Fast inflows as the adjacent fuel of supermassive black hole accretion disks in quasars.

Quasars, which are exceptionally bright objects at the centres (or nuclei) of galaxies, are thought to be produced through the accretion of gas into disks surrounding supermassive black holes1-3. There is observational evidence at galactic and circumnuclear scales4 that gas flows inwards towards accretion disks around black holes, and such an inflow has been measured at the scale of the dusty torus that surrounds the central accretion disk5. At even smaller scales, inflows close to an accretion disk have been suggested to explain the results of recent modelling of the response of gaseous broad emission lines to continuum variations6,7. However, unambiguous observations of inflows that actually reach accretion disks have been elusive. Here we report the detection of redshifted broad absorption lines of hydrogen and helium atoms in a sample of quasars. The lines show broad ranges of Doppler velocities that extend continuously from zero to redshifts as high as about 5,000 kilometres per second. We interpret this as the inward motion of gases at velocities comparable to freefall speeds close to the black hole, constraining the fastest infalling gas to within 10,000 gravitational radii of the black hole (the gravitational radius being the gravitational constant multiplied by the object mass, divided by the speed of light squared). Extensive photoionization modelling yields a characteristic radial distance of the inflow of approximately 1,000 gravitational radii, possibly overlapping with the outer accretion disk.

Estimating the surface layer refractive index structure constant over snow and sea ice using Monin-Obukhov similarity theory with a mesoscale atmospheric model.

Since systematic direct measurements of refractive index structure constant ( Cn2) for many climates and seasons are not available, an indirect approach is developed in which Cn2 is estimated from the mesoscale atmospheric model outputs. In previous work, we have presented an approach that a state-of-the-art mesoscale atmospheric model called Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with Monin-Obukhov Similarity (MOS) theory which can be used to estimate surface layer Cn2 over the ocean. Here this paper is focused on surface layer Cn2 over snow and sea ice, which is the extending of estimating surface layer Cn2 utilizing WRF model for ground-based optical application requirements. This powerful approach is validated against the corresponding 9-day Cn2 data from a field campaign of the 30th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE). We employ several statistical operators to assess how this approach performs. Besides, we present an independent analysis of this approach performance using the contingency tables. Such a method permits us to provide supplementary key information with respect to statistical operators. These methods make our analysis more robust and permit us to confirm the excellent performances of this approach. The reasonably good agreement in trend and magnitude is found between estimated values and measurements overall, and the estimated Cn2 values are even better than the ones obtained by this approach over the ocean surface layer. The encouraging performance of this approach has a concrete practical implementation of ground-based optical applications over snow and sea ice.

Outer- and inner-valence satellites of carbon dioxide: electron momentum spectroscopy compared with symmetry-adapted-cluster configuration interaction general-R calculations.

The extensive study of outer- and inner-valence satellites of carbon dioxide by electron momentum spectroscopy is reported. The experiments have been performed using a high-sensitivity electron momentum spectrometer employing non-coplanar symmetric geometry at impact energy of about 1200 eV. Binding energy spectrum up to 50 eV, above the first double ionization threshold (~37.3 eV), is presented. Four main peaks and twelve satellites have been identified including four embedded in the double ionization continuum, among which the two beyond 42 eV are observed for the first time. High accuracy symmetry-adapted-cluster configuration interaction general-R calculation with aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets has also been performed and the result is in line with the experimental ionization spectrum except the relative intensities for some of the satellites in inner-valence region. The experimental momentum profiles for both the main ionization transitions and satellites have been obtained and compared with theoretical calculations by HF and B3LYP methods with 6-311++G∗ and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets. Through comparison, the detailed assignments of the satellite bands have been achieved and the pole strengths for the relevant shake-up transitions are determined experimentally for the first time.

Imaging molecular geometry with electron momentum spectroscopy.

Electron momentum spectroscopy is a unique tool for imaging orbital-specific electron density of molecule in momentum space. However, the molecular geometry information is usually veiled due to the single-centered character of momentum space wavefunction of molecular orbital (MO). Here we demonstrate the retrieval of interatomic distances from the multicenter interference effect revealed in the ratios of electron momentum profiles between two MOs with symmetric and anti-symmetric characters. A very sensitive dependence of the oscillation period on interatomic distance is observed, which is used to determine F-F distance in CF4 and O-O distance in CO2 with sub-Ångström precision. Thus, using one spectrometer, and in one measurement, the electron density distributions of MOs and the molecular geometry information can be obtained simultaneously. Our approach provides a new robust tool for imaging molecules with high precision and has potential to apply to ultrafast imaging of molecular dynamics if combined with ultrashort electron pulses in the future.

A high-sensitivity angle and energy dipersive multichannel electron momentum spectrometer with 2π angle range.

A high-sensitivity angle and energy dispersive multichannel electron momentum spectrometer with simultaneous detection in 2π angle range is presented. A newly designed double half wedge and strip anode position-sensitive detector is employed to collect the ionized and scattered electrons passing through a 90° sector, 2π spherical electrostatic analyzer over azimuthal angle range of about 150° for each. Experimental results on argon are presented to exhibit the performance of the spectrometer.