666 research outputs found
A Statistical Study of GRB X-ray Flares: Evidence of Ubiquitous Bulk Acceleration in the Emission Region
When emission in a conical relativistic jet ceases abruptly (or decays
sharply), the observed decay light curve is controlled by the high-latitude
"curvature effect". Recently, Uhm & Zhang found that the decay slopes of three
GRB X-ray flares are steeper than what the standard model predicts. This
requires bulk acceleration of the emission region, which is consistent with a
Poynting-flux-dominated outflow. In this paper, we systematically analyze a
sample of 85 bright X-ray flares detected in 63 Swift GRBs, and investigate the
relationship between the temporal decay index and spectral index
during the steep decay phase of these flares. The value
depends on the choice of the zero time point . We adopt two methods.
"Method I" takes as the first rising data point of each flare, and is
the most conservative approach. We find that at 99.9% condifence level 56/85
flares have decay slopes steeper than the simplest curvature effect prediction,
and therefore, are in the acceleration regime. "Method II" extrapolates the
rising light curve of each flare backwards until the flux density is three
orders of magnitude lower than the peak flux density, and defines the
corresponding time as the time zero point (t_0^II). We find that 74/85 flares
fall into the acceleration regime at 99.9% condifence level. This suggests that
bulk acceleration is common, may be even ubiquitous among X-ray flares,
pointing towards a Poynting-flux-dominated jet composition for these events.Comment: 68 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, ApJS, in pres
Gamma-Ray Burst/Supernova Associations: Energy Partition and the Case of a Magnetar Central Engine
The favored progenitor model for Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) with Supernova (SN) association is the core collapse of massive stars. One possible outcome of such a collapse is a rapidly spinning, strongly magnetized neutron star ( magnetar ). We systematically analyze the multi-wavelength data of GRB/SN associations detected by several instruments before 2017 June. Twenty GRB/SN systems have been confirmed via direct spectroscopic evidence or a clear light curve bump, as well as some spectroscopic evidence resembling a GRB-SN. We derive/collect the basic physical parameters of the GRBs and the SNe, and look for correlations among these parameters. We find that the peak brightness, 56Ni mass, and explosion energy of SNe associated with GRBs are statistically higher than other Type Ib/c SNe. A statistically significant relation between the peak energy of GRBs and the peak brightness of their associated SNe is confirmed. No significant correlations are found between the GRB energies (either isotropic or beaming-corrected) and the supernova energy. We investigate the energy partition within these systems and find that the beaming-corrected GRB energy of most systems is smaller than the SN energy, with less than 30% of the total energy distributed in the relativistic jet. The total energy of the systems is typically smaller than the maximum available energy of a millisecond magnetar (2 × 1052 erg), especially if aspherical SN explosions are considered. The data are consistent with—although not proof of—the hypothesis that most, but not all, GRB/SN systems are powered by millisecond magnetars
A Study of Fermi-LAT GeV gamma-ray Emission towards the Magnetar-harboring Supernova Remnant Kesteven 73 and Its Molecular Environment
We report our independent GeV gamma-ray study of the young shell-type
supernova remnant (SNR) Kes 73 which harbors a central magnetar, and CO-line
millimeter observations toward the SNR. Using 7.6 years of Fermi-LAT
observation data, we detected an extended gamma-ray source ("source A") with
the centroid on the west of the SNR, with a significance of 21.6 sigma in
0.1-300 GeV and an error circle of 5.4 arcminute in angular radius. The
gamma-ray spectrum cannot be reproduced by a pure leptonic emission or a pure
emission from the magnetar, and thus a hadronic emission component is needed.
