arXiv subjects

Rashid Sunyaev

Publications and source records attributed to Rashid Sunyaev.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Rotating Accretion Flows: From Infinity to the Black Hole

Accretion onto a supermassive black hole of a rotating inflow is a particularly difficult problem to study because of the wide range of length scales involved. There have been broadly utilized analytic and numerical treatments of the global properties of accretion flows, but detailed numerical simulations are required to address certain critical aspects. We use the ZEUS code to run hydrodynamical simulations of rotating, axisymmetric accretion flows with Bremsstrahlung cooling, considering solutions for which the centrifugal balance radius significantly exceeds the Schwarzschild radius, with and without viscous angular momentum transport. Infalling gas is followed from well beyond the Bondi radius down to the vicinity of the black hole. We produce a continuum of solutions with respect to the single parameter Mdot_Bondi/Mdot_Edd, and there is a sharp transition between two general classes of solutions at an Eddington ratio of Mdot_Bondi/Mdot_Edd ~ few x 10^(-2). Our high inflow solutions are very similar to the standard Shakura & Sunyaev (1973) results. But our low inflow results are to zeroth order the stationary Papaloizou and Pringle (1984) solution, which has no accretion. To next order in the small, assumed viscosity they show circulation, with disk and conical wind outflows almost balancing inflow. These solutions are characterized by hot, vertically extended disks, and net accretion proceeds at an extremely low rate, only of order alpha times the inflow rate. Our simulations have converged with respect to spatial resolution and temporal duration, and they do not depend strongly on our choice of boundary conditions.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

Outflows of stars due to quasar feedback

Quasar feedback outflows are commonly invoked to drive gas out of galaxies in the early gas-rich epoch to terminate growth of galaxies. Here we present simulations that show that AGN feedback may drive not only gas but also stars out of their host galaxies under certain conditions. The mechanics of this process is as following: (1) AGN-driven outflows accelerate and compress gas filling the host galaxy; (2) the accelerated dense shells become gravitationally unstable and form stars on radial trajectories. For the spherically symmetric initial conditions explored here, the black hole needs to exceed the host's M_sigma mass by a factor of a few to accelerate the shells and the new stars to escape velocities. We discuss potential implications of these effects for the host galaxies: (i) radial mixing of bulge stars with the rest of the host; (ii) contribution of quasar outflows to galactic fountains as sources of high-velocity clouds; (iii) wholesale ejection of hyper velocity stars out of their hosts, giving rise to type II supernovae on galactic outskirts, and contributing to reionization and metal enrichment of the Universe; (iv) bulge erosion and even complete destruction in extreme cases resulting in overweight or bulgeless SMBHs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

Relative velocity of dark matter and barions in clusters of galaxies and measurements of their peculiar velocities

The increasing sensitivity of current experiments, which nowadays routinely measure the thermal SZ effect within galaxy clusters, provide the hope that peculiar velocities of individual clusters of galaxies will be measured rather soon using the kinematic SZ effect. Also next generation of X-ray telescopes with microcalorimeters, promise first detections of the motion of the intra cluster medium (ICM) within clusters. We used a large set of cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations, which cover very large cosmological volume, hosting a large number of rich clusters of galaxies, as well as moderate volumes where the internal structures of individual galaxy clusters can be resolved with very high resolution to investigate, how the presence of baryons and their associated physical processes like cooling and star-formation are affecting the systematic difference between mass averaged velocities of dark matter and the ICM inside a cluster. We, for the first time, quantify the peculiar motion of galaxy clusters as function of the large scale environment. We also demonstrate that especially in very massive systems, the relative velocity of the ICM compared to the cluster peculiar velocity add significant scatter onto the inferred peculiar velocity, especially when measurements are limited to the central regions of the cluster. Depending on the aperture used, this scatter varies between 50% and 20%, when going from the core (e.g. ten percent of the virial radius) to the full cluster (e.g. the virial radius).

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Angular fluctuations in the CXB: Is Fe 6.4 keV line tomography of the large-scale structure feasible?

