[en] We present a catalog containing the measurements of 2262 sources, including 334 extended sources, 1915 point sources, and 13 known QSOs, in five SDSS passbands. Of these objects, over 1600 are measured in 15 fields covering 0.5 deg2, with a limiting magnitude of r^*<19.5, similar to the photometric limit of the SDSS spectroscopic survey. Color plots of the data show that stars, galaxies, and quasars are fairly well separated by color alone. The stellar locus populates a ribbon-like subset of color-color-color space. It is shown that stars, galaxies, and QSOs tend toward the same fundamental plane in three-dimensional color space. The stars are compared with synthetic photometry from Kurucz models; the agreement is consistent with the errors in the data. The stellar locus moves in color space by about a tenth of a magnitude from r^*=14 to r^*=19.5. The shift is consistent with a shift in the metallicity from about [Me/H] = -1 to [Me/H] = -2. We compare this with previously measured metallicity gradients as a function of distance from the galactic plane. (c) (c) 1999. The American Astronomical Society

[en] Substitution of the 1,5-cyclooctadiene (cod) ligand in PtCl2(cod) (1) by the diphosphine ligand 4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-4-cyclopenten-1,3-dione (bpcd) yields PtCl2(bpcd) (2). Knoevenagel condensation of 2 with 9-anthracenecarboxaldehyde leads to the functionalization of the bpcd ligand and formation of the corresponding 2-(9-anthracenylidene)-4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-4-cyclopenten-1,3-dione (abpcd) substituted compound PtCl2(abpcd) (3), which is also obtained from the direct reaction of 1 with the abpcd ligand in near quantitative yield. The reaction of 3 with disodium maleonitriledithiolate (Na2mnt) affords the chelating dithiolate compound Pt(mnt)(abpcd) (4). Compounds 2 C4 have been fully characterized in solution by IR and NMR spectroscopies (1H and 31P), and their molecular structures established by X-ray crystallography. The electrochemical properties of 2 C4 have examined by cyclic voltammetry, and the nature of the HOMO and LUMO levels in these systems has been established by MO calculations at the extended Hueckel level, the results of which are discussed with respect to electrochemical data and related diphosphine derivatives

[en] The obscuring circumnuclear torus of dusty molecular gas is one of the major components of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The torus can be studied by analyzing the time response of its infrared (IR) dust emission to variations in the AGN continuum luminosity, a technique known as reverberation mapping. The IR response is the convolution of the AGN ultraviolet/optical light curve with a transfer function that contains information about the size, geometry, and structure of the torus. Here, we describe a new computer model that simulates the reverberation response of a clumpy torus. Given an input optical light curve, the code computes the emission of a 3D ensemble of dust clouds as a function of time at selected IR wavelengths, taking into account light travel delays. We present simulated dust emission responses at 3.6, 4.5, and 30 μ m that explore the effects of various geometrical and structural properties, dust cloud orientation, and anisotropy of the illuminating radiation field. We also briefly explore the effects of cloud shadowing (clouds are shielded from the AGN continuum source). Example synthetic light curves have also been generated, using the observed optical light curve of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 6418 as input. The torus response is strongly wavelength-dependent, due to the gradient in cloud surface temperature within the torus, and because the cloud emission is strongly anisotropic at shorter wavelengths. Anisotropic illumination of the torus also significantly modifies the torus response, reducing the lag between the IR and optical variations.

[en] Saccharin (sacH) reacts with [Re${}_2$(CO)${}_8$(NCMe)${}_2$] at room temperature to afford dinuclear [Re${}_2$(CO)${}_8$(μ-H)(μ-sac-κN,O)] (1), which contains a bridging sac ligand coordinated to both rhenium centers using the nitrogen and ketonic oxygen atoms, and the mononuclear compounds [Re(CO)${}_5$(sac-κN)] (2) and cis-[Re(CO)${}_4$(NCMe)(sac-κN)] (3), both of which contain a sac ligand bonded to rhenium using only the nitrogen atom. Complex 3 that contains an MeCN ligand reacts with tri(2-furyl)phosphine (PFu${}_3$) at room temperature to yield cis-[Re(CO)${}_4$(PFu${}_3$)(sac-κN)] (4). The molecular structures of 1-4 have been established by X-ray crystallography, and the bonding in compound 1 has been examined by electronic structure calculations. (© 2023 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)

