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1.
Considerations of the collision losses for protons traversing the 2.7-K blackbody microwave radiation field have led to the conclusion that the highest energy cosmic rays, those observed at ≥1020 eV, must come from sources within the present epoch. In light of this constraint, it is here suggested that these particles may be accelerated near the event horizons of spinning supermassive black holes associated with presently inactive quasar remnants. The required emf is generated by the black hole induced rotation of externally supplied magnetic field lines threading the horizon. Producing the observed flux of the highest energy cosmic rays would constitute a negligible drain on the black hole dynamo. Observations with upcoming air shower arrays and space missions may lead to the identification of candidate dormant galaxies that harbour such black holes. Although the highest energy events observed so far are accounted for within the context of this scenario, a spectral upper bound at ∼1021 eV is expected since the acceleration to higher energies appears to be precluded, on general grounds.  相似文献   

2.
Using recently published estimates — based on high spatial resolution spectroscopy — of the mass M BH of nuclear black holes for a sample of nearby galaxies, we explore the dependence of galaxy nucleus emissivity at various wavelengths on M BH. We confirm an almost linear scaling of the black hole mass with the baryonic mass of the host spheroidal galaxy. A remarkably tight relationship is also found with both nuclear and total radio centimetric flux, with a very steep dependence of the radio flux on M BH ( P  ∝  M 2.5BH). The high-frequency radio power is thus a very good tracer of a supermassive black hole, and a good estimator of its mass. This, together with the lack of significant correlations with the low-energy X-ray and far-IR flux, supports the view that advection-dominated accretion is ruling the energy output in the low accretion rate regime. Using the tight dependence of total radio power on M BH and the rich statistics of radio emission of galaxies, we derive an estimate of the mass function of remnants in the nearby Universe. This is compared with current models of quasar and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity and of the origin of the hard X-ray background (HXRB). As for the former, continuous long-lived AGN activity is excluded by the present data with high significance, whereas the assumption of a short-lived, possibly recurrent, activity pattern gives remarkable agreement. The presently estimated black hole mass function also implies that the HXRB has been produced by a numerous population (∼ 10−2 Mpc−3) of moderately massive ( M BH ∼ 107 M⊙) black holes.  相似文献   

3.
We consider the problem of tidal disruption of stars in the centre of a galaxy containing a supermassive binary black hole with unequal masses. We assume that over the separation distance between the black holes, the gravitational potential is dominated by the more massive primary black hole. Also, we assume that the number density of stars is concentric with the primary black hole and has a power-law cusp. We show that the bulk of stars with a small angular-momentum component normal to the black hole binary orbit can reach a small value of total angular momentum through secular evolution in the gravitational field of the binary, and hence they can be tidally disrupted by the larger black hole. This effect is analogous to the so-called Kozai effect well known in celestial mechanics. We develop an analytical theory for the secular evolution of the stellar orbits and calculate the rate of tidal disruption. We compare our analytical theory with a simple numerical model and find very good agreement.
Our results show that for a primary black hole mass of  ∼106–107 M⊙  , the black hole mass-ratio   q > 10−2  , cusp size ∼1 pc, the tidal disruption rate can be as large as  ∼10−2–1 M⊙ yr−1  . This is at least 102–104 times larger than estimated for the case of a single supermassive black hole. The duration of the phase of enhanced tidal disruption is determined by the dynamical-friction time-scale, and it is rather short: ∼105 yr. The dependence of the tidal disruption rate on the mass ratio, and on the size of the cusp, is also discussed.  相似文献   

4.
In large spheroidal stellar systems, such as elliptical galaxies, one invariably finds a  106–109 M⊙  supermassive black hole at their centre. In contrast, within dwarf elliptical galaxies one predominantly observes a  105–107 M⊙  nuclear star cluster. To date, few galaxies have been found with both types of nuclei coexisting and even less have had the masses determined for both central components. Here, we identify one dozen galaxies housing nuclear star clusters and supermassive black holes whose masses have been measured. This doubles the known number of such hermaphrodite nuclei – which are expected to be fruitful sources of gravitational radiation. Over the host spheroid (stellar) mass range  108–1011 M⊙  , we find that a galaxy's nucleus-to-spheroid (baryon) mass ratio is not a constant value but decreases from a few per cent to ∼0.3 per cent such that  log[( M BH+ M NC)/ M sph]=−(0.39 ± 0.07) log[ M sph/1010 M⊙]− (2.18 ± 0.07)  . Once dry merging commences and the nuclear star clusters disappear, this ratio is expected to become a constant value.
As a byproduct of our investigation, we have found that the projected flux from resolved nuclear star clusters is well approximated with Sérsic functions having a range of indices from ∼0.5 to ∼3, the latter index describing the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster.  相似文献   

