Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology

Abstract:

In this work an extension to Eddington's gravitational action is analyzed. We consider the tensor perturbations of a FLRW space-time in the Eddington regime in where the tensor mode is linearly unstable deep and the resulting modifications to Einstein regime are quite strong.

Abstract:

The goal of the .Astronomy conference series is to bring together astronomers, educators, developers and others interested in using the Internet as a medium for astronomy. Attendance at the event is limited to approximately 50 participants, and days are split into mornings of scheduled talks, followed by 'unconference' afternoons, where sessions are defined by participants during the course of the event. Participants in unconference sessions are discouraged from formal presentations, with discussion, workshop-style formats or informal practical tutorials encouraged. The conference also designates one day as a 'hack day', in which attendees collaborate in groups on day-long projects for presentation the following morning. These hacks are often a way of concentrating effort, learning new skills, and exploring ideas in a practical fashion. The emphasis on informal, focused interaction makes recording proceedings more difficult than for a normal meeting. While the first .Astronomy conference is preserved formally in a book, more recent iterations are not documented. We therefore, in the spirit of .Astronomy, report 'unproceedings' from .Astronomy 4, which was held in Heidelberg in July 2012.

Abstract:

Recent evidence for a strong "hard excess" of flux at energies ≳ 20 keV in some Suzaku observations of type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) has motivated an exploratory study of the phenomenon in the local type 1 AGN population. We have selected all type 1 AGNs in the Swift Burst Alert Telescope 58 month catalog and cross-correlated them with the holdings of the Suzaku public archive. We find the hard excess phenomenon to be a ubiquitous property of type 1 AGNs. Taken together, the spectral hardness and equivalent width of Fe Kα emission are consistent with reprocessing by an ensemble of Compton-thick clouds that partially cover the continuum source. In the context of such a model, ∼80% of the sample has a hardness ratio consistent with >50% covering of the continuum by low-ionization, Compton-thick gas. A more detailed study of the three hardest X-ray spectra in our sample reveal a sharp Fe K absorption edge at ∼7 keV in each of them, indicating that blurred reflection is not responsible for the very hard spectral forms. Simple considerations place the distribution of Compton-thick clouds at or within the optical broad-line region. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..