DOCSLIB.ORG

The Ages of Quasar Host Galaxies

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Ages of Quasar Host Galaxies Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 000–000 (0000) Printed 30 October 2018 (MN LATEX style file v1.4) The ages of quasar host galaxies. L.A. Nolan1, J.S. Dunlop1, M.J. Kukula1, D. H. Hughes1,2, T. Boroson3 & R. Jimenez1. 1Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ 2INOAE, Apartado Postal 51 y 216, 72000, Puebla, Pue., Mexico. 3NOAO, PO Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726−6732, U.S.A. Submitted for publication in MNRAS ABSTRACT We present the results of fitting deep off-nuclear optical spectra of radio-quiet quasars, radio-loud quasars and radio galaxies at z ≃ 0.2 with evolutionary synthesis models of galaxy evolution. Our aim was to determine the age of the dynamically dominant stellar populations in the host galaxies of these three classes of powerful AGN. Some of our spectra display residual nuclear contamination at the shortest wavelengths, but the detailed quality of the fits longward of the 4000A˚ break provide unequivocal proof, if further proof were needed, that quasars lie in massive galaxies with (at least at z ≃ 0.2) evolved stellar populations. By fitting a two-component model we have separated the very blue (starburst and/or AGN contamination) from the redder underlying spectral energy distribution, and find that the hosts of all three classes of AGN are dominated by old stars of age 8 − 14 Gyr. If the blue component is attributed to young stars, we find that, at most, 1% of the visible baryonic mass of these galaxies is involved in star-formation activity at the epoch of observation, at least over the region sampled by our spectroscopic observations. These results strongly arXiv:astro-ph/0002020v2 23 Oct 2000 support the conclusion reached by McLure et al. (1999) that the host galaxies of luminous quasars are massive ellipticals which have formed by the epoch of peak quasar activity at z ≃ 2.5. Key words: galaxies: active – galaxies: evolution – galaxies: stellar content – quasars: general 1 INTRODUCTION tive glaxies (Maggorian et al. 1998) has further strengthened the motivation for exploring the link between active AGN Determining the nature of the host galaxies of powerful ac- and the dynamical and spectral properties of their hosts. tive galactic nuclei (AGN) is of importance not only for Over the last few years, improvements in imaging res- improving our understanding of different manifestations of olution offered by both space-based and ground-based op- AGN activity, but also for exploring possible relationships tical/infrared telescopes has stimulated a great deal of re- between nuclear activity and the evolution of massive galax- search activity aimed at determining the basic structural ies. The recent affirmation that black-hole mass appears ap- parameters (i.e. luminosity, size and morphological type) proximately proportional to spheroid mass in nearby inac- of the hosts of radio-loud quasars, radio-quiet quasars, and c 0000 RAS 2 L.A. Nolan et al. lower-luminosity X-ray-selected and optically-selected AGN activity refer to the region probed by our observations ≃ 5 (e.g. Disney et al. 1995; Hutchings & Morris 1995; Bahcall arcsec off-nucleus. However, given the large scalelengths of et al. 1997; Hooper et al. 1997; McLure et al. 1999, Schade et the hosts, their relatively modest redshift, and the fact that al. 2000). However, relatively little corresponding effort has our spectra are derived from long-slit observations, it is rea- been invested in spectroscopic investigations of AGN hosts, sonable to regard our conclusions as applying to fairly typ- despite the fact that this offers an independent way of clas- ical regions, still located well within the bulk of the host sifying these galaxies, as well as a means of estimating the galaxies under investigation. age of their stellar populations. The layout of this paper is as follows. In section 2 we Our own work in this field to date has focussed on provide details of the adopted models, and how they have the investigation of the hosts of matched samples of radio- been fitted to the data. The results are presented in section quiet quasars (RQQs), radio-loud quasars (RLQs) and radio 3, along with detailed notes on the fitting of individual spec- galaxies (RGs) at relatively modest redshift (z = 0.2). De- tra. The implications of the model fits are then discussed tails of these samples can be found in