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A linear analysis based on two-fluid equations in the approximation of a cold plasma, wherein the plasma temperature is assumed to be zero, demonstrates that a two-stream instability occurs in all cases. However, if this were true, the drift motion of electrons in an electric current over a wire would become unstable, inducing an oscillation in an electric circuit with ions bounded around specific positions. To avoid this peculiar outcome, we must assume a warm plasma with a finite temperature when discussing the criterion of instability. The two-stream instability in warm plasmas has typically been analyzed using kinetic theory to provide a general formula for the instability criterion from the distribution function of the plasma. However, the criteria based on kinetic theory do not have an easily applicable form. Here, we provide an easily applicable criterion for the instability based on the two-fluid model at finite temperatures, extensionally in the framework of special relativity. This criterion is relevant for analyzing two-stream instabilities in low-density plasmas in the universe and in Earth-based experimental devices., 18pages, 4 figures, accepted for pubblication on PoP

An international consortium is presently constructing a beamformer for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile that will be available as a facility instrument. The beamformer will aggregate the entire collecting area of the array into a single, very large aperture. The extraordinary sensitivity of phased ALMA, combined with the extremely fine angular resolution available on baselines to the Northern Hemisphere, will enable transformational new very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations in Bands 6 and 7 (1.3 and 0.8 mm) and provide substantial improvements to existing VLBI arrays in Bands 1 and 3 (7 and 3 mm). The ALMA beamformer will have impact on a variety of scientific topics, including accretion and outflow processes around black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN), tests of general relativity near black holes, jet launch and collimation from AGN and microquasars, pulsar and magnetar emission processes, the chemical history of the universe and the evolution of fundamental constants across cosmic time, maser science, and astrometry., Comment: The science case for the ALMA beamformer is a living document with input from a broad cross-section of the astronomical community. We strongly welcome further comments and contributions

We study the origin of absorption features on the blue side of the C IV broad emission line of the large-separation lensed quasar SDSS J1029+2623 at z(em) similar to 2.197. The quasar images, produced by a foreground cluster of galaxies, have a maximum separation angle of theta similar to 22 ''.5. The large angular separation suggests that the sight lines to the quasar central source can go through different regions of outflowing winds from the accretion disk of the quasar, providing a unique opportunity to study the structure of outflows from the accretion disk, a key ingredient for the evolution of quasars as well as for galaxy formation and evolution. Based on medium- and high-resolution spectroscopy of the two brightest images conducted at the Subaru telescope, we find that each image has different intrinsic levels of absorptions, which can be attributed either to variability of absorption features over the time delay between the lensed images, Delta t similar to 744 days, or to the fine structure of quasar outflows probed by the multiple sight lines toward the quasar. While both these scenarios are consistent with the current data, we argue that they can be distinguished with additional spectroscopic monitoring observations., Article, ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL. 145(2):48 (2013)

Imaging the vicinity of a black hole is one of the ultimate goals of VLBI astronomy. The closest massive black hole, Sgr A*, located at the Galactic center, is the leading candidate for such observations. Combined with recent VLBI recording technique and submillimeter radio engineering, we now have sufficient sensitivity for the observations. Here we show performance simulations of submillimeter VLBI arrays for imaging Sgr A*. Good images are obtained from submillimeter VLBI arrays in the southern hemisphere composed of more than 10 stations. We also note that even with a small array, we can estimate the shadow size and then the mass of the black hole from visibility analysis. Now, all we need is to construct a submillimeter VLBI array in the southern hemisphere if we wish to unveil the black hole environment of Sgr A*. Key words: black hole, event horizon, Sgr A*, submillimeter, 9 pages, 5 figures

