arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Wolfgang J. Duschl.
We derive a viscosity from gravitational instability in self-gravitating accretion disks, which has the required properties to account for the observed fast formation of the first super-massive black holes in highly redshifted quasars and for the cosmological evolution of the black hole-mass distribution.
Context: We investigate mid-infrared and X-ray properties of the dusty torus in unification scenarios for active galactic nuclei. Aims: We use the relation between mid IR and hard X-ray luminosities to constrain AGN unification scenarios. Methods: With VISIR at the VLT, we have obtained the currently highest angular resolution (0".35 FWHM) narrow-band mid infrared images of the nuclei of 8 nearby Seyfert galaxies. Combining these observations with X-ray data from the literature we study the correlation between their mid IR and hard X-ray luminosities. Results: We find that the rest frame 12.3 mircon (L_MIR) and 2-10 keV (L_X) luminosities are correlated at a highly significant level. The best fit power-law to our data is log L_MIR \propto (1.60 \pm 0.22) log L_X, showing a much smaller dispersion than earlier studies. Conclusions: The similarity in the og L_MIR / log L_X ratio between Sy1s and Sy2s even using high angular resolution MIR data implies that the similarity is intrinsic to AGN and not caused by contamination from extra-nuclear emission. This supports clumpy torus models. The exponent of the correlation constrains the inner geometry of the torus.
We report results of a project investigating the growth of super-massive black holes (BHs) by disk accretion. We find that the BH mass growth is quick enough to account for the inferred masses in the highest-redshift quasars, and the growth time is an inverse function of the final BH mass as seems to be required by recent X-ray surveys.
It is widely agreed upon that AGN and Quasars are driven by gas accretion onto a supermassive black hole. The origin of the latter however still remains an open question. In this work we present the results of an extremely simple cosmological model combined with an evolutionary scenario in which both the formation of the black hole as well as the gas accretion onto it are triggered by major mergers of gas-rich galaxies. Despite its very generous approximations our model reproduces the quasar density evolution in remarkable agreement with observations.
We present newly calculated low-temperature opacities for gas with a primordial chemical composition. In contrast to earlier calculations which took a pure metal-free Hydrogen/Helium mixture, we take into account the small fractions of Deuterium and Lithium as resulting from Standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Our opacity tables cover the density range -16 < log rho [g cm^{-3}] < -2 and temperature range of 1.8 < T [K] < 4.6, while previous tables were usually restricted to T > 10^3 K. We find that, while the presence of Deuterium does not significantly alter the opacity values, the presence of Lithium gives rise to major modifications of the opacities, at some points increasing it by approximately 2 orders of magnitude relative to pure Hydrogen/Helium opacities.
We discuss a clumpy model of obscuring dusty tori around AGN. Cloud-cloud collisions lead to an effective viscosity and a geometrically thick accretion disk, which has the required properties of a torus. Accretion in the combined gravitational potential of central black hole and stellar cluster generates free energy, which is dissipated in collisions, and maintains the thickness of the torus. A quantitative treatment for the torus in the prototypical Seyfert 2 nucleus of NGC 1068 together with a radiative transfer calculation for NIR re-emission from the torus is presented.
We present stationary models of protostellar population III (Pop III, for short) accretion discs, compare them to Pop I discs, and investigate the influence of the different chemical compositions on the occurence of gravitational, thermal and thermal-viscous instabilities in the discs. In particular in the cooler regions, we find major differences between Pop III and Pop I discs, both in the structure and stability behaviour. This is mainly due to the absence of most molecules and dust in Pop III, which are very efficient absorbers in Pop I discs.
We show that the rapid formation of super-massive black holes in quasars can indeed be understood in terms of major galaxy mergers followed by disk accretion. The necessary short disk evolution time can be achieved provided the disk viscosity is sufficiently large, which, for instance, is the case for hydrodynamic turbulence, unlimited by shock dissipation. We present numerical calculations for a representative case. This general picture can account for (a) the presence of highly luminous quasars at redshifts z > 6; (b) for the peak in quasar activity at z ~ 2; and (c) for a subsequent rapid disappearance of quasars at later epochs.