Dunlop et al. (1993). in section 4, focussing on a comparison of the typical de- In brief, the sub-samples of quasars (i.e. RQQs and RLQs) rived host-galaxy ages in the three AGN subsamples. Finally have been selected to be indistinguishable in terms of their our conclusions are summarized in section 5. The detailed two-dimensional distribution on the V − z plane, while the model fits, along with corresponding chi-squared plots are sub-samples of radio-loud AGN (i.e. RLQs and RGs) have presented in Appendix A. been selected to be indistinguishable in terms of their two- dimensional distribution on the P5GHz − z plane (as well as having indistinguishable spectral-index distributions). Deep 2 SPECTRAL FITTING. infrared imaging of these samples (Dunlop et al. 1993; Tay- lor et al. 1996) has recently been complemented by deep The stellar population synthesis models adopted for age- WFPC2 HST optical imaging (McLure et al. 1999), the fi- dating the AGN host galaxy stellar populations are the so- nal results of which are reported by Dunlop et al. (2000). lar metallicity, instantaneous starburst models of Jimenez As well as demonstrating that, dynamically, the hosts of et al. (2000). We have endeavoured to fit each off-nuclear all three types of luminous AGN appear indistinguishable host galaxy optical spectrum by a combination of two sin- from normal ellipticals, this work has enabled us to deduce gle starburst components. For the first component, age is crude spectral information on the host galaxies in the form fitted as a free parameter, while for the second component of optical-infrared colours. However, broad-baseline colour the age is fixed at 0.1 Gyr, and the normalization relative to information can clearly be most powerfully exploited if com- the first component is the only free parameter. This dual- bined with detailed optical spectroscopy. Over the past few component approach was adopted because single-age models years we have therefore attempted to complement our imag- are not able to adequately represent the data, and because ing studies with a programme of deep optical off-nuclear it allows the age of the dynamically dominant component to spectroscopy of this same sample of AGN. be determined in a way which is not overly reliant on the Details of the observed samples, spectroscopic obser- level of ultraviolet flux which might be contributed either vations, and the basic properties of the observed off-nuclear by a recent burst of star-formation, or by contamination of spectra are given in a companion paper (Hughes et al. 2000). the slit by scattered light from the quasar nucleus. After ex- As discussed by Hughes et al. (2000), the key feature of this perimentation it was found that the spectral shape of the study (other than its size, depth, and sample control) is that blue light was better represented by the 0.1 Gyr-old (solar we have endeavoured to obtain spectra from positions fur- metallicity) model of Jimenez than by models of greater (in- ther off-nucleus (≃ 5 arcsec) than previous workers, in an termediate) age (e.g. 1 Gyr). Moreover, the further addition attempt to better minimize the need for accurate subtrac- of a third intermediate age component, ≃ 1 Gyr, did not tion of contaminating nuclear light. This approach was made significantly improve the quality of the fits achieved. possible by our deep infrared imaging data, which allowed In general, our data are of insufficient quality to tell us to select slit positions ≃ 5 arcsec off-nucleus which still whether the component which dominates at λ ≃ 3000A˚ re- intercepted the brighter isophotes of the host galaxies (slit ally is due to young stars, or is produced by direct or scat- positions are shown, superimposed on the infrared images, tered quasar light. However, while the origin of the blue light in Hughes et al. 2000). is obviously of some interest, it has little impact on the main In this paper we present the results of attempting to fit results presented in this paper, which refer to the age of the the resulting off-nuclear spectra with evolutionary synthesis dynamically dominant stellar population which dominates models of galaxy evolution. Our primary aim was to de- the spectrum from longward of the 4000A˚ break through to termine whether, in each host galaxy, the optical spectrum the near infrared. The robustness of the age determination could be explained by the same model as the optical-infrared of the dominant population is demonstrated by comparing colour, and, if so, to