4 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichten (issue dedicated to the Proceedings of "The 4th Workshop on Compact Steep Spectrum and GHz-Peaked Spectrum Radio Sources" held at Riccione, Italy, 26-29 May 2008)
A new scenario is suggested to explain a large diversity of the AGN radio properties and their dependence on the galaxy morphology. The scenario is based on the assumption that the growth of supermassive BHs is dominated by the accretion only during the quasar (high accretion rate) phase, otherwise - by mergers with less massive black holes. Following that, BHs are expected to spin much faster in giant ellipticals than in disk galaxies. Within the frame of the spin paradigm this explains the observed relation of the radio-dichotomy with the galaxy morphology. Various theoretical and observational aspects of such a dichotomy are discussed. In particular, the issue of the intermittency and suppression of a jet production at high accretion rates is addressed and a scenario for production of powerful, extended radio sources is drafted.
We compare the galaxy population of an SPH simulation to those predicted by the GalICS semi-analytic model and a stripped down version without supernova and AGN feedback. The SPH simulation and the no-feedback GalICS model make similar predictions for the baryonic mass functions of galaxies and for the dependence of these mass functions on environment and redshift. The two methods also make similar predictions for the galaxy content of dark matter haloes as a function of halo mass and for the gas accretion history of galaxies. Both the SPH and no-feedback GalICS models predict a bimodal galaxy…
We investigate the conjecture by Sikora, Stawarz & Lasota (2007) that the observed AGN--radio-loudness bimodality can be explained by the morphology-related bimodality of black-hole spin distribution in the centers of galaxies: central black holes in giant elliptical galaxies may have (on average) much larger spins than black holes in spiral/disc galaxies. We study how accretion from a warped disc influences the evolution of black hole spins and conclude that within the cosmological framework, where the most massive BHs have grown in mass via merger driven accretion, one indeed expects most su…
The distribution of radio to optical fluxes in AGN is bimodal. The physical origin for this bimodality is not understood. In this Letter I describe observational evidence, based on the Boroson & Green PG quasar sample, that the radio loudness bimodality is strongly related to the black hole mass (M_BH). Nearly all PG quasars with M_BH>10^9M_sun are radio loud, while quasars with M_BH<3x10^8M_sun are practically all radio quiet. This result is consistent with the dependence of quasar host galaxy morphology on radio loudness. There is no simple physical explanation for this result, but it may pr…
Various galaxy properties are not continuous over a large range in mass, but rather reveal a remarkable transition or `bimodality' at a stellar mass of 3 x 10^{10} Mo. These properties include colors, stellar populations, Xray emission and mass-to-light ratios. This behavior has been interpreted as the transition from hot to cold flows by Dekel & Birnboim (2005). Here we explore whether globular cluster (GC) systems also reveal a bimodal nature with regard to this critical mass scale. Globular clusters probe star formation at early epochs in the Universe and survive subsequent galaxy mergers a…
The bimodality of the AGN radio loudness distribution, and the relation of radio loudness and black hole mass were recently disputed. A closer look at the existing data suggests possible resolutions of these disputes, as further described below.
It is still a matter of debate whether the properties of galaxies hosting an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) are different from the properties of quiescent galaxies. We constructed a sample of ~50 AGN at a mean redshift of <z>~0.6 that lack a detectable optical nucleus. This characteristic allows to study the properties of the host galaxies with much higher accuracy than in the case of "normal" AGN which show a prominent central point source in optical images. A comparison sample of X-ray faint, quiescent galaxies at intermediate redshifts shows a clear bimodality in terms of both rest-frame col…
Using 10 095 galaxies (B < 20 mag) from the Millennium Galaxy Catalogue, we derive B-band luminosity distributions and selected bivariate brightness distributions for the galaxy population. All subdivisions extract highly correlated sub-sets of the galaxy population which consistently point towards two overlapping distributions. A clear bimodality in the observed distribution is seen in both the rest-(u-r) colour and log(n) distributions. The rest-(u-r) colour bimodality becomes more pronounced when using the core colour as opposed to global colour. The two populations are extremely well separ…
Galaxy bimodality is caused by the bulge-disc nature of galaxies as opposed to two distinct galaxy classes. This is evident in the colour-structure plane which clearly shows that elliptical galaxies (bulge-only) lie in the red compact peak and late-type spiral galaxies (disc-dominated) lie in the blue diffuse peak. Early-type spirals (bulge plus disc systems) sprawl across both peaks. However after bulge-disc decomposition the bulges of early-type spirals lie exclusively in the red compact peak and their discs in the blue diffuse peak (exceptions exist but are rare, e.g., dust reddened edge-on…
