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Optically thick non-thermal synchrotron sources notably produce linear polarization vectors being parallel to projected magnetic field lines on the observer's screen, although they are perpendicular in well-known optically thin cases. To elucidate the complex relationship between the vectors and fields and to investigate the energy and spatial distribution of non-thermal electrons through the images, we perform polarization radiative transfer calculations at submillimeter wavelengths. Here the calculations are based on semi-analytic force-free jet models with non-thermal electrons with a power-law energy distribution. In calculated images, we find a $90^\circ$-flip of linear polarization (LP) vectors at the base of counter-side (receding) jet near a black hole, which occurs because of large optical depths for synchrotron self-absorption effect. The $90^\circ$-flip of LP vectors is also seen on the photon ring at a high frequency, since the optical depth along the rays is large there due to the light bending effect. In addition, we see the flip of the sign of circular polarization (CP) components on the counter jet and photon ring. Furthermore, we show that these polarization flips are synthesized with large values in the spectral index map, and also give rise to outstanding features in the Faraday Rotation Measure (RM) map. Since the conditions of flipping depend on the magnetic field strength and configuration and the energy distribution of electrons, we can expect that the polarization flips will provide us with an observational evidence for the presence of non-thermal electrons around the black hole, and a clue to the magnetically driving mechanism of plasma jets., Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ

We perform axisymmetric two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of super-Eddington accretion flow and outflow around black holes to examine the properties of radiation and outflow as functions of the black hole mass and the accretion rate onto the black hole ($\dot M_{\rm BH}$). We find that the $\dot{m}_{\rm BH} (\equiv \dot{M}_{\rm BH}c^2 /L_{\rm Edd})$ dependence of $L_{\rm rad}/L_{\rm Edd}$ and $L_{\rm mech}/L_{\rm Edd}$ found for stellar-mass black hole can apply to the high mass cases, where $L_{\rm rad}$ is the radiation luminosity, $L_{\rm mech}$ is the mechanical luminosity, $c$ is the speed of light, and $L_{\rm Edd}$ is the Eddington luminosity. Such universalities can appear in the regime, in which electron scattering opacity dominates over absorption opacity. Further, the normalized isotropic mechanical luminosity $L_{\rm mech}^{\rm ISO}/L_{\rm Edd}$ (evaluated by normalized density and velocity at $\theta=10^\circ$) exhibits a broken power-law relationship with ${\dot m}_{\rm BH}$; $L_{\rm mech}^{\rm ISO}/ L_{\rm Edd} \propto{\dot m}_{\rm BH}^{2.7}$ (or $\propto {\dot m}_{\rm BH}^{0.7}$) below (above) ${\dot m}_{\rm BH}\sim 400$. This is because the radial velocity stays nearly constant (or even decreases) below (above) the break with increase of $\dot m_{\rm BH}$. We also find that the luminosity ratio is $L_{\rm mech}/L_{\rm rad}^{\rm ISO} \sim$ 0.05 at ${\dot m}_{\rm BH} \sim 100$, which is roughly consistent with the observations of NLS1, 1H 0323+103., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2209.01427

The physical origins of quasar components, such as the broad line region (BLR) and dust torus, remain under debate. To gain insights into them, we focused on Changing-State Quasars (CSQs) which provide a unique perspective through structural changes associated with accretion disk state transitions. We targeted SDSS J125809.31+351943.0, an extremely variable CSQ, to study its central core structure and kinematics. We conducted reverberation mapping with optical spectroscopy to explore the structure of the BLR and estimate the black hole mass. The results from H$\beta$ reverberation mapping indicated a black hole mass of $10^{9.64^{+0.11}_{-0.20}}\rm{M_\odot}$. Additionally, we analyzed variations in the optical to X-ray spectral indices, $\alpha_{\rm{ox}}$, before and after the state transition, to investigate the accretion disk. These variations in $\alpha_{\rm{ox}}$ and the Eddington ratio (from 0.4 \% to 2.4 \%) exhibitied behavior similar to state transitions observed in X-ray binary systems. Spectral analysis of H$\beta$ revealed a predominantly double-peaked profile during dim periods, transitioning to include a single-peaked component as the quasar brightened, suggesting that H$\beta$ contains a mixture of two components. Each of these components has its distinct characteristics: the first is a double-peaked profile that remains stable despite changes in the accretion rate, while the second is a variable single-peaked profile. Using time lags from reverberation mapping, we estimated the spatial relationships between these BLR components, the accretion disk, and the dust torus. Our results suggest that the BLR consists of two distinct components, each differing in location and origin., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Comments are welcome

Young massive clusters (YMCs) are the most massive star clusters forming in nearby galaxies and are thought to be a young analogue to the globular clusters. Understanding the formation process of YMCs leads to looking into very efficient star formation in high-redshift galaxies suggested by recent JWST observations. We investigate possible observational signatures of their formation stage, particularly when the mass of a cluster is increasing via accretion from a natal molecular cloud. To this end, we study the broad-band continuum emission from ionized gas and dust enshrouding YMCs, whose formation is followed by recent radiation-hydrodynamics simulations. We perform post-process radiative transfer calculations using simulation snapshots and find characteristic spectral features at radio and far-infrared frequencies. We show that a striking feature is long-lasting, strong free-free emission from a $\sim$ 10pc-scale HII region with a large emission measure of $\gtrsim 10^7 \mathrm{cm}^{-6} \ \mathrm{pc}$, corresponding to the mean electron density of $\gtrsim 10^3~\mathrm{cm}^{-3}$. There is a turnover feature below $\sim$ 10 GHz, a signature of the optically-thick free-free emission, often found in Galactic ultra-compact HII regions. These features come from the peculiar YMC formation process, where the cluster's gravity effectively traps photoionized gas for a long duration and enables continuous star formation within the cluster. Such large and dense HII regions show distinct distribution on the density-size diagram, apart from the standard sequence of Galactic HII regions. This is consistent with the observational trend inferred for extragalactic HII regions associated with YMCs., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The soft X-ray excess in the spectra of active galactic nuclei is characterized by similar electron temperatures of 0.1 -- 0.3 keV and similar photon indices around 2.2 -- 3, if fitted with inverse Comptonization. It remains a puzzle why both values are not sensitive to the black hole mass nor accretion rate. Supposing that the scattering-dominated surface layer of an accretion disk can act as a warm corona, we construct a vertically one-zone model to understand what determines its temperature By solving the equations of (1) the condition for the effective optical depth, (2) the energy balance, and (3) dominance of the Compton cooling over the bound-free cooling, we could reproduce the basic observational features of the soft excess, provided that anomalous heating (excess heating other than what is expected by local energy dissipation) takes place in the warm corona. The similar temperatures can be understood, since both of the anomalous heating and Compton cooling rates are proportional to the dissipation rate of the accretion energy, while similar photon indices are a natural consequence of the fact that observed photons are finally emitted from the layer of Compton $y\sim 1$. The soft excess is not observed in black hole binaries, since disk temperatures are too high for the Compton scattering to work as cooling. The derived temperatures are somewhat underestimation, however. This may indicate a necessity of multi-zone corona structure. The stability of the warm corona and its consequences are briefly discussed., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, revised version

Here, we demonstrate that polarization properties show a wide diversity depending on viewing angles. To simulate images of a supermassive black hole and surrounding plasma, we performed a full-polarimetric general relativistic radiative transfer based on three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics models with moderate magnetic strengths. Under an assumption of a hot-jet and cold-disk in the electron temperature prescription, we confirmed a typical scenario where polarized synchrotron emissions from the funnel jet experience Faraday rotation and conversion in the equatorial disk. Further, we found that linear polarization vectors are inevitably depolarized for edge-on-like observers, whereas a portion of vectors survive and reach the observers in face-on-like cases. We also found that circular polarization components have persistent signs in the face-on cases, and changing signs in the edge-on cases. It is confirmed that these features are smoothly connected via intermediate viewing-angle cases. These results are due to Faraday rotation/conversion for different viewing angles, and suggest that a combination of linear and circular polarimetry can give a constraint on the inclination between the observer and black hole's (and/or disk's) rotating-axis and plasma properties in the jet--disk structure. These can also lead to a more statistical and unified interpretation for a diversity of emissions from active galactic nuclei., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Contribution to the Galaxies Special Issue "Challenges in Understanding Black Hole Powered Jets with VLBI". Movie available at https://youtu.be/065qAx6Tff0