AGN are known to account for a major portion, if not all, of the cosmic X-ray background radiation. The dominant sharp spectral feature in their spectra is the 6.4 keV fluorescent line of iron, which may contribute to as much as ~ 5-10 % of the CXB spectral intensity at ~ 2-6 keV. Owing to cosmological redshift, the line photons detected at the energy E carry information about objects located at the redshift z=6.4/E-1. In particular, imprinted in their angular fluctuations is the information about the large-scale structure at redshift z. This opens the possibility of performing the Fe K_alpha line tomography of the cosmic large-scale structure. We show that detection of the tomographic signal at ~100 sigma confidence requires an all-sky survey by an instrument with an effective area of ~10 m^2 and field of view of ~1 deg^2. The signal is strongest for objects located at the redshift z~1 and at the angular scales corresponding to l ~ 100-300, therefore an optimal detection can be achieved with an instrument having a rather modest angular resolution of ~ 0.1-0.5 deg. For such an instrument, the CCD-type energy resolution of ~ 100-200 eV FWHM is entirely sufficient for the optimal separation of the signals coming from different redshifts. The gain in the signal strength that could potentially be achieved with energy resolution comparable to the line width is nullified by the photon counting and AGN discreteness noise. Among the currently planned and proposed missions, these requirements are best satisfied by LOFT, even though it was proposed for an entirely different purpose. Among others, clear detection should be achieved by WFXT (~ 20-35 sigma) and ATHENA (~ 10-20 sigma). eROSITA, in the course of its 4 years all-sky survey, will detect the tomographic signal only marginally.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Are SMBHs shrouded by "super-Oort" clouds of comets and asteroids?

The last decade has seen a dramatic confirmation that an in situ star formation is possible inside the inner parsec of the Milky Way. Here we suggest that giant planets, solid terrestrial-like planets, comets and asteroids may also form in these environments, and that this may have observational implications for Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Like in debris discs around main sequence stars, collisions of large solid objects should initiate strong fragmentation cascades. The smallest particles in such a cascade - the microscopic dust - may provide a significant opacity. We put a number of observational and physical constraints on AGN obscuring torii resulting from such fragmentation cascades. We find that torii fed by fragmenting asteroids disappear at both low and high AGN luminosities. At high luminosities, $L \sim L_{\rm Edd}$, where $L_{\rm Edd}$ is the Eddington limit, the AGN radiation pressure blows out the microscopic dust too rapidly. At low luminosities, on the other hand, the AGN discs may avoid gravitational fragmentation into stars and solids. We also note that these fragmentation cascades may be responsible for astrophysically "large" dust particles of approximately micrometer sizes that were postulated by some authors to explain unusual absorption properties of the AGN torii.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Jet trails and Mach cones: The interaction of microquasars with the ISM

A sub-set of microquasars exhibit high peculiar velocity with respect to the local standard of rest due to the kicks they receive when being born in supernovae. The interaction between the radio plasma released by microquasar jets from such high-velocity binaries with the ISM must lead to the production of trails and bow shocks similar to what is observed in narrow-angle tailed radio galaxies and pulsar wind nebulae. We present a set of numerical simulations of this interaction that illuminate the long term dynamical evolution and the observational properties of these microquasar bow shock nebulae and trails. We find that this interaction always produces a structure that consists of a bow shock, a trailing neck, and an expanding bubble. Using our simulations to model emission, we predict that the shock surrounding the bubble and the neck should be visible in Hα emission, the interior of the bubble should be visible in synchrotron radio emission, and only the bow shock is likely to be detectable in X-ray emission. We construct an analytic model for the evolution of the neck and bubble shape and compare this model with observations of X-ray binary SAX J1712.6-3739.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

