arXiv subjects

S. Mathur

Publications and source records attributed to S. Mathur.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

GOLF: a new proxy for solar magnetism

Solar magnetism is measured with different indexes: for instance the MPSI and the MWSI, number of sunspots, radio flux at 10.7 cm, Ca II K, Mg II K, EUV, He I or L_alpha. Bachmann & White (1994) had compared these indicators of the solar activity showing a hysteresis of the solar cycle variations and a time lag between these indices not related to instrumental effects. Later on, Ozguc & Atac (2001) extended this study of hysteresis phenomenon between Flare index and other solar indices (mean magnetic field, coronal index). In its original working configuration, GOLF/SoHO was able to measure during 26 days the solar mean magnetic field (Garcia et al. 1999). We check here if the velocity data could be used as another solar magnetism proxy with the advantage of having a duty cycle >95% during the last 12 years. We will compare the GOLF data with some of the above-mentioned solar activity indexes.

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arXiv2008

Spatial Cross Spectrum: Reducing Incoherent Convective Background of Resolved Heloseismic Instruments

Measurements of low-order p modes and gravity modes are perturbed by the solar convective background. Such perturbation increases below 2mHz for intensity measurements and 1mHz for velocity measurements. While the low-degree modes have large spatial scales, the convective motions have much smaller spatial distribution. In this work, we take advantage of these different scale sizes to explore the use of spatial cross spectrum between different regions of the Sun. The aim is to reduce the incoherent background noise and, therefore, increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the signals that are coherent across the full disk. To do so we use the VIRGO/LOI instrument aboard SoHO and the GONG ground-based network to study the intensity and velocity spatial cross spectra.

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arXiv2008

Variations of the solar granulation motions with height using the GOLF/SoHO experiment

Below 1 mHz, the power spectrum of helioseismic velocity measurements is dominated by the spectrum of convective motions (granulation and supergranulation) making it difficult to detect the low-order acoustic modes and the gravity modes. We want to better understand the behavior of solar granulation as a function of the observing height in the solar atmosphere and with magnetic activity during solar cycle 23. We analyze the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of eleven years of GOLF/SOHO velocity-time series using a Harvey-type model to characterize the properties of the convective motions in the solar oscillation power spectrum. We study then the evolution of the granulation with the altitude in the solar atmosphere and with the solar activity. First, we show that the traditional use of a lorentzian profile to fit the envelope of the p modes is not well suitable for GOLF data. Indeed, to properly model the solar spectrum, we need a second lorentzian profile. Second, we show that the granulation clearly evolves with the height in the photosphere but does not present any significant variation with the activity cycle.

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arXiv2008

The XMM-Newton survey of the ELAIS-S1 field II: optical identifications and multiwavelength catalogue of X-ray sources

We present optical identifications and a multi-band catalogue of a sample of 478 X-ray sources in the XMM and Chandra surveys of the central 0.6 deg^2 of the ELAIS-S1 field. The optical/infrared counterpart of each X-ray source was identified using R and IRAC 3.6 um bands. This method was complemented by the precise positions obtained through Chandra observations. Approximately 94% of the counterparts are detected in the R band, while the remaining are blank fields in the optical down to R~24.5, but have a near-infrared counterpart detected by IRAC within 6 arcsec from the XMM centroid. The multi-band catalogue contains photometry in ten photometric bands (B to the MIPS 24 um). We determined redshift and classification for 237 sources (~50% of the sample) brighter than R=24. We classified 47% of the sources with spectroscopic redshift as broad-line active galactic nuclei (BL AGNs) with z=0.1-3.5, while sources without broad-lines are about 46% of the spectroscopic sample and are found up to z=2.6. We identified 11 type 2 QSOs among the sources with X/O>8, with z=0.9-2.6, high 2-10 keV luminosity (log(L2-10keV)>=43.8 erg/s) and hard X-ray colors suggesting large absorbing columns at the rest frame (logN_H up to 23.6 cm^-2). BL AGNs show on average blue optical-to-near-infrared colors, softer X-ray colors and X-ray-to-optical colors typical of optically selected AGNs. Conversely, narrow-line sources show redder optical colors, harder X-ray flux ratio and span a wider range of X-ray-to-optical colors. On average the SEDs of high-luminosity BL AGNs resemble the power-law typical of unobscured AGNs. The SEDs of NOT BL AGNs are dominated by the galaxy emission in the optical/near-infrared, and show a rise in the mid-infrared which suggests the presence of an obscured active nucleus.