In order to precisely evaluate the impacts by super-Eddington accretors to their environments, it is essential to assure a large enough simulation box and long computational time to avoid any artefacts from numerical settings as much as possible. In this paper, we carry out axisymmetric two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations around a $10~M_\odot$ black hole in large simulation boxes and study the large-scale outflow structure and radiation properties of super-Eddington accretion flow for a variety of black hole accretion rates, ${\dot M}_{\rm BH} = (110 - 380) ~L_{\rm Edd}/c^2$. The Keplerian radius of the inflow material, at which centrifugal force balances with gravitational force, is fixed to 2430 Schwarzschild radii.We find that the mechanical luminosity grows more rapidly than the radiation luminosity with an increase of ${\dot M}_{\rm BH}$. When seen from a nearly face-on direction, especially, the isotropic mechanical luminosity grows in proportion to ${\dot M}_{\rm BH}^{2.7}$, while the total mechanical luminosity is proportional to ${\dot M}_{\rm BH}^{1.7}$. The reason for the former is that the higher ${\dot M}_{\rm BH}$ is, the more vertically inflated becomes the disk surface, which makes radiation fields more confined in the region around the rotation axis, thereby strongly accelerating outflowing gas. The outflow is classified into pure outflow and failed outflow, depending whether outflowing gas can reach the outer boundary of the simulation box or not. The fraction of the failed outflow decreases with a decrease of ${\dot M}_{\rm BH}$. We analyze physical quantities along each outflow trajectory, finding that the Bernoulli parameter ($Be$) is not a good indicator to discriminate pure and failed outflows, since it is never constant because of continuous acceleration by radiation-pressure force.Pure outflow can arise, even if $Be < 0$ at the launching point., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

It is one of the biggest issues in black hole (BH) astrophysics how to precisely evaluate BH feedback to its environments. Aiming at studying the unique gas dynamics of super-Eddington flow around supermassive black hole (SMBH) seeds at high redshift, we carried out axisymmetric two dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations by a nested simulation-box method. Here we divide the simulation box into the inner zone at $(2 - 3 \times 10^3) r_{\rm{Sch}}$ (with $r_{\rm Sch}$ being the Schwarzschild radius) and the outer zone at $(2\times 10^{3} - 3\times 10^6) r_{\rm{Sch}}$, with smooth connection of the physical quantities, such as gas density, velocity, and radiation energy. We start the calculation by injecting mass through the outer boundary of the inner zone at a constant rate of $\dot{M}_{\rm{inj}}=10^3L_{\rm{Edd}}/c^2$, where $L_{\rm{Edd}}$ is the Eddington luminosity and $c$ is the speed of light. A powerful outflow is generated in the innermost region and it propagates from the inner zone to the outer zone. The outflows are characterized by a velocity of 0.02$c$ (0.7$c$) and density of $10^{-17}$ ($10^{-19}$) g cm$^{-3}$ for near the edge-on (face-on) direction. The outflow is gradually accelerated as it travels by accepting radiation-pressure force. The final mass outflow rate at the outermost boundary is $\dot{M}_{\rm{out}}\sim 0.3 \times \dot{M}_{\rm{inj}}$. By extrapolating the outflow structure to a further larger scale, we find that the momentum and energy fluxes at $r \sim 0.1$ pc are $\sim 10-100 L_{\rm{Edd}}/c $ and $\sim 0.1-10 L_{\rm{Edd}}$, respectively. Moreover, we find that the impacts are highly anisotropic in the sense that larger impacts are given towards the face-on direction than in the edge-on direction. These results indicate that the BH feedback will more efficiently work on the interstellar medium than that assumed in the cosmological simulations., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, published online in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan

For testing different electron temperature ($T_{\rm e}$) prescriptions in general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) simulations through observations, we propose to utilize linear polarization (LP) and circular polarization (CP) images. We calculate the polarization images based on a semi-Magnetically Arrested Disk (MAD) GRMHD model for various $T_{\rm e}$ parameters, bearing M87 in mind. We find an LP-CP separation in the images of the low-$T_{\rm e}$ disk cases at 230 GHz; namely, the LP flux mainly originates from downstream of the jet and the CP flux comes from the counter-side jet, while the total intensity is maximum at the jet base. This can be understood as follows: although the LP flux is generated through synchrotron emission widely around the black hole, most of the LP flux from the jet base does not reach the observer, since it undergoes Faraday rotation ($\propto T_{\rm e}^{-2}$) when passing through the outer cold disk and is thus depolarized. Hence, only the LP flux from the downstream (not passing the cold dense plasmas) can survive. Meanwhile, the CP flux is generated from the LP flux by Faraday conversion ($\propto T_{\rm e}$) in the inner hot region. Stronger CP flux is thus observed from the counter-side jet. Moreover, the LP-CP separation is more enhanced at a lower frequency such as 86 GHz but is rather weak at 43 GHz, since the media in the latter case is optically thick for synchrotron self-absorption so that all the fluxes should come from the photosphere. The same is true for cases with higher mass accretion rates and/or larger inclination angles., Comment: 30 pages, 31 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

It is widely believed that super-Eddington accretion flow can produce powerful outflow, but where it originates from and how much mass and energy are carried away to which directions? To answer to these questions, we newly perform a large-box, two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulation, paying special attention lest the results should depend on adopted initial and boundary conditions. We could achieve a quasi-steady state in an unprecedentedly large range, $r=2~r_{\rm S}$-$600~r_{\rm S}$ (with $r_{\rm S}$ being the Schwarzschild radius) from the black hole. The accretion rate onto the central $10 ~M_{\odot}$ black hole is $\dot{M}_{\rm BH} \sim 180 ~L_{\rm Edd}/c^{2}$, whereas the mass outflow rate is ${\dot M}_{\rm outflow} \sim 24 ~L_{\rm Edd}/c^2$ (where $L_{\rm Edd}$ and $c$ are the Eddington luminosity and the speed of light, respectively). The ratio (${\dot M}_{\rm outflow}/{\dot M}_{\rm BH} \sim 0.14$) is much less than those reported previously. By careful inspection we find that most of outflowing gas which reach the outer boundary originates from the region at $R\lesssim140~r_{\rm S}$, while gas at $140~r_{\rm S}$-$230 ~r_{\rm S}$ forms failed outflow. Therefore, significant outflow occurs inside the trapping radius $\sim 450 ~r_{\rm S}$. The mechanical energy flux (or mass flux) reaches its maximum in the direction of $\sim 15^\circ$ ($\sim 80^\circ$) from the rotation axis. The total mechanical luminosity is $L_{\rm mec}\sim 0.16~L_{\rm Edd}$, while the isotropic X-ray luminosity varies from $L_{\rm X}^{\rm ISO}\sim 2.9~L_{\rm Edd}$, (for a face-on observer) to $\sim 2.1~L_{\rm Edd}$ (for a nearly edge-on observer). The power ratio is $L_{\rm mec}/L_{\rm X}^{\rm ISO}\sim 0.05$-$0.08$, in good agreement with the observations of Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources surrounded by optical nebulae., Comment: 17pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ on January 20, 2021

Existence of relatively cool ($k_B T \lesssim 10~{\rm keV}$) and optically thick ($\tau \gtrsim 3$) coronae are inferred above super-Eddington accretion flow such as ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), GRS 1915+105, and narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1), which contrasts the cases in sub-Eddington accretion flows, which are associated with coronae with $k_B T \sim 100~{\rm keV}$ and $\tau \sim 1$. To understand their physical origin, we investigate the emission properties of the corona which is formed by the gas blown off the super-Eddington inner disk by radiation pressure. We assume that the corona is heated by the reconnection of magnetic loops emerged from the underlying disk. We show that this radiation pressure driven wind can act as an optically thick corona which upscatters thermal soft photons from the underlying disk, and that with a reasonable parameter set we can theoretically reproduce the coronal optical depth and temperature which are inferred by spectral fittings of observational data. By contrast, the coronal optical depth cannot be so high in sub-Eddington cases, since the coronal material is supplied from the disk via evaporation and there is a maximum limit on the evaporation rate. We support that the low temperature, optically thick Comptonization should be a key signature of super-Eddington accretion flow., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan

