Photometric redshift of X-ray sources in the Chandra Deep Field-South
Based on the photometry of 10 near-ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared bands of the Chandra Deep Field-South, we estimate the photometric redshifts for 342 X-ray sources, which constitute ~99% of all the detected X-ray sources in the field. The models of spectral energy distribution are based on galaxies and a combination of power-law continuum and emission lines. Color information is useful for source classifications: type I active galactic nuclei (AGNs) show nonthermal spectral features that are distinct from galaxies and type II AGNs. The hardness ratio in X-ray and the X-ray-to-optical flux ratio are also useful discriminators. Using rudimentary color separation techniques, we are able to further refine our photometric redshift estimations. Among these sources, 173 have reliable spectroscopic redshifts, which we use to verify the accuracy of photometric redshifts and to modify the model inputs. The average relative dispersion in redshift distribution is ~8%, among the most accurate for photometric surveys. The high reliability of our results is attributable to the high quality and broad coverage of data as well as the applications of several independent methods and a careful evaluation of every source. We apply our redshift estimations to study the effect of redshift on broadband colors and to study the redshift distribution of AGNs. Our results show that both the hardness ratio and U - K color decline with redshift, which may be the result of a K-correction. The number of type II AGNs declines significantly at z > 2 and that of galaxies declines at z > 1. However, the distribution of type I AGNs exhibits less redshift dependence. As well, we observe a significant peak in the redshift distribution at z = 0.6. We demonstrate that our photometric redshift estimation produces a reliable database for the study of X-ray luminosity of galaxies and AGNs.

title: The X-Ray Absorber in Broad Absorption Line Quasars
abstract: Recent observations of Broad Absorption Line (BAL) quasars demonstrated that the soft X-ray emission of these objects is extremely weak, and convincing evidence for very strong absorption by a high column density (~1023.5 cm-2) was obtained for PG 1411+442, even though it is one of the few BAL QSOs strongly detected in soft X-rays. This paper examines the ionization status and geometry of the X-ray absorber by combining the properties of the UV lines with the X-ray continuum absorption. We show that the gas has to have large column densities in ions of major UV absorption lines, such as C IV, N V, O VI, and Ne VIII, in order to have sufficient opacity around 0.2-0.35 keV. The UV absorption lines have to be saturated if the X-ray absorber intersects the line of sight to the UV continuum emission region. A uniformly covering UV and X-ray absorption model can be constructed for PG 1411+442, but in some other soft X-ray-detected BAL QSOs, such as PG 1001+054, the observed line optical depth is much lower than expected from the X-ray-absorbing material. We propose a scheme in which a substantial fraction of the line of sight to the continuum source may be covered by either an optically thick flow or clouds in a narrow velocity range, but in which the total covering factor of either the whole flow or all clouds is close to unity. The absorber can contribute significantly to the extremely highly ionized emission lines, such as O VI λλ1032/1037 and Ne VIII λλ770/780, if it covers a substantial fraction of solid angle and if the density is higher than 108 cm-3. However, it has very little impact on the medium- and low-ionization UV lines such as N V and C IV. The profiles of Ne VIII and O VI lines may be indicators for the kinematics of the X-ray absorber in QSOs. The observed Ne VIII line profiles in QSOs suggest that the velocity of the gas projected onto our line of sight is similar to that seen in the outflows of the UV BALs.

title: Two-Current-Sheet Reconnection Model of Interdependent Flare and Coronal Mass Ejection
abstract: Time-dependent resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations are carried out to study a flux rope eruption caused by magnetic reconnection with implication in coexistent flare-CME (coronal mass ejection) events. An early result obtained in a recent analysis of double catastrophe of a flux rope system is used as the initial condition, in which an isolated flux rope coexists with two current sheets: a vertical one below and a transverse one above the flux rope. The flux rope erupts when reconnection takes place in the current sheets, and the flux rope dynamics depends on the reconnection sequence in the two current sheets. Three cases are discussed: reconnection occurs (1) simultaneously in the two current sheets, (2) first in the transverse one and then in the vertical one, and (3) in an order opposite that of case 2. Such a two-current-sheet reconnection exhibits characteristics of both magnetic breakout for CME initiation and the standard flare model. We argue that both breakout-like and tether-cutting reconnections could be important for CME eruptions and associated surface activities.

