J. Kerp

Dark matter in the Milky Way II. The HI gas distribution as a tracer of the gravitational potential

Context. Gas within a galaxy is forced to establish pressure balance against gravitational forces. The shape of an unperturbed gaseous disk can be used to constrain dark matter models. Aims. We derive the 3D H i volume density distribution for the Milky Way out to a galactocentric radius of 40 kpc and a height of 20 kpc to constrain the Galactic mass distribution. Methods. We used the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn all sky 21-cm line survey. The transformation from brightness temperatures to densities depends on the rotation curve. We explored several models, reflecting different dark matter distributions. Each of these models was set up to solve the combined Poisson-Boltzmann equation in a self-consistent way and optimized to reproduce the observed flaring. Results. Besides a massive extended halo of M ∼ 1.8 × 10 12 M� , we find a self-gravitating dark matter disk with M = 2t o 3 × 10 11 M� , including a dark matter ring at 13 < R < 18.5 kpc with M = 2. 2t o 2.8 × 10 10 M� . The existence of the ring was previously postulated from EGRET data and coincides with a giant stellar structure that surrounds the Galaxy. The resulting Milky Way rotation curve is flat up to R ∼ 27 kpc and slowly decreases outwards. The H i gas layer is strongly flaring. The HWHM scale height is 60 pc at R = 4 kpc and increases to ∼2700 pc at R = 40 kpc. Spiral arms cause a noticeable imprint on the gravitational field, at least out to R = 30 kpc. Conclusions. Our mass model supports previous proposals that the giant stellar ring structure is due to a merging dwarf galaxy. The fact that the majority of the dark matter in the Milky Way for R < 40 kpc can be successfully modeled by a self-gravitating isothermal disk raises the question of whether this massive disk may have been caused by similar merger events in the past. The substructure in the Galactic dark matter disk suggests a dissipative nature for the dark matter disk.

GASS: the Parkes Galactic all-sky survey: II. Stray-radiation correction and second data release

Context. The Parkes Galactic all-sky survey (GASS) is a survey of Galactic atomic hydrogen (H i) emission in the southern sky observed with the Parkes 64-m Radio Telescope. The first data release was published by McClure-Griffiths et al. (2009). Aims. We remove instrumental effects that affect the GASS and present the second data release. Methods. We calculate the stray-radiation by convolving the all-sky response of the Parkes antenna with the brightness temperature distribution from the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) all sky 21-cm line survey, with major contributions from the 30-m dish of the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia (IAR) in the southern sky. Remaining instrumental baselines are corrected using the LAB data for a first guess of emission-free baseline regions. Radio frequency interference is removed by median filtering. Results. After applying these corrections to the GASS we find an excellent agreement with the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn (LAB) survey. The GASS is the highest spatial resolution, most sensitive, and is currently the most accurate H i survey of the Galactic H i emission in the southern sky. We provide a web interface for generation and download of FITS cubes.

Multifrequency variability of the blazar AO 0235+164.The WEBT campaign in 2004-2005 and long-term SED analysis

Aims. A huge multiwavelength campaign targeting the blazar AO 0235+164 was organized by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) in 2003-2005 to study the variability properties of the source. Methods. Monitoring observations were carried out at cm and mm wavelengths, and in the near-IR and optical bands, while three pointings by the XMM-Newton satellite provided information on the X-ray and UV emission. Results. We present the data acquired during the second observing season, 2004-2005, by 27 radio-to-optical telescopes. The ∼2600 data points collected allow us to trace the low-energy behaviour of the source in detail, revealing an increased near-IR and optical activity with respect to the previous season. Increased variability is also found at the higher radio frequencies, down to ∼15 GHz, but not at the lower ones. While the X-ray (and optical) light curves obtained during the XMM-Newton pointings reveal no significant short-term variability, the simultaneous intraday radio observations with the 100 m telescope at Effelsberg show flux-density changes at 10.5 GHz, which are more likely due to a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic processes. Conclusions. The radio (and optical) outburst predicted to peak around February-March 2004 on the basis of the previously observed 5-6 yr quasi-periodicity did not occur. The analysis of the optical light curves reveals now a longer characteristic time scale of variability of ∼8 yr, which is also present in the radio data. The spectral energy distributions corresponding to the XMM-Newton observations performed during the WEBT campaign are compared with those pertaining to previous pointings of X-ray satellites. Bright, soft X-ray spectra can be described in terms of an extra component, which appears also when the source is faint through a hard UV spectrum and a curvature of the X-ray spectrum. Finally, there might be a correlation between the X-ray and optical bright states with a long time delay of about 5 yr, which would require a geometrical interpretation.