With unprecedented angular resolution, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has opened a new era of black holes. We have previously calculated the expected polarization images of M87* with the EHT observations in mind. There, we demonstrated that circular polarization (CP) images, as well as the linear polarization (LP) maps, can convey quite useful information to us, such as the flow structure and magnetic field configuration around the black hole. In this paper, we make new predictions for the cases in which disk emission dominates over jet emission, bearing Sgr A* in mind. Here we set the proton-to-electron temperature ratio of the disk component to be Tp/Te $\sim$ 2 so as to suppress jet emission relative to emission from accretion flow. As a result, we obtain ring-like images and triple-forked images around the black hole for face-on and edge-on cases, respectively. We also find significant CP components in the images ($\gtrsim 10\%$ in fraction), both with positive and negative signs, amplified through the Faraday conversion, not sensitively depending on the inclination angles. Furthermore, we find a "separatrix" in the CP images, across which the sign of CP is reversed and on which the LP flux is brightest, that can be attributed to the helical magnetic field structure in the disk. These results indicate that future full polarization EHT images are a quite useful tracer of the magnetic field structure. We also discuss to what extent we will be able to extract information regarding the magnetic field configurations, under the scattering in the interstellar plasma, in future EHT polarimetric observations of Sgr A*., Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, and 1 table. Accepted for publication in PASJ

The star formation in molecular clouds is inefficient. The ionizing EUV radiation ($h \nu \geq 13.6$ eV) from young clusters has been considered as a primary feedback effect to limit the star formation efficiency (SFE). We here focus on effects of the stellar FUV radiation (6 eV $\leq h \nu \leq$ 13.6 eV) during the cloud disruption stage. The FUV radiation may further reduce the SFE via photoelectric heating, and it also affects the chemical states of the gas that is not converted to stars ("cloud remnants") via photodissociation of molecules. We have developed a one-dimensional semi-analytic model which follows the evolution of both the thermal and chemical structure of a photodissociation region (PDR) during the dynamical expansion of an HII region. We investigate how the FUV feedback limits the SFE, supposing that the star formation is quenched in the PDR where the temperature is above a threshold value (e.g., 100K). Our model predicts that the FUV feedback contributes to reduce the SFEs for the massive ($M_{\rm cl} \gtrsim 10^5 M_{\odot}$) clouds with the low surface densities ($\Sigma_{\rm cl} \lesssim 100$ M$_{\odot}$pc$^{-2}$). Moreover, we show that a large part of the H$_2$ molecular gas contained in the cloud remnants should be "CO-dark" under the FUV feedback for a wide range of cloud properties. Therefore, the dispersed molecular clouds are potential factories of the CO-dark gas, which returns into the cycle of the interstellar medium., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, published in MNRAS

We perform two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical simulations of accretion flows onto black holes (BHs) at the nuclei of protogalaxies, and study the impact of mechanical and radiative feedback on rapid growth of BHs. The outflows deposit mass, momentum and energy into the surrounding medium and prevent mass accretion onto the BH, resulting in the reduction of radiative output. We find that when the BH is embedded in a dense gas core, ionizing radiation attenuated by inefficient BH feeding owing to mechanical feedback hardly affects the gas dynamics at the BH gravitational sphere of influence, from which intense inflows of neutral gas occur at rates substantially exceeding the Eddington limit without impeded by photoionization and heating. Since mechanical power of outflows driven by the rapidly accreting BH is sufficiently strong, bipolar outflows completely evacuate the surrounding gas in the polar region but mass inflows through the equatorial region maintain the BH accretion rate as high as $\sim 300-10^3~\dot{M}_{\rm Edd}$, which is reduced by one order of magnitude from those with radiative feedback alone. Furthermore, we find that the critical gas density required for rapid accretion is lower by a factor of $\sim 3$ nearly independently of BH mass, when mechanical feedback is considered. By studying the dependence on outflow model parameters (e.g., opening angle, mass-loading degree into outflows, velocity), we conclude that contrary to naive expectation, the existence of stronger outflow leads to the transition to rapid accretion phases more efficiently. Rapidly growing BHs inject mechanical power with $\sim 0.1-1\%$ of the radiative luminosity into their host galaxy scales, which is used for cosmological simulations., Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, submitted to MNRAS

The spectacular images of the M87 black hole taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) have opened a new era of black hole research. One of the next issues is to take polarization images around the central black hole (BH). Since radio emission is produced by synchrotron process, polarization properties should vividly reflect the magnetic field structure at the jet base and thus provide good information regarding the magnetic mechanism of jet formation. With this kept in mind we perform general relativistic (GR) radiative transfer calculations of polarized light based on the GR magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation data of accretion flow and outflow in M87, to obtain their linear and circular polarization images in the horizon-scale. We found that the linear polarization components from the jet base and inner accretion flow should experience Faraday rotation when passing through magnetized plasmas around the BH, thus sensitively depending on the BH spin. Through the comparison with intensity image at 1.3mm by EHT and the polarized degree and the rotation measure (RM) at 1.3mm with the Submillimeter Array, the model with the spin parameter of a=0.9M_BH (with M_BH being the BH mass) is favored over other models with a=0.5M_BH or 0.99M_BH, though we need further systematic studies for confirmation. We also find in low-temperature models clear ring-like image in the circular polarization map, which arises because of Faraday conversion of the linearly polarized synchrotron emission and is thus indicative of magnetic field. This occurs only when the emission region is threaded with well-ordered magnetic fields and hence no clear images are expected in high-temperature disk models, in which disk emission is appreciable. We will be able to elucidate the field configuration through the comparison between the simulated polarization images and future polarimetry with EHT and other VLBI observations., Comment: Final version. 18 pages, 14 figures, 1 table. Accepted by PASJ

IW And stars are a subgroup of dwarf novae characterized by repetitive light variations of the intermediate-brightness state with oscillations, which is terminated by brightening. This group of dwarf novae is also known to exhibit a wide variety even within one system in long-term light curves including usual dwarf-nova outbursts, Z Cam-type standstills, and so on, besides the typical IW And-type variations mentioned above. Following the recent observations suggesting that some IW And stars seem to have tilted disks, we have investigated how the thermal-viscous instability works in tilted accretion disks in dwarf novae and whether it could reproduce the essential features of the light curves in IW And stars. By adopting various simplifying assumptions for tilted disks, we have performed time-dependent one-dimensional numerical simulations of a viscous disk by taking into account various mass supply patterns to the disk; that is, the gas stream from the secondary star flows not only to the outer edge of the disk but also to the inner portions of the disk. We find that tilted disks can achieve a new kind of accretion cycle, in which the inner disk almost always stays in the hot state while the outer disk repeats outbursts, thereby reproducing alternating mid-brightness interval sometimes with dips and brightening, which are quite reminiscent of the most characteristic observational light variations of IW And stars. Further, we have found that our simulations produce diverse light variations, depending on different mass supply patterns even without time variations in mass transfer rates. This could explain the wide variety in long-term light curves of IW And stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in PASJ. 21 pages, 18 figures, and 1 table

The black hole spacetime is described by general relativity and characterized by two quantities: the black hole mass and spin. Black hole spin measurement requires information from the vicinity of the event horizon, which is spatially resolved for the Galactic center SagittariusA* (SgrA*) and nearby radio galaxy M87 by means of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). In this paper, we simulate EHT observations for a gas cloud intermittently falling onto a black hole, and construct a method for spin measurement based on its relativistic flux variation. The light curve of the infalling gas cloud is composed of peaks formed by photons which directly reach a distant observer and by secondary ones reaching the observer after more than one rotation around the black hole. The time interval between the peaks is determined by a period of photon rotation near the photon circular orbit which uniquely depends on the spin. We perform synthetic EHT observations for SgrA* under a more realistic situation that a number of gas clouds intermittently fall towards the black hole with various initial parameters. Even for this case, the black hole spin dependence is detectable in correlated flux densities which are accurately calibrated by baselines between sites with redundant stations. The synthetic observations indicate that our methodology can be applied to EHT observations of Sgr A* since April 2017., Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted in ApJ

