386,079 research outputs found
The Origin of Gamma-Rays from Globular Clusters
Fermi has detected gamma-ray emission from eight globular clusters. We
suggest that the gamma-ray emission from globular clusters may result from the
inverse Compton scattering between relativistic electrons/positrons in the
pulsar wind of MSPs in the globular clusters and background soft photons
including cosmic microwave/relic photons, background star lights in the
clusters, the galactic infrared photons and the galactic star lights. We show
that the gamma-ray spectrum from 47 Tuc can be explained equally well by upward
scattering of either the relic photons, the galactic infrared photons or the
galactic star lights whereas the gamma-ray spectra from other seven globular
clusters are best fitted by the upward scattering of either the galactic
infrared photons or the galactic star lights. We also find that the observed
gamma-ray luminosity is correlated better with the combined factor of the
encounter rate and the background soft photon energy density. Therefore the
inverse Compton scattering may also contribute to the observed gamma-ray
emission from globular clusters detected by Fermi in addition to the standard
curvature radiation process. Furthermore, we find that the emission region of
high energy photons from globular cluster produced by inverse Compton
scattering is substantially larger than the core of globular cluster with a
radius >10pc. The diffuse radio and X-rays emitted from globular clusters can
also be produced by synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton scattering
respectively. We suggest that future observations including radio, X-rays, and
gamma-rays with energy higher than 10 GeV and better angular resolution can
provide better constraints for the models.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, Comments may send to Prof. K.S. Cheng:
[email protected]
Electrodynamics of an omega-band as deduced from optical and magnetometer data
We investigate an omega-band event that took place above northern Scandinavia
around 02:00–02:30 UT on 9 March 1999. In our analysis we use ground based
magnetometer, optical and riometer measurements together with satellite based
optical images. The optical and riometer data are used to estimate the
ionospheric Hall and Pedersen conductances, while ionospheric equivalent
currents are obtained from the magnetometer measurements. These data sets are
used as input in a local KRM calculation, which gives the ionospheric
potential electric field as output, thus giving us a complete picture of the
ionospheric electrodynamic state during the omega-band event.
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The overall structure of the electric field and field-aligned current (FAC)
provided by the local KRM method are in good agreement with previous studies.
Also the <I><B>E</B></I>×<I><B>B</B></I> drift velocity calculated from the local
KRM solution is in good qualitative agreement with the plasma velocity
measured by the Finnish CUTLASS radar, giving further support for the new
local KRM method. The high-resolution conductance estimates allow us to
discern the detailed structure of the omega-band current system. The highest
Hall and Pedersen conductances, ~50 and ~25 S, respectively, are
found at the edges of the bright auroral tongue. Inside the tongue,
conductances are somewhat smaller, but still significantly higher than
typical background values. The electric field shows a converging pattern
around the tongues, and the field strength drops from ~40 mV/m found at
optically dark regions to ~10 mV/m inside the areas of enhanced
conductivity. Downward FAC flow in the dark regions, while upward currents
flow inside the auroral tongue. Additionally, sharp conductance gradients at
the edge of an auroral tongue are associated with narrow strips of intense
FACs, so that a strip of downward current flows at the eastern (leading) edge
and a similar strip of upward current is present at the western (trailing)
edge. The Joule heating follows the electric field pattern, so that it is
diminished inside the bright auroral tongue
Friedmann cosmology with decaying vacuum density
Among the several proposals to solve the incompatibility between the observed
small value of the cosmological constant and the huge value obtained by quantum
field theories, we can find the idea of a decaying vacuum energy density,
leading from high values at early times of universe evolution to the small
value observed nowadays. In this paper we consider a variation law for the
vacuum density recently proposed by Schutzhold on the basis of quantum field
estimations in the curved, expanding background, characterized by a vacuum
density proportional to the Hubble parameter. We show that, in the context of
an isotropic and homogeneous, spatially flat model, the corresponding solutions
retain the well established features of the standard cosmology, and, in
addition, are in accordance with the observed cosmological parameters. Our
scenario presents an initial phase dominated by radiation, followed by a dust
era long enough to permit structure formation, and by an epoch dominated by the
cosmological term, which tends asymptotically to a de Sitter universe. Taking
the matter density equals to half of the vacuum energy density, as suggested by
observation, we obtain a universe age given by Ht = 1.1, and a decelerating
parameter equals to -1/2.Comment: Accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio
Detecting gravitational waves from inspiraling binaries with a network of detectors : coherent versus coincident strategies
We compare two strategies of multi-detector detection of compact binary
inspiral signals, namely, the coincidence and the coherent. For simplicity we
consider here two identical detectors having the same power spectral density of
noise, that of initial LIGO, located in the same place and having the same
orientation. We consider the cases of independent noise as well as that of
correlated noise. The coincident strategy involves separately making two
candidate event lists, one for each detector, and from these choosing those
pairs of events from the two lists which lie within a suitable parameter
window, which then are called as coincidence detections. The coherent strategy
on the other hand involves combining the data phase coherently, so as to obtain
a single network statistic which is then compared with a single threshold. Here
we attempt to shed light on the question as to which strategy is better. We
compare the performances of the two methods by plotting the Receiver Operating
Characteristics (ROC) for the two strategies. Several of the results are
obtained analytically in order to gain insight. Further we perform numerical
simulations in order to determine certain parameters in the analytic formulae
and thus obtain the final complete results. We consider here several cases from
the relatively simple to the astrophysically more relevant in order to
establish our results. The bottom line is that the coherent strategy although
more computationally expensive in general than the coincidence strategy, is
superior to the coincidence strategy - considerably less false dismissal
probability for the same false alarm probability in the viable false alarm
regime.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, typo correcte
Radio Galaxy Zoo: Cosmological Alignment of Radio Sources
We study the mutual alignment of radio sources within two surveys, FIRST and
TGSS. This is done by producing two position angle catalogues containing the
preferential directions of respectively and extended
sources distributed over more than and square degrees. The
identification of the sources in the FIRST sample was performed in advance by
volunteers of the Radio Galaxy Zoo project, while for the TGSS sample it is the
result of an automated process presented here. After taking into account
systematic effects, marginal evidence of a local alignment on scales smaller
than is found in the FIRST sample. The probability of this happening
by chance is found to be less than per cent. Further study suggests that on
scales up to the alignment is maximal. For one third of the sources,
the Radio Galaxy Zoo volunteers identified an optical counterpart. Assuming a
flat CDM cosmology with , we
convert the maximum angular scale on which alignment is seen into a physical
scale in the range Mpc . This result supports recent
evidence reported by Taylor and Jagannathan of radio jet alignment in the
deg ELAIS N1 field observed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope. The
TGSS sample is found to be too sparsely populated to manifest a similar signal
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