRLs will focus on (i) the conversion of baryonic material into stars across cosmic time, (ii) the evolution of the ISM and its physical conditions in galaxies, and (iii) how gas drives and inhibits AGN activity.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Observations of Carbon Radio Recombination Lines with the NenuFAR telescope. I. Cassiopeia A and Cygnus A

Carbon Radio Recombination Lines (CRRLs) at decametre wavelengths trace the diffuse phase of the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Galaxy. Their observation allows to measure physical parameters of this phase. We observed CRRLs with the recently commissioned New Extension in Nan\c{c}ay Upgrading LOFAR (NenuFAR) telescope towards two of the brightest sources at low-frequency (10-85 MHz): Cassiopeia A and Cygnus A (hereafter Cas A and Cyg A respectively), to measure the density n_e and temperature T_e of electrons in line-of-sight clouds. We used NenuFAR's beamforming mode, and we integrated several tens of hours on each source. The nominal spectral resolution was 95.4 Hz. We developed a pipeline to remove radio frequency interference (RFI) contamination and correct the baselines. We then fitted the spectral lines observed in absorption, associated to line-of-sight clouds. Cas A is the brightest source in the sky at low frequencies and represents an appropriate test bench for this new telescope. On this source, we detected 398 C\alpha lines between principal quantum numbers n=426 and n=826. C\alpha lines towards Cyg A were fainter. We stacked the signal by groups of a few tens of lines to improve the quality of our fitting process. On both sources we reached significantly higher S/N and spectral resolution than the most recent detections by the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR). The variation of line shape with n provides constraints on the physical properties of the clouds: T_e, n_e, the temperature T_0 of the radiation field, the mean turbulent velocity v_t and the typical size of the cloud. The NenuFAR observations sample a larger space volume than LOFAR's towards the same sources due to the differences in instrumental beamsizes, and the discrepancies highlight the sensitivity of low-frequency CRRLs as probes of the diffuse ISM, paving the way towards large area surveys of CRRLs in our Galaxy.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Central kiloparsec region of Andromeda. I. Dynamical modelling

The Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the most nearby giant spiral galaxy, an opportunity to study with high resolution dynamical phenomena occurring in nuclear disks and bulges, able to explain star formation quenching, and galaxy evolution through collisions and tides. Multi-wavelength data have revealed in the central kpc of M31 strong dynamical perturbations, with an off-centered tilted disk and ring, coinciding with a dearth of atomic and molecular gas. Our goal to understand the origin of these perturbations is to propose a dynamical model, reproducing the global features of the observations. We are reporting about integral field spectroscopy of the ionized gas with H$\alpha$ and [NII] obtained with SITELLE, the optical imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (IFTS) at the Canada France Hawaii telescope (CFHT). Using the fully sampled velocity field of ionized gas, together with the more patchy molecular gas velocity field, previously obtained with the CO lines at IRAM-30m telescope, and the dust photometry, we identify three dynamical components in the gas, the main disk, a tilted ring and a nuclear warped disk. A mass model of the central kpc is computed, essentially from the stellar nuclear disk and bulge, with small contributions of the main stellar and gaseous disk, and dark matter halo. The kinematics of the ionized and molecular gas is then computed in this potential, and the velocity field confronted to observations. The best fit helps to determine the physical parameters of the three identified gas components, size, morphology and geometrical orientation. The results are compatible with a recent head-on collision with a M-32 like galaxy, as previously proposed. The kinematical observations correspond to a dynamical re-orientation of the perturbed nuclear disk, through warps and tearing disk into ring, following the collision.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Searching for dark matter with an unequal delay interferometer

We propose a new type of experiment that compares the frequency of a clock (an ultra-stable optical cavity in this case) at time $t$ to its own frequency some time $t-T$ earlier, by "storing" the output signal (photons) in a fibre delay line. In ultra-light oscillating dark matter (DM) models, such an experiment is sensitive to coupling of DM to the standard model fields, through oscillations of the cavity and fibre lengths and of the fibre refractive index. Additionally, the sensitivity is significantly enhanced around the mechanical resonances of the cavity. We present experimental result of such an experiment and report no evidence of DM for masses in the [$4.1\times 10^{-11}$, $8.3\times 10^{-10}$]~eV region. In addition, we improve constraints on the involved coupling constants by one order of magnitude in a standard galactic DM model, at the mass corresponding to the resonant frequency of our cavity. Furthermore, in the model of relaxion DM, we improve on existing constraints over the whole DM mass range by about one order of magnitude, and up to six orders of magnitude at resonance.

gr-qc↗