We investigate the properties of accretion flows onto a black hole (BH) with a mass of $M_{\rm BH}$ embedded in an initially uniform gas cloud with a density of $n_{\infty}$ in order to study rapid growth of BHs in the early Universe. In previous work, the conditions for super-Eddington accretion from outside the Bondi radius were studied by assuming that radiation produced at the vicinity of the central BH has a single-power-law spectrum $\nu^{-\alpha}$ at $h\nu \geq 13.6~{\rm eV}$ ($\alpha \sim 1.5$). However, radiation spectra depends on the BH mass and accretion rate. Here, we perform two-dimensional multi-frequency radiation hydrodynamical simulations taking into account more realistic radiation spectra associated with the properties of nuclear accretion disks. We find that the condition for a transition to super-Eddington accretion is alleviated for a wide range of masses ($10\lesssim M_{\rm BH}/M_{\odot} \lesssim 10^6$) because photoionization for accretion disk spectra are less efficient than those for single-power-law spectra. For disk spectra, the transition to super-Eddington is more likely to occur for lower BH masses because the radiation spectra become too hard to ionize the gas. Even when accretion flows are exposed to anisotropic radiation, the effect due to radiation spectra shrinks the ionized region and likely leads to the transition to a wholly neutral accretion phase. Finally, by generalizing our simulation results, we construct a new analytical criterion required for super-Eddington accretion; $(M_{\rm BH}/10^5~M_{\odot}) (n_{\infty}/10^4~{\rm cm^{-3}}) \gtrsim 2.4~ (\langle\epsilon\rangle /100~{\rm eV})^{-5/9}$, where $\langle\epsilon\rangle$ is the mean energy of ionizing radiation from the central BH., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, accepted by MNRAS

We present the results from the Hitomi Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) observation of the Crab nebula. The main part of SGD is a Compton camera, which in addition to being a spectrometer, is capable of measuring polarization of gamma-ray photons. The Crab nebula is one of the brightest X-ray / gamma-ray sources on the sky, and, the only source from which polarized X-ray photons have been detected. SGD observed the Crab nebula during the initial test observation phase of Hitomi. We performed the data analysis of the SGD observation, the SGD background estimation and the SGD Monte Carlo simulations, and, successfully detected polarized gamma-ray emission from the Crab nebula with only about 5 ks exposure time. The obtained polarization fraction of the phase-integrated Crab emission (sum of pulsar and nebula emissions) is (22.1 $\pm$ 10.6)% and, the polarization angle is 110.7$^o$ + 13.2 / $-$13.0$^o$ in the energy range of 60--160 keV (The errors correspond to the 1 sigma deviation). The confidence level of the polarization detection was 99.3%. The polarization angle measured by SGD is about one sigma deviation with the projected spin axis of the pulsar, 124.0$^o$ $\pm$0.1$^o$., Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in PASJ

To what extent can the one-dimensional slim disk model reproduce the multi-dimensional results of global radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of super-Eddington accretion? With this question in mind, we perform systematic simulation study of accretion flow onto a non-spinning black hole for a variety of black hole masses of $(10 - 10^7) M_{\odot}$ and mass accretion rates of $(1.4 \times 10^2 - 5.6 \times 10^3)L_{\rm Edd}/c^2$ (with $L_{\rm Edd}$ and $c$ being the Eddington luminosity and speed of light). In order to adequately resolve large-scale outflow structure, we extensively expand a simulation box to cover the space of $3000 r_{\rm S}$ (with $r_{\rm S}$ being the Schwarzschild radius), larger than those in most previous studies, so that we can put relatively large angular momentum to the gas injected from the outer simulation boundary. The adopted Keplerian radius, at which the centrifugal force balances with the gravitational force, is $r_{\rm K}=300 r_{\rm S}$. The injected mass first falls and is accumulated at around this radius and then slowly accretes towards the central black hole via viscosity. We simulate such accretion processes, taking inverse and bulk Compton scattering into account. The simulated accretion flow is in a quasi-steady state inside $r_{\rm qss}\sim 200 r_{\rm S}$. Within this radius the flow properties are, as a whole, in good agreement with those described by the slim disk model except that the radial density profile of the underlying disk is much flatter, $\rho\propto r^{-0.73}$ (cf. $\rho\propto r^{-3/2}$ in the slim disk model), due probably to efficient convection. We find very weak outflow from inside $r\sim 200 r_{\rm S}$ unlike the past studies., Comment: 15pages, 10figures, 2tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

Many Seyfert galaxies are known to exhibit Fe-K broad emission line features in their X-ray energy spectra. The observed lines have three distinct features; (1) the line profiles are skewed and show significant low-energy tails, (2) the Fe-K band have low variability, which produces a broad and deep dip in the root-mean-square (rms) spectra, and (3) photons in this band have time lags behind those in the adjacent energy bands with amplitudes of several $R_g/c$, where $R_g$ is the gravitational radius. The "relativistic light bending model" is proposed to explain these observed features, where a compact X-ray source (lamp post) above an extreme Kerr black hole illuminates the innermost area of the accretion disc. In this paper, we critically examine the relativistic light bending model by computing the rms spectra and the lag features using a ray-tracing technique, when a lamp post moves vertically on the black hole spin axis. As a result, we found that the observed deep rms dip requires that the iron is extremely overabundant ($\gtrsim10$ solar), whereas the observed lag amplitude is consistent with the normal iron abundance. Furthermore, disappearance of the lag in the high-flux state requires a source height as high as $\sim40\,R_g$, which contradicts the relativistically broad emission line feature. Our simulations agree with the data that the reverberation feature moves to lower frequencies with larger source height, however, if this scenario is correct, the simulations predict detection of a clear Fe-K lag at low frequencies, which is not constrained in the data. Therefore, we conclude that the relativistic light bending model may not explain the characteristic Fe-K spectral variations in Seyfert galaxies., Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, accepted by PASJ

We present results from the Hitomi X-ray observation of a young composite-type supernova remnant (SNR) G21.5$-$0.9, whose emission is dominated by the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) contribution. The X-ray spectra in the 0.8-80 keV range obtained with the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS), Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) and Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) show a significant break in the continuum as previously found with the NuSTAR observation. After taking into account all known emissions from the SNR other than the PWN itself, we find that the Hitomi spectra can be fitted with a broken power law with photon indices of $\Gamma_1=1.74\pm0.02$ and $\Gamma_2=2.14\pm0.01$ below and above the break at $7.1\pm0.3$ keV, which is significantly lower than the NuSTAR result ($\sim9.0$ keV). The spectral break cannot be reproduced by time-dependent particle injection one-zone spectral energy distribution models, which strongly indicates that a more complex emission model is needed, as suggested by recent theoretical models. We also search for narrow emission or absorption lines with the SXS, and perform a timing analysis of PSR J1833$-$1034 with the HXI and SGD. No significant pulsation is found from the pulsar. However, unexpectedly, narrow absorption line features are detected in the SXS data at 4.2345 keV and 9.296 keV with a significance of 3.65 $\sigma$. While the origin of these features is not understood, their mere detection opens up a new field of research and was only possible with the high resolution, sensitivity and ability to measure extended sources provided by an X-ray microcalorimeter., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in PASJ

We perform global three-dimensional (3D) radiation-hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of out- flow from supercritical accretion flow around a 10 Msun black hole. We only solve the outflow part, starting from the axisymmetric 2D simulation data in a nearly steady state but with small perturbations in a sinusoidal form being added in the azimuthal direction. The mass accretion rate onto the black hole is ~10^2 L_E/c^2 in the underlying 2D simulation data and the outflow rate is ~10 L_E/c^2 (with LE and c being the Eddington luminosity and speed of light, respectively). We first confirm the emergence of clumpy outflow, which was discovered by the 2D RHD simulations, above the photosphere located at a few hundreds of Schwarzschild radii (r_S) from the central black hole. As prominent 3D features we find that the clumps have the shape of a torn sheet, rather than a cut string, and that they are rotating around the central black hole with a sub-Keplerian velocity at a distance of ~10^3 r_S from the center. The typical clump size is ~30 r_S or less in the radial direction, and is more elongated in the angular directions, ~hundreds of r_S at most. The sheet separation ranges from 50 to 150 r_S. We expect stochastic time variations when clumps pass across the line of the sight of a distant observer. Variation timescales are estimated to be several seconds for a black hole with mass of ten to several tens of Msun, in rough agreement with the observations of some ultra-luminous X-ray sources., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