The collective X-ray luminosity of HMXB as a SFR indicator

We study the relation between the X-ray luminosity of compact sources and the SFR of the host galaxy. Our sample includes 38 galaxies for which a uniform set of X-ray, infra-red and ultraviolet data from Chandra, Spitzer and GALEX has been collected. Our primary goals are (i) to obtain a more accurate calibration of the Lx-SFR relation and (ii) to understand the origin of the dispersion in the Lx-SFR relation observed in previous studies. Preliminary results of this project are reported below.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

eROSITA on SRG

eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) is the core instrument on the Russian Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission which is scheduled for launch in late 2012. eROSITA is fully approved and funded by the German Space Agency DLR and the Max-Planck-Society.The design driving science is the detection of 50-100 thousands Clusters of Galaxies up to redshift z~1.3 in order to study the large scale structure in the Universe and test cosmological models, especially Dark Energy. This will be accomplished by an all-sky survey lasting for four years plus a phase of pointed observations. eROSITA consists of seven Wolter-I telescope modules, each equipped with 54 Wolter-I shells having an outer diameter of 360 mm. This would provide and effective area at 1.5 keV of ~1500 cm2 and an on axis PSF HEW of 15" which would provide an effective angular resolution of 25"-30". In the focus of each mirror module, a fast frame-store pn-CCD will provide a field of view of 1deg in diameter for an active FOV of ~0.83 deg2. At the time of writing the instrument development is currently in phase C/D.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

Carbon monoxide line emission as a CMB foreground: tomography of the star-forming universe with different spectral resolutions

The rotational lines of carbon monoxide and the fine structure lines of CII and of the most abundant metals, emitted during the epoch of enhanced star formation in the universe, are redshifted in the frequency channels where the present-day and future CMB experiments are sensitive. We estimate the contribution to the CMB angular power spectrum by the emission in such lines in merging star-forming galaxies. We used the Lacey-Cole approach to characterize the distribution of the merging halos, together with a parametrization for the star formation rate in each of them. Using observational data from a sample of local, low-redshift, and high-redshift objects, we calibrated the luminosity in each line as a function of the star formation rate. We show that the correlation term arising from CO line emission is a significant source of foreground for CMB in a broad range of frequencies (in particular in the 20-60 GHz band) and for 1000<l<8000, corresponding to angular scales smaller than 10 arcminutes. Moreover, we demonstrate that observing with different spectral resolutions will give the possibility of increasing the amplitude of the signal up to two orders of magnitude in C_l and will help separate the line contribution from practically all other foreground sources and from the primary fluctuations themselves, since these show no significant dependence on the spectral resolution. We propose to perform observations with varying spectral bandwidths as a new tool to construct a tomography of the universe, by probing different redshift slices with varying thickness. (abridged)

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Broad Lyman-Alpha Emission from Supernova Remnants in Young Galaxies

Charge transfer (or exchange) reactions between hydrogen atoms and protons in collisionless shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs) are a natural way of producing broad Balmer, Lyman and other lines of hydrogen. We wish to quantify the importance of shock-induced, non-thermal hydrogen emission from SNRs in young galaxies. We present a method to estimate the luminosity of broad ($\sim 1000$ km s$^{-1}$) Ly$α$, Ly$β$, Ly$γ$, H$β$ and P$α$ lines, as well as the broad and narrow luminosities of the two-photon (2$γ$) continuum, from existing measurements of the H$α$ flux. The expected broad Ly$α$ luminosity per object is at most $\sim 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$. In principle, broad, ``non-radiative'' Ly$α$ from SNRs in young galaxies can be directly observed in the optical range of wavelengths. However, by taking into consideration the different rates between core collapse and thermonuclear supernovae, as well as the duration we expect to observe such Ly$α$ emission from SNRs, we expect their contribution to the total Ly$α$ luminosity from $z \sim 3$ to 5 galaxies to be negligibly small ($\sim 0.001 %$), compared to the radiative shock mechanism described by Shull & Silk (1979). Though broad, non-thermal Ly$α$ emission has never been observed, these photons are produced in SNRs and hence the non-radiative Ly$α$ luminosity is a part of the intrinsic Ly$α$ spectrum of young galaxies.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

The clustering of merging star-forming haloes: dust emission as high frequency arcminute CMB foreground