We present the first scientific images obtained with a deformable secondary mirror adaptive optics system. We utilized the 6.5m MMT AO system to produce high-resolution (FWHM=0.07'') near infrared (1.6 um) images of the young (~1 Myr) Orion Trapezium theta 1 Ori cluster members. A combination of high spatial resolution and high signal to noise allowed the positions of these stars to be measured to within ~0.003'' accuracies. Including previous speckle data (Weigelt et al. 1999), we analyze a six year baseline of high-resolution observations of this cluster. Over this baseline we are sensitive to relative proper motions of only ~0.002''/yr (4.2 km/s at 450 pc). At such sensitivities we detect orbital motion in the very tight theta 1 Ori B2B3 (52 AU separation) and theta 1 Ori A1A2 (94 AU separation) systems. Such motions are consistent with those independently observed by Schertl et al. (2003) with speckle interferometry, giving us confidence that these very small (~0.002''/yr) orbital motions are real. All five members of the theta 1 Ori B system appear likely gravitationally bound. The very lowest mass member of the theta 1 Ori B system (B4) has K' ~11.66 and an estimated mass of ~0.2 Msun. There was very little motion (4+/-15 km/s) detected of B4 w.r.t B1 or B2, hence B4 is possibly part of the theta 1 Ori B group. We suspect that if this very low mass member is physically associated it most likely is in an unstable (non-hierarchical) orbital position and will soon be ejected from the group. The theta 1 Ori B system appears to be a good example of a star formation ``mini-cluster'' which may eject the lowest mass members of the cluster in the near future. This ``ejection'' process could play a major role in the formation of low mass stars and brown dwarfs.
We present an analysis of the kinematic and morphological structure of the nebula around the LMC LBV candidate S 119. On HST images, we find a predominantly spherical nebula which, however, seems to be much better confined in its eastern hemisphere than in the western one. The filamentary western part of the nebula is indicative of matter flowing out of the nebula's main body. This outflow is even more evidenced by our long-slit echelle spectra. They show that, while most of the nebula has an expansion velocity of 25.5 km/s, the outflowing material reaches velocities of almost 140 km/s, relative to the systemic one. A ROSAT HRI image shows no trace of S 119 and thus no indications of hot or shocked material.
We present and discuss new long-slit Echelle spectra of the LMC LBV candidate Sk-69 279 and put them in context with previous images and spectra. While at first glance a simple spherically expanding symmetric shell, we find a considerably more complex morphology and kinematics. The spectra indicate that morphologically identified deviations from sphericity are outflows of faster material out of the main body of Sk-69 279. The morphological as well as the kinematic similarity with other LBV nebulae makes it likely that Sk-69 279 is an LBV candidate, indeed, and poses the question in how far outflows out of expanding LBV nebulae are a general property of such nebulae--at least during some phases of their evolutions.
The Luminous Blue Variable star Eta Carinae is one of the most massive stars known. It underwent a giant eruption in 1843 in which the Homunculus nebula was created. ROSAT and ASCA data indicate the existence of a hard and a soft X-ray component which appear to be spatially distinct: a softer diffuse shell of the nebula around Eta Carinae and a harder point-like source centered on the star Eta Car. Astonishingly the morphology of the X-ray emission is very different from the optical appearance of the nebula. We present a comparative analysis of optical morphology, the kinematics, and the diffuse soft X-ray structure of the nebula around Eta Carinae. Our kinematic analysis of the nebula shows extremely high expansion velocities. We find a strong correlation between the X-ray emission and the knots in the nebula and the largest velocities, i.e. the X-ray morphology of the nebula around Eta Carinae is determined by the interaction between material streaming away from Eta Car and the ambient medium.