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arXiv2008

Laboratory performances of the solar multichannel resonant scattering spectrometer prototype of the GOLF-New Generation instrument

This article quickly summarizes the performances and results of the GOLF/SoHO resonant spectrometer, thus justifying to go a step further. We then recall the characteristics of the multichannel resonant GOLF-NG spectrometer and present the first successful performances of the laboratory tests on the prototype and also the limitations of this first technological instrument. Scientific questions and an observation strategy are discussed.

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arXiv2008

Chandra LETGS spectroscopy of the Quasar MR2251-178 and its warm absorber

We present an analysis of our Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) observation of the quasar MR2251-178. The warm absorber of MR2251-178 is well described by a hydrogen column density, N_H~2x10^21 cm^-2, and an ionization parameter log(xi)~0.6. We find in the spectrum weak evidence for narrow absorption lines from Carbon and Nitrogen which indicate that the ionized material is in outflow. We note changes (in time) of the absorption structure in the band (0.6-1) keV (around the UTAs plus the OVII and OVIII K-edges) at different periods of the observation. We measure a (0.1-2) keV flux of 2.58x10^-11 ergs cm^-2 s^-1. This flux implies that the nuclear source of MR2251-178 is in a relatively low state. No significant variability is seen in the light curve. We do not find evidence for an extra cold material in the line of sight, and set an upper limit of N_H~1.2x10^20 cm^-2. The X-ray spectrum does not appear to show evidence for dusty material, though an upper limit in the neutral carbon and oxygen column densities can only be set to N_CI~2x10^19 cm^-2 and N_OI~9x10^19 cm^-2, respectively.

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arXiv2008

Sensitivity of helioseismic gravity modes to the dynamics of the solar core

The dynamics of the solar core cannot be properly constrained through the analysis of acoustic oscillation modes. Gravity modes are necessary to understand the structure and dynamics of the deepest layers of the Sun. Through recent progresses on the observation of these modes -- both individually and collectively -- new information could be available to contribute to inferring the rotation profile down inside the nuclear burning core. To see the sensitivity of gravity modes to the rotation of the solar core. We analyze the influence of adding the splitting of one and several g modes to the data sets used in helioseismic numerical inversions. We look for constraints on the uncertainties required in the observations in order to improve the derived core rotation profile. We compute forward problems obtaining three artificial sets of splittings derived for three rotation profiles: a rigid profile taken as a reference, a step-like and a smoother profiles with higher rates in the core. We compute inversions based on Regularized Least-Squares methodology (RLS) for both artificial data with real error bars and real data. Several sets of data are used: first we invert only p modes, then we add one and several g modes to which different values of observational uncertainties (75 and 7.5 nHz) are attributed. For the real data, we include g-mode candidate, l=2, n=-3 with several splittings and associated uncertainties. We show that the introduction of one g mode in artificial data improves the rate in the solar core and give an idea on the tendency of the rotation profile. The addition of more g modes gives more accuracy to the inversions and stabilize them. The inversion of real data with the g-mode candidate gives a rotation profile that remains unchanged down to 0.2 R, whatever value of splitting we attribute to the g mode.

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arXiv2008

Can We Constrain the Solar Interior Physics Studying the Gravity-Mode Asymptotic Signature?

Gravity modes are the best probes to infer the properties of the solar radiative zone that represents 98% of the Sun's total mass. It is usually assumed that high-frequency g modes give information about the structure of the solar interior whereas low-frequency g modes are more sensitive to the solar dynamics (the internal rotation). In this work, we develop a new methodology, based on the analysis of the almost constant separation of the dipole gravity modes, to introduce new constraints on the solar models. To validate this analysis procedure, several solar models -- including different physical processes and either old or new chemical abundances (from, respectively, Grevesse and Noels (Origin and evolution of the elements. Cambridge, England, 199, 15, 1993) and Asplund, Grevesse, and Sauval (Astron. Soc. Pac. CS, San Francisco, 36, 25, 2005)) -- have been compared to another model used as a reference. The analysis clearly shows that this methodology has enough sensitivity to distinguish between some of the models, in particular, between those with different compositions. The comparison of the models with the g-mode asymptotic signature detected in GOLF data favors the ones with old abundances. Therefore, the physics of the core -- through the analysis of the g-mode properties -- is in agreement with the results obtained in the previous studies based on the acoustic modes, which are mostly sensitive to more external layers of the Sun.