[en] The size and structure of the dusty circumnuclear torus in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be investigated by analyzing the temporal response of the torus’s infrared (IR) dust emission to variations in the AGN ultraviolet/optical luminosity. This method, reverberation mapping, is applicable over a wide redshift range, but the IR response is sensitive to several poorly constrained variables relating to the dust distribution and its illumination, complicating the interpretation of measured reverberation lags. We have used an enhanced version of our torus reverberation mapping code (TORMAC) to conduct a comprehensive exploration of the torus response functions at selected wavelengths, for the standard interstellar medium grain composition. The shapes of the response functions vary widely over the parameter range covered by our models, with the largest variations occurring at shorter wavelengths (≤4.5 μm). The reverberation lag, quantified as the response-weighted delay (RWD), is most affected by the radial depth of the torus, the steepness of the radial cloud distribution, the degree of anisotropy of the AGN radiation field, and the volume filling factor. Nevertheless, we find that the RWD provides a reasonably robust estimate, to within a factor of ∼3, of the luminosity-weighted torus radius, confirming the basic assumption underlying reverberation mapping. However, overall, the models predict radii at 2.2 μm that are typically a factor of ∼2 larger than those derived from K-band reverberation mapping. This is likely an indication that the innermost region of the torus is populated by clouds dominated by large graphite grains.

[en] The Suzaku X-ray satellite observed the young stellar object (YSO) V1647 Ori on 2008 October 8 during the new mass accretion outburst reported in 2008 August. During the 87 ks observation with a net exposure of 40 ks, V1647 Ori showed a high level of X-ray emission with a gradual decrease in flux by a factor of 5 and then displayed an abrupt flux increase by an order of magnitude. Such enhanced X-ray variability was also seen in XMM-Newton observations in 2004 and 2005 during the 2003-2005 outburst, but has rarely been observed for other YSOs. The spectrum clearly displays emission from Helium-like iron, which is a signature of hot plasma (kT ∼ 5 keV). It also shows a fluorescent iron Kα line with a remarkably large equivalent width (EW) of ∼600 eV. Such a large EW suggests that a part of the incident X-ray emission that irradiates the circumstellar material and/or the stellar surface is hidden from our line of sight. XMM-Newton spectra during the 2003-2005 outburst did not show a strong fluorescent iron Kα line, so that the structure of the circumstellar gas very close to the stellar core that absorbs and re-emits X-ray emission from the central object may have changed in between 2005 and 2008. This phenomenon may be related to changes in the infrared morphology of McNeil's nebula between 2004 and 2008.

[en] We report the first results of a study of variable point sources identified using multi-color timeseries photometry from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Stripe 82, including data from the SDSS-II Supernova Survey, over a span of nearly 10 years (1998-2007). We construct a light-curve catalog of 221,842 point sources in the R.A. 0-4 hr half of Stripe 82, limited to r = 22.0 mag, that have at least 10 detections in the ugriz bands and color errors < 0.2 mag. These sources are then classified by color and by cross matching them to existing SDSS catalogs of interesting objects. Inhomogeneous ensemble differential photometry techniques are used to greatly improve our sensitivity to variability and reduce contamination by sources that appear variable due to large photometric noise or systematic effects caused by non-uniform photometric conditions throughout the survey. We use robust variable identification methods to extract 6520 variable candidates from this data set, resulting in an overall variable fraction of ∼2.9% at the level of ∼0.05 mag variability. Despite the sparse and uneven time sampling of the light-curve data, we discover 143 periodic variables in total. Due to period ambiguity caused by relatively poor phase coverage, we identify a smaller final set of 101 periodic variables with well-determined periods and light curves. Among these are 55 RR Lyrae, 30 eclipsing binary candidates, and 16 high-amplitude Delta Scuti variables. In addition to these objects, we also identify a sample of 2704 variable quasars matched to the SDSS Quasar Catalog, which make up a large fraction of our variable candidates. An additional 2403 quasar candidates are tentatively identified and selected by their non-stellar colors and variability. A sample of 11,328 point sources that appear to be nonvariable given the limits of our variability sensitivity is also briefly discussed. Finally, we describe several interesting objects discovered among our eclipsing binary candidates, and illustrate the use of our publicly available light-curve catalog by tracing Galaxy halo substructure with our small sample of RR Lyrae variables.