derive an estimate of the age of the dy- the results of the two stellar-population model fit with the namically dominant stellar population. However, this study results of a fit allowi ng for a nuclear contribution as well as also offered the prospect of determining whether the hosts of the two stellar populations. different classes of AGN differ in terms of their more recent The model parameters determined were therefore the star-formation activity. age of the dominant stellar population, which we can reason- It is worth noting that our off-nuclear spectroscopy ob- ably call the age of the galaxy, and the fraction, by (visible) viously does not enable us to say anything about the level of baryonic mass, of the 0.1 Gyr component.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 1/4/18 Dr. Stefi Alison Baum Dean, Faculty of Science Professor, Dept
    RESUME – DR. STEFI BAUM, 1/4/18 Dr. Stefi Alison Baum Dean, Faculty of Science Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, Canada Email [email protected] cell phone 204-297-0698 EDUCATION B.A. Physics, cum laude June 1980 Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Co-Captain Varsity Women’s Lacrosse and Co-Captain Varsity Women’s Soccer PhD Astronomy Dec 1987 University of Maryland, College Park, MD POST-DEGREE EDUCATION Center for Higher Education Research and Development • The Senior University Administrators Course, Niagara-on-the-Lake, 2015 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fluno Center, Executive Education, 2013 • Fundraising and Development for Nonprofits Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, 2012 • Performance Assessment in Higher Education Peabody Fellow, Vanderbilt Peabody Professional Institute, 2011 • Higher Education Management Pardee RAND Graduate School, 2009, New Security Challenges Harvard-MIT-Tufts Program on Negotiation, Executive Ed Series, 2007 • Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives • Dealing with Difficult People and Difficult Situations American Council on Education, 2005, Chairing the Academic Department MIT-Sloan Executive Series, 2002, 2003, 2005: • System Dynamics for Senior Managers • Managing Technical Professionals and Organizations • The Innovative Organization United States Foreign Service Institute, 2004, Global Issues Coursera Courses Completed - 2013 • Leading Innovative Change in Organizations, Vanderbilt University • Synapses, Neurons and Brains, Hebrew University of Jerusalem • What a Plant Knows, Tel Aviv University, (audit) • Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression, University of Melborne, (audit) • A Brief History of Humankind, Hebrew University (audit) • Surviving Disruptive Technologies, University of Maryland, (audit) 1 EXPERTISE Over 25 years of leadership in highly interdisciplinary research and educational environments, including higher education, not for profits, and government agencies.
    [Show full text]
  • High-Sensitivity Radio Astronomy
    High-Sensitivity Radio Astronomy Proceedings of a meeting held at Jodrell Bank, University of Manchester January 22-26, 1996 Edited by N. Jackson R. J. Davis Jodrell Bank, Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, University of Manchester CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Contents Participants xi Preface xv Foreword xvii Acknowledgements xviii Planets, stars and pulsars Longitudinal asymmetry of Jupiter's radiation belts after the encounter with comet D/Shoemaker-Levy 9 Richard Strom, Imke de Pater and Floris van der Tak 2 Pulsars at the highest radio frequencies Richard Wielebinski 6 Present and future pulsar searches F. Camilo 14 The study of stellar radio emission with very large aperture radio telescopes E.R. Seaquist 23 High-resolution. MERLIN maps of the radio emission from Nova Cygni 1992 and Nova Cassiopeiae 1993 Stewart Eyres, Richard Davis, Mike Bode and Huw Lloyd 33 Orbital motion and a model for HM Sge H.T. Kenny, A.R. Taylor, S. Kwok, S.P.S. Eyres and R.J. Davis 37 Variable sources and jets in Cepheus A V.A. Hughes 42 A radio survey of southern X-ray binary stars R.E. Spencer, A.K. Tzioumis, L.R. Ball, 5.J. Newell and V. Migenes 46 MERLIN astrometry of radio stars S.T. Garrington, R.J. Davis, L.V. Morrison and R.W. Argyle 50 High-sensitivity radio observations of the 8.665-GHz 3He+ hyperfme line emission from planetary nebulae D.S. Balser, T.M. Bania, R.T. Rood and T.L. Wilson 53 High-resolution observations of young planetary nebulae M. Bryce, A. Pedlar, T. Muxlow, P.