The CO-line observations reveal a molecular cloud (MC) at V_LSR~90 km/s, which
demonstrates morphological correspondence with the western boundary of the SNR
brightened in multiwavelength. The 12CO (J=2-1)/12CO (J=1-0) ratio in the left
(blue) wing 85-88 km/s is prominently elevated to ~1.1 along the northwestern
boundary, providing kinematic evidence of the SNR-MC interaction. This SNR-MC
association yields a kinematic distance 9 kpc to Kes 73. The MC is shown to be
capable of accounting for the hadronic gamma-ray emission component. The
gamma-ray spectrum can be interpreted with a pure hadronic emission or a
magnetar+hadronic hybrid emission. In the case of pure hadronic emission, the
spectral index of the protons is 2.4, very similar to that of the
radio-emitting electrons, essentially consistent with the diffusive shock
acceleration theory. In the case of magnetar+hadronic hybrid emission, a
magnetic field decay rate >= 10^36 erg/s is needed to power the magnetar's
curvature radiation.Comment: 7 figures, published in Ap
Gas kinematics and star formation in the filamentary molecular cloud G47.06+0.26
We performed a multi-wavelength study toward the filamentary cloud
G47.06+0.26 to investigate the gas kinematics and star formation. We present
the 12CO (J=1-0), 13CO (J=1-0) and C18O (J=1-0) observations of G47.06+0.26
obtained with the Purple Mountain Observation (PMO) 13.7 m radio telescope to
investigate the detailed kinematics of the filament. The 12CO (J=1-0) and 13CO
(J=1-0) emission of G47.06+0.26 appear to show a filamentary structure. The
filament extends about 45 arcmin (58.1 pc) along the east-west direction. The
mean width is about 6.8 pc, as traced by the 13CO (J=1-0) emission. G47.06+0.26
has a linear mass density of about 361.5 Msun/pc. The external pressure (due to
neighboring bubbles and H II regions) may help preventing the filament from
dispersing under the effects of turbulence. From the velocity-field map, we
discern a velocity gradient perpendicular to G47.06+0.26. From the Bolocam
Galactic Plane Survey (BGPS) catalog, we found nine BGPS sources in
G47.06+0.26, that appear to these sources have sufficient mass to form massive
stars. We obtained that the clump formation efficiency (CFE) is about 18% in
the filament. Four infrared bubbles were found to be located in, and adjacent
to, G47.06+0.26. Particularly, infrared bubble N98 shows a cometary structure.
CO molecular gas adjacent to N98 also shows a very intense emission. H II
regions associated with infrared bubbles can inject the energy to surrounding
gas. We calculated the kinetic energy, ionization energy, and thermal energy of
two H II regions in G47.06+0.26. From the GLIMPSE I catalog, we selected some
Class I sources with an age of about 100000 yr, which are clustered along the
filament. The feedback from the H II regions may cause the formation of a new
generation of stars in filament G47.06+0.26.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Quantized charge-pumping in higher-order topological insulators
We study the quantized charge pumping of higher-order topological insulators
(HOTIs) with edge-corner correspondences based on the combination of the
rotation of in-plane magnetic field and the quantum spin Hall effect. A picture
of a specific charge pumping process is uncovered with the help of the
non-equilibrium Green's function method. Significantly, we demonstrate that the
quantized charge pumping current is achieved without the participation of bulk
states, and the charges move along the boundary of the sample. Furthermore, the
effects of external parameters on the pumping current is also studied. We find
that the magnitude and direction of the pumping current can be manipulated by
adjusting the coupling strength between the leads and sample. Our work deepens
the understanding of the charge pumping in HOTIs and extends the study of their
transport properties.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Nonlinear quantum input-output analysis using Volterra series
Quantum input-output theory plays a very important role for analyzing the
dynamics of quantum systems, especially large-scale quantum networks. As an
extension of the input-output formalism of Gardiner and Collet, we develop a
new approach based on the quantum version of the Volterra series which can be
used to analyze nonlinear quantum input-output dynamics. By this approach, we
can ignore the internal dynamics of the quantum input-output system and
represent the system dynamics by a series of kernel functions. This approach
has the great advantage of modelling weak-nonlinear quantum networks. In our
approach, the number of parameters, represented by the kernel functions, used
to describe the input-output response of a weak-nonlinear quantum network,
increases linearly with the scale of the quantum network, not exponentially as
usual. Additionally, our approach can be used to formulate the quantum network
with both nonlinear and nonconservative components, e.g., quantum amplifiers,
which cannot be modelled by the existing methods, such as the
Hudson-Parthasarathy model and the quantum transfer function model. We apply
our general method to several examples, including Kerr cavities, optomechanical
transducers, and a particular coherent feedback system with a nonlinear
component and a quantum amplifier in the feedback loop. This approach provides
a powerful way to the modelling and control of nonlinear quantum networks.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
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