The present paper investigates the temperature structure of the X-ray emitting plasma in the core of the Perseus cluster using the 1.8--20.0 keV data obtained with the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard the Hitomi Observatory. A series of four observations were carried out, with a total effective exposure time of 338 ks and covering a central region $\sim7'$ in diameter. The SXS was operated with an energy resolution of $\sim$5 eV (full width at half maximum) at 5.9 keV. Not only fine structures of K-shell lines in He-like ions but also transitions from higher principal quantum numbers are clearly resolved from Si through Fe. This enables us to perform temperature diagnostics using the line ratios of Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe, and to provide the first direct measurement of the excitation temperature and ionization temperature in the Perseus cluster. The observed spectrum is roughly reproduced by a single temperature thermal plasma model in collisional ionization equilibrium, but detailed line ratio diagnostics reveal slight deviations from this approximation. In particular, the data exhibit an apparent trend of increasing ionization temperature with increasing atomic mass, as well as small differences between the ionization and excitation temperatures for Fe, the only element for which both temperatures can be measured. The best-fit two-temperature models suggest a combination of 3 and 5 keV gas, which is consistent with the idea that the observed small deviations from a single temperature approximation are due to the effects of projection of the known radial temperature gradient in the cluster core along the line of sight. Comparison with the Chandra/ACIS and the XMM-Newton/RGS results on the other hand suggests that additional lower-temperature components are present in the ICM but not detectable by Hitomi SXS given its 1.8--20 keV energy band., Comment: 29 pages, 19 figures, 9 tables. Accepted for publication in PASJ

The Hitomi SXS spectrum of the Perseus cluster, with $\sim$5 eV resolution in the 2-9 keV band, offers an unprecedented benchmark of the atomic modeling and database for hot collisional plasmas. It reveals both successes and challenges of the current atomic codes. The latest versions of AtomDB/APEC (3.0.8), SPEX (3.03.00), and CHIANTI (8.0) all provide reasonable fits to the broad-band spectrum, and are in close agreement on best-fit temperature, emission measure, and abundances of a few elements such as Ni. For the Fe abundance, the APEC and SPEX measurements differ by 16%, which is 17 times higher than the statistical uncertainty. This is mostly attributed to the differences in adopted collisional excitation and dielectronic recombination rates of the strongest emission lines. We further investigate and compare the sensitivity of the derived physical parameters to the astrophysical source modeling and instrumental effects. The Hitomi results show that an accurate atomic code is as important as the astrophysical modeling and instrumental calibration aspects. Substantial updates of atomic databases and targeted laboratory measurements are needed to get the current codes ready for the data from the next Hitomi-level mission., Comment: 46 pages, 25 figures, 11 tables. Accepted for publication in PASJ

We present Hitomi observations of N132D, a young, X-ray bright, O-rich core-collapse supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Despite a very short observation of only 3.7 ks, the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) easily detects the line complexes of highly ionized S K and Fe K with 16-17 counts in each. The Fe feature is measured for the first time at high spectral resolution. Based on the plausible assumption that the Fe K emission is dominated by He-like ions, we find that the material responsible for this Fe emission is highly redshifted at ~800 km/s compared to the local LMC interstellar medium (ISM), with a 90% credible interval of 50-1500 km/s if a weakly informative prior is placed on possible line broadening. This indicates (1) that the Fe emission arises from the supernova ejecta, and (2) that these ejecta are highly asymmetric, since no blue-shifted component is found. The S K velocity is consistent with the local LMC ISM, and is likely from swept-up ISM material. These results are consistent with spatial mapping that shows the He-like Fe concentrated in the interior of the remnant and the S tracing the outer shell. The results also show that even with a very small number of counts, direct velocity measurements from Doppler-shifted lines detected in extended objects like supernova remnants are now possible. Thanks to the very low SXS background of ~1 event per spectral resolution element per 100 ks, such results are obtainable during short pointed or slew observations with similar instruments. This highlights the power of high-spectral-resolution imaging observations, and demonstrates the new window that has been opened with Hitomi and will be greatly widened with future missions such as the X-ray Astronomy Recovery Mission (XARM) and Athena., Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication by PASJ

To understand why supercritical accretion is feasible onto a neutron star, we carefully examine the accretion flow dynamics by 2.5-dimensional general relativistic (GR) radiation magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) simulations, comparing the cases of accretion onto a non-magnetized neutron star (NS) and that onto a black hole (BH). Supercritical BH accretion is relatively easy, since BH can swallow excess radiation energy, so that radiation flux can be inward in its vicinity. This mechanism can never work for NS which has a solid surface. In fact, we find that the radiation force is always outward. Instead, we found significant reduction in the mass accretion rate due to strong radiation-pressure driven outflow. The radiation flux $F_\mathrm{rad}$ is self-regulated such that the radiation force balances with the sum of gravity and centrifugal forces. Even when the radiation energy density much exceeds that expected from the Eddington luminosity $E_\mathrm{rad} \simeq F_\mathrm{rad}\tau/c> 10^2 L_\mathrm{Edd}/(4\pi r^2 c)$, the radiation flux is always kept below the certain value which makes it possible not to blow all the gas away from the disk. These effects make supercritical accretion feasible. We also find that a settling region, where accretion is significantly decelerated by radiation cushion, is formed around the NS surface. In the settling region, the radiation temperature and mass density roughly follow $T_\mathrm{rad} \propto r^{-1}$ and $\rho \propto r^{-3}$, respectively. No settling region appears around the BH so that matter can be directly swallowed by the BH with supersonic speed., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We report a Hitomi observation of IGR J16318-4848, a high-mass X-ray binary system with an extremely strong absorption of N_H~10^{24} cm^{-2}. Previous X-ray studies revealed that its spectrum is dominated by strong fluorescence lines of Fe as well as continuum emission. For physical and geometrical insight into the nature of the reprocessing material, we utilize the high spectroscopic resolving power of the X-ray microcalorimeter (the soft X-ray spectrometer; SXS) and the wide-band sensitivity by the soft and hard X-ray imager (SXI and HXI) aboard Hitomi. Even though photon counts are limited due to unintended off-axis pointing, the SXS spectrum resolves Fe K{\alpha_1} and K{\alpha_2} lines and puts strong constraints on the line centroid and width. The line width corresponds to the velocity of 160^{+300}_{-70} km s^{-1}. This represents the most accurate, and smallest, width measurement of this line made so far from any X-ray binary, much less than the Doppler broadening and shift expected from speeds which are characteristic of similar systems. Combined with the K-shell edge energy measured by the SXI and HXI spectra, the ionization state of Fe is estimated to be in the range of Fe I--IV. Considering the estimated ionization parameter and the distance between the X-ray source and the absorber, the density and thickness of the materials are estimated. The extraordinarily strong absorption and the absence of a Compton shoulder component is confirmed. These characteristics suggest reprocessing materials which are distributed in a narrow solid angle or scattering primarily with warm free electrons or neutral hydrogen., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

The origin of the narrow Fe-K{\alpha} fluorescence line at 6.4 keV from active galactic nuclei has long been under debate; some of the possible sites are the outer accretion disk, the broad line region, a molecular torus, or interstellar/intracluster media. In February-March 2016, we performed the first X-ray microcalorimeter spectroscopy with the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard the Hitomi satellite of the Fanaroff-Riley type I radio galaxy NGC 1275 at the center of the Perseus cluster of galaxies. With the high energy resolution of ~5 eV at 6 keV achieved by Hitomi/SXS, we detected the Fe-K{\alpha} line with ~5.4 {\sigma} significance. The velocity width is constrained to be 500-1600 km s$^{-1}$ (FWHM for Gaussian models) at 90% confidence. The SXS also constrains the continuum level from the NGC 1275 nucleus up to ~20 keV, giving an equivalent width ~20 eV of the 6.4 keV line. Because the velocity width is narrower than that of broad H{\alpha} line of ~2750 km s$^{-1}$, we can exclude a large contribution to the line flux from the accretion disk and the broad line region. Furthermore, we performed pixel map analyses on the Hitomi/SXS data and image analyses on the Chandra archival data, and revealed that the Fe-K{\alpha} line comes from a region within ~1.6 kpc from the NGC 1275 core, where an active galactic nucleus emission dominates, rather than that from intracluster media. Therefore, we suggest that the source of the Fe-K{\alpha} line from NGC 1275 is likely a low-covering fraction molecular torus or a rotating molecular disk which probably extends from a pc to hundreds pc scale in the active galactic nucleus system., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