    [Show full text]
  • CAS Dean for Thursday, Dr. Stefi Baum 8:45 Escorted from Hotel to Building 44 9
    CAS Dean for Thursday, Dr. Stefi Baum 8:45 Escorted from Hotel to Building 44 9: AM-9:50 Continental Breakfast with CAS Chairs (Conference Room Building 44, Room 307C) 10:00 -10:30 am Meet with Provost Bain (Provost’s Office 3rd floor, Building 39) 10:30 -11:30 am Meet with the Interim Dean and Staff (4th floor CAS Dean Suite, Building 41) 11:30 -12:15 pm Meet with Faculty of CAS (Room A03, Building 44) 12:15- 1:00 pm Meet with Search Committee over lunch (Small Board Room, Building 39) 1:15 - 2:00 pm University Community & Students (Room A03, Building 41) 2:00 - 2:30 pm President Sessoms (President’s Office 3rd floor, building 39) 2:30 - 3:30 pm Deans-SBPA, LRD, GRAD, CAUSES( Conference Room Building 44, Room 307C) 3:30 – 4:30 pm Meet with Provost (Provost’s Office 3rd floor, Building 39) ! ! ! ! ! "#$%&!'(&)*+!,-./! Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Harvard University Byerly Hall, 8 Garden Street Cambridge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
    [Show full text]
  • Royal Astronomical Society Annual Report and Accounts 31 December
    Royal Astronomical Society Annual Report and Accounts 31 December 2016 Charity Registration Number 226545 Contents Reports Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisers 1 Trustees’ report 4 Including: Executive Summary 4 Objectives 11 Significant achievements 12 Public engagement ♦ Celebrating Women ♦ RAS 200: Sky and Earth ♦ Transit of Mercury ♦ Other Education and Outreach projects Public policy ♦ Post Referendum on Europe Governance ♦ Code of Conduct and review of other documentation ♦ Occupancy of Burlington House ♦ Elections to Council 2016/2017 Ongoing significant achievements Other achievements 25 Risks 30 Structure, Governance and Management 32 Events since year end and plans for the future 34 Activities 37 Financial Review 46 Independent auditor’s report 51 Statement of financial activities 53 Balance sheet 54 Statement of cash flows 55 Principal accounting policies 56 Notes to the accounts 63 Royal Astronomical Society Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisers Patron Her Majesty the Queen Trustees The Council members who served during 2016 were: Professor Martin Barstow (President until May 2016, A, University of Leicester) Professor John Zarnecki (President elect from May 2015 and President from May 2016, G, Open University) Professor Mike Edmunds (Vice-President until May 2016, A, University of Cardiff) Professor Yvonne Elsworth (Vice President, G, University of Birmingham) Professor Don Kurtz (Vice President, A, University of Central Lancashire) Professor
    [Show full text]
  • IYA2009 Report Final UK
    Report of the Activities of the International Year of Astronomy in the UK Ian Robson and Steve Owens On behalf of the UK Executive Group TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 SUMMARY OF THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF IYA2009 ........................................................................ 7 1.2 EVALUATION ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 2 IYA2009 ORGANISATION IN THE UK ........................................................................................... 10 2.1 THE STRUCTURE OF THE IYA2009 UK NATIONAL NODE ........................................................................ 10 2.1.1 THE UK SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT FOR IYA2009 (SPOC) ................................................................................ 10 2.1.2 DEVELOPING THE IYA2009 UK NATIONAL NODE ............................................................................................... 10 2.1.3 THE UK CO-ORDINATOR FOR IYA2009 ..............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • V.Raben: Video Astrophotography