[en] We quantify the variability of faint unresolved optical sources using a catalog based on multiple SDSS imaging observations. The catalog covers SDSS Stripe 82, which lies along the celestial equator in the Southern Galactic Hemisphere (22h 24m < α_J2000 < 04h 08m, -1.27^o < (delta)_J2000 < +1.27^o, ∼ 290 deg²), and contains 58 million photometric observations in the SDSS ugriz system for 1.4 million unresolved sources that were observed at least 4 times in each of the gri bands (with a median of 10 observations obtained over ∼5 years). In each photometric bandpass we compute various low-order lightcurve statistics such as root-mean-square scatter (rms), χ² per degree of freedom, skewness, minimum and maximum magnitude, and use them to select and study variable sources. We find that 2% of unresolved optical sources brighter than g = 20.5 appear variable at the 0.05 mag level (rms) simultaneously in the g and r bands. The majority (2/3) of these variable sources are low-redshift (< 2) quasars, although they represent only 2% of all sources in the adopted flux-limited sample. We find that at least 90% of quasars are variable at the 0.03 mag level (rms) and confirm that variability is as good a method for finding low-redshift quasars as is the UV excess color selection (at high Galactic latitudes). We analyze the distribution of lightcurve skewness for quasars and find that is centered on zero. We find that about 1/4 of the variable stars are RR Lyrae stars, and that only 0.5% of stars from the main stellar locus are variable at the 0.05 mag level. The distribution of lightcurve skewness in the g-r vs. u-g color-color diagram on the main stellar locus is found to be bimodal (with one mode consistent with Algol-like behavior). Using over six hundred RR Lyrae stars, we demonstrate rich halo substructure out to distances of 100 kpc. We extrapolate these results to expected performance by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and estimate that it will obtain well-sampled 2% accurate, multi-color lightcurves for ∼2 million low-redshift quasars, and will discover at least 50 million variable stars

[en] EX Lupi is the prototype for a class of young, pre-main-sequence stars which are observed to undergo irregular, presumably accretion-generated, optical outbursts that result in a several magnitude rise of the optical flux. EX Lupi was observed to optically erupt in 2008 January, triggering Chandra ACIS Target of Opportunity observations shortly thereafter. We find very strong evidence that most of the X-ray emission in the first few months after the optical outburst is generated by accretion of circumstellar material onto the stellar photosphere. Specifically, we find a strong correlation between the decreasing optical and X-ray fluxes following the peak of the outburst in the optical, which suggests that these observed declines in both the optical and X-ray fluxes are the result of declining accretion rate. In addition, in our models of the X-ray spectrum, we find strong evidence for a ∼0.4 keV plasma component, as expected for accretion shocks on low-mass, pre-main-sequence stars. From 2008 March through October, this cool plasma component appeared to fade as EX Lupi returned to its quiescent level in the optical, consistent with a decrease in the overall emission measure of accretion-shock-generated plasma. The overall small increase of the X-ray flux during the optical outburst of EX Lupi is similar to what was observed in previous X-ray observations of the 2005 optical outburst of the EX Lupi-type star V1118 Ori but contrasts with the large increase of the X-ray flux from the erupting young star V1647 Ori during its 2003 and 2008 optical outbursts.

[en] The pre-main-sequence (PMS) star V1647 Ori has recently undergone two optical/near-infrared (OIR) outbursts that are associated with dramatic enhancements in the stellar accretion rate. Our intensive X-ray monitoring of this object affords the opportunity to investigate whether and how the intense X-ray emission is related to PMS accretion activity. Our analysis of all 14 Chandra X-Ray Observatory observations of V1647 Ori demonstrates that variations in the X-ray luminosity of V1647 Ori are correlated with similar changes in the OIR brightness of this source during both (2003-2005 and 2008) eruptions, strongly supporting the hypothesis that accretion is the primary generation mechanism for the X-ray outbursts. Furthermore, the Chandra monitoring demonstrates that the X-ray spectral properties of the second eruption were strikingly similar to those of the 2003 eruption. We find that X-ray spectra obtained immediately following the second outburst—during which V1647 Ori exhibited high X-ray luminosities, high hardness ratios, and strong X-ray variability—are well modeled as a heavily absorbed (N_H ∼ 4 × 10²² cm^–2), single-component plasma with characteristic temperatures (kT_X ∼ 2-6 keV) that are consistently too high to be generated via accretion shocks but are in the range expected for plasma heated by magnetic reconnection events. We also find that the X-ray absorbing column has not changed significantly throughout the observing campaign. Since the OIR and X-ray changes are correlated, we hypothesize that these reconnection events either occur in the accretion stream connecting the circumstellar disk to the star or in accretion-enhanced protostellar coronal activity.