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arXiv2008

Update on g-mode research

Since the beginning of this century we have attended a blooming of the gravity-mode research thanks to the unprecedented quality of the data available, either from space with SoHO, or from the ground-based networks as BiSON or GONG. From the first upper limit of the gravity-mode amplitudes fixed at 10 mm/s at 200 microHz given by Appourchaux et al. (2000), on one hand, a peak was supposed to be a component of the l=1, n=1 mixed mode (Garcia et al. 2001a, b; Gabriel et al. 2002) and, on the other hand, a couple of patterns --multiplets-- were attributed to gravity modes (Turck-Chieze et al. 2004; Mathur et al. 2007). One of these patterns, found around 220 microHz, could be labeled as the l=2, n =-3 g mode, which is expected to be the one with the highest surface amplitude (Cox and Guzik 2004). Finally, in 2007, Garcia et al. were able to measure the fingertips of the dipole gravity modes looking for their asymptotic properties. In the present paper we present an update of the recent developments on this subject with special attention to the 220 microHz region, the dipole asymptotic properties and the impact of the incoming g-mode observations on the knowledge of the solar structure and rotation profile.

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arXiv2008

Influence of Low-Degree High-Order p-Mode Splittings on the Solar Rotation Profile

The solar rotation profile is well constrained down to about 0.25 R thanks to the study of acoustic modes. Since the radius of the inner turning point of a resonant acoustic mode is inversely proportional to the ratio of its frequency to its degree, only the low-degree p modes reach the core. The higher the order of these modes, the deeper they penetrate into the Sun and thus they carry more diagnostic information on the inner regions. Unfortunately, the estimates of frequency splittings at high frequency from Sun-as-a-star measurements have higher observational errors due to mode blending, resulting in weaker constraints on the rotation profile in the inner core. Therefore inversions for the solar internal rotation use only modes below 2.4 mHz for l < 4. In the work presented here, we used an 11.5 year-long time series to compute the rotational frequency splittings for modes l < 4 using velocities measured with the GOLF instrument. We carried out a theoretical study of the influence of the low-degree modes in the region 2 to 3.5 mHz on the inferred rotation profile as a function of their error bars.

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arXiv2008

X-ray emission from active galactic nuclei with intermediate mass black holes

We present a systematic X-ray study of eight AGNs with intermediate mass black holes (M_BH 8-95x10^4 Msun) based on 12 XMM-Newton observations. The sample includes the two prototype AGNs in this class - NGC4395 and POX52 and six other AGNs discovered with the SDSS. These AGNs show some of the strongest X-ray variability with the normalized excess variances being the largest and the power density break time scales being the shortest observed among radio-quiet AGNs. The excess variance -- luminosity correlation appears to depend on both the BH mass and the Eddington luminosity ratio. The break time scale -- black hole mass relations for AGN with IMBHs are consistent with that observed for massive AGNs. We find that the FWHM of the Hbeta or Halpha line is uncorrelated with the BH mass, but shows strong anticorrelation with the Eddington luminosity ratio. Four AGNs show clear evidence for soft X-ray excess emission (kT_in~150-200eV). X-ray spectra of three other AGNs are consistent with the presence of the soft excess emission. NGC4395 with lowest L/L_Edd lacks the soft excess emission. Evidently small black mass is not the primary driver of strong soft X-ray excess emission from AGNs. The X-ray spectral properties and optical-to-X-ray spectral energy distributions of these AGNs are similar to those of Seyfert 1 galaxies. The observed X-ray/UV properties of AGNs with IMBHs are consistent with these AGNs being low mass extension of more massive AGNs; those with high Eddington luminosity ratio looking more like narrow-line Seyfert 1s while those with low $L/L_{Edd}$ looking more like broad-line Seyfert 1s.

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arXiv2007

The XMM-Newton view of IRAS 09104+4109: evidence for a changing-look Type 2 quasar?