title: Ionized ultraviolet and soft X-ray absorption in the low-redshift active galactic nucleus PG 1126−041
abstract: We present here the analysis of ultraviolet spectra from IUE and an X-ray spectrum from ROSAT PSPC observations of the X-ray-weak, far-infrared-loud AGN, PG 1126−041 (Mrk 1298). The first UV spectra taken in 1992 June, simultaneously with ROSAT, show strong absorption lines of N v, C iv and Si iv, extending over a velocity range from −1000 to −5000 km s−1 with respect to the corresponding line centre. Our analysis shows that the broad emission-line region (BELR) is, at least partially, covered by the material causing these absorption lines. In the IUE spectrum taken in 1995 January, the continuum was a factor of 2 brighter and the UV absorption lines are found to be considerably weaker than in 1992, but little variation in the emission-line fluxes is found. With UV spectral indices of αUV≃1.82 and 1.46 for the 1992 and 1995 data, the far-UV spectrum is steep. Based on the emission-line ratios and the broad-band spectral energy distribution, we argue that the steepness of the UV spectrum is unlikely to be caused by reddening. 
 
 
 
The soft X-ray emission in the ROSAT band is weak. A simple power-law model yields a very poor fit with a UV-to-X-ray spectral index αUVX=2.3. Highly ionized (warm) absorption is suggested by the ROSAT data. After correcting for a warm absorber, the optical to X-ray spectral slope is close to the average of αUVX≃1.67 for radio-quiet quasars. 
 
 
 
From photoionization calculations we find the following results. (1) A single-zone absorption model cannot explain simultaneously the UV absorption lines and the ionized X-ray absorption if metal abundances are solar. Furthermore, in order to be consistent with the equivalent width of the observed Lyα absorption line, the turbulent velocity of the warm absorber must be less than 190 km s−1, which imposes serious constraints on a disc wind model. (2) The UV absorption lines and their variability cannot be explained by a single-zone model with solar abundances and the large variability in the absorption lines suggests that C iv and N v absorption lines are not severely saturated. (3) The absorption of the ionizing continuum by warm material strongly affects the emission-line spectrum.

title: How Saturated Are Absorption Lines in the Broad Absorption Line Quasar PG 1411+442?
abstract: Recently, convincing evidence was found for extremely large X-ray absorption by column densities greater than 1023 cm-2 in broad absorption line quasars. One consequence of this is that any soft X-ray emission from these QSOs would be the scattered light or leaked light from partially covering absorbing material. A detection of the unabsorbed soft X-ray and absorbed hard X-ray component will allow us to determine the total column density as well as the effective covering factor of the absorbing material, which are difficult to obtain from the UV absorption lines. Brinkmann et al. recently showed that both the unabsorbed and absorbed components are detected in the nearby very bright broad absorption line quasar PG 1411+442. In this Letter, we make a further analysis of the broadband X-ray spectrum and the UV spectrum from the Hubble Space Telescope and demonstrate that broad absorption lines are completely saturated at the bottom of absorption troughs.

title: Measurement of CC interactions produced by ${}^8$B solar neutrinos at SNO

title: Excitonic Effects in Two-Dimensional Massless Dirac Fermions
abstract: We study excitonic effects in two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions with Coulomb interactions by solving the ladder approximation to the Bethe-Salpeter equation. It is found that the general four-leg vertex has a power-law behavior with the exponent going from real to complex as the coupling constant is increased. This change of behavior is manifested in the antisymmetric response, which displays power-law behavior at small wave vectors reminiscent of a critical state, and a change in this power law from real to complex that is accompanied by poles in the response function for finite-size systems, suggesting a phase transition for strong enough interactions. The density-density response is also calculated, for which no critical behavior is found. We demonstrate that exciton correlations enhance the cusp in the irreducible polarizability at $2{k}_{F}$, leading to a strong increase in the amplitude of Friedel oscillations around a charged impurity.

title: Polarization of Quasars: Rotated and Funnel-shaped Outflow
abstract: Polarization is a useful probe to investigate the geometries and dynamics of outflow in BAL QSOs. We perform a Monte-Carlo simulation to calculate the polarization produced by resonant and electron scattering in BALR. We find: 1)A rotated and funnel-shaped outflow is preferred to explain many observed polarization features. 2)The resonant scattering can contribute a significant part of NV emission line in some QSOs.

