Search

Multiwavelength variability studies of active galactic nuclei (AGN) can be used to probe their inner regions which are not directly resolvable. Dust reverberation mapping (DRM) estimates the size of the dust emitting region by measuring the delays between the infrared (IR) response to variability in the optical light curves. We measure DRM lags of Zw229-015 between optical ground-based and Kepler light curves and concurrent IR Spitzer 3.6 and 4.5 $\mu$m light curves from 2010-2015, finding an overall mean rest-frame lag of 18.3 $\pm$ 4.5 days. Each combination of optical and IR light curve returns lags that are consistent with each other within 1$\sigma$, which implies that the different wavelengths are dominated by the same hot dust emission. The lags measured for Zw229-015 are found to be consistently smaller than predictions using the lag-luminosity relationship. Also, the overall IR response to the optical emission actually depends on the geometry and structure of the dust emitting region as well, so we use Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) modelling to simulate the dust distribution to further estimate these structural and geometrical properties. We find that a large increase in flux between the 2011-2012 observation seasons, which is more dramatic in the IR light curve, is not well simulated by a single dust component. When excluding this increase in flux, the modelling consistently suggests that the dust is distributed in an extended flat disk, and finds a mean inclination angle of 49$^{+3}_{-13}$ degrees., Comment: 32 pages, 32 Figures, 7 Tables; Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report velocity-delay maps for prominent broad emission lines, Ly_alpha, CIV, HeII and H_beta, in the spectrum of NGC5548. The emission-line responses inhabit the interior of a virial envelope. The velocity-delay maps reveal stratified ionization structure. The HeII response inside 5-10 light-days has a broad single-peaked velocity profile. The Ly_alpha, CIV, and H_beta responses peak inside 10 light-days, extend outside 20 light-days, and exhibit a velocity profile with two peaks separated by 5000 km/s in the 10 to 20 light-day delay range. The velocity-delay maps show that the M-shaped lag vs velocity structure found in previous cross-correlation analysis is the signature of a Keplerian disk with a well-defined outer edge at R=20 light-days. The outer wings of the M arise from the virial envelope, and the U-shaped interior of the M is the lower half of an ellipse in the velocity-delay plane. The far-side response is weaker than that from the near side, so that we see clearly the lower half, but only faintly the upper half, of the velocity--delay ellipse. The delay tau=(R/c)(1-sin(i))=5 light-days at line center is from the near edge of the inclined ring, giving the inclination i=45 deg. A black hole mass of M=7x10^7 Msun is consistent with the velocity-delay structure. A barber-pole pattern with stripes moving from red to blue across the CIV and possibly Ly_alpha line profiles suggests the presence of azimuthal structure rotating around the far side of the broad-line region and may be the signature of precession or orbital motion of structures in the inner disk. Further HST observations of NGC 5548 over a multi-year timespan but with a cadence of perhaps 10 days rather than 1 day could help to clarify the nature of this new AGN phenomenon., 19 pages, 9 figures, ApJ in press

Early results from the SAGE-SMC (Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the tidally-disrupted, low-metallicity Small Magellanic Cloud) Spitzer legacy program are presented. These early results concentrate on the SAGE-SMC MIPS observations of the SMC Tail region. This region is the high H i column density portion of the Magellanic Bridge adjacent to the SMC Wing. We detect infrared dust emission and measure the gas-to-dust ratio in the SMC Tail and find it similar to that of the SMC Body. In addition, we find two embedded cluster regions that are resolved into multiple sources at all MIPS wavelengths.

We present a strong correlation between the [Ne V] 14.3 μm and [Ne III] 15.6 μm emission lines arising from the narrow-line regions (NLRs) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), spanning 4 orders of magnitude in luminosity. The data are compiled primarily from Spitzer Space Telescope observations of nearby Seyfert galaxies (median z = 0.01) and 3C radio sources (median z = 0.52). This correlation is consistent with earlier studies in the optical/UV bands showing that line ratios arising in the NLRs are remarkably constant across AGNs. We also show that the correlation allows only a very narrow range in ionization parameter for simple photoionization models. The observed correlation will place tight constraints on alternative models, which predict constant line ratios over a broader range in ionization parameter.

