Eight powers of ten: similarities in black hole accretion on all mass scales

Proceedings of Science SISSA (2006)

Authors:

R Fender, E Koerding, T Belloni, P Uttley, I McHardy, T Tzioumis

Abstract:

In this paper we discuss the recent advances in the quantitative comparison of accretion, and the accretion:jet coupling, in accreting black holes in both X-ray binaries (where M ~ 10Msun) and Active Galactic Nuclei (10^5Msun < M < 10^9Msun). These similarities include the radiative efficiency and jet power as a function of accretion rate, which are themselves probably the origin of the `fundamental plane of black hole activity'. A second `fundamental plane' which connects mass, accretion rate and timing properties provides us with a further physical diagnostic. Patterns of radio loudness (i.e. jet production) as a function of luminosity and accretion state are shown to be similar for X-ray binaries and AGN. Finally we discuss how neutron stars are a useful control sample, and what the future may hold for this field.

Jets From X‐ray Binaries: A Brief Overview and Comparison with Active Galactic Nuclei

AIP Conference Proceedings AIP Publishing 856:1 (2006) 23-32

Massive elliptical galaxies: From cores to halos

Astrophysical Journal 648:2 I (2006) 826-834

Authors:

CJ Lintott, I Ferreras, O Lahav

Abstract:

In the context of recent observational results that show massive ellipticals were in place at high redshifts, we reassess the status of monolithic collapse in a ACDM universe. Using a sample of over 2000 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, by comparing the dynamical mass and stellar mass (estimated from colors) we find that ellipticals have "cores" that are baryon-dominated within their half-light radius. These galaxies correspond to 3 σ peaks in the spherical collapse model if the total mass in the halo is assumed to be 20 times the dynamical mass within the half-light radius. This value yields stellar mass-to-total mass ratios of 8%, compared to a cosmological baryon fraction of 18% derived from the first 3 years of WMAP observations alone. We further develop a method for reconstructing the concentration halo parameter c of the progenitors of these galaxies by utilizing adiabatic contraction. Although the analysis is done within the framework of monolithic collapse, the resulting distribution of c is lognormal with a peak value of c ∼ 3-10 and a distribution width similar to the results of N-body simulations. We also derive scaling relations between stellar and dynamical mass and the velocity dispersion, and find that these are sufficient to recover the tilt of the fundamental plane. © 2006. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

The Type Ia supernova 2004S, a clone of SN 2001el, and the optimal photometric bands for extinction estimation

(2006)

Authors:

Kevin Krisciunas, Peter M Garnavich, Vallery Stanishev, Nicholas B Suntzeff, Jose Luis Prieto, Juan Espinoza, David Gonzalez, Maria Elena Salvo, Nancy Elias de la Rosa, Stephen J Smartt, Justyn R Maund, Rolf-Peter Kudritzki

Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B(D0→K+π-)/ B(D0→K-π+) using the CDF II detector

Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 74:3 (2006)

Authors:

A Abulencia, D Acosta, J Adelman, T Affolder, T Akimoto, MG Albrow, D Ambrose, S Amerio, D Amidei, A Anastassov, K Anikeev, A Annovi, J Antos, M Aoki, G Apollinari, JF Arguin, T Arisawa, A Artikov, W Ashmanskas, A Attal, F Azfar, P Azzi-Bacchetta, P Azzurri, N Bacchetta, H Bachacou, W Badgett, A Barbaro-Galtieri, VE Barnes, BA Barnett, S Baroiant, V Bartsch, G Bauer, F Bedeschi, S Behari, S Belforte, G Bellettini, J Bellinger, A Belloni, EB Haim, D Benjamin, A Beretvas, J Beringer, T Berry, A Bhatti, M Binkley, D Bisello, RE Blair, C Blocker, B Blumenfeld, A Bocci, A Bodek, V Boisvert, G Bolla, A Bolshov, D Bortoletto, J Boudreau, A Boveia, B Brau, C Bromberg, E Brubaker, J Budagov, HS Budd, S Budd, K Burkett, G Busetto, P Bussey, KL Byrum, S Cabrera, M Campanelli, M Campbell, F Canelli, A Canepa, D Carlsmith, R Carosi, S Carron, M Casarsa, A Castro, P Catastini, D Cauz, M Cavalli-Sforza, A Cerri, L Cerrito, SH Chang, J Chapman, YC Chen, M Chertok, G Chiarelli, G Chlachidze, F Chlebana, I Cho, K Cho, D Chokheli

Abstract:

We present a measurement of RB, the ratio of the branching fraction for the rare decay D0→K+π- to that for the Cabibbo-favored decay D0→K-π+. Charge-conjugate decays are implicitly included. A signal of 2005±104 events for the decay D0→K+π- is obtained using the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 0.35fb-1 produced in p̄p collisions at s=1.96TeV. Assuming no mixing, we find RB=[4.05±0.21(stat)±0.11(syst)] ×10-3. This measurement is consistent with the world average, and comparable in accuracy with the best measurements from other experiments. © 2006 The American Physical Society.