Rubin-LSST

Abstract:

We have searched for flavor-changing neutral current decays and lepton-number-violating decays of D+ and Ds+ mesons to final states of the form h±e e+, where h is either π or K. We use the complete samples of CLEO-c open-charm data, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 818pb-1 at the center-of-mass energy E CM=3.774GeV containing 2.4×106 D+D- pairs and 602pb-1 at ECM=4.170GeV containing 0.6×106 Ds*±Ds pairs. No signal is observed in any channel, and we obtain 90% confidence level upper limits on branching fractions B(D +→π+e+e-)<5. 9×10-6, B(D+→π-e +e+)<1.1×10-6, B(D+→ K+e+e-)<3.0×10-6, B(D +→K-e+e+)<3.5×10 -6, B(Ds+→π+e+e-)<2. 2×10-5, B(Ds+→π-e+e +)<1.8×10-5, B(Ds+→K+e +e-)<5.2×10-5, and B(Ds+→K -e+e+)<1.7×10-5. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

Galaxy formation is significantly modulated by energy output from supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies which grow in highly efficient luminous quasar phases. The timescale on which black holes transition into and out of such phases is, however, unknown. We present the first measurement of the shutdown timescale for an individual quasar using X-ray observations of the nearby galaxy IC 2497, which hosted a luminous quasar no more than 70,000 years ago that is still seen as a light echo in "Hanny's Voorwerp," but whose present-day radiative output is lower by at least two, and more likely by over four, orders of magnitude. This extremely rapid shutdown provides new insight into the physics of accretion in supermassive black holes and may signal a transition of the accretion disk to a radiatively inefficient state. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.