Person:
Petitpas, Glen

Profile Picture

Email Address

AA Acceptance Date

Birth Date

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Job Title

Last Name

Petitpas

First Name

Glen

Name

Petitpas, Glen
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.51de1cb2-78ec-4f60-a4bc-45f0a40169bd

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Resolved Dust Emission in a Quasar at Z = 3.65
    (IOP Publishing, 2009) Clements, D. L.; Petitpas, Glen; Farrah, D.; Hatziminaoglou, E.; Babbedge, T.; Rowan-Robinson, M.; Pérez-Fournon, I.; Hernán-Caballero, Antonio; Castro-Rodríguez, Nieves; Lonsdale, C.; Surace, J.; Franceschini, A.; Wilkes, Belinda; Smith, Howard
    We present submillimeter observations of the z = 3.653 quasar SDSS 160705+533558 together with data in the optical and infrared. The object is unusually bright in the far-IR and submillimeter with an IR luminosity of ∼1014 L . We ascribe this luminosity to a combination of active galactic nucleus (AGN) and starburst emission, with the starburst forming stars at a rate of a few thousand solar masses per year. Submillimeter Array imaging observations with a resolution ∼1 show that the submillimeter (850μm) emission is extended on scales of 10–35 kpc and is offset from the optical position by ∼ 10 kpc. This morphology is dissimilar to that found in submillimeter galaxies, which are generally unresolved or marginally resolved on arcsecond scales, or submillimeter-luminous AGNs where the AGN lies at the peak of the submillimeter or molecular emission. The simplest explanation is that the object is in the early stages of a merger between a gas-rich galaxy, which hosts the starburst, and a gas-poor AGN-host galaxy, which is responsible for the quasar emission. It is also possible that jet-induced star formation might contribute to the unusual morphology.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Birth of a relativistic outflow in the unusual γ-ray transient Swift J164449.3+573451
    (Springer Nature, 2011) Zauderer, B; Berger, Edo; Soderberg, Alicia; Loeb, Abraham; Narayan, Ramesh; Frail, D. A.; Petitpas, Glen; Brunthaler, A.; Chornock, R; Carpenter, J. M.; Pooley, G. G.; Mooley, K.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Margutti, Raffaella; Fox, D. B.; Nakar, E.; Patel, Nimesh; Volgenau, N. H.; Culverhouse, T. L.; Bietenholz, M. F.; Rupen, M. P.; Max-Moerbeck, W.; Readhead, A. C. S.; Richards, J.; Shepherd, M.; Storm, S.; Hull, Charles
    Active galactic nuclei, which are powered by long-term accretion onto central supermassive black holes, produce1 relativistic jets with lifetimes of at least one million years, and the observation of the birth of such a jet is therefore unlikely. Transient accretion onto a supermassive black hole, for example through the tidal disruption2, 3 of a stray star, thus offers a rare opportunity to study the birth of a relativistic jet. On 25 March 2011, an unusual transient source (Swift J164449.3+573451) was found4, potentially representing5, 6 such an accretion event. Here we report observations spanning centimetre to millimetre wavelengths and covering the first month of evolution of a luminous radio transient associated with Swift J164449.3+573451. The radio transient coincides7 with the nucleus of an inactive galaxy. We conclude that we are seeing a newly formed relativistic outflow, launched by transient accretion onto a million-solar-mass black hole. A relativistic outflow is not predicted in this situation, but we show that the tidal disruption of a star naturally explains the observed high-energy properties and radio luminosity and the inferred rate of such events. The weaker beaming in the radio-frequency spectrum relative to γ-rays or X-rays suggests that radio searches may uncover similar events out to redshifts of z ≈ 6.