Engineering topics

Krolik, Julian H.

Publications and source records attributed to Krolik, Julian H..

46 records · Page 3

NASA NTRS1990

Fueling active galactic nuclei by magnetic braking

Recent detections of massive concentrations of molecular gas near the centers of galaxies hosting active nuclei suggest that these concentrations may be the source of accretion fuel for the nucleus. However, for that to be true, an angular momentum barrier must be overcome before the material in such a cloud can reach the nucleus. It is suggested that magnetic braking of the cloud may remove sufficient angular momentum to permit its material to draw considerably closer to the central object. The mechanism is particularly effective in the limit that the gas becomes self-gravitating because removal of a fraction of the initial angular momentum can lead to dynamical instability and collapse. Any small misalignment between the initial rotation axis of the cloud and the rotation axis of the galaxy can be substantially amplified as a result of the braking. It is argued that mass accretion onto the central object may occur in episodes, in some cases with a constant mass accretion rate during each episode.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1990

High resolution X-ray spectroscopy of active galactic nuclei

After a brief review of the principal problems of AGN research, selected potential high-resolution observations are discussed with a view toward assessing their scientific value and the degree of resolution they will require. Two classes of observations pertaining directly to AGNs are discussed. Fe K-alpha spectroscopy relevant to the dynamical and thermal character of the emission line zones; and measurement of resonance line absorption by highly-ionized species in BL Lac objects, which should provide information about entrainment of interstellar material by relativistic jets. A third class of potentially important observations uses AGNs as background light sources in order to directly measure the distance to clusters of galaxies.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The physical state of the obscuring torus in Seyfert galaxies

Calculations are presented describing the ionization, chemical, and thermal state of molecular material in the obscuring tori close to the nuclei of many Seyfert galaxies. These are unusual molecular clouds: their electron fractions are about .001 and their temperatures are about 1000 K. Cooling is accomplished primarily by radiation of NIR H2 lines and FIR CO lines. High-J (C-12)(O-16) rotational lines should eventually be detectable from the nearer Seyfert galaxies. Medium-J lines due to (C-13)(O-16) and (C-12)(O-18) as well as (C-12)(O-16) should also be strong. Because ordinary molecular clouds are weak in these lines, the nuclear CO emissions can be distinguished from CO emission farther out in the host galaxy's disk.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The recombination epoch revisited

Previous studies of cosmological recombination have shown that this process produces as a by-product a highly superthermal population of Ly-alpha photons which retard completion of recombination. Cosmological redshifting was thought to determine the frequency distribution of the photons, while two-photon decay of hydrogen's 2s state was thought to control their numbers. It is shown here that frequency diffusion due to photon scattering dominate the cosmological redshift in the frequency range near line center which fixes the ratio of ground state to excited state population, while incoherent scattering into the far-red damping wing effectively destroys Ly-alpha photons as a rate which is competitive with two-photon decay. The former effect tends to hold back recombination, while the latter tends to accelerate it; the net results depends on cosmological parameters, particularly the combination Omega(b) h/sq rt (2q0), where Omega(b) is the fraction of the critical density provided by baryons.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Measuring H0 and q0 with X-ray lines from galaxy clusters

A new method of measuring angular diameter distances, and hence H0 and q0, by means of X-ray observations of galaxy clusters is proposed. It resembles the method which combines maps of X-ray continuum emission with maps of the Suniaev-Zel'dovich effect, but substitutes measurements of X-ray absorption lines in the spectra of background quasars for the Suniaev-Zel'dovich effect. When the high resolution permitted by the AXAF microcalorimeter becomes available, this method should yield results with significantly smaller uncertainty.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Molecular tori in Seyfert galaxies - Feeding the monster and hiding it

The principal properties of the tori of gas which surround Seyfert nuclei are discussed. The internal state of the clouds and their size distribution function are examined, and it is shown that the Jeans mass scale results in clouds which are individually sufficiently opaque to block out the nucleus, and that the balance of processes which controls their size distribution function also forces the covering factor to be of the order of or greater than unity. Where the gravitational potential is dominated by stars, cloud-cloud collisions keep the molecular clouds close to the equatorial plane. Stirring by stellar processes is never strong enough to compete with collisional losses. The position of the inner edge of the torus is determined by a balance between the inward flow of clouds and the rate at which the nuclear continuum can evaporate them.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The origin of broad emission line clouds in active galactic nuclei

Numerous arguments suggest that the broad emission lines characteristic of many types of active galactic nuclei are formed in comparatively cool clouds embedded in a much hotter medium of roughly equal pressure. Here it is shown that a cycle exists in which cooler condensations form within the hot medium via a finite-amplitude thermal instability, drop to temperatures characteristic of photoionization equilibrium, are destroyed by hydrodynamic processes, and then return their material to the hot medium. Clouds of characteristic pressure about 10 to the 14th K/cu cm and thickness about 10 to the 23rd/sq cm are produced by this mechanism, in agreement with the pressure and thickness inferred from photoionization model analysis of observed emission-line ratios. Only a fraction of the hot medium's mass must encounter a finite-amplitude perturbation in order to produce the observed mass in clouds.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The effects of thermal accretion disk spectra on the emission lines from active galactic nuclei

Although most ratios of AGN emission lines depend primarily on global averages over the ionizing spectrum of the thermal accretion disk, there are some which behave quite differently for different spectra. Using these, it may be possible to infer the shape of the spectrum in the unobservable ultraviolet. Two classes of methods for making this inference are discussed, one based upon as many line ratios as can be observed, the other singling out those best at distinguishing different spectral shapes. Because of a variety of technical difficulties, only the first class, which uses global measures of goodness-of-fit, is practical. Application of this method to a compilation of quasar line ratios yields a weak conclusion, however, with the best fit favoring the presence of a thermal accretion disk with T(b) of roughly 20 eV.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

X-ray heated winds in Seyfert galaxies

Recent observational work has shown that Type 2 Seyfert galaxies contain Type 1 nuclei. These are hidden from direct view by obscuring material of toroidal geometry, but are revealed by scattering off asymmetrically distributed warm electrons which gives the light net polarization. Warm, ionized gas of the right temperature and optical depth to match the observations is exactly what would be expected due to evaporation of material from the inner edge of the obscuring torus by the nuclear UV and X-ray continuum. In addition to revealing the nucleus by scattering, this warm gas also produces strong X-ray Fe K features.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Fe K features as probes of the nuclear reflection region in Seyfert galaxies

The warm electron scattering region posited in 1985 by Antonucci and Miller to exist in NGC 1068 may be a characteristic feature of Seyfert galaxies. Whenever it exists, it presents a unique signature in Fe X-ray features. Predictions of the strength of the Fe K-edge and K-alpha line in both type 1 and type 2 Seyfert galaxies are presented and interpreted.

Krolik, Julian H.↗