5.
We present a ROSAT and ASCA study of the Einstein source X-9 and its relation to a shock-heated shell-like optical nebula in a tidal arm of the M81 group of interacting galaxies. Our ASCA observation of the source shows a flat and featureless X-ray spectrum well described by a multicolour disc blackbody model. The source most likely represents an optically thick accretion disc around an intermediate-mass black hole  ( M ∼102 M⊙)  in its high/soft state, similar to other variable ultraluminous X-ray sources observed in nearby disc galaxies. Using constraints derived from both the innermost stable orbit around a black hole and the Eddington luminosity, we find that the black hole is fast-rotating and that its mass is between ∼80 M⊙–1.5×102 M⊙. The inferred bolometric luminosity of the accretion disc is ∼(1.1×1040 erg s−1)/(cos  i ). Furthermore, we find that the optical nebula is very energetic and may contain large amounts of hot gas, accounting for a soft X-ray component as indicated by archival ROSAT PSPC data. The nebula is apparently associated with X-9; the latter may be powering the former and/or they could be formed in the same event (e.g. a hypernova). Such a connection, if confirmed, could have strong implications for understanding both the birth of intermediate-mass black holes and the formation of energetic interstellar structures.  相似文献   

6.
We start from the hypothesis that the dark matter of the Galactic disc contains Planckian particles carrying a negative electric charge of up to Z =10, which we call dark electric matter objects (daemons). Daemons are capable of catalysing proton-fusion reactions, which may account for the observed solar neutrino deficiency. The inevitable poisoning of the catalytic property of daemons as they capture heavy nuclei ( A 20) in the interior of the Sun is used to estimate the decay time of a daemon-containing nucleus (nucleon) in quantum-relativistic processes, which remain largely unknown. This time is τ ex∼10−7 s. This may mean that the lower limit on the mass of an intranucleonic particle interacting with a daemon is ∼108–1010 GeV and, possibly, even ∼1014–1015 GeV. The desirability of a search for multiple events occurring with an interval ∼ τ ex along the 'slow' daemon trajectories on operating installations dedicated to detection of the proton decay is pointed out.  相似文献   

7.
We investigate how the presence of a non-thermal tail beyond a Maxwellian electron distribution affects the synchrotron process as well as Comptonization in plasmas with parameters typical for accretion flows on to black holes. We find that the presence of the tail can significantly increase the net (after accounting for self-absorption) cyclo-synchrotron emission of the plasma, which then provides seed photons for Compton upscattering. Thus, the luminosity in the thermally Comptonized spectrum is enhanced as well. The importance of these effects increases with both increasing Eddington ratio and black hole mass. The enhancement of the Comptonized synchrotron luminosity can be as large as ∼103 and ∼105 for stellar and supermassive black holes, respectively, when the energy content in the non-thermal tail is 1 per cent.
The presence of the tail only weakly hardens the thermal Comptonization spectrum but it leads to the formation of a high-energy tail beyond the thermal cut-off, which two effects are independent of the nature of the seed photons. Since observations of high-energy tails in Comptonization spectra can constrain the non-thermal tails in the electron distribution and thus the Comptonized synchrotron luminosity, they provide upper limits on the strength of magnetic fields in accretion flows. In particular, the measurement of an MeV tail in the hard state of Cyg X-1 by McConnell et al. implies the magnetic field strength in this source to be at most an order of magnitude below equipartition.  相似文献   

8.
Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of the powerful, peculiar radio galaxy 3C 123 have resulted in an X-ray detection of the bright eastern hotspot, with a 1-keV flux density of ∼5 nJy. The X-ray flux and spectrum of the hotspot are consistent with the X-rays being inverse-Compton scattering of radio synchrotron photons by the population of electrons responsible for the radio emission ('synchrotron self-Compton emission') if the magnetic fields in the hotspot are close to their equipartition values. 3C 123 is thus the third radio galaxy to show X-ray emission from a hotspot which is consistent with being in equipartition. Chandra also detects emission from a moderately rich cluster surrounding 3C 123, with L X(2–10 keV)=2×1044 erg s−1 and kT ∼5 keV, and absorbed emission from the active nucleus, with an inferred intrinsic column density of 1.7×1022 cm−2 and an intrinsic 2–10 keV luminosity of 1044 erg s−1.  相似文献   