We analyzed the spectroscopic data from the PN and the MOS cameras in the 0.4-10 keV band. We also used an archival BeppoSAX 1-50 keV observation of IRAS 09104+4109 to investigate possible variations of the quasar emission. The X-ray emission in the EPIC band is dominated by the intra-cluster medium thermal emission. We found that the quasar contributes ~35% of the total flux in the 2-10 keV band. Both a transmission- (through a Compton-thin absorber with a Compton optical depth of τ_C~0.3, i.e. Nh~5 x 10^{23} cm^-2) and a reflection-dominated (τ_C>1) model provide an excellent fit to the quasar continuum emission. However, the value measured for the EW of Fe Kalpha emission line is only marginally consistent with the presence of a Compton-thick absorber in a reflection-dominated scenario, which had been suggested by a previous, marginal (i.e. 2.5σ) detection with the hard X-ray (15-50 keV), non-imaging BeppoSAX/PDS instrument. Moreover, the value of luminosity in the 2-10 keV band measured by the transmission-dominated model is fully consistent with that expected on the basis of the bolometric luminosity of IRAS 09104+4109. From the analysis of the XMM-Newton data we therefore suggest the possibility that the absorber along the line of sight to the nucleus of IRAS 09104+4109 is Compton-thin. Alternatively, the absorber column density could have changed from Compton-thick to -thin in the five years elapsed between the observations. If this is the case, then IRAS 09104+4109 is the first 'changing-look' quasar ever detected.

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arXiv2006

The Sources of the CDF-N : broadband spectral analyses, absorption measurements and the alpha_ox - L_UV relation

We present broadband properties of sources in the Chandra Deep Field-North with spectroscopic redshifts. The high luminosity and redshift bins are dominated by typical quasars. The intermediate redshift (z = 0.7-1.5) and luminosity ranges (L(0.5-8.0keV) = 10^(42.5-43.5) erg/s) show a mix of different source types, with the absorbed objects in the majority. At the faint flux limit of the CDF-N, a substantial fraction of the sources are identified as star-forming galaxies. The AGN in the sample can be divided into four classes based on their rest frame SEDs: luminous, unabsorbed QSOs; objects with reddened optical spectra and X-ray absorption; X-ray absorbed AGN with no signs of reddening in the optical spectra; and optically reddened sources with X-ray spectra indicative of obscuration. We argue that the AGN of higher luminosity tend to have a lower X-ray absorbing column density, but the ratio of X-ray absorbed to unabsorbed AGN remains constant with redshift. We find that the relations between UV and X-ray luminosities derived by Strateva et al. (2005) and Steffen et al.(2006) only hold for bright sources, and break down when faint objects in the sample are included.This is only partly owing to the fact that the majority of the faint sources are absorbed; several faint sources must also have intrinsically lower X-ray luminosity. A fit to the NIR-optical-UV broadband SEDs of the AGN allows us to constrain the absorption parameters independently from the X-ray analyses. We show that the N_H values derived by the X-ray and optical methods are not correlated.This may be because the X-ray absorption and optical attenuation do not originate at the same location, and/or the dust properties responsible for the optical attenuation in AGNs are very different from the locally known dust properties. (abridged)

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arXiv2006

Detection of periodic signatures in the solar power spectrum. On the track of l=1 gravity modes

In the present work we show robust indications of the existence of g modes in the Sun using 10 years of GOLF data. The present analysis is based on the exploitation of the collective properties of the predicted low-frequency (25 to 140 microHz) g modes: their asymptotic nature, which implies a quasi equidistant separation of their periods for a given angular degree (l). The Power Spectrum (PS) of the Power Spectrum Density (PSD), reveals a significant structure indicating the presence of features (peaks) in the PSD with near equidistant periods corresponding to l=1 modes in the range n=-4 to n=-26. The study of its statistical significance of this feature was fully undertaken and complemented with Monte Carlo simulations. This structure has a confidence level better than 99.86% not to be due to pure noise. Furthermore, a detailed study of this structure suggests that the gravity modes have a much more complex structure than the one initially expected (line-widths, magnetic splittings...). Compared to the latest solar models, the obtained results tend to favor a solar core rotating significantly faster than the rest of the radiative zone. In the framework of the Phoebus group, we have also applied the same methodology to other helioseismology instruments on board SoHO and ground based networks.