title: Expression of interest to the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory by the L* Collaboration

title: A Comprehensive Study of 2000 Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I. The Sample
abstract: This is the first paper in a series dedicated to the study of the emission-line and continuum properties of narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). We carried out a systematic search for NLS1s from objects assigned as "QSOs'' or "galaxies'' in the spectroscopic sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3 (SDSS DR3) by a careful modeling of their emission lines and continua. The result is a uniform sample comprising similar to 2000 NLS1s. This sample dramatically increases the number of known NLS1s by a factor of similar to 10 over previous compilations. This paper presents the parameters of the prominent emission lines and continua, which were measured accurately with typical uncertainties < 10%. Taking advantage of such an unprecedented large and uniform sample with accurately measured spectral parameters, we carried out various statistical analyses, some of which were only possible for the first time. The main results found are as follows. (1) Within the overall Seyfert 1 population, the incidence of NLS1s is strongly dependent on the optical, X-ray, and radio luminosities as well as the radio loudness. The fraction of NLS1s peaks around SDSS g-band absolute magnitude M-g similar to -22 mag in the optical and similar to 10(43.2) ergs s(-1) in the soft X-ray band, and decreases quickly as the radio loudness increases. (2) On average the relative Fe II emission, R-4570 = Fe II lambda lambda 4434-4684/H beta, in NLS1s is about twice that in normal active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and is anticorrelated with the broad component width of the Balmer emission lines. (3) The well-known anticorrelation between the width of broad low-ionization lines and the soft X-ray spectral slope for broad line AGNs extends down to FWHM similar to 1000 km s(-1) in NLS1s, but the trend appears to reverse at still smaller line widths. (4) The equivalent width of H beta and Fe II emission lines are strongly correlated with the H beta and continuum luminosities. (5) We do not find any difference between NLS1s and normal AGNs in regard to the narrow line region. (6) We have examined the black hole mass versus stellar velocity dispersion (M-BH-sigma(*)) relation for a subsample of 308 NLS1s for which sigma(*) could be measured directly from fitting the starlight in the SDSS spectra with our stellar spectral templates. A significant correlation between M-BH and sigma(*) is found, but with the bulk of black hole masses falling below the values expected from the M-BH-sigma(*) relation for normal galaxies and normal AGNs. This result indicates that NLS1s are underage AGNs, where the growth of the SMBH lags behind the formation of the galactic bulge. (7) We also find that the FWHM of [N II] line is well correlated with sigma(*) in 206 NLS1s, for which both parameters could be derived with reasonable accuracy. The [N II] width can predict the stellar velocity dispersion to an accuracy of similar to 30%. A similar M-BH-sigma(*) relation could be found for a larger sample of 613 NLS1s on making use of the more reliable measurements of FWHM[N II].

title: CHANDRA HIGH-ENERGY GRATING OBSERVATIONS OF THE Fe Kα LINE CORE IN TYPE II SEYFERT GALAXIES: A COMPARISON WITH TYPE I NUCLEI
abstract: We present a study of the core of the Fe K{alpha} emission line at {approx}6.4 keV in a sample of type II Seyfert galaxies observed by the Chandra high-energy grating. The sample consists of 29 observations of 10 unique sources. We present measurements of the Fe K{alpha} line parameters with the highest spectral resolution currently available. In particular, we derive the most robust intrinsic line widths for some of the sources in the sample to date. We obtained a weighted mean full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 2000 {+-} 160 km s{sup -1} for 8 out of 10 sources (the remaining sources had insufficient signal to noise). From a comparison with the optical emission-line widths obtained from spectropolarimetric observations, we found that the location of Fe K{alpha} line-emitting material is a factor of {approx}0.7-11 times the size of the optical broad-line region. Furthermore, compared to 13 type I active galactic nuclei (AGNs) for which the best Fe K{alpha} line FWHM constraints were obtained, we found no difference in the FWHM distribution or the mean FWHM, and this conclusion is independent of the central black hole mass. This result suggests that the bulk of the Fe K{alpha} line emission may originatemore » from a universal region at the same radius with respect to the gravitational radius, {approx}3 x 10{sup 4} r{sub g} on average. By examining the correlation between the Fe K{alpha} luminosity and the [O IV] line luminosity, we found a marginal difference in the Fe K{alpha} line flux between type I and type II AGNs, but the spread in the ratio of L{sub Fe} to L{sub [OIV]} is about two orders of magnitude. Our results confirm the theoretical expectation that the Fe K{alpha} emission-line luminosity cannot trivially be used as a proxy of the intrinsic AGN luminosity, unless a detailed comparison of the data with proper models is applied.« less