2,107 research outputs found
Searching for annihilation radiation from SN 1006 with SPI on INTEGRAL
Historical Type Ia supernovae are a leading candidate for the source of
positrons observed through their diffuse annihilation emission in the Galaxy.
However, search for annihilation emission from individual Type Ia supernovae
has not been possible before the improved sensitivity of \integral. The total
511 keV annihilation flux from individual SNe Ia, as well as their contribution
to the overall diffuse emission, depends critically on the escape fraction of
positrons produced in Co decays. Late optical light curves suggest that
this fraction may be as high as 5%. We searched for positron annihilation
radiation from the historical Type Ia supernova SN 1006 using the SPI
instrument on \integral. We did not detect significant 511 keV line emission,
with a 3 flux upper limit of 0.59 x 10 ergs cm^-2 s^-1 for \wsim
1 Msec exposure time, assuming a FWHM of 2.5 keV. This upper limit corresponds
to a 7.5% escape fraction, 50% higher than the expected 5% escape scenario, and
rules out the possibility that Type Ia supernovae produce all of the positrons
in the Galaxy (~ 12% escape fraction), if the mean positron lifetime is less
than 10 years. Future observations with \integral will provide stronger
limits on the escape fraction of positrons, the mean positron lifetime, and the
contribution of Type Ia supernovae to the overall positron content of the
Galaxy.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Spectral Analysis of GRBs Measured by RHESSI
The Ge spectrometer of the RHESSI satellite is sensitive to Gamma Ray Bursts
(GRBs) from about 40 keV up to 17 MeV, thus ideally complementing the Swift/BAT
instrument whose sensitivity decreases above 150 keV. We present preliminary
results of spectral fits of RHESSI GRB data. After describing our method, the
RHESSI results are discussed and compared with Swift and Konus.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, conference proceedings, 'Swift and GRBs:
Unveiling the Relativistic Universe', San Servolo, Venice, 5-9 June 2006, to
appear in Il Nouvo Ciment
Spectra and Symmetry in Nuclear Pairing
We apply the algebraic Bethe ansatz technique to the nuclear pairing problem
with orbit dependent coupling constants and degenerate single particle energy
levels. We find the exact energies and eigenstates. We show that for a given
shell, there are degeneracies between the states corresponding to less and more
than half full shell. We also provide a technique to solve the equations of
Bethe ansatz.Comment: 15 pages of REVTEX with 2 eps figure
RPL26 (ribosomal protein L26)
Review on RPL26 (ribosomal protein L26), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated
The Giant Flare of December 27, 2004 from SGR 1806-20
The giant flare of December 27, 2004 from SGR 1806-20 represents one of the
most extraordinary events captured in over three decades of monitoring the
gamma-ray sky. One measure of the intensity of the main peak is its effect on
X- and gamma-ray instruments. RHESSI, an instrument designed to study the
brightest solar flares, was completely saturated for ~0.5 s following the start
of the main peak. A fortuitous alignment of SGR 1806-20 near the Sun at the
time of the giant flare, however, allowed RHESSI a unique view of the giant
flare event, including the precursor, the main peak decay, and the pulsed tail.
Since RHESSI was saturated during the main peak, we augment these observations
with Wind and RHESSI particle detector data in order to reconstruct the main
peak as well. Here we present detailed spectral analysis and evolution of the
giant flare. We report the novel detection of a relatively soft fast peak just
milliseconds before the main peak, whose timescale and sizescale indicate a
magnetospheric origin. We present the novel detection of emission extending up
to 17 MeV immediately following the main peak, perhaps revealing a
highly-extended corona driven by the hyper-Eddington luminosities. The spectral
evolution and pulse evolution during the tail are presented, demonstrating
significant magnetospheric twist and evolution during this phase. Blackbody
radii are derived for every stage of the flare, which show remarkable agreement
despite the range of luminosities and temperatures covered. Finally, we place
significant upper limits on afterglow emission in the hundreds of seconds
following the giant flare.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Ap
Testing Lorentz Invariance with GRB021206
Since the discovery of the cosmological origin of GRBs there has been growing
interest in using these transient events to probe the quantum gravity energy
scale in the range 10^16--10^19 GeV, up to the Planck mass scale. This energy
scale can manifest itself through a measurable modification in the
electromagnetic radiation dispersion relation for high energy photons
originating from cosmological distances. We have used data from the gamma-ray
burst (GRB) of 6 December 2002 (GRB021206) to place an upper bound on the
energy dispersion of the speed of light. The limit on the first-order quantum
gravity effects derived from this single GRB indicate that the energy scale is
in excess of 1.8x10^17 GeV. We discuss a program to further constrain the
energy scale by systematically studying such GRBs.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Recoiling from a kick in the head-on collision of spinning black holes
Recoil ``kicks'' induced by gravitational radiation are expected in the
inspiral and merger of black holes. Recently the numerical relativity community
has begun to measure the significant kicks found when both unequal masses and
spins are considered. Because understanding the cause and magnitude of each
component of this kick may be complicated in inspiral simulations, we consider
these effects in the context of a simple test problem. We study recoils from
collisions of binaries with initially head-on trajectories, starting with the
simplest case of equal masses with no spin and then adding spin and varying the
mass ratio, both separately and jointly. We find spin-induced recoils to be
significant relative to unequal-mass recoils even in head-on configurations.
Additionally, it appears that the scaling of transverse kicks with spins is
consistent with post-Newtonian theory, even though the kick is generated in the
nonlinear merger interaction, where post-Newtonian theory should not apply.
This suggests that a simple heuristic description might be effective in the
estimation of spin-kicks.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Replaced with published version, including more
discussion of convergence and properties of final hol
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