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arXiv2006

Radio-loud Narrow-Line Type 1 Quasars

We present the first systematic study of (non-radio-selected) radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies. Cross-correlation of the `Catalogue of Quasars and Active Nuclei' with several radio and optical catalogues led to the identification of 11 radio-loud NLS1 candidates including 4 previously known ones. Most of the radio-loud NLS1s are compact, steep spectrum sources accreting close to, or above, the Eddington limit. The radio-loud NLS1s of our sample are remarkable in that they occupy a previously rarely populated regime in NLS1 multi-wavelength parameter space. While their [OIII]/H_beta and FeII/H_beta intensity ratios almost cover the whole range observed in NLS1 galaxies, their radio properties extend the range of radio-loud objects to those with small widths of the broad Balmer lines. Among the radio-detected NLS1 galaxies, the radio index R distributes quite smoothly up to the critical value of R ~ 10 and covers about 4 orders of magnitude in total. Statistics show that ~7% of the NLS1 galaxies are formally radio-loud while only 2.5% exceed a radio index R > 100. Several mechanisms are considered as explanations for the radio loudness of the NLS1 galaxies and for the lower frequency of radio-louds among NLS1s than quasars. While properties of most sources (with 2-3 exceptions) generally do not favor relativistic beaming, the combination of accretion mode and spin may explain the observations. (abbreviated)

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arXiv2005

The radio loud narrow-line quasar SDSSJ172206.03+565451.6

We report identification of the radio loud narrow-line quasar SDSS J172206.03+565451.6 which we found in the course of a search for radio loud narrow-line Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). SDSSJ172206.03+565451.6 is only the ~4th securely identified radio loud narrow-line quasar and the second-most radio loudest with a radio index R_1.4 ~ 100-700. Its black hole mass, M_BH = (2-3) 10^7 M_sun, is unusually small given its radio loudness, and the combination of mass and radio index puts SDSSJ172206.03+565451.6 in a scarcely populated region of M_BH-R diagrams. SDSSJ172206.03+565451.6 is a classical Narrow-Line Seyfert1-type object with FWHM_Hbeta = 1490 km/s, an intensity ratio of [OIII]/Hbeta = 0.7 and FeII emission complexes with FeII4570/Hbeta = 0.7. The ionization parameter of its narrow-line region, estimated from the line ratio [OII]/[OIII], is similar to Seyferts and its high ratio of [NeV]/[NeIII] indicates a strong EUV to soft-X-ray excess. We advertise the combined usage of [OII]/[OIII] and [NeV]/[NeIII] diagrams as a useful diagnostic tool to estimate ionization parameters and to constrain the EUV continuum shape relatively independent from other parameters.

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arXiv2005

XMM-Newton Observations of High Redshift Quasars

We report on our XMM observations of the high redshift quasars BR 2237--0607 (z=4.558) and BR 0351--1034 (z=4.351), together with 14 other z>4 objects found in the XMM public archive. Contrary to former reports, we do not find high redshift radio-loud quasars to be more absorbed than their radio-quiet counterparts. We find that the optical to X-ray spectral index alpha-ox is correlated with the luminosity density at 2500 A, but does not show a correlation with redshift. The mean 2-10 keV power-law slope of the 9 high redshift radio-quiet quasars in our sample for which a spectral analysis can be performed is alpha-x1.23+-0.48, similar to alpha-x=1.19 found from the ASCA observations of low redshift Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s), and significantly different from alpha-x=0.78 found for low redshift Broad-Line Seyfert galaxies. While the optical/UV spectra of low to high redshift quasars look remarkably similar, we find a first indication of a difference in their X-ray spectrum. The steep X-ray spectral index suggests high Eddington ratios L/L_Edd. These observations give credence to the hypothesis of Mathur (2000) that NLS1s are low luminosity cousins of high redshift quasars, both likely to be in their early evolutionary stage.

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arXiv2005

An X-ray view of Mrk 705: A borderline narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy

Mrk 705 exhibits optical properties of both narrow- and broad-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. We examine the X-ray properties of this borderline object utilising proprietary and public data from Chandra, ASCA, ROSAT and RXTE, spanning more than twelve years. Though long-term flux variability from the pointed observations appears rather modest (about 3 times), we do find examples of rare large amplitude outbursts in the RXTE monitoring data. There is very little evidence of long-term spectral variability as the low- and high-energy spectra appear constant with time. A 6.4 keV emission line is detected in the ASCA spectra of Mrk 705, but not during the later, higher flux state Chandra observation. However, the upper limit on the equivalent width of a line in the Chandra spectrum is consistent with a constant-flux emission line and a brighter continuum, suggesting that the line is emitted from distant material such as the putative torus. Overall, the X-ray properties of Mrk 705 appear typical of BLS1 activity.

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