Equations of fully general relativistic radiation hydrodynamics around a rotating black hole are derived by using the Kerr-Schild coordinate where there is no coordinate singularity at the event horizon. Since the radiation interacts with matter moving with relativistic velocities near the event horizon, the interplay between the radiation and the matter should be described fully relativistically. In the formalism used in this study, while the interactions between matter and radiation are introduced in the comoving frame, the equations and the equations and the derivatives for the description of the global evolution of both matter and the radiation are given in the Kerr-Schild frame (KSF) which is a frame fixed to the coordinate describing the central black hole. As a frame fixed to the coordinate, we use the locally non-rotating reference frame (LNRF) representing a radially falling frame when the Kerr-Schild coordinate is used. Around the rotating black hole, both the matter and the radiation are affected by the frame-dragging effects., Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Equations of fully general relativistic radiation hydrodynamics in Kerr space-time are derived. While the interactions between matter and radiation are introduced in the comoving frame, the derivatives used when describing the global evolutions of both the matter and the radiation are given in the Boyer-Lindquist frame (BLF) which is a frame fixed to the coordinate describing the central black hole. Around a rotating black hole, both the matter and the radiation are influenced by the frame-dragging effects due to the black hole's rotation. As a fixed frame, we use the locally non-rotating reference frame (LNRF) which is one of the orthonormal frame. While the special relativistic effects such as beaming effects are introduced by the Lorentz transformation connecting the comoving frame and the LNRF, the general relativistic effects such as frame-dragging and gravitational redshift are introduced by the tetrads connecting the LNRF and the BLF., Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations are performed using the ZEUS-2D code to investigate the dynamics of a collapsar that generates a GRB jet, taking account of realistic equation of state, neutrino cooling and heating processes, magnetic fields, and gravitational force from the central black hole and self gravity. It is found that neutrino heating processes are not so efficient to launch a jet in this study. It is also found that a jet is launched mainly by B_\phi fields that are amplified by the winding-up effect. However, since the ratio of total energy relative to the rest mass energy in the jet is not so high as several hundred, we conclude that the jets seen in this study are not be a GRB jet. This result suggests that general relativistic effects, which are not included in this study, will be important to generate a GRB jet. Also, the accretion disk with magnetic fields may still play an important role to launch a GRB jet, although a simulation for much longer physical time (\sim 10-100 s) is required to confirm this effect. It is shown that considerable amount of 56Ni is synthesized in the accretion disk. Thus there will be a possibility for the accretion disk to supply sufficient amount of 56Ni required to explain the luminosity of a hypernova. Also, it is shown that neutron-rich matter due to electron captures with high entropy per baryon is ejected along the polar axis. Moreover, it is found that the electron fraction becomes larger than 0.5 around the polar axis near the black hole by \nu_e capture at the region. Thus there will be a possibility that r-process and r/p-process nucleosynthesis occur at these regions. Finally, much neutrons will be ejected from the jet, which suggests that signals from the neutron decays may be observed as the delayed bump of afterglow or gamma-rays., Comment: 54 pages with 19 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. High resolution version is available at http://www2.yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~nagataki/collapsar.pdf

We propose a method for measuring the black hole charge by imaging a black hole shadow in a galactic center by future interferometers. Even when the black hole is uncharged, it is possible to confirm the charge neutrality by this method. We first derive the analytic formulae of the black hole shadow in an optically thin medium around a charged spinning black hole, and then investigate how contours of the black hole shadow depend on the spin and the charge of the black hole for several inclination angles between the rotation axis of the black hole and the observer. This method only assumes stationary black hole and general relativity. By fitting the formula of the contours of the shadow to the observed image of the shadow, in addition to the black hole charge, one can also determine the black hole spin and the inclination angle without any degeneracy among the charge, the spin, and the inclination angle unless the inclination angle is null., Comment: Accepted version of the published paper, Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan 57, 273

According to the Carter-Israel conjecture, the end-state of the gravitational collapse of matter is a Kerr-Newman black hole. Nevertheless, neither the theory nor observations can confirm that. In this talk, we discuss the possibility that the collapsing matter can create a super-spinning compact object with no event horizon, and we show how near future observations at sub-millimeter wavelength of SgrA* can test this scenario for the black hole candidate in the Galactic Center., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the proceedings of "21th Rencontres de Blois: Windows on the Universe" (Blois, France, 21-27 June 2009)