We present evidence for the presence of a transition in the accretion properties of radio-loud sources. For a sample of radio galaxies and radio-loud quasars, selected based on their extended radio properties, the accretion rate is estimated from the black hole mass and nuclear luminosity. The inferred distribution is bimodal, with paucity of sources at accretion rates, in Eddington units, of order ~ 10^{-2} - assuming a radiative efficiency of 10 per cent - and possibly spanning one-two orders of magnitude. Selection biases are unlikely to be responsible for such behavior; we discuss possible…
We investigate the association between the accretion disk during radio plateau state and the following superluminal relativistic radio jets with peak intensity varies from 200 mJy to 1000 mJy observed over a period of five years and present the evidences of direct accretion disc-jet connection in microquasar GRS 1915+105. We have analysed RXTE PCA/HEXTE X-ray data and have found that the accretion rate, $\dot{m}_{accr}$, as inferred from the X-ray flux, is very high during the radio plateaux. We suggest that the accretion disk during the radio plateaux always associated with radiation-driven w…
Most quasars are known to be radio quiet and according to the ``spin paradigm'', which connects their radio-loudness with the value of the black hole spin, they must harbor very slowly rotating black holes. On the other hand, quasars are powered by accretion which tends to increase the spin of the black hole. We show that the Blandford-Znajek mechanism is not efficient enough to counteract the spinning up of black holes by an accretion disk, regardless of the accretion rate. We establish conditions under which it is possible to obtain low values of the black hole spin, in the scenario involvin…
We used the standard geometrical thin accretion theory to obtain the accretion rates in Seyfert 1 galaxies and quasars. Combining accretion rates with the bolometric luminosity, we obtained the accretion efficiency. We found most of Seyfert 1 galaxies and radio quiet quasars have lower accretion efficiencies while most of the radio loud quasars possess higher accretion efficiencies. This finding further implies most of radio loud quasars possess Kerr black holes while Seyfert 1 galaxies and radio quiet quasars may not possess Kerr black holes. Considering the difference of the accretion effici…
We present a novel method to measure the accretion rate of radio emitting X-ray binaries (XRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) independently of the X-ray luminosity. The radio emission of the jet is used as a tracer for the accretion rate and is normalised using sources of known accretion rates: island state neutron stars and efficiently radiating black holes close to a state transition. We show that the radio power in black holes and neutron stars is comparable for a given mass accretion rate and verify empirically the assumed analytic scaling of the radio luminosity with accretion rate. As…
We review the latest attempts to determine the accretion geometry in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN). These objects, which comprise ~10-20% of the AGN population, produce powerful collimated radio jets that can extend thousands of parsecs from the center of the host galaxy. Recent multiwavelength surveys have shown that radio-loudness is more common in low-luminosity AGN than in higher luminosity Seyfert galaxies or quasars. These low-luminosity AGN have small enough accretion rates that they are most likely accreting via a geometrically thick and radiatively inefficient accretion flow…
We have analyzed the optical and radio properties of a sample of 3CR FR I radio galaxies which have Hubble Space Telescope imaging capable of detecting optical cores. The jet powers of the FR I radio galaxies are estimated from their low-frequency radio luminosities, and the optical core luminosity is taken as an upper limit on the emission from any unobscured accretion disc. We argue that if the accretion discs in these sources are assumed to be advection dominated accretion flows (ADAFs), or adiabatic inflow-outflow solution (ADIOS) flows, then the Blandford-Znajek mechanism (Blandford & Zna…
Radio and X-ray emission from compact sources with accretion disks (active galactic nuclei, pulsars and X-ray binaries) is considered. It is shown that both radio and X-ray emission from these sources can be interpreted as emission of a hot ($T \geqslant 3 \times 10^{7}K$) plasma in the inner part of an accretion disk or in the disk corona. Radio emission is produced by the maser amplification of thermal radio emission in a hot plasma and corresponds to the transitions between highly located energy levels (somewhat similarly to the recombination lines). The X-ray emission is either thermal rad…
We study the orientation of accretion disks, traced by the position angle of the jet, relative to the dust disk major axis in a sample of 20 nearby Radio Galaxies. We find that the observed distribution of angles between the jet and dust disk major axis is consistent with jets homogeneously distributed over a polar cap of 77 degrees.