9.
The first spectroscopic census of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) associated with late-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster was carried out by observing 213 out of a complete set of 237 galaxies more massive than   M dyn > 108.5 M⊙  . Among them, 77 are classified as AGNs [including 21 transition objects, 47 low-ionization nuclear emission regions (LINERs) and nine Seyferts] and comprise 32 per cent of the late-type galaxies in Virgo. Due to spectroscopic incompleteness, at most 21 AGNs are missed in the survey, so that the fraction would increase up to 41 per cent. Using corollary near-infrared observations that enable us to estimate galaxy dynamical masses, it is found that AGNs are hosted exclusively in massive galaxies, i.e.   M dyn≳ 1010 M⊙  . Their frequency increases steeply with the dynamical mass from zero at   M dyn≈ 109.5 M⊙  to virtually 1 at   M dyn > 1011.5 M⊙  . These frequencies are consistent with those of low-luminosity AGNs found in the general field by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Massive galaxies that harbour AGNs commonly show conspicuous r -band star-like nuclear enhancements. Conversely, they often, but not necessarily, contain massive bulges. A few well-known AGNs (e.g. M61, M100, NGC 4535) are found in massive Sc galaxies with little or no bulge. The AGN fraction seems to be only marginally sensitive to galaxy environment. We infer the black hole masses using the known scaling relations of quiescent black holes. No black holes lighter than  ∼106 M⊙  are found active in our sample.  相似文献   

10.
We suggest that an extreme Kerr black hole with a mass ∼106 M⊙, a dimensionless angular momentum     and a marginally stable orbital radius     located in a normal galaxy may produce a γ -ray burst (GRB) by capturing and disrupting a star. During the capture period, a transient accretion disc is formed and a strong transient magnetic field ∼     lasting for     may be produced at the inner boundary of the accretion disc. A large amount of rotational energy of the black hole is extracted and released in an ultrarelativistic jet with a bulk Lorentz factor Γ larger than 103 via the Blandford–Znajek process. The relativistic jet energy can be converted into γ -radiation via an internal shock mechanism. The GRB duration should be the same as the lifetime of the strong transient magnetic field. The maximum number of sub-bursts is estimated to be     because the disc material is likely to break into pieces with a size about the thickness of the disc h at the cusp     The shortest risetime of the burst estimated from this model is ∼     The model GRB density rate is also estimated.  相似文献   

11.
We propose a model for the source of the X-ray background (XRB) in which low-luminosity active nuclei ( L  ∼ 1043 erg s−1) are obscured ( N  ∼ 1023 cm−2) by nuclear starbursts within the inner ∼ 100 pc. The obscuring material covers most of the sky as seen from the central source, rather than being distributed in a toroidal structure, and hardens the averaged X-ray spectrum by photoelectric absorption. The gas is turbulent with velocity dispersion ∼ few × 100 km s−1 and cloud–cloud collisions lead to copious star formation. Although supernovae tend to produce outflows, most of the gas is trapped in the gravity field of the star-forming cluster itself and the central black hole. A hot ( T  ∼ 106 − 107 K) virialized phase of this gas, comprising a few per cent of the total obscuring material, feeds the central engine of ∼ 107 M⊙ through Bondi accretion, at a sub-Eddington rate appropriate for the luminosity of these objects. If starburst-obscured objects give rise to the residual XRB, then only 10 per cent of the accretion in active galaxies occurs close to the Eddington limit in unabsorbed objects.  相似文献   

12.
A model of the ferromagnetic origin of magnetic fields of neutron stars is considered. In this model, the magnetic phase transition occurs inside the core of neutron stars soon after formation. However, owing to the high electrical conductivity the core magnetic field is initially fully screened. We study how this magnetic field emerges for an outside observer. After some time, the induced field that screens the ferromagnetic field decays enough to uncover a detectable fraction of the ferromagnetic field. We calculate the time-scale of decay of the screening field and study how it depends on the size of the ferromagnetic core. We find that the same fractional decay of the screening field occurs earlier for larger cores. We conjecture that weak fields of millisecond pulsars, B ∼108–109 G, could be identified with ferromagnetic fields of unshielded fraction ε ∼10−4–10−3 resulting from the decay of screening fields by a factor 1− ε in ∼108 yr since their birth.  相似文献   

