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Creators/Authors contains: "Reynolds, Christopher S."

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  1. ABSTRACT

    Many recent works on the observed galaxy clusters in the X-rays highlight broadly two classes of exclusive energy carriers – sound waves and turbulence. In order to understand this dichotomy, we design an idealized three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation of a cluster, to assess which of these carriers can dissipate energy in and around the core (≳100 kpc). Specifically, we explore how gentle (long-duration outbursts) and intermediate (shorter duration outbursts) feedback modes can function efficiently mediated by compressible (sound waves) and incompressible (g modes/instabilities/turbulence) disturbances. Since g modes are confined tightly to the central core, we attempt to maximize the flux of fast sound waves to distribute the feedback energy over a large distance. We find that the contribution to heat dissipation from sound and turbulence varies on the basis of the aforementioned feedback modes, namely: turbulence contributes relatively more than sound in the slow-piston regime and vice versa for the intermediate regime. For the first time in a 3D simulation, we show that up to $\lesssim 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ (in some directions) of the injected power can be carried away by sound flux in the intermediate feedback but it reduces to $\lesssim 10 {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ (in some directions) in the slow-piston regime. Lastly, we find that sound waves can be elusive if we deduce the equation of state (isobaric/isentropic) of the fluctuations from X-ray observations.

     
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  2. null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT We present a spectroscopic and imaging study of an abnormal active galactic nucleus (AGN), 2MASX J00423991 + 3017515. This AGN is newly identified in the hard X-rays by the Swift BAT All-Sky survey and found in an edge-on disc galaxy interacting with a nearby companion. Here, we analyse the first optical spectra obtained for this system (taken in 2011 and 2016), high-resolution imaging taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, and 1 imaging with the Very Large Array. Two unique properties are revealed: the peaks of the broad Balmer emission lines (associated with gas orbiting very near the supermassive black hole) are blueshifted from the corresponding narrow line emission and host galaxy absorption by 1540 km s−1, and the AGN is spatially displaced from the apparent centre of its host galaxy by 3.8 kpc. We explore several scenarios to explain these features, along with other anomalies, and propose that 2MASX J00423991 + 3017515 may be an AGN with an unusually strong wind residing in a uniquely configured major merger, or that it is an AGN recoiling from either a gravitational ‘slingshot’ in a three-body interaction or from a kick due to the asymmetric emission of gravitational waves following the coalescence of two progenitor supermassive black holes. 
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