Deep H I observations of the compact high-velocity cloud HVC 125+41{207

We present deep H i observations of the compact high-velocity cloud HVC 125+41{207 using the 100-m Eelsberg telescope. Our goal was in particular to study the warm neutral medium (WNM) in de- tail. The Eelsberg data reveals a two phase core/halo structure { one component with a velocity width of FWHM 5k m s 1 (Westerbork data show FWHM 2k m s 1 , Braun & Burton 2000) and one with FWHM 18 km s 1 . The column density distribution of the warmer component is highly asymmetric and shows a head-tail structure. We performed a Gaussian decomposition of the cloud and found that 52% of the H i mass of the cloud is in the WNM. 24% of the WNM is located in the tail. The overall structure and the systematic variation of the observational parameters radial velocity, velocity dispersion and column density indicate that this cloud is currently interacting with the ambient medium. The Westerbork H i data of this HVC (Braun & Burton 2000) reveals an interesting dense condensation. Assuming that this condensation is virialized and in pressure equilibrium with the ambient medium, we derive a distance of 130 kpc for HVC 125+41{207. Following these considerations, it is possible to constrain the parameters nIGM 1: 11 0 5 Ko f the intergalactic medium of the Local Group.

The Effelsberg Bonn H I Survey (EBHIS)

The Effelsberg-Bonn H I survey (EBHIS) comprises an all-sky survey north of Dec = –5° of the Milky Way and the local volume out to a red-shift of z ≃ 0.07. Using state of the art Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) spectrometers it is feasible to cover the 100 MHz bandwidth with 16.384 spectral channels. High speed storage of H I spectra allows us to minimize the degradation by Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) signals. Regular EBHIS survey observations started during the winter season 2008/2009 after extensive system evaluation and verification tests. Until today, we surveyed about 8000 square degrees, focusing during the first all-sky coverage of the Sloan-Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) area and the northern extension of the Magellanic stream. The first whole sky coverage will be finished in 2011. Already this first coverage will reach the same sensitivity level as the Parkes Milky Way (GASS) and extragalactic surveys (HIPASS). EBHIS data will be calibrated, stray-radiation corrected and freely accessible for the scientific community via a webinterface. In this paper we demonstrate the scientific data quality and explore the expected harvest of this new all-sky survey (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The Effelsberg-Bonn H i Survey: Milky Way gas - First data release

Context. The Effelsberg–Bonn H i Survey (EBHIS) is a new 21-cm survey performed with the 100-m telescope at Effelsberg. It covers the whole northern sky out to a redshift of z ∼ 0.07 and comprises H i line emission from the Milky Way and the Local Volume. Aims. We aim to substitute the northern-hemisphere part of the Leiden/Argentine/Bonn Milky Way H i survey (LAB) with this first EBHIS data release∗, which presents the H i gas in the Milky Way regime. Methods. The use of a seven-beam L-band array made it feasible to perform this all-sky survey with a 100-m class telescope in a reasonable amount of observing time. State-of-the-art fast-Fourier-transform spectrometers provide the necessary data read-out speed, dynamic range, and spectral resolution to apply software radio-frequency interference mitigation. EBHIS is corrected for stray radiation and employs frequency-dependent flux-density calibration and sophisticated baseline-removal techniques to ensure the highest possible data quality. Results. Detailed analyses of the resulting data products show that EBHIS is not only outperforming LAB in terms of sensitivity and angular resolution, but also matches the intensity-scale of LAB extremely well, allowing EBHIS to be used as a drop-in replacement for LAB. Data products are made available to the public in a variety of forms. Most important, we provide a properly gridded Milky Way H i column density map in HEALPix representation. To maximize the usefulness of EBHIS data, we estimate uncertainties in the H i column density and brightness temperature distributions, accounting for systematic effects.

