Browsing by Author "Frye, B"

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    A Lyα-only active galactic nucleus from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
    (2004) Hall, PB; Hoversten, EA; Tremonti, CA; Vanden Berk, DE; Schneider, DP; Strauss, MA; Knapp, GR; York, DG; Hutsemékers, D; Newman, PR; Brinkmann, J; Frye, B; Fukugita, M; Glazebrook, K; Harvanek, M; Heckman, TM; Ivezic, Z; Kleinman, S; Krzesinski, J; Long, DC; Neilsen, E; Niederste-Ostholt, M; Nitta, A; Schlegel, DJ; Snedden, S
    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has discovered a z = 2.4917 radio-loud active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a luminous, variable, low-polarization UV continuum, H I two-photon emission, and a moderately broad Lyalpha line (FWHM similar or equal to 1430 km s(-1)) but without obvious metal-line emission. SDSS J113658.36+024220.1 does have associated metal-line absorption in three distinct, narrow systems spanning a velocity range of 2710 km s(-1). Despite certain spectral similarities, SDSS J1136+0242 is not a Lyman break galaxy. Instead, the Lyalpha and two-photon emission can be attributed to an extended, low-metallicity narrow-line region. The unpolarized continuum argues that we see SDSS J1136+0242 very close to the axis of any ionization cone present. We can conceive of two plausible explanations for why we see a strong UV continuum but no broad-line emission in this "face-on radio galaxy'' model for SDSS J1136+0242: the continuum could be relativistically beamed synchrotron emission that swamps the broad-line emission, or more likely, SDSS J1136+0242 could be similar to PG 1407+265, a quasar in which for some unknown reason the high-ionization emission lines are very broad, very weak, and highly blueshifted.
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    The nature of blue cores in spheroids
    (2005) Menanteau, F; Martel, AR; Tozzi, P; Frye, B; Ford, HC; Infante, L; Benítez, N; Galaz, G; Coe, D; Illingworth, GD; Hartig, GF; Clampin, M
    We investigate the physical nature of blue cores in early-type galaxies through the first multiwavelength analysis of a serendipitously discovered field blue-nucleated spheroid in the background of the deep Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC griz multicolor observations of the cluster A1689. The resolved g - r, r - i, and i - z color maps reveal a prominent blue core identifying this galaxy as a "typical'' case study, exhibiting variations of 0.5 - 1.0 mag in color between the center and the outer regions, opposite to the expectations of reddened metallicity- induced gradients in passively evolved elliptical galaxies. From a Magellan-Clay telescope spectrum we secure the galaxy redshift at z = 0.624. We find a strong X-ray source coincident with the spheroid galaxy. Spectral features and a high X-ray luminosity indicate the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the galaxy. However, a comparison of the X-ray luminosity to a sample derived from the Chandra Deep Field - South displays L-X to be comparable to type 1/QSO galaxies while the optical flux is consistent with a normal star-forming galaxy. We conclude that the galaxy's nonthermal component dominates at high-energy wavelengths, while we associate the spheroid blue light with the stellar spectrum of normal star-forming galaxies. We argue for a probable association between the presence of blue cores in spheroids and AGN activity.