Related papers: The Transverse Proximity Effect in Spectral Hardne…
In galaxies, the flattening of the spectrum at low radio frequencies below 300 MHz has been the subject of some debate. A turnover at low frequencies could be caused by multiple physical processes, which can yield new insights into the…
Spectra observed with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) on the European Southern Observatory's VLT exhibit long-range wavelength distortions. These distortions impose a systematic error on high-precision measurements of…
We have observed a sample of 15 and 8 quasars with redshifts between 0.11 and 0.87 (mean value 0.38) in the J and K' bands respectively. Eleven of the quasars were previously known to be associated with extended emission line regions. After…
The HI Ly$\alpha$ (1215.67 $\unicode{xC5}$) emission line dominates the far-UV spectra of M dwarf stars, but strong absorption from neutral hydrogen in the interstellar medium makes observing Ly$\alpha$ challenging even for the closest…
We present the results of a search for variability in the equivalent widths (EWs) of narrow, associated (Delta v < 5,000 km/s) absorption lines found in the UV spectra of z < 1.5 quasars. The goal of this search was to use variability as a…
Geometrical optics provides an excellent description for quasar images crossing caustics which are formed by gravitational microlensing of objects like Q2237+0305. Within this approximation the source size can be estimated from the maximum…
The main purpose of this work is to improve the existing knowledge about the most powerful engines in the Universe - quasars. Although a lot is already known, we still have only a vague idea how these engines work exactly, why they behave…
Recent data from CREAM seem to confirm early suggestions that primary cosmic ray (CR) spectra at few TeV/nucleon are harder than in the 10-100 GeV range. Also, helium and heavier nuclei spectra appear systematically harder than the proton…
UBVR photometry of a sample of B3-VLA radio quasars, about 80 per cent complete, is used to analyse their spectral energy distribution (SED). The SEDs are generally well fitted with power-laws, with an average slope alpha=-0.39 (S_nu propto…
We examine the long-term evolution of the intra-hour variable quasar, J1819+3845, whose variations have been attributed to interstellar scintillation by extremely local turbulent plasma, located only 1-3pc from Earth. The variations in this…
Recent detections of high-redshift absorption by both atomic hydrogen and molecular gas in the radio spectra of quasars have provided a powerful tool to measure possible temporal and spatial variations of physical `constants' in the…
We have imaged 45 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with redshifts 1.85 < z < 4.26 in JHKs with the KPNO SQIID imager. By combining these data with optical magnitudes from the SDSS we have computed the restframe optical…
We present a comprehensive analysis of Chandra X-ray observations of 15 young radio quasars at redshifts $4.5 < z < 5.0$. All sources are detected in the $0.5-7.0$ keV energy band. Emission spectra are extracted, and the average photon…
Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are compact stellar objects with small or negligible astrophysical backgrounds, widely considered as promising targets to search for a signal from the dark matter decay and annihilation. We present constraints on…
We recently proposed the equivalent width (EW) of the narrow [OIII]5007{\AA} emission line as an orientation indicator for active galactic nuclei. We tested this method on about $12,300$ optically selected broad line quasars from the SDSS…
We present an investigation of the interdependence of the optical-to-X-ray spectral slope ($\alpha_{\rm ox}$), the HeII equivalent-width (EW), and the monochromatic luminosity at 2500 Angstroms ($L_{2500}$). The values of $\alpha_{\rm ox}$…
Deep observations have detected extended Ly$\alpha$ emission nebulae surrounding tens of quasars at redshift 2 to 6. However, the metallicity of such extended haloes is still poorly understood. We perform a detailed analysis on a large…
We make use of hydrodynamical simulations of the intergalactic medium (IGM) to create model quasar absorption spectra. We compare these model spectra with the observed Keck spectra of three z>6.2 quasars with full Gunn-Peterson troughs:…
Microlensing has proven an effective probe of the structure of the innermost regions of quasars, and an important test of accretion disk models. We present light curves of the lensed quasar HE 0435-1223 in the R band and in the ultraviolet,…
We present a comprehensive and sensitive unbiased survey of interstellar features in the near-UV range (3050-3700 {\AA}). We combined a large number of VLT/UVES archival observations of a sample of highly reddened early type stars --…