Extending the earlier measurements reported in Hitomi collaboration (2016, Nature, 535, 117), we examine the atmospheric gas motions within the central 100~kpc of the Perseus cluster using observations obtained with the Hitomi satellite. After correcting for the point spread function of the telescope and using optically thin emission lines, we find that the line-of-sight velocity dispersion of the hot gas is remarkably low and mostly uniform. The velocity dispersion reaches maxima of approximately 200~km~s$^{-1}$ toward the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) and toward the AGN inflated north-western `ghost' bubble. Elsewhere within the observed region, the velocity dispersion appears constant around 100~km~s$^{-1}$. We also detect a velocity gradient with a 100~km~s$^{-1}$ amplitude across the cluster core, consistent with large-scale sloshing of the core gas. If the observed gas motions are isotropic, the kinetic pressure support is less than 10\% of the thermal pressure support in the cluster core. The well-resolved optically thin emission lines have Gaussian shapes, indicating that the turbulent driving scale is likely below 100~kpc, which is consistent with the size of the AGN jet inflated bubbles. We also report the first measurement of the ion temperature in the intracluster medium, which we find to be consistent with the electron temperature. In addition, we present a new measurement of the redshift to the brightest cluster galaxy NGC~1275., Comment: 52 pages, 16 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

We investigate dynamical and radiative properties of arc-shaped gas clouds falling onto a stellar mass black hole based on the three-dimensional general relativistic radiation-magnetohydrodynamics (3D-GRRMHD) simulation data. Assuming that the gas clouds radiate due mainly to the free-free emission and/or optically thick, inverse Compton scattering, we calculate how the emissivity distributions develop with time. We find that (1) gas clouds, each of which has a ring-like or arc shape, are intermittently formed, and that (2) they slowly fall to the black hole, keeping nearly the Keplerian orbital velocity. These features support the dynamical properties of the gas clouds assumed in the spin measurement method proposed by Moriyama & Mineshige 2015, but the radius of the inner edge of the accretion disk is larger than that of the marginally stable orbit (ISCO). Next, we examine how each gas cloud is observed by a distant observer by calculating the photon trajectories in the black hole space-time. The luminosity of the accretion flow exhibits significant time variations on different timescales, reflecting the time evolution of the gas density distributions. The relatively slow variations on the time durations of 0.08-0.10 sec is due to the formation and fall of gas clouds, while quasi-periodic flux peaks with short time intervals (0.01 sec) are due to the quasi-periodic enhancement of light from the non-axisymmetric arc-shaped clouds through the beaming effect. This may account for the high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HF QPOs) observed in black hole binaries. The observational implications and future issues are briefly discussed., Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

Thanks to its high spectral resolution (~5 eV at 6 keV), the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) on board Hitomi enables us to measure the detailed structure of spatially resolved emission lines from highly ionized ions in galaxy clusters for the first time. In this series of papers, using the SXS we have measured the velocities of gas motions, metallicities and the multi-temperature structure of the gas in the core of the Perseus cluster. Here, we show that when inferring physical properties from line emissivities in systems like Perseus, the resonant scattering (RS) effect should be taken into account. In the Hitomi waveband, RS mostly affects the FeXXV He$\alpha$ line ($w$) - the strongest line in the spectrum. The flux measured by Hitomi in this line is suppressed by a factor ~1.3 in the inner ~30 kpc, compared to predictions for an optically thin plasma; the suppression decreases with the distance from the center. The $w$ line also appears slightly broader than other lines from the same ion. The observed distortions of the $w$ line flux, shape and distance dependence are all consistent with the expected effect of the resonant scattering in the Perseus core. By measuring the ratio of fluxes in optically thick ($w$) and thin (FeXXV forbidden, He$\beta$, Ly$\alpha$) lines, and comparing these ratios with predictions from Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations, the velocities of gas motions have been obtained. The results are consistent with the direct measurements of gas velocities from line broadening described elsewhere in this series, although the systematic and statistical uncertainties remain significant. Further improvements in the predictions of line emissivities in plasma models, and deeper observations with future X-ray missions will enable RS measurements to provide powerful constraints on the amplitude and anisotropy of clusters gas motions., Comment: 30 pages, 17 figure, 6 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

X-ray continuum spectra of super-Eddington accretion flow are studied by means of Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations based on the radiation hydrodynamic simulation data, in which both of thermal and bulk Compton scatterings are taken into account. We compare the calculated spectra of accretion flow around black holes with masses of $M_{\rm BH} = 10, 10^2, 10^3$, and $10^4 M_\odot$ for a fixed mass injection rate (from the computational boundary at $10^3 r_{\rm s}$) of $10^3 L_{\rm Edd}/c^2$ (with $r_{\rm s}$, $L_{\rm Edd}$, and $c$ being the Schwarzschild radius, the Eddington luminosity, and the speed of light, respectively). The soft X-ray spectra exhibit mass dependence in accordance with the standard-disk relation; the maximum surface temperature is scaled as $T \propto M_{\rm BH}^{-1/4}$. The spectra in the hard X-ray bands, by contrast, look quite similar among different models, if we normalize the radiation luminosity by $M_{\rm BH}$. This reflects that the hard component is created by thermal and bulk Compton scattering of soft photons originating from an accretion flow in the over-heated and/or funnel regions, the temperatures of which have no mass dependence. The hard X-ray spectra can be reproduced by a Wien spectrum with temperature of $T\sim 3$ keV accompanied by a hard excess at photon energy above several keV. The excess spectrum can be well fitted with a power law with a photon index of $\Gamma \sim 3$. This feature is in good agreement with that of the recent NuSTAR observations of ULX (Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources)., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

To search for giant X-ray pulses correlated with the giant radio pulses (GRPs) from the Crab pulsar, we performed a simultaneous observation of the Crab pulsar with the X-ray satellite Hitomi in the 2 -- 300 keV band and the Kashima NICT radio observatory in the 1.4 -- 1.7 GHz band with a net exposure of about 2 ks on 25 March 2016, just before the loss of the Hitomi mission.The timing performance of the Hitomi instruments was confirmed to meet the timing requirement and about 1,000 and 100 GRPs were simultaneously observed at the main and inter-pulse phases, respectively, and we found no apparent correlation between the giant radio pulses and the X-ray emission in either the main or inter-pulse phases.All variations are within the 2 sigma fluctuations of the X-ray fluxes at the pulse peaks, and the 3 sigma upper limits of variations of main- or inter- pulse GRPs are 22\% or 80\% of the peak flux in a 0.20 phase width, respectively, in the 2 -- 300 keV band.The values become 25\% or 110\% for main or inter-pulse GRPs, respectively, when the phase width is restricted into the 0.03 phase.Among the upper limits from the Hitomi satellite, those in the 4.5-10 keV and the 70-300 keV are obtained for the first time, and those in other bands are consistent with previous reports.Numerically, the upper limits of main- and inter-pulse GRPs in the 0.20 phase width are about (2.4 and 9.3) $\times 10^{-11}$ erg cm$^{-2}$, respectively. No significant variability in pulse profiles implies that the GRPs originated from a local place within the magnetosphere and the number of photon-emitting particles temporally increases.However, the results do not statistically rule out variations correlated with the GRPs, because the possible X-ray enhancement may appear due to a $>0.02$\% brightening of the pulse-peak flux under such conditions., Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure, 6 tables, accepted for publication in PASJ