    The Objective View March 2010 Newsletter of the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society Robert Michael, President pres@ 970 482 3615 Other Events Dan Laszlo, VP and Newsletter Editor Chamberlin Observatory Open House, 7 to 10 pm objview@ Office 970 498 9226 Mar 20, Apr 24, May 22, Jun 19 303 871 5172 Chad Moore, Secretary http://www.du.edu/~rstencel/Chamberlin/ sec@ Jon Caldwell, Treasurer Cheyenne Astronomical Society 7 pm Mar 19 Cheyenne Botanic Gardens Galaxies, by Marcy Curran treas@ http://home.bresnan.net/~curranm/ Greg Halac, Web Editor web-edit@ 970 223 7210 CSU Madison Macdonald Observatory Public Nights Dave Chamness, AL Correspondent 970 482 1794 On East Drive, north of Pitkin Street add ncastro.org to complete email address Tuesdays after dusk if clear, when class is in session Next Meeting: March 4 7:30 pm Estes Park Memorial Observatory. 7 pm. Mar 6 and 25 http://www.angelsabove.org/ CLOUDSAT Little Thompson Observatory, open 7 pm Feb 19, Andrea By Dr. Matt Rogers Schweitzer, Ph.D., Dark Sky Initiatives at 7:30 pm CSU Dept of Atmospheric Sciences http://www.starkids.org Longmont Astronomical Society 7 pm Mar 18 at IHOP, 2040 Ken Pratt Blvd. Dr Bill Possel, Kepler and MAVEN missions Club Business at 7:15 pm http://www.longmontastro.org/ Fort Collins Museum, 200 Mathews St February 4 Program: Video Astrophotography Fort Collins by Vern Raben http://www.fcgov.com/museum/ Vern enjoyed the dark skies of NW Nebraska growing up. He Club Brochure: http://www.ncastro.org/Contrib/2009_Brochure.pdf started using telescopes at about 9 years of age.
    [Show full text]
  • A NEW VIEW of the UNIVERSE Big Science for the Big Society
    A NEW VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE Big science for the big society Advancing Astronomy and Geophysics A NEW VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 1 CONTENTS A NEW VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE This booklet was produced by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS is grateful for the support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for this publication. CONTENTS www.ras.org.uk FOREWORD Managing editor: Robert Massey, RAS ([email protected]) 4 Editor/writer: Nina Hall ([email protected]) Design: Paul Johnson (www.formulamedia.co.uk) 3 From the President of the Royal Astronomical Society Printed by: EPC Direct, Bristol © RAS July 2010 INTRODUCTION Contributors to the booklet include: Andrew Fabian (University of Cambridge and President of 4 What’s the use of astronomy? the RAS), Mike Bode (Liverpool John Moores University), 6 Sarah Bridle (University College London), Robin Clegg (STFC), Colin Cunningham (UK Astronomy Technology Centre), ENHANCING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNIVERSE Phil Diamond (CSIRO), Peter Duffett-Smith, Pippa Goldschmidt (University of Edinburgh), Mike Hapgood (STFC Rutherford 6 Revealing the secrets of gamma-ray bursts Appleton Laboratory), James Hough (University of Glasgow), Marek Kukula (Royal Observatory Greenwich), 7 The search for gravitational waves Mark Malone (Aon), Colin McGill (BP), Peter Newman (Defra), Andrew Newsam (Liverpool John Moores University), 8 NEW BUSINESS FROM ASTRONOMY Terry O’Connor (Director of Communications, STFC), Sheila Rowan (University of Glasgow), Ray Sharples (Durham University), Nial Tanvir (University of Leicester), 8 A giant eye on the cosmos Jim Wild (Lancaster University) and Colin Vincent (STFC). 10 Radioastronomy opens the way to a wireless world Image credits: 11 Location, location, location p1 NASA, ESA, M Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI).
