Search

Our ongoing programmes taking very deep images of different types of BL Lac objects with the 2.5m Nordic Optical telescope on La Palma have continued more than two years. In many cases we have observations with sub-arcsecond seeing conditions and in some cases also with almost sub-half-arcsecond seeing. Some of the objects show extremely close companions. Preliminary results of these environments are discussed.

Results from a multiwaveband study of the γ-ray-bright compact radio source 3C 454.3 are presented.

We search for the presence of substructure, a non-Gaussian, asymmetrical velocity distribution of galaxies, and large peculiar velocities of the main galaxies in galaxy clusters with at least 50 member galaxies, drawn from the SDSS DR8. We employ a number of 3D, 2D, and 1D tests to analyse the distribution of galaxies in clusters: 3D normal mixture modelling, the Dressler-Shectman test, the Anderson-Darling and Shapiro-Wilk tests and others. We find the peculiar velocities of the main galaxies, and use principal component analysis to characterise our results. More than 80% of the clusters in our sample have substructure according to 3D normal mixture modelling, the Dressler-Shectman (DS) test shows substructure in about 70% of the clusters. The median value of the peculiar velocities of the main galaxies in clusters is 206 km/s (41% of the rms velocity). The velocities of galaxies in more than 20% of the clusters show significant non-Gaussianity. While multidimensional normal mixture modelling is more sensitive than the DS test in resolving substructure in the sky distribution of cluster galaxies, the DS test determines better substructure expressed as tails in the velocity distribution of galaxies. Richer, larger, and more luminous clusters have larger amount of substructure and larger (compared to the rms velocity) peculiar velocities of the main galaxies. Principal component analysis of both the substructure indicators and the physical parameters of clusters shows that galaxy clusters are complicated objects, the properties of which cannot be explained with a small number of parameters or delimited by one single test. The presence of substructure, the non-Gaussian velocity distributions, as well as the large peculiar velocities of the main galaxies, shows that most of the clusters in our sample are dynamically young., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, 2 online tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We study subhalo populations surrounding massive dark matter haloes by using three AMIGA simulations each having different mass and spatial resolutions. Our analysis shows that the slope of the subhalo mass function has a value 0.9, which agrees with previous studies. The dependence of mass functions on redshift is the same for subhaloes and main haloes. In all simulations, combined subhalo masses are about 0.1-0.2 of main halo masses and this mass fraction increases slightly with redshift and the mass of the main halo. The distribution of mass fractions for subhaloes is close to Gaussian at z = 0 and differs slightly at earlier epochs. Spatial distribution of subhaloes as measured in units of virial radius Rvir of the main halo does not depend on redshift and follows r1/3 rule. Spatial distribution of all haloes surrounding main haloes continues up to 3 times Rvir with equal slope but lower amplitude. Beyond 16 times Rvir, the average distribution of haloes becomes uniform.

We present the results of the optical and radio monitoring of the BL Lac object AO 0235+164 during a faint state. In both optical and radio bands the source has been observed at the faintest ever recorded levels, reaching V =1 9 :80 and F22GHz =0 :34 Jy. In the optical bands we still see variability with amplitudes up to 1.5 magnitudes on timescales from days to weeks. The radio variability is less dramatic, but in general follows the optical behaviour. A correlation between general trends in the optical and radio behaviour of AO 0235+164 may be recognized in the data from the present monitoring as well as in the historical light curves, suggesting a \base" mechanism re- sponsible for the emission at both frequencies. A good candidate is a synchrotron process in the relativistic jet. Optical flares with no corresponding radio counterparts have been observed too. These events may be interpreted in terms of microlensing by a foreground galaxy.

We present results from a two year intensive monitoring of BL Lac object 3C 66A (PKS 0219+428). This object was observed in outburst during these two years. It reached the brightest ever observed magnitude on V =13.59 (1.2.1995) and on K =10.59 (15.2.1994). The optical and infrared light curves are characterised by randomly distributed fast flares, lasting a few days and well defined outbursts lasting a week or two. On top of these flares we can occasionally see small amplitude microvariability. No clear correlation can be found between the spectral behaviour and the occurrence of these flares. In the radio bands 3C 66A was quite faint and very stable compared to the optical variations. The light curves will be presented with preliminary analysis and discussions on the possible causes for the observed variations.

Signatures of the processes in the early Universe are imprinted in the cosmic web. Some of them may define shell-like structures characterised by typical scales. We search for shell-like structures in the distribution of nearby rich clusters of galaxies drawn from the SDSS DR8. We calculate the distance distributions between rich clusters of galaxies, and groups and clusters of various richness, look for the maxima in the distance distributions, and select candidates of shell-like structures. We analyse the space distribution of groups and clusters forming shell walls. We find six possible candidates of shell-like structures, in which galaxy clusters have maxima in the distance distribution to other galaxy groups and clusters at the distance of about 120 Mpc/h. The rich galaxy cluster A1795, the central cluster of the Bootes supercluster, has the highest maximum in the distance distribution of other groups and clusters around them at the distance of about 120 Mpc/h among our rich cluster sample, and another maximum at the distance of about 240 Mpc/h. The structures of galaxy systems causing the maxima at 120 Mpc/h form an almost complete shell of galaxy groups, clusters and superclusters. The richest systems in the nearby universe, the Sloan Great Wall, the Corona Borealis supercluster and the Ursa Major supercluster are among them. The probability that we obtain maxima like this from random distributions is lower than 0.001. Our results confirm that shell-like structures can be found in the distribution of nearby galaxies and their systems. The radii of the possible shells are larger than expected for a BAO shell (approximately 109 Mpc/h versus approximately 120 Mpc/h), and they are determined by very rich galaxy clusters and superclusters with high density contrast while BAO shells are barely seen in the galaxy distribution. We discuss possible consequences of these differences., Comment: Comments: 9 pages, 10 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press