The Effelsberg–Bonn H I Survey: Data Reduction

Starting in winter 2008/2009 an L-band seven-feed-array receiver is used for a 21 cm line survey performed with the 100 m telescope, the Effelsberg-Bonn H I survey (EBHIS). The EBHIS will cover the whole northern hemisphere for decl. > – 5° comprising both the galactic and extragalactic sky out to a distance of about 230 Mpc. Using state-of-the-art FPGA-based digital fast Fourier transform spectrometers, superior in dynamic range and temporal resolution to conventional correlators, allows us to apply sophisticated radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation schemes. In this paper, the EBHIS data reduction package and first results are presented. The reduction software consists of RFI detection schemes, flux and gain-curve calibration, stray-radiation removal, baseline fitting, and finally the gridding to produce data cubes. The whole software chain is successfully tested using multi-feed data toward many smaller test fields (1-100 deg2) and recently applied for the first time to data of two large sky areas, each covering about 2000 deg2. The first large area is toward the northern galactic pole and the second one toward the northern tip of the Magellanic Leading Arm. Here, we demonstrate the data quality of EBHIS Milky Way data and give a first impression on the first data release in 2011.

Weak lensing study of dark matter filaments and application to the binary cluster A 222 and A 223

We present a weak lensing analysis of the double cluster system Abell 222 and Abell 223. The lensing reconstruction shows evidence for a possible dark matter filament connecting both clusters. The case for a filamentary connection between A 222/223 is supported by an analysis of the galaxy density and X-ray emission between the clusters. Using the results of N-body simulations, we try to develop a criterion that separates this system into cluster and filament regions. The aim is to find a technique that allows the quantification of the significance of ( weak lensing) filament candidates in close pairs of clusters. While this mostly fails, the aperture quadrupole statistics (Schneider & Bartelmann 1997, MNRAS, 286, 696) shows some promise in this area. The cluster masses determined from weak lensing in this system are considerably lower than those previously determined from spectroscopic and X-ray observations (Dietrich et al. 2002, A & A, 394, 395; Proust et al. 2000, A& A, 355, 443; David et al. 1999, ApJ, 519, 533). Additionally, we report the serendipitous weak lensing detection of a previously unknown cluster in the field of this double cluster system.

Effelsberg HI observations of compact high-velocity clouds

We have mapped 11 compact high-velocity clouds (CHVCs) in the 21-cm line emission of neutral, atomic hydrogen, using the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope. The aim of our observations was to study the overall distribution of the warm neutral medium of CHVCs with high sensitivity. The achieved baseline rms of σrms ≈ 50 mK at the original 2. 6k m s −1 velocity resolution allows us to search for evidence of ram-pressure interaction with the ambient medium. In addition, we have obtained spectra along an appropriate axis across each CHVC with longer integration times and denser angular sampling. These deep slices with σrms ≈ 25 ... 35 mK allow us to determine the column density profile in greater detail as well as the velocity and line width gradient across each cloud. The most outstanding result of our observations is the complexity of the H  column density distribution and the line profiles of the investigated CHVCs. We have found only one cloud with a spherically-symmetric appearance. Among the remaining clouds we observe head-tail structures, bow-shock shapes, and objects with irregular shapes. These complex morphologies in combination with the obtained physical parameters suggest that ram-pressure interactions with an ambient medium may play a significant role in shaping some of the CHVCs from our sample. These results are consistent with a circumgalactic distribution of CHVCs with typical distances of the order of 100 kpc. The pressure of the ambient medium might also stabilise CHVCs in addition to their own gravitational potential.

Jet emission in NGC 1052 at radio, optical, and X-ray frequencies

We present a combined radio, optical, and X-ray study of the nearby LINER galaxy NGC 1052. Data from a short (2.3 ks) CHANDRA observation of NGC 1052 reveal the presence of various jet-related X-ray emitting regions, a bright compact core and unresolved knots in the jet structure as well as an extended emitting region inside the galaxy well aligned with the radio synchrotron jet-emission. The spectrum of the extended X-ray emission can best be fitted with a thermal model with