We present a model for the spindown of young radio pulsars in which the neutron star loses rotational energy not only by emitting magnetic dipole radiation but also by torquing a surrounding accretion disk produced by supernova fallback. The braking index predicted in our model is in general less than n=3 (the value for pure dipole magnetic radiation), in agreement with the reported values of n<3 for five young radio pulsars. With an accuracy of 30% or better, our model reproduces the age, braking index and third frequency derivative of the Crab pulsar for a disk accretion rate in the range 3 …
We study the 36 brightest radio sources in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field SXDF). Using MIPS 24 micron data from Spitzer we expect to trace accretion activity, even if it is hidden at optical wavelengths, unless the obscuring column is extreme. Our results suggest that in the decade or so below the break in the radio luminosity function that at least half, and potentially nearly all, radio sources are associated with accreting quasar-like objects. This is not true at lower radio luminosities where the quasar-like fraction approaches zero once compact sources are excluded.
A supermassive black hole binary may form during galaxy mergering. we investigate the interaction of the supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) and an accretion disk and show that the detected X-shaped structure in some FRII radio galaxies may be due to the interaction-realignment of inclined binary and accretion disk occurred within the pc scale of the galaxy center. We compare in detail the model and observations and show that the configuration is consistent very well with the observations of X-shaped radio sources. X-shaped radio feature form only in FRII radio sources due to the strong i…
We use medium resolution optical spectra of 3CR radio galaxies to estimate their black hole masses and accretion rates. Black hole masses are found from central stellar velocity dispersions and accretion rates are derived from narrow emission-line luminosities. The sample covers both Fanaroff-Riley (FR) classes; the more powerful FRIIs and the less powerful FRIs. We find that FRIs and FRIIs separate in diagrams of black hole mass versus radio luminosity and narrow-line luminosity. This suggests that, at a given black hole mass, the FRIIs accrete more efficiently, or accrete more matter, than F…
We study a sample of 44 low-luminosity radio-loud AGN, which represent a range of nuclear radio-power spanning 5 orders of magnitude, to unveil the accretion mechanism in these galaxies. We estimate the accretion rate of gas associated with their hot coronae by analyzing archival Chandra data, to derive the deprojected density and temperature profiles in a spherical approximation. Measuring the jet power from the nuclear radio-luminosity, we find that the accretion power correlates linearly with the jet power, with an efficiency of conversion from rest mass into jet power of ~0.012. These resu…
On the basis of the unified model of compact radio sources, the dependence of a turnover frequency in the smoothed radio spectrum of a pulsar upon the ratio of the dispersion measure to the period of a pulsar is obtained. This relation is produced by the radial density wave in the accretion disk surrounding a pulsar. The unified model of compact radio sources gives also the smoothed spectral indices of radio emission from pulsars as $α=2$ for the gaseous disk with the temperature profile T=const and $α=3$ for the gaseous disk with the pressure profile P=const ($F_ν \propto ν^{- α} $).
Rapidly rotating magnetic neutron stars in eccentric binary systems containing an early type star provide a unique opportunity to investigate the interplay between radio pulsar, stellar wind and accretion phenomena. We summarise the radio pulsar-dominated and the accretion-dominated regimes, discussing how the transition from one regime to another can take place as a result of the varying orbital distance and relative velocity along the orbit, as well as changes of the wind characteristics. We derive the conditions under which the two known B star/radio pulsar binaries (PSR 1259-63 and PSR J00…
We study the 37 brightest radio sources in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field (SXDF). Using mid-IR (Spitzer MIPS 24 micron) data we expect to trace nuclear accretion activity, even if it is obscured at optical wavelengths, unless the obscuring column is extreme. Our results suggest that above the `FRI/FRII' radio luminosity break most of the radio sources are associated with objects that have excess mid-IR emission, only some of which are broad-line objects, although there is one clear low-accretion-rate FRI. The fraction of objects with mid-IR excess drops dramatically below the FRI/FRII break,…
We present new XMM-Newton observations of two luminous and high accretion-rate radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z~2. Together with archival X-ray and rest-frame optical spectra of three sources with similar properties as well as 25 moderate-luminosity radio-quiet AGNs at z<0.5, we investigate, for the first time, the dependence of the hard (>~2 keV) X-ray power-law photon index on the broad H_beta emission-line width and on the accretion rate across ~3 orders of magnitude in AGN luminosity. Provided the accretion rates of the five luminous sources can be estimated by extrapolating …