Future observations of CMB anisotropies will be able to probe high multipole regions of the angular power spectrum, corresponding to a resolution of a few arcminutes. Dust emission from merging haloes is one of the foregrounds that will affect such very small scales. We estimate the contribution to CMB angular fluctuations from objects that are bright in the sub-millimeter band due to intense star formation bursts following merging episodes. We base our approach on the Lacey-Cole merger model and on the Kennicutt relation which connects the star formation rate in galaxies with their infrared luminosity. We set the free parameters of the model in order to not exceed the SCUBA source counts, the Madau plot of star formation rate in the universe and COBE/FIRAS data on the intensity of the sub-millimeter cosmic background radiation. We show that the angular power spectrum arising from the distribution of such star-forming haloes will be one of the most significant foregrounds in the high frequency channels of future CMB experiments, such as PLANCK, ACT and SPT. The correlation term, due to the clustering of multiple haloes at redshift z~2-6, is dominant in the broad range of angular scales 200<l<3000. Poisson fluctuations due to bright sub-millimeter sources are more important at higher l, but since they are generated from the bright sources, such contribution could be strongly reduced if bright sources are excised from the sky maps. The contribution of the correlation term to the angular power spectrum depends strongly on the redshift evolution of the escape fraction of UV photons and the resulting temperature of the dust. The measurement of this signal will therefore give important information about galaxies in the early stage of their evolution.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

X-rays from cusps of compact remnants near galactic centres

Compact remnants -- stellar mass black holes and neutron stars formed in the inner few parsec of galactic centres are predicted to sink into the central parsec due to dynamical friction on low mass stars, forming a high concentration cusp (Morris 1993). Same physical region may also contain very high density molecular clouds and accretion discs that are needed to fuel SMBH activity. Here we estimate gas capture rates onto the cusp of stellar remnants, and the resulting X-ray luminosity, as a function of the accretion disc mass. At low disc masses, most compact objects are too dim to be observable, whereas in the high disc case most of them are accreting at their Eddington rates. We find that for low accretion disc masses, compact remnant cusps may be more luminous than the central SMBHs. This ``diffuse'' emission may be of importance for local moderately bright AGN, especially Low Luminosity AGN. We also briefly discuss how this expected emission can be used to put constraints on the black hole cusp near our Galactic Centre.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

The "missing" YSOs in the central parsec of the Galaxy: evidence for star formation in a massive accretion disk and a top-heavy IMF

Few dozens of young high mass stars orbit Sgr A* at distances as short as 0.1 parsec, where star formation should be quenched by the strong tidal shear from Sgr A*. The puzzling young stellar population is believed to come into existence in one of the two ways: (i) "normal" star formation at several tens of parsec in a very massive star cluster that then spiraled in, or (ii) star formation in situ in a massive self-gravitating disk. We propose to constrain these two scenarios via the expected X-ray emission from young low mass stars that should have formed alongside the massive stars. To this end we compare the recent Chandra observations of X-ray emission from young stars in the Orion Nebula, and the Chandra observations of Sgr A* field. We show that the cluster inspiral model is ruled out irrespectively of the initial mass function (IMF) of the young stars. In addition, for the in situ model, we find that no more than few thousand low-mass stars could have formed alongside the massive stars. This is more than a factor of ten fewer than expected if these stars were formed with the standard IMF as elsewhere in the Galaxy. The young stars in the GC are thus the first solid observational evidence for star formation in AGN disks and also require the IMF of these stars to be top-heavy. We briefly consider implication of these results for AGN in general.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Scattering in the vicinity of relativistic jets: a method for constraining jet parameters

Relativistic jets of radio loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) produce highly directed, intense beams of radiation. A fraction of this beamed radiation scatters on the thermal plasma generally surrounding an AGN. The morphology of the scattered emission can thus provide constraints on the physical properties of the jet. We present a model to study the feasibility of constraining the parameters of a jet, especially its inclination angle and bulk Lorentz factor in this way. We apply our model to the well studied jet of M87 and the surrounding diffuse gas and find that the observational limits of the surface brightness measured in the region of the putative counterjet provide the tightest constraints on the jet parameters consistent with constraints derived by other methods. We briefly discuss the applicability of our model to other sources exhibiting relativistic motions