The Crab nebula originated from a core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion observed in 1054 A.D. When viewed as a supernova remnant (SNR), it has an anomalously low observed ejecta mass and kinetic energy for an Fe-core collapse SN. Intensive searches were made for a massive shell that solves this discrepancy, but none has been detected. An alternative idea is that the SN1054 is an electron-capture (EC) explosion with a lower explosion energy by an order of magnitude than Fe-core collapse SNe. In the X-rays, imaging searches were performed for the plasma emission from the shell in the Crab outskirts to set a stringent upper limit to the X-ray emitting mass. However, the extreme brightness of the source hampers access to its vicinity. We thus employed spectroscopic technique using the X-ray micro-calorimeter onboard the Hitomi satellite. By exploiting its superb energy resolution, we set an upper limit for emission or absorption features from yet undetected thermal plasma in the 2-12 keV range. We also re-evaluated the existing Chandra and XMM-Newton data. By assembling these results, a new upper limit was obtained for the X-ray plasma mass of <~ 1Mo for a wide range of assumed shell radius, size, and plasma temperature both in and out of the collisional equilibrium. To compare with the observation, we further performed hydrodynamic simulations of the Crab SNR for two SN models (Fe-core versus EC) under two SN environments (uniform ISM versus progenitor wind). We found that the observed mass limit can be compatible with both SN models if the SN environment has a low density of <~ 0.03 cm-3 (Fe core) or <~ 0.1 cm-3 (EC) for the uniform density, or a progenitor wind density somewhat less than that provided by a mass loss rate of 10-5 Mo yr-1 at 20 km s-1 for the wind environment., Comment: PASJ in press. Figures are now properly included

We analyze the ${\it Kepler}$ monitoring light curve of a blazar W2R 1926$+$42 to examine features of microvariability by means of the "shot analysis" technique. We select 195 intra-day, flare-like variations (shots) for the continuous light curve of Quarter 14 with a duration of 100 d. In the application of the shot analysis, an averaged profile of variations is assumed to converge with a universal profile which reflects a physical mechanism generating the microvariability in a blazar jet, although light-variation profiles of selected shots show a variety. A mean profile, which is obtained by aligning the peaks of the 195 shots, is composed of a spiky-shape shot component at $\pm$0.1 d (with respect to the time of the peak), and two slow varying components ranging from $-$0.50 d to $-$0.15 d and from 0.10 d to 0.45 d of the peak time. The former spiky feature is well represented by an exponential rise of 0.043$\pm$0.001 d and an exponential decay of 0.061$\pm$0.002 d. These timescales are consistent with that corresponding to a break frequency of a power spectrum density calculated from the obtained light curve. After verification with the Monte-Carlo method, the exponential shape, but not the observed asymmetry, of the shot component can be explained by noise variation. The asymmetry is difficult to explain through a geometrical effect (i.e. changes of the geometry of the emitting region), but is more likely to be caused by the production and dissipation of high-energy accelerated particles in the jet. Additionally, durations of the detected shots show a systematic variation with a dispersion caused by a statistical randomness. A comparison with the variability of Cygnus X-1 is also briefly discussed., Comment: 40 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

Prompted by the recent discovery of pulsed emission from an ultra-luminous X-ray source, M82 X-2 ("ULX-pulsar"), we perform a two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulation of a super-critical accretion flow onto a neutron star through a narrow accretion column. We set an accretion column with a cone shape filled with tenuous gas with density of $10^{-4} {\rm g}~ {\rm cm}^{-3}$ above a neutron star and solve the two dimensional gas motion and radiative transfer within the column. The side boundaries are set such that radiation can freely escape, while gas cannot. Since the initial gas layer is not in a hydrostatic balance, the column gas falls onto the neutron-star surface, thereby a shock being generated. As a result, the accretion column is composed of two regions: an upper, nearly free-fall region and a lower settling region, as was noted by Basko \& Sunyaev (1976). The average accretion rate is very high; ${\dot M}\sim 10^{2-3} L_{\rm E}/c^2$ (with $L_{\rm E}$ being the Eddington luminosity), and so radiation energy dominates over gas internal energy entirely within the column. Despite the high accretion rate, the radiation flux in the laboratory frame is kept barely below $L_{\rm E}/(4\pi r^2)$ at a distance $r$ in the settling region so that matter can slowly accrete. This adjustment is made possible, since large amount of photons produced via dissipation of kinetic energy of matter can escape through the side boundaries. The total luminosity can greatly exceed $L_{\rm E}$ by several orders of magnitude, whereas the apparent luminosity observed from the top of the column is much less. Due to such highly anisotropic radiation fields, observed flux should exhibit periodic variations with the rotation period, provided that the rotation and magnetic axes are misaligned., Comment: accepted for publication in PASJ

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy with Hitomi was expected to resolve the origin of the faint unidentified E=3.5 keV emission line reported in several low-resolution studies of various massive systems, such as galaxies and clusters, including the Perseus cluster. We have analyzed the Hitomi first-light observation of the Perseus cluster. The emission line expected for Perseus based on the XMM-Newton signal from the large cluster sample under the dark matter decay scenario is too faint to be detectable in the Hitomi data. However, the previously reported 3.5 keV flux from Perseus was anomalously high compared to the sample-based prediction. We find no unidentified line at the reported high flux level. Taking into account the XMM measurement uncertainties for this region, the inconsistency with Hitomi is at a 99% significance for a broad dark-matter line and at 99.7% for a narrow line from the gas. We do not find anomalously high fluxes of the nearby faint K line or the Ar satellite line that were proposed as explanations for the earlier 3.5 keV detections. We do find a hint of a broad excess near the energies of high-n transitions of Sxvi (E=3.44 keV rest-frame) -- a possible signature of charge exchange in the molecular nebula and another proposed explanation for the unidentified line. While its energy is consistent with XMM pn detections, it is unlikely to explain the MOS signal. A confirmation of this interesting feature has to wait for a more sensitive observation with a future calorimeter experiment., Comment: Discussion of systematics significantly expanded. 9 pages, 5 figures; ApJ Lett. in press

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming. They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes. Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient. It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses. X-rays from the core of the Perseus cluster are emitted by the 50 million K diffuse hot plasma filling its gravitational potential well. The Active Galactic Nucleus of the central galaxy NGC1275 is pumping jetted energy into the surrounding intracluster medium, creating buoyant bubbles filled with relativistic plasma. These likely induce motions in the intracluster medium and heat the inner gas preventing runaway radiative cooling; a process known as Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback. Here we report on Hitomi X-ray observations of the Perseus cluster core, which reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere where the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 164+/-10 km/s in a region 30-60 kpc from the central nucleus. A gradient in the line-of-sight velocity of 150+/-70 km/s is found across the 60 kpc image of the cluster core. Turbulent pressure support in the gas is 4% or less of the thermodynamic pressure, with large scale shear at most doubling that estimate. We infer that total cluster masses determined from hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions need little correction for turbulent pressure., Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figs, published in Nature July 8

We propose a new method for black hole spin measurement. In this method, we consider a gas blob or ring falling onto a black hole from the marginally stable orbit, keeping its initial orbital angular momentum. We calculate the gas motion and photon trajectories in the Kerr space-time and, assuming that the gas blob or ring emits monochromatic radiation, carefully examine how it is observed by a distant observer. The light curve of the orbiting gas blob is composed of many peaks because of periodic enhancement of the flux due to the gravitational lensing and beaming effects. Further, the intensity of each peak first gradually increases with time due to the focusing effect around the photon circular orbit and then rapidly decreases due to the gravitational redshift, as the gas blob approaches the event horizon. The light curve of the gas ring is equivalent to a superposition of those of the blobs with various initial orbital phases, and so it is continuous and with no peaks. The flux first gradually increases and then rapidly decays, as in the blob model. The flux variation timescale depends on the black hole spin and is independent from the inclination angle, while time averaged frequency shift have dependences of both effects. We can thus, in principle, determine spin and inclination angle from observations. The observational implications and future issues are briefly discussed., Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, Accepted for publication in PASJ