We propose a generalized accretion disk viscosity prescription based on hydrodynamically driven turbulence at the critical effective Reynolds number. This approach is consistent with recent re-analysis by Richard & Zahn (1999) of experimental results on turbulent Couette-Taylor flows. This new $β$-viscosity formulation is applied to both selfgravitating and non-selfgravitating disks and is shown to yield the standard $α$-disk prescription in the case of shock dissipation limited, non-selfgravitating disks. A specific case of fully selfgravitating $β$-disks is analyzed. We suggest that such disks may explain the observed spectra of protoplanetary disks and yield a natural explanation for the radial motions inferred from the observed metallicity gradients in disk galaxies. The $β$-mechanism may also account for the rapid mass transport required to power ultra luminous infrared galaxies.
Eta Carinae is one of the most extreme cases of a Luminous Blue Variable star. A bipolar nebula of 17" size surrounds the central object. Even further out, a large amount of filamentary material extends to a distance of 30" or about 0.3 pc. In this paper we present a detailed kinematic and morphological analysis of some outer filaments in this nebula which we call strings. All strings are extremly long and narrow structures. We identified 5 strings which have sizes of 0.058 to 0.177 pc in length and a width of only 0.002 pc. Using high-resolution long-slit echelle spectroscopy it was found that the strings follow a Hubble law with velocities increasing towards larger distances from the star. With these unique properties, high collimation and linear increase of the radial velocity the strings represent a newly found phenomena in the structure and evolution of nebulae around LBVs. Finally, we show that morphologically similar strings can be found in the planetary nebula NGC 6543, a possible PN-counterpart to this phenomenon.
We present the results of a re-examination of a [Ne II] line emission data cube (λ12.8 μm) and discuss the kinematic structure of the inner \sim 3 \times 4 pc of the Galaxy. The quality of [Ne II] as a tracer of ionized gas is examined by comparing it to radio data. A three dimensional representation of the data cube allows us to disentangle features which are projected onto the same location on the sky. A model of gas streams in different planes is fitted to the data. We find that most of the material is located in a main plane which itself is defined by the inner edge of the Circum-Nuclear Disk in the Galactic Center. Finally, we present a possible three dimensional model of the gas streams.
We discuss the radio spectrum of Sgr A* \index{Sgr A*, radio spectrum} in the frequency range between $\approx 1\,{\rm GHz}$ and $\approx 1\,000\,{\rm GHz}$, show that it can be explained by optically thin synchrotron radiation \index{Sgr A*, synchrotron radiation, optically thin} of relativistic electrons, and point toward a possible correlation between the spectrum of Sgr A* and larger-scale ($\la 50\,{\rm pc}$) radio emission from the Galactic Center \index{Galactic Center} region.
We demonstrate that there is only one physical process required to explain the spectrum and the variability of the radio source at the dynamical center of our Galaxy, Sgr A*, in the frequency range from $\approx$1 to $\approx$1000 GHz, namely optically thin synchrotron radiation that is emitted from a population of relativistic electrons. We attribute the observed variability to variable energy input from an accretion disk around Sgr A* into the acceleration of the electrons.
We demonstrate that our Galactic Center, despite little evidence for the presence of a currently active nucleus, provides insight into the feeding of AGN: The observed velocity field of molecular clouds can be interpreted as tracing out the spiralling inwards of gas in a large accretion flow towards the Galactic Center (Linden et al. 1993, Biermann et al. 1993) in the radial distance range from a few parsec to a few hundred pc. The required effective viscosity corresponds well to the observed turbulent velocities and characteristic length scales. The implied mass influx provides indeed all the material needed to maintain the presently observed star formation rate at distances closer than about $100$ pc. We argue that the energy input from supernova explosions due to the high rate of star formation can feed the turbulence of the interstellar medium. This then keeps the effective viscosity high as required to feed the star formation. We suggest that this process leads to limit cycles in star formation, and as a consequence also to limit cycles in the feeding of any activity at the very center.