13.
The Sc galaxy M 99 in the Virgo Cluster has been strongly affected by tidal interactions and recent close encounters, responsible for an asymmetric spiral pattern and a high star formation rate. Our XMM–Newton study shows that the inner disc is dominated by hot plasma at kT ≈ 0.30 keV, with a total X-ray luminosity of ≈1041 erg s−1 in the 0.3–12 keV band. At the outskirts of the galaxy, away from the main star-forming regions, there is an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) with an X-ray luminosity of ≈2 × 1040 erg s−1 and a hard spectrum well fitted by a power law of photon index Γ≈ 1.7. This source is close to the location where a massive H  i cloud appears to be falling on to the M 99 disc at a relative speed of >100 km s−1. We suggest that there may be a direct physical link between fast cloud collisions and the formation of bright ULXs, which may be powered by accreting black holes with masses ∼100 M⊙. External collisions may trigger large-scale dynamical collapses of protoclusters, leading to the formation of very massive (≳200 M⊙) stellar progenitors; we argue that such stars may later collapse into massive black holes if their metal abundance is sufficiently low.  相似文献   

14.
We report the results of spectral and temporal variability studies of the ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) contained within the interacting pair of galaxies NGC 4485/4490, combining Chandra and XMM–Newton observations. Each of the four separate observations provide at least modest quality spectra and light curves for each of the six previously identified ULXs in this system; we also note the presence of a new transient ULX in the most recent observation. No short-term variability was observed for any ULX within our sample, but three out of five sources show correlated flux/spectral changes over longer time-scales, with two others remaining stable in spectrum and luminosity over a period of at least 5 yr. We model the spectra with simple power-law and multicolour disc blackbody models. Although the data are insufficient to statistically distinguish models in each epoch, those better modelled (in terms of their  χ2  fit) by a multicolour disc blackbody appear to show a disc-like correlation between luminosity and temperature, whereas those modelled by a power-law veer sharply away from such a relationship. The ULXs with possible correlated flux/spectral changes appear to change spectral form at  ∼2 × 1039 erg s−1  , suggestive of a possible change in spectral state at high luminosities. If this transition is occurring between the very high state and a super-Eddington ultraluminous state, it indicates that the mass of the black holes in these ULXs is around  10–15 M⊙  .  相似文献   

15.
Magnetic white dwarfs with fields in excess of ∼106 G (the high field magnetic white dwarfs; HFMWDs) constitute about ∼10 per cent of all white dwarfs and show a mass distribution with a mean mass of  ∼0.93 M⊙  compared to  ∼0.56 M⊙  for all white dwarfs. We investigate two possible explanations for these observations. First, that the initial–final mass relationship (IFMR) is influenced by the presence of a magnetic field and that the observed HFMWDs originate from stars on the main sequence that are recognized as magnetic (the chemically peculiar A and B stars). Secondly, that the IFMR is essentially unaffected by the presence of a magnetic field, and that the observed HFMWDs have progenitors that are not restricted to these groups of stars. Our calculations argue against the former hypothesis and support the latter. The HFMWDs have a higher than average mass because on the average they have more massive progenitors and not because the IFMR is significantly affected by the magnetic field. A requirement of our model is that ∼40 per cent of main-sequence stars more massive than  ∼4.5 M⊙  must either have magnetic fields in the range of ∼10–100 G, which is below the current level of detection, or generate fields during subsequent stellar evolution towards the white dwarf phase. In the former case, the magnetic fields of the HFMWDs could be fossil remnants from the main-sequence phase consistent with the approximate magnetic flux conservation.  相似文献   