We have assembled a sample of 37 RLQs that have been imaged with the HST in order to investigate their black hole masses, accretion rates, and the structure of their accretion disks. The black hole masses were estimated from the luminosities of the host galaxies, and the accretion powers were extrapolated from the emission-line luminosities. The majority of the quasars have masses in the range $M_{\rm BH} \approx 10^8-10^9$ solar mass. Their accretion rates, $\dot M \approx 0.01-1$ times the Eddington rate, suggest that most of the objects possess standard optically thick, geometrically thin a…
The low-luminosity active galactic nuclei in NGC 3147, NGC 4203, and NGC 4579 have been imaged at four frequencies with the Very Long Baseline Array. The galaxies are unresolved at all frequencies, with size upper limits of $10^3-10^4$ times the Schwarzschild radii of their central massive black holes. The spectral indices between 1.7 and 5.0 GHz range from 0.2 to 0.4; one and possibly two of the galaxies show spectral turnovers between 5.0 and 8.4 GHz. The high brightness temperatures ($> 10^9$ K) and relatively straight spectra imply that free-free emission and/or absorption cannot account f…
We have recently shown that X-ray observations of the population of `low-excitation' radio galaxies, which includes most low-power, Fanaroff-Riley class I sources as well as some more powerful Fanaroff-Riley class II objects, are consistent with a model in which the active nuclei of these objects are not radiatively efficient at any waveband. In another recent paper Allen et al. have shown that Bondi accretion of the hot, X-ray emitting phase of the intergalactic medium (IGM) is sufficient to power the jets of several nearby, low-power radio galaxies at the centres of clusters. In this paper w…
In recent surveys of Radio-loud AGN, a new sub-class of objects, known as Weak-Line Radio Galaxies (WLRGs) has emerged. These radio galaxies have only weak, low-ionization optical emission lines. In the X-ray band, these objects are much fainter and have flatter spectra than broad-line and narrow-line radio galaxies. In these respects, WLRGs are reminiscent of Low Ionization Nuclear Emission Regions (LINERs). We have begun a multi-wavelength study of WLRGs to better understand their possible connection to LINERs and the structure of the accretion flow in both these systems. Here, we present ne…
Hardness-intensity diagrams (HIDs) have been used with great success to study the accretion states and their connection to radio jets in X-ray binaries (XRBs). The analogy between XRBs and active galactic nuclei (AGN) suggests that similar diagrams may help to understand and identify accretion states in AGN and their connection to radio loudness. We construct ``disc-fraction luminosity diagrams'' (DFLDs) as a generalization of HIDs, which plot the intensity against the fraction of the disc contribution in the overall spectral energy distribution (SED). Using a sample of 4963 Sloan Digital Sky …
We examine the X-ray - radio correlation in Galactic black hole sources. We highlight some of the results which extend the flux-flux relations to sources with very high accretion rates. Some of the recent results indicate that the synchrotron process is unlikely to be the mechanism responsible for the X-ray emission, particularly at high accretion rates. We present a truncated accretion disk scenario and argue that accretion rate and accretion disk geometry ultimately act as a driver of the X-ray - radio correlation. We stress the importance of wide-band X-ray spectral measurements to understa…
In the first of a series of three lectures we discuss ways of measuring the power available to feed the jets in powerful FR II radio sources. For unobscured radio-loud QSOs we present evidence that this power is directly related to the UV-optical luminosity, or probably more accurately, to the power radiated through processes of accretion in a strong gravitational potential. It has been suggested on theoretical grounds that powerful radio jets are a necessary component of the central engine. It then follows, from the similarity of the optical-UV power output, spectral energy distribution, and …
We have studied the accretion disk during the radio plateau state and the following superluminal relativistic radio jets and have provided a tight correlation between accretion disk and superluminal jet parameters. We find that accretion rate during the plateaux is very high and suggest that the accretion disk during the radio plateaux is always associated with radiation-driven wind. The internal shock forms in the previously generated slowly moving wind (during plateau) with $β$ $\le$ 0.01 as the fast moving discrete jet (usually at the end of plateau) with $β$ $\sim$ 1 catches up and interac…