    [Show full text]
  • Ras Grant Application Status Report Grants Submitted for Consideration by 15 August 2010
    RAS GRANT APPLICATION STATUS REPORT GRANTS SUBMITTED FOR CONSIDERATION BY 15 AUGUST 2010 Title/Purpose Applicant and Org. Amount Awarded 1. Stellar Monoliths Mr Max ALEXANDER FRAS £1000 2. Cosmic Rays at Snowdon Dr Karen APLIN FRAS Summit Denys Wilkinson Building £2000 Keble Road Oxford, OX1 3RH [email protected] 3. An Astronomy Exhibition at Dr Marek KUKULA FRAS on behalf the Royal Albert Hall of Prof. Mark BAILEY £3420 Royal Observatory Greenwich National Maritime Museum Greenwich London, SE10 9NF [email protected] 4. Support to attend the 19th Mr Adam CHRISTOPHERSON International Conference on FRAS £800 general Relativity and Astronomy Unit Gravitation (GR19) – Mexico School of Mathematical Sciences City from 5-9 July 2010 QMUL [email protected] 5. Request for travel fund to Professor J.L. CULHANE FRAS on present a paper at COSPAR behalf of £250 assembly in Bremen (July Mrs Deborah BAKER 2010) UCL/MSSL Holmbury St. Mary Dorking e-mail: [email protected] 6. Your Universe, the UCL Dr Francisco DIEGO Festival of Astronomy Physics & Astronomy £1850.00 University College London London, WC1E 6BT [email protected] 7. Support to attend “Great Mr David EDEN FRAS Barriers in High Mass Star Astrophysics Research Institute £600 Formation” conference Liverpool John Moores University Twelve Quays House Egerton Wharf Birkinhead Wirral, CH41 1LD [email protected] 8. Raising Astronomical Prof. Martin WARD FRAS on behalf Aspirations in County Durham of £1000 Schools Dr Pete EDWARDS Institute for Computational Cosmology Dept. of Physics Durham, DH1 3LE [email protected] 9.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Stefi Baum, 8/20110 Dr. Stefi Alison Baum Director, Department Chair, and Professor, Xerox Chair Chester F. Carlson
    Resume - Dr. Stefi Baum, 8/20110 Dr. Stefi Alison Baum Director, Department Chair, and Professor, Xerox Chair Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science 54 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY 14623-5604 Place of Bitth Chicago Illinois High School June 1976 Princeton Public High School, Princeton, NJ College June 1980 Harvard University, Cambridge, MA B. A. Physics, cum laude Graduate School Dec 1987 University of Maryland, College Park, MD Ph.D. Astronomy Post-Degree Education American Council on Education: •Chairing the Academic Depaitment MIT-Sloan Executive Series: • System Dynamics for Senior Managers •Managing Technical Professionals and Organizations •The Innovative Organization Harvard-MIT-Tufts Program on Negotiation, Executive Ed Series: •Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives •Dealing with Difficult People and Difficult Situations United States Foreign Service Institute: •Global Issues Pardee RAND Graduate School: •New Security Challenges: Policy Issues and Analytic Approaches Expertise Extensive leadership experience in a range of environments including government, national centers, academia and in highly interdisciplinary environments. Expertise working at the interface of engineering and science, and at the interface of engineering, science and public policy. Experience with university pedagogy in science, engineering and innovation, K-12 STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) education and public outreach, and programs to recruit and retain women and minorities in STEM careers. Well versed in a range of scientific and engineering issues and disciplines, the application of scientific, statistical, and engineering methodology, and management of large programs. Research expertise in imaging science and astrophysics, specializing in understanding the origin and nature of active galaxies and clusters of galaxies, the development and deployment of astronomical instrumentation and missions, and the development of algorithms for fMRI brain imaging.
    [Show full text]
  • BBC Stargazing Live: Jobs with the Stars
    JOBS WITH THE STARS CV NAME: MAREK KUKULA JOB TITLE: PUBLIC ASTRONOMER, ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH First science job: Postdoctoral Research PERSONAL Assistant at Liverpool John Moores University. Hobby: Travel, movies, concerts I was using telescopes in the Canary Islands to investigate quasars, a type of distant object Always wanted to be: Some kind of scientist which is powered by a supermassive black hole. Path to current job: After working in Liverpool for SCHOOL two years, I moved to another research post at the University of Edinburgh where I was involved Favourite subject: Science, obviously – but in a project using the Hubble Space Telescope I also loved subjects like History and English. to study distant galaxies. This led to a job at the The arts and humanities are important for Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, scientists – they help you to understand the USA, working on more Hubble images. I came world and to be a better communicator. back to Edinburgh two years later and obtained Favourite/inspirational teacher: I was lucky a five-year Advanced Fellowship from the enough to have a lot of really inspirational Government to work on my own research project teachers but a particular favourite was – and I chose my favourite subjects of quasars, Mrs Richardson, who taught me History. distant galaxies and supermassive black holes. Then I decided I wanted a new challenge. I’d COLLEGE discovered that I really enjoyed talking to the Subjects studied: Physics, Maths, Chemistry public about science and trying to explain the and General Studies. latest ideas in astronomy to non-specialist audiences, so I took up a post at the University of UNIVERSITY Edinburgh’s Office of Lifelong Learning, running Subjects studied: Degree in Physics with science courses for the general public.