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Bright stars and an inactive disk in Sgr A* and other dormant galaxy centers. I. The optically thick disk

Cold inactive disks are believed to exist in Low Luminosity AGN (LLAGN). They may also exist in the nuclei of inactive galaxies and in the center of our own Galaxy. These disks would then be embedded in the observed dense nuclear stellar clusters. Making the simplest assumption of an optically thick disk, we explore several ways to detect the disk presence through its interaction with the cluster. First of these is the eclipses of close bright stars by the disk. The second is the increase in the infrared flux of the disk due to illumination of its surface by such stars during close passages. Finally the surface brightness of the star cluster should show an anisotropy that depends on the inclination angle of the disk. We apply the first two of the methods to Sgr A*, the super massive black hole in our Galactic Center. Using the orbital parameters of the close star S2, we strongly rule out a disk optically thick in the near infrared unless it has a relatively large inner hole. For disks with no inner holes, we estimate that the data permit a disk with infrared optical depth no larger than about 0.01. Such a disk could also be responsible for the detected 3.8 microns excess in the spectrum of S2. The constraints on the disk that we obtain here can be reconciled with the disk parameters needed to explain the observed X-ray flares if dust particles in the disk have sizes greater than ~ 30 microns. The destruction of small dust particles by strong UV heating and shocks from star passages through the disk, and grain growth during "quiescent" times, are mentioned as possible mechanisms of creating the unusual grain size distribution. (...)

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

X-ray flares from Sgr A*: star-disk interactions?

Sgr A*, the putative black hole in our Galactic Center (GC), is extraordinary dim in all frequencies. Apparently the black hole is unable to accrete at the Bondi accretion rate for some reason. Another mystery of Sgr A* is the recently discovered large magnitude and short duration X-ray flares (Baganoff et al. 2001). Here we point out that X-ray flares should be expected from star passages through an inactive (i.e. formerly accreting) disk. There are thousands of stars in Sgr A* stellar cluster, and each star will pass through the disk twice per orbit. A shock hot enough to emit X-rays is formed around the star when the latter is inside the disk. We develop a simple yet somewhat detailed model for the X-ray emission from the shock. The duration of the flares, their X-ray spectra, frequency of events, and weakness of emission in the radio and near infra-red appear to be consistent with the available observations of X-ray flares. We therefore suggest that at least a fraction of the observed flares is due to the star-disk passages. Such star-disk flares are also of interest in the nuclei of nearby inactive galaxies, especially in connection with perspective Constellation-X and XEUS X-ray missions.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Close stars and an inactive accretion disk in Sgr A*: Eclipses and flares

A cold neutral and extremely dim accretion disk may be present as a remnant of a past vigorous activity around the black hole in our Galactic Center (GC). Here we discuss ways to detect such a disk through its interaction with numerous stars present in the central ~0.1 parsec of the Galaxy. The first major effect expected is X-ray and near infrared (NIR) flares arising when stars pass through the disk. The second is eclipses of the stars by the disk. We point out conditions under which the properties of the expected X-ray flares are similar to those recently discovered by Chandra. Since orbits of bright stars are now being precisely measured, the combination of the expected flares and eclipses offers an invaluable tool for constraining the disk density, size, plane and even direction of rotation. The winds of the O-type stars are optically thick to free-free absorption in radio frequencies. If present near Sgr A* core, such powerful stellar winds can modulate and even occult the radio source.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Accretion onto Black Holes and Neutron Stars: Differences and Similarities

Accreting black holes and neutron stars at luminosities above 0.01 of the critical Eddington luminosity have a lot of similarities, but also drastic differences in their radiation and power density spectra. The efficiency of energy release due to accretion onto a rotating neutron star usually is higher than in the case of a black hole. The theory of the spreading layer on the surface of an accreting neutron star is discussed. It predicts the appearance of two bright belts equidistant from the equator. This layer is unstable and its radiation flux must vary with high frequencies.

astro-ph↗