Hyperaccretion flows with mass accretion rates far above the Eddington rate have an N-shaped equilibrium curve on the $\Sigma$-$\dot{M}$ plane (with $\Sigma$ and $\dot{M}$ being surface density and mass accretion rate, respectively). The accretion flow on the lower $\Sigma$ branch of the N-shape is optically thick, advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) while that on the upper one is neutrino-dominated accretion flow (NDAF). The middle branch has a negative slope on the $\Sigma$-$\dot{M}$ plane, meaning that the flow on this branch is secularly unstable. To investigate how the instability affects the flow structure and what observable signatures are produced, we study the time evolution of the unstable hyperaccretion flow in response to variable mass injection rates by solving the height-averaged equations for viscous accretion flows. When a transition occurs from the lower branch to the upper branch (or from the upper branch to the lower branch), the surface density rapidly increases (decreases) around that transition region, which induces locally enhanced mass flow (referred to as non-steady mass flow) into (out of) that region. We confirm that the non-steady flow can create a kind of disturbance and that it propagates over the whole disk. However, the non-steady mass flow is not strong enough to induce coherent transition over the whole disk, unless the mass injection rate varies with time. When the injection rate continuously changes, the neutrino luminosity varies intermittently, thus producing step-function-like light curves, as the radiation efficiency discontinuously changes every time the local transition occurs. The effects of changing the N-shape and possible observational consequences on the gamma-ray burst emission are briefly discussed in relation to gamma-ray bursts., Comment: 14 pages, 27 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

We apply our two-dimensional (2D), radially self-similar steady-state accretion flow model to the analysis of hydrodynamic simulation results of supercritical accretion flows. Self-similarity is checked and the input parameters for the model calculation, such as advective factor and heat capacity ratio, are obtained from time-averaged simulation data. Solutions of the model are then calculated and compared with the simulation results. We find that in the converged region of the simulation, excluding the part too close to the black hole, the radial distribution of azimuthal velocity $v_\phi$, density $\rho$ and pressure $p$ basically follows the self-similar assumptions, i.e. they are roughly proportional to $r^{-0.5}$, $r^{-n}$, and $r^{-(n+1)}$, respectively, where $n\sim0.85$ for the mass injection rate of $1000L_\mathrm{E}/c^2$, and $n\sim0.74$ for $3000L_\mathrm{E}/c^2$. The distribution of $v_r$ and $v_\theta$ agrees less with self-similarity, possibly due to convective motions in the $r\theta$ plane. The distribution of velocity, density and pressure in $\theta$ direction obtained by the steady model agrees well with the simulation results {within the calculation boundary of the steady model}. Outward mass flux in the simulations is overall directed toward polar angle of 0.8382 rad ($\sim 48.0^\circ$) for $1000L_\mathrm{E}/c^2$, and 0.7852 rad ($\sim 43.4^\circ$) for $3000L_\mathrm{E}/c^2$, and $\sim$94\% of the mass inflow are driven away as outflow, while outward momentum and energy fluxes are focused around the polar axis. Part of these fluxes lie in the region that are not calculated by the steady model, and special attention should be paid when the model is applied., Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), with a planned launch in 2015. The ASTRO-H mission is equipped with a suite of sensitive instruments with the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E > 3 keV and a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft X-rays to gamma-rays. The simultaneous broad band pass, coupled with the high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV of the micro-calorimeter, will enable a wide variety of important science themes to be pursued. ASTRO-H is expected to provide breakthrough results in scientific areas as diverse as the large-scale structure of the Universe and its evolution, the behavior of matter in the gravitational strong field regime, the physical conditions in sites of cosmic-ray acceleration, and the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters at different redshifts., Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray"

Shortly after the seminal paper {\sl "Self-Organized Criticality: An explanation of 1/f noise"} by Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld (1987), the idea has been applied to solar physics, in {\sl "Avalanches and the Distribution of Solar Flares"} by Lu and Hamilton (1991). In the following years, an inspiring cross-fertilization from complexity theory to solar and astrophysics took place, where the SOC concept was initially applied to solar flares, stellar flares, and magnetospheric substorms, and later extended to the radiation belt, the heliosphere, lunar craters, the asteroid belt, the Saturn ring, pulsar glitches, soft X-ray repeaters, blazars, black-hole objects, cosmic rays, and boson clouds. The application of SOC concepts has been performed by numerical cellular automaton simulations, by analytical calculations of statistical (powerlaw-like) distributions based on physical scaling laws, and by observational tests of theoretically predicted size distributions and waiting time distributions. Attempts have been undertaken to import physical models into the numerical SOC toy models, such as the discretization of magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) processes. The novel applications stimulated also vigorous debates about the discrimination between SOC models, SOC-like, and non-SOC processes, such as phase transitions, turbulence, random-walk diffusion, percolation, branching processes, network theory, chaos theory, fractality, multi-scale, and other complexity phenomena. We review SOC studies from the last 25 years and highlight new trends, open questions, and future challenges, as discussed during two recent ISSI workshops on this theme., Comment: 139 pages, 28 figures, Review based on ISSI workshops "Self-Organized Criticality and Turbulence" (2012, 2013, Bern, Switzerland)

A hyperaccretion flow around a stellar mass black hole is thought to be the most plausible engine that powers gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The flow efficiently cools via neutrino emission at >~ 0.003-0.01 M_sun s^{-1} (corresponding to a luminosity of ~10^50 erg s^{-1}), while neither neutrino nor photon emission is efficient below this rate, so the flow should be advection dominated. We carefully solve how a transition occurs from the advection-dominated to the neutrino-dominated branches, and find that the slope of the thermal equilibrium curve is negative in the surface density - accretion rate (Sigma-Mdot) plane, a condition for viscous instability, at radii smaller than ~12R_g (with R_g being the gravitational radius). We also confirm that the flow is thermally stable. The consequence of this instability is the formation of a clumpy structure in the flow. This is because the larger (respectively smaller) surface density is, the smaller (respectively larger) the mass accretion rate from the region in question becomes, leading to growth of the density contrast. The timescale for clump formation is estimated to be shorter than 0.1s. The observational implication is discussed in the context of GRBs. We suggest that this might explain the origin of the large variability observed in the prompt emission of GRBs., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, ApJL in press

In order to elucidate the emission properties of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) during their power-law (PL) state, we examined long-term X-ray spectral data of IC342 X-1 during its PL state by using our own Suzaku data and the archival data by XMM-Newton, Chandra, and Swift observations. The PL state of this source seems to be classified into two sub-states in terms of the X-ray luminosities in 0.5-10 keV: the low luminosity PL state with 4-6*10^{39} erg/s and the high luminosity one with 1.1-1.4*10^{40} erg/s. During the Suzaku observations which were made in 2010 August and 2011 March, X-1 stayed in the low luminosity PL state. The observed X-ray luminosity (4.9-5.6*10^{39} erg/s) and the spectral shape (photon index = 1.67-1.83) slightly changed between the two observations. Using the Suzaku PIN detector, we for the first time confirmed a PL tail extending up to at least 20 keV with no signatures of a high-energy turnover in both of the Suzaku observations. In contrast, a turnover at about 6 keV was observed during the high luminosity PL state in 2004 and 2005 with XMM-Newton. Importantly, photon indices are similar between the two PL states and so is the Compton y-parameters of y ~ 1, which indicates a similar energy balance (between the corona and the accretion disk) holding in the two PL states despite different electron temperatures. From spectral similarities with recent studies about other ULXs and the Galactic black hole binary GRS1915+105, IC342 X-1 is also likely to be in a state with a supercritical accretion rate, although more sensitive higher energy observations would be necessary to conclude., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

We study the basic properties of accretion flows onto binary supermassive black holes, including the cases in which a circumbinary disk is misaligned with the binary orbital plane, by means of three-dimensional Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations. We find that a circular binary system with a misaligned circumbinary disk normally produces a double peaked mass-accretion-rate variation per binary orbit. This is because each black hole passes across the circumbinary disk plane and captures gas twice in one orbital period. Even in misaligned systems, however, a single peaked mass-accretion-rate variation per binary orbit is produced, if the orbital eccentricity is moderately large (e\lesssim0.3). The number of peaks in mass accretion rates can be understood simply in terms of the orbital phase dependence of the distance between each binary black hole and its closest inner edge of the circumbinary disk. In the cases of eccentric binary black holes having different masses, the less massive black hole can get closer to the circumbinary disk than the massive one, thus tidally splitting gas from its inner edge, but the created gas flows are comparably captured by both black holes with a short time delay. As a consequence, the combined light curve shows periodic occurrence of double-peaked flares with a short interval. This may account for the observed light variations of OJ287., Comment: 12pages, 5figures, submitted to PASJ