Search results for "Cosmology"
showing 10 items of 2905 documents
Relative velocities for radial motion in expanding Robertson-Walker spacetimes
2011
The expansion of space, and other geometric properties of cosmological models, can be studied using geometrically defined notions of relative velocity. In this paper, we consider test particles undergoing radial motion relative to comoving (geodesic) observers in Robertson-Walker cosmologies, whose scale factors are increasing functions of cosmological time. Analytical and numerical comparisons of the Fermi, kinematic, astrometric, and the spectroscopic relative velocities of test particles are given under general circumstances. Examples include recessional comoving test particles in the de Sitter universe, the radiation-dominated universe, and the matter-dominated universe. Three distinct …
Estimate of the gravitational-wave background from the observed cosmological distribution of quasars
2021
We study the gravitational-wave background from the observed cosmological quasar distribution. Using the DR9Q quasar catalogue from the ninth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we create a complete, statistically consistent sample of quasars from $z=0.3$ to $5.4$. Employing the spectroscopic information from the catalogue we estimate the masses of the supermassive black holes hosted by the quasars in the sample, resulting in a log-normal distribution of mean $10^{8.32\pm0.33}M_{\odot}$. The computation of the individual gravitational-wave strains relies on specific functional forms derived from simulations of gravitational collapse and mergers of massive black hole binarie…
Steady state shocks in accretion disks around a Kerr black hole
1994
Results of numerical simulations of shock solutions in a geometrical thin accretion disk around a Kerr black hole (BH) are presented. Using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) technique, the influence of the central object is included by means of an effective potential, We first present the theory of standing shock formation in accretion disks around a Kerr black hole, and show that the results of our numerical simulation agree very well with the theoretical results. We find that the shocks in an inviscid flow are very stable. We also remove the ambiguity prevalent regarding the location and stability of shocks in adiabatic flows. Finally we sketch some of the astrophysical consequenc…
Individual Estimates of the Virial Factor in 10 Quasars: Implications on the Kinematics of the Broad Line Region
2020
Assuming a gravitational origin for the Fe III$\lambda\lambda$2039-2113 redshift and using microlensing based estimates of the size of the region emitting this feature, we obtain individual measurements of the virial factor, $f$, in 10 quasars. The average values for the Balmer lines, $\langle f_{H\beta}\rangle={\bf 0.43\pm 0.20}$ and $\langle f_{H\alpha}\rangle={\bf 0.50\pm 0.24}$, are in good agreement with the results of previous studies for objects with lines of comparable widths. In the case of Mg II, consistent results, $f_{Mg II} \sim {\bf 0.44}$, can be also obtained accepting a reasonable scaling for the size of the emitting region. The modeling of the cumulative histograms of indi…
Systematic Redshift of the Fe III UV Lines in Quasars. Measuring Supermassive Black Hole Masses under the Gravitational Redshift Hypothesis
2018
We find that the Fe III$\lambda\lambda$2039-2113 spectral feature in quasars appears systematically redshifted by amounts accountable under the hypothesis of gravitational redshift induced by the central supermassive black hole. Our analysis of 27 composite spectra from the BOSS survey indicates that the redshift and the broadening of the lines in the Fe III$\lambda\lambda$2039-2113 blend roughly follow the expected correlation in the weak limit of Schwarzschild geometry for virialized kinematics. Assuming that the Fe III UV redshift provides a measure of $M_{BH}\over R$ (${\Delta \lambda\over \lambda}\simeq{3\over2}{G\over c^2} {M_{BH}\over R}$) and using different estimates of the emittin…
Measuring Supermassive Black Hole Masses: Correlation between the Redshifts of the Fe III UV Lines and the Widths of Broad Emission Lines
2019
We test the recently proposed (Mediavilla et al. 2018) black hole mass scaling relationship based on the redshift {with respect to the quasar's rest frame} of the Fe III$\lambda\lambda$2039-2113 line blend. To this end, we fit this feature in the spectra of a well suited sample of quasars, observed with X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), whose masses have been independently estimated using the virial theorem. For the quasars of this sample we consistently confirm the redshift of the Fe III$\lambda\lambda$2039-2113 blend and find that it correlates with the squared widths of H$\beta$, H$\alpha$ and Mg II, which are commonly used as a measure of $M_{BH}/R$ to determine masses from t…
Heavy Elements and Age Determinations
2002
The age of the universe, measured from the Big Bang to the present, is at the focus of cosmology. Its determination relies, however, on the use of stellar objects or their products. Stellar explosions, like type Ia supernovae serve as standard(izable) candles to measure the expansion of the universe. Hertzsprung—Russell diagrams of globular clusters can determine the age of such clusters and thus are lower limits of the age of the galaxy and therefore also the universe. Some nuclear isotopes with half-lives comparable to the age of galaxies (and the universe) can serve as clocks (chronometers) for the duration of nucleosynthesis. The isotopes 238U and 232Th with half-lives of 4.5 × l09 and …
Discovery of shell-like radio-structure in SN1993J
1995
The radio-luminous supernova SN 1993J in M81 offers an unprecedented opportunity to study with high linear resolution the details of the growth of a supernova radio structure by means of the VLBI technique.
U(N) invariant dynamics for a simplified loop quantum gravity model
2011
The implementation of the dynamics in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is still an open problem. Here, we discuss a tentative dynamics for the simplest class of graphs in LQG: Two vertices linked with an arbitrary number of edges. We use the recently introduced U(N) framework in order to construct SU(2) invariant operators and define a global U(N) symmetry that will select the homogeneous/isotropic states. Finally, we propose a Hamiltonian operator invariant under area-preserving deformations of the boundary surface and we identify possible connections of this model with Loop Quantum Cosmology.
Extraction of cluster parameters with future Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations
2003
The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect of galaxy clusters is characterized by three parameters: Compton parameter, electron temperature and cluster peculiar velocity. In the present study we consider the problem of extracting these parameters using multi-frequency SZ observations only. We show that there exists a parameter degeneracy which can be broken with an appropriate choice of frequencies. As a result we discuss the optimal choice of observing frequencies from a theoretical point of view. Finally, we analyze the systematic errors (of the order micro K) on the SZ measurement introduced by finite bandwidths, and suggest a possible method of reducing these errors.