We study a complete and distance-limited sample of 25 LINERs, 21 of which have been imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope to study their physical properties and to compare their radio and optical properties with those of other samples of local AGNs, namely Seyfert galaxies and low-luminosity radio galaxies (LLRG). Our results show that the LINERs population is not homogeneous, as there are two subclasses: i) the first class is similar to LLRG, as it extends the population of radio-loud nuclei to lower luminosities; ii) the second is similar to Seyferts, and extends the properties of radio-qui…
The structure of AGN accretion disks on sub-parsec scales can be probed through free-free absorption of synchrotron emission from the base of symmetric radio jets. We present new VLBA observations of the nearby FR-I radio galaxy NGC 4261 at 22 and 43 GHz, and combine these with previous VLBA observations at 1.6 and 8.4 GHz to map absorption caused by an inner accretion disk. Assuming the disk is geometrically and optically thin and composed of a uniform 10^4 K plasma, the average electron density in the inner 0.1 pc is 10^3 - 10^8 cm^-3. Equating thermal gas pressure and magnetic field strengt…
The radio emission from supermassive black holes in nearby early-type galaxies can be used to test possible explanations for their low luminosities. We calculate the expected contribution from thermal synchrotron emission from hot accretion flows to the high radio frequency observations of NGC 2300, NGC 1399, NGC 4278 and NGC 4594. We find that, in all cases, and in accordance with our previous findings, hot flows accreting close to their Bondi rates overestimate significantly the observed fluxes. This implies that simply assuming a low radiative efficiency for the accreting gas is not enough …
We explore the evolution in power of black holes of all masses, and their associated jets, within the scheme of an accretion rate-dependent state transition. Below a critical value of the accretion rate all systems are assumed to undergo a transition to a state where the dominant accretion mode is optically thin and radiatively inefficient. In these significantly sub-Eddington systems, the spectral energy distribution is predicted to be dominated by non-thermal emission from a relativistic jet whereas near-Eddington black holes will be dominated instead by emission from the accretion disk. Rea…
A high angular resolution study of the nucleus of the FR I galaxy IC4296 using Chandra ACIS-S and VLBA observations is presented, with the aim of studying the nature of the accretion process. Pointlike and hard X-ray emission is found, well described by a moderately absorbed power law of Gamma=1.48^{+0.42}_{-0.34}; no iron fluorescence line from cold material is detected. The 0.3-10 keV luminosity is 2.4\times 10^{41} erg/s, that is \sim 400 times lower than the accretion luminosity resulting from the estimated Bondi mass accretion rate and a radiative efficiency of 10%. On the parsec scale a …
A self-similar solution for the 3D axi-symmetric radiative MHD equations, which revisits the formation and acceleration of accretion-powered jets in AGNs and microquasars, is presented. The model relies primarily on electromagnetic extraction of rotational energy from the disk plasma and forming a geometrically thin super-Keplerian layer between the disk and the overlying corona. The outflowing plasma in this layer is dissipative, two-temperature, virial-hot, advective and electron-proton dominated. The innermost part of the disk in this model is turbulent-free, sub-Keplerian rotating and adve…
We present evidence for a broad, ionized Fe K line in the XMM-Newton spectrum of the broad-line radio galaxy (BLRG) 4C+74.26. This is the first indication that the innermost regions of the accretion flow in BLRGs contain thin, radiatively efficient disks. Analysis of the 35 ks XMM-Newton observation finds a broad line with an inner radius close to the innermost stable circular orbit for a maximally spinning black hole. The outer radius of the relativistic line is also found to be within 10 gravitational radii. The Fe K line profile gives an inclination angle of ~40 degrees, consistent with the…
We investigate how the total radio luminosity of AGN-powered radio sources depends on their accretion luminosity and the central black hole mass. Our studies cover about seven orders of magnitude in accretion luminosity and the full range of AGN black hole masses. We find that AGNs form two distinct and well separated sequences on the radio-loudness -- Eddington-ratio plane. The `upper' sequence is formed by radio selected AGNs, the `lower' sequence contains mainly optically selected objects. Whereas an apparent `gap' between the two sequences may be an artifact of selection effects, the seque…
According to a currently popular paradigm, nuclear activity in quasars is sustained via accretion of material onto super-massive black holes located at the quasar nuclei. A useful tracer of the gravitational field in the vicinity of such central black holes is available in the form of extremely dense gas clouds within the broad emission-line region (BLR) on the scale of $\sim 1~$parsec. Likewise, the radio sizes of the lobe-dominated radio sources are believed to provide a useful statistical indicator of their ages. Using two homogeneously observed (and processed) sets of lobe-dominated radio-…