    [Show full text]
  • Relation of Radio-Quiet Quasars to Galaxy Clusters at Z
    Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 347, 1241–1254 (2004) Relation of radio-quiet quasars to galaxy clusters at z < 0.3 , Ilona K. S¨ochting,1 2 Roger G. Clowes3 and Luis E. Campusano4 1Isaac Newton Group, Apartado de Correos 321, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain 2Centre for Astrophysics, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE 3Computational Astrophysics, Department of Computing, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE 4Observatorio Astronomico´ Cerro Calan,´ Departamento de Astronom´ıa, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile Accepted 2003 October 16. Received 2003 October 10; in original form 2003 January 24 ABSTRACT We investigate whether radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) with z < 0.3 (and predominantly of low luminosity) are located preferentially in specific regions with respect to the centres and bound- aries of neighbouring galaxy clusters. This way of characterizing the environment of RQQs differs from previous studies, which relied on the galaxy excess statistics within small radii around the quasars. For the detection of galaxy clusters we use a robust, semiparametric method based on a maximum likelihood estimate applied to Voronoi tessellation and enhanced by a colour-cut approach, allowing boundary determination and redshift estimates. We find that most of the RQQs reside within 3 h−1 Mpc of the centre of a galaxy cluster with comparable redshift and that none of them lies in the core itself. About 20 per cent of the investigated quasars reside between two galaxy clusters, which are possibly at an early stage of merger. Consequently, we suggest that quasars found in rich environments are associated with clus- ter mergers whereas those found in poorer environments are associated with infall towards a cluster.
    [Show full text]
  • Physics in Culture
    The Live Creature and Ethereal Things: 1 Physics in Culture Edited by Fiona Crisp & Nicola Triscott The Live Creature and Ethereal Things: Physics in Culture Edited by Fiona Crisp & Nicola Triscott Front cover image: Fiona Crisp, Large Volume Detector: Laboratorie Nazionale del Gran Sasso, 2017, Single Channel Video Image courtesy the artist and Matt’s Gallery, London. Tavares Strachan, I Belong Here, 2011 (Installation view) Neon, transformers, 10 ft height x 12 ft width Image courtesy of the Frye Art Museum Photo: Mark Woods 5 Contents 7 Foreword Johanna Kieniewicz 9 Introduction Nicola Triscott & Fiona Crisp 12 The Live Creature and Ethereal Nicola Triscott Things 25 Material Sight Fiona Crisp 7 32 Why Do We Do Science? Suchitra Sebastian 37 The Culture of Particle Physics Tara Shears 40 Contemplative Science Chamkaur Ghag and artist Ansuman Biswas 47 Celestial Encounters Nahum 50 Making Science Intimate Roger Malina 54 Folding a Tactile Cosmos: Mark Neyrinck cosmic origami and spiderwebs 59 Hyperweb of the Present Tomas Saraceno 62 Physics and Dance Flaviu Ciprigan 66 Life is Astronomical Marek Kukula 68 Space-Time Relations: rocks as a Harry Lawson halfway point between matter and meaning 70 The Blackboard Massimo Mannarelli & Fiona Crisp 74 It was just a line of pixels, one line Phil Coy 75 Arts at CERN, fostering new Mónica Bello cultures at the largest laboratory in the world 78 A Synthetic Universe Blanca Pujals 82 Phase Velocity & F-T-L in the G.V.D. Jol Thomson 86 Contributors 91 Credits Foreword Given that the laws of physics govern the way our universe operates and therefore permeate every aspect of our lives, I’ve often found it unfortunate how the subject of physics is distanced from other aspects of what we might broadly describe as our culture.
    [Show full text]