We obtained 500-second F606W WFPC2 images of 256 of the nearest (z, The text of the paper is 23 pages (ms.tex), there are 8 tables, and 9 figures. Figures 1, 2, and 3 are the image gallery (45 pages) and are NOT included here. They can be ftp'ed from ftp.astro.ucla.edu. Log in as anonymous and give your e-mail address as the password. The images are in the /pub/submit/vg/AGNgallery . Figures 4-9 are in eps format and are included here and can be printed using the lpr command in unix systems

Stars that pass within the Roche radius of a supermassive black hole will be tidally disrupted, yielding a sudden injection of gas close to the black hole horizon which produces an electromagnetic flare. A few dozen of these flares have been discovered in recent years, but current observations provide poor constraints on the bolometric luminosity and total accreted mass of these events. Using images from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), we have discovered transient 3.4 micron emission from several previously known tidal disruption flares. The observations can be explained by dust heated to its sublimation temperature due to the intense radiation of the tidal flare. From the break in the infrared light curve we infer that this hot dust is located ~0.1 pc from the supermassive black hole. Since the dust has been heated by absorbing UV and (potentially) soft X-ray photons of the flare, the reprocessing light curve yields an estimate of the bolometric flare luminosity. For the flare PTF-09ge, we infer that the most likely value of the luminosity integrated over frequencies at which dust can absorb photons is $8\times 10^{44}$ erg/s, with a factor of 3 uncertainty due to the unknown temperature of the dust. This bolometric luminosity is a factor ~10 larger than the observed black body luminosity. Our work is the first to probe dust in the nuclei of non-active galaxies on sub-parsec scales. The observed infrared luminosity implies a covering factor ~1% for the nuclear dust in the host galaxies., ApJ in press (accepted July 7, 2016)

The Seyfert 1 galaxy Zw 229-015 is among the brightest active galaxies being monitored by the Kepler mission. In order to determine the black hole mass in Zw 229-015 from H-beta reverberation mapping, we have carried out nightly observations with the Kast Spectrograph at the Lick 3m telescope during the dark runs from June through December 2010, obtaining 54 spectroscopic observations in total. We have also obtained nightly V-band imaging with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope at Lick Observatory and with the 0.9m telescope at the Brigham Young University West Mountain Observatory over the same period. We detect strong variability in the source, which exhibited more than a factor of 2 change in broad H-beta flux. From cross-correlation measurements, we find that the H-beta light curve has a rest-frame lag of 3.86(+0.69,-0.90) days with respect to the V-band continuum variations. We also measure reverberation lags for H-alpha and H-gamma and find an upper limit to the H-delta lag. Combining the H-beta lag measurement with a broad H-beta width of sigma = 1590+/-47 km/s measured from the root-mean-square variability spectrum, we obtain a virial estimate of M_BH = 1.00(-0.24,+0.19)*10^7 solar masses for the black hole in Zw 229-015. As a Kepler target, Zw 229-015 will eventually have one of the highest-quality optical light curves ever measured for any active galaxy, and the black hole mass determined from reverberation mapping will serve as a benchmark for testing relationships between black hole mass and continuum variability characteristics in active galactic nuclei., 13 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) is one of three focal plane instruments in the Spitzer Space Telescope. IRAC is a four-channel camera that obtains simultaneous broad-band images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 microns. Two nearly adjacent 5.2x5.2 arcmin fields of view in the focal plane are viewed by the four channels in pairs (3.6 and 5.8 microns; 4.5 and 8 microns). All four detector arrays in the camera are 256x256 pixels in size, with the two shorter wavelength channels using InSb and the two longer wavelength channels using Si:As IBC detectors. IRAC is a powerful survey instrument because of its high sensitivity, large field of view, and four-color imaging. This paper summarizes the in-flight scientific, technical, and operational performance of IRAC., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in the ApJS. A higher resolution version is at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/irac/publications

We present the first results using infrared arrays, devices which do not employ charge coupling, in a new "drift scanning" mode to significantly increase the area of the sky which can be surveyed, especially in the high background 3-5 \mm bands. Even with fast electronics, wide field imaging in the thermal IR is difficult due to the high backgrounds. Often, only a sub-array of the frame can be readout before saturation. Drift scanning allows this sub-array to be a long narrow strip which is stepped perpendicular to the long side, by allowing the telescope to track at non-sidereal rates, and then a mosaic is constructed in the computer memory in real time. The method has been implemented with the UCLA Twin-Channel Infrared Camera system which employs two different classes of arrays. One is the NICMOS 3 HgCdTe array and the other is an SBRC InSb array; both detectors have 256\xx256 pixels. Using a drift rate of 1 arcminute/minute on the Shane 3-m telescope at Lick Observatory, we are able to survey about 180 square arcminutes per hour at two wavelengths simultaneously (e.g. J,K or H,L). Limiting magnitudes are typically J=15, L= 12. Data reduction methods are described and observations of the globular cluster M3, the star forming region M17, and the Moon are used as illustration.