We study the 37 brightest radio sources in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field (SXDF). We have spectroscopic redshifts for 24 of 37 objects and photometric redshifts for the remainder, yielding a median redshift z_med for the whole sample of z_med ~= 1.1 and a median radio luminosity close to the `FRI/FRII' luminosity divide. Using mid-IR (Spitzer MIPS 24 um) data we expect to trace nuclear accretion activity, even if it is obscured at optical wavelengths, unless the obscuring column is extreme. Our results suggest that above the FRI/FRII radio luminosity break most of the radio sources are assoc…
We present 6 cm Very Large Array observations of the Greene & Ho (2004) sample of 19 low-mass active galaxies with high accretion rates. This is one of the only studies of a uniform sample of narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies with such high sensitivity and resolution. Although we detect only one source, the entire sample is very radio-quiet down to strong limits. GH10 was found to have a radio power of 8.5 x 10^21 W/Hz, and a ratio R = f(6 cm)/f(4400 A) of 2.8. The 3 sigma upper limits for the remaining nondetections correspond to radio powers from 3 x 10^20 to 8 x 10^21 W/Hz and 0.47 < R …
We modeled the spectral energy distribution (SED) of high redshift radio quiet quasars (high-z RQQs). We computed spectra in a patchy corona geometry where an accretion disk extends to the last stable orbit and the Comptonizing active regions (hot clouds) are distributed above the disk. We explored the model parameter space to find theoretical parameters that give spectra with the optical/UV luminosity, the X-ray loudness, and the X-ray photon index compatible with those of high-z RQQs observed with Chandra. We found that a range of solutions is possible, from high-$kT_{\rm e}$ low-$τ$ to low-…
Two families of models are currently considered to describe an accretion flow onto black holes and production of the observed X-ray radiation: (1) a standard cold accretion disk with a hot corona above it and (2) an outer truncated accretion disk with a hot semispherical inner flow. We compute spectra in the scenario with a hot inner flow surrounded by a truncated accretion disk covered by a hot corona and test the results on a sample of high redshift (z > 4) quasars observed with Chandra. We find that in order to reproduce the ratio of optical to X-ray fluxes (the $α_{\rm ox}$ parameter), the…
The low frequency radio luminosity is believed to be an indicator of jet power, while the optical/UV emission is probably from accretion discs in the nuclei of steep-spectrum radio quasars. We present a correlation between the ratio of radio to optical luminosities and the continuum spectral index in blue/UV bands, which might indicate that the continuum shape in blue/UV bands is related to the ratio of jet to accretion power. The results may imply that the spectra and structure of accretion discs are probably affected by the interactions between jets and discs.
We present an evolutionary scenario for the spin-up and evolution of binary millisecond pulsars, according to which the companion of the pulsar PSR J 1740-5340, recently discovered as a binary with orbital period of 32.5 hr in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397, is presently in a phase of ``radio-ejection'' mass loss from the system. At present, Roche lobe overflow due to the nuclear evolution of the pulsar companion and to systemic angular momentum losses by magnetic braking is still going on, but accretion is inhibited by the momentum exerted by the radiation of the pulsar on the matter at the in…
We present results from Chandra and XMM-Newton spectroscopic observations of the nuclei of z<0.5 radio galaxies and quasars from the 3CRR catalog, and examine in detail the dichotomy in the properties of low- and high-excitation radio galaxies. The X-ray spectra of low-excitation sources (those with weak or absent optical emission lines) are dominated by unabsorbed emission from a parsec-scale jet, with no contribution from accretion-related emission. These sources show no evidence for an obscuring torus, and are likely to accrete in a radiatively inefficient manner. High-excitation sources (t…
Observations using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer have discovered dozens of accreting neutron stars with millisecond spin periods in low-mass binary star systems. Eighteen are millisecond X-ray pulsars powered by accretion or nuclear burning or both. These stars have magnetic fields strong enough for them to become millisecond rotation-powered (radio) pulsars when accretion ceases. Few, if any, accretion- or rotation-powered pulsars have spin rates higher than 750 Hz. There is strong evidence that the spin-up of some accreting neutron stars is limited by magnetic spin equilibrium whereas the …