16.
We demonstrate that the luminosity function of the recently detected population of actively star-forming galaxies at redshift z  = 3 and the B -band luminosity function of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at the same redshift can both be matched with the mass function of dark matter haloes predicted by standard variants of hierarchical cosmogonies for lifetimes of optically bright QSOs anywhere in the range 106 to 108 yr. There is a strong correlation between the lifetime and the required degree of non-linearity in the relation between black hole and halo mass. We suggest that the mass of supermassive black holes may be limited by the back-reaction of the emitted energy on the accretion flow in a self-gravitating disc. This would imply a relation of black hole to halo mass of the form M bh ∝  v 5halo ∝  M 5/3halo and a typical duration of the optically bright QSO phase of a few times 107 yr. The high integrated mass density of black holes inferred from recent black hole mass estimates in nearby galaxies may indicate that the overall efficiency of supermassive black holes for producing blue light is smaller than previously assumed. We discuss three possible accretion modes with low optical emission efficiency: (i) accretion at far above the Eddington rate, (ii) accretion obscured by dust, and (iii) accretion below the critical rate leading to an advection-dominated accretion flow lasting for a Hubble time. We further argue that accretion with low optical efficiency might be closely related to the origin of the hard X-ray background and that the ionizing background might be progressively dominated by stars rather than QSOs at higher redshift.  相似文献   

17.
Starting from the ∼50 000 quasars of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey for which Mg  ii line width and 3000 Å monochromatic flux are available, we aim to study the dependence of the mass of active black holes on redshift. We focus on the observed distribution in the full width at half-maximum–nuclear luminosity plane, which can be reproduced at all redshifts assuming a limiting M BH, a maximum Eddington ratio and a minimum luminosity (due to the survey flux limit). We study the z -dependence of the best-fitting parameters of assumed distributions at increasing redshift and find that the maximum mass of the quasar population evolves as  log ( M BH(max)/M⊙) ∼ 0.3 z + 9  , while the maximum Eddington ratio (∼0.45) is practically independent of cosmic time. These results are unaffected by the Malmquist bias.  相似文献   

18.
We present a steady one-dimensional model for a pulsar polar cap accelerator, where the field-aligned electric field and flow are solved self-consistently with a given current density. It is assumed that no particles return to the star. It is known that the space-charge-limited flow is accelerated to energies high enough to create electron–positron pairs if the assumed current density is high enough. We find that when pairs are created in such a space-charge-limited flow, the accelerating electric field is screened out within a short distance after pair creation, if the pair particle flux is larger than a critical value. We also find that a space charge density wave is excited in the screening region.
We find that a pair flux larger than the critical value M c=103–105 must be reached in a layer with thickness equal to the braking distance for the decelerating component. Therefore, the required multiplicity – the number of pairs created by one primary particle – is too large to be realized in the actual pulsar magnetosphere. We suggest that in order to obtain a localized potential drop along the polar cap magnetic flux, one needs to take into account additional effects such as wave–particle interaction or quasi-periodic pair creation.  相似文献   

19.
Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) are expected to segregate and form a steep density cusp around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei. We follow the evolution of a multimass system of BHs and stars by numerically integrating the Fokker–Planck energy diffusion equations for a variety of BH mass distributions. We find that the BHs 'self-segregate', and that the rarest, most massive BHs dominate the scattering rate closest to the SMBH  (≲10−1 pc)  . BH–BH binaries form out of gravitational wave emission during BH encounters. We find that the expected rate of BH coalescence events detectable by Advanced LIGO is  ∼1–102 yr−1  , depending on the initial mass function of stars in galactic nuclei and the mass of the most massive BHs. We find that the actual merger rate is likely ∼10 times larger than this due to the intrinsic scatter of stellar densities in many different galaxies. The BH binaries that form this way in galactic nuclei have significant eccentricities as they enter the LIGO band (90 per cent with   e > 0.9  ), and are therefore distinguishable from other binaries, which circularize before becoming detectable. We also show that eccentric mergers can be detected to larger distances and greater BH masses than circular mergers, up to  ∼700 M⊙  . Future ground-based gravitational wave observatories will be able to constrain both the mass function of BHs and stars in galactic nuclei.  相似文献   

20.
If the cosmological dark matter has a component made of small primordial black holes (BHs), they may have a significant impact on the physics of the first stars and on the subsequent formation of massive BHs. Primordial BHs would be adiabatically contracted into these stars and then would sink to the stellar centre by dynamical friction, creating a larger BH which may quickly swallow the whole star. If these primordial BHs are heavier than  ∼1022 g  , the first stars would likely live only for a very short time and would not contribute much to the reionization of the Universe. They would instead become  10–103 M⊙  BHs which (depending on subsequent accretion) could serve as seeds for the super-massive BHs seen at high redshifts as well as those inside galaxies today.  相似文献   

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