We calculate the broadband radio--X-ray spectra predicted by microblazar and microquasar models for Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), exploring the possibility that their dominant power-law component is produced by a relativistic jet, even at near-Eddington mass accretion rates. We do this by first constructing a generalized disk--jet theoretical framework in which some fraction of the total accretion power Pa is efficiently removed from the accretion disk by a magnetic torque responsible for jet formation. Thus, for different black hole masses, mass accretion rates and magnetic coupling st…
A model is presented in which the strongest radio-emitting jet outflows are produced in black hole systems when the accretion is a geometrically thick ($H/R \sim 1$) inflow ({\it e.g.}, ADAF, CDAF) {\em and} if the black hole is rotating. For galactic black hole candidates, the model naturally accounts for the observed correlation of jet outflow with the black hole hard emission state and predicts an association of strong jets with rapid black hole rotation. When extended to the supermassive case, the model accounts for the highest radio galaxy and quasar jet powers and provides additional the…
Over the last few years X-ray observations of broad-line radio galaxies (BLRGs) by ASCA, RXTE and BeppoSAX have shown that these objects seem to exhibit weaker X-ray reflection features (such as the iron Kαline) than radio-quiet Seyferts. This has lead to speculation that the optically-thick accretion disc in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) may be truncated to an optically-thin flow in the inner regions of the source. Here, we propose that the weak reflection features are a result of reprocessing in an ionized accretion disc. This would alleviate the need for a change in accretion geom…
We present broad band power spectra of variations of SS433 in radio, optical and X-ray spectral bands. We show that at frequencies lower than 1e-5 Hz the source demonstrates the same variability pattern in all these bands. The broad band power spectrum can be fitted by one power law down to frequencies ~1e-7 Hz with flattening afterwards. Such a flattening means that on time scales longer than ~1e7 sec the source variability becomes uncorrelated. This naturally leads to the appearance of quasi-poissonian flares in the source light curve, which have been regularly observed in radio and optical …
We present two XMM-Newton observations of the luminous (L_x > 10^46 erg/s), radio-quiet quasar, PG 1407+265, separated by eleven months. The data indicate two distinct states: a highly variable, bright state (first epoch); and a quiescent, low-flux one (second epoch). During the low-flux state the spectrum is consistent with a single, unabsorbed power law. However, during the brighter state a highly variable, steep component is statistically required. Contemporaneous UV data from the Optical Monitor allow an estimate of the optical-to-X-ray spectral index (alpha_ox), which appears typical of r…
Simultaneous X-ray (BeppoSAX, 0.1-300 keV) and radio (Ryle Telescope, 15 GHz) observations of the superluminal galactic source GRS 1915+105 in high flux state were carried out starting October 1996. Here we present the simultaneous radio/X-ray light curves of the flare event and the spectral and timing analysis of the relevant BeppoSAX data. We obtain evidence for a temporary disappearance and subsequent restoring of the inner portion of the accretion disk during the flare from the spectral analysis of the X-ray data. We find a variable power law photon index positively correlated to the varia…
We present spectral results, from Chandra and XMM-Newton observations, of a sample of 22 low-redshift (z < 0.1) radio galaxies, and consider whether the core emission originates from the base of a relativistic jet, an accretion flow, or contains contributions from both. We find correlations between the unabsorbed X-ray, radio, and optical fluxes and luminosities of FRI-type radio-galaxy cores, implying a common origin in the form of a jet. On the other hand, we find that the X-ray spectra of FRII-type radio-galaxy cores is dominated by absorbed emission, with $N_{\rm H} > 10^{23}$ atoms cm$^{-…
Radio emission is a good indicator of the jet power of radio-loud quasars, while the emission in broad-line can well represent the accretion disc radiation in quasars. We compile a sample of all sources of which the broad-line fluxes are available from 1 Jy, S4 and S5 radio source catalogues. A correlation between radio and broad-line emission for this sample of radio-loud quasars is presented, which is in favour of a close link between the accretion processes and the relativistic jets. The BL Lac objects seem to follow the statistical behaviour of the quasars, but with fainter broad-line emis…
In this paper we investigate how the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) can aid in determining the evolutionary history of active galactic nuclei (AGN) from redshifts z= 0 ->6. Given the vast collecting area of the SKA, it will be sensitive to both `radio-loud' AGN and the much more abundant `radio-quiet' AGN, namely the radio-quiet quasars and their `Type-II' counterparts, out to the highest redshifts. Not only will the SKA detect these sources but it will also often be able to measure their redshifts via the Hydrogen 21 cm line in emission and/or absorption. We construct a complete radio luminosit…
