95 research outputs found
Chandra Observations of SNR 1987A
We report on the results of our monitoring program of the X-ray remnant of
supernova 1987A with the {\it Chandra X-Ray Observatory}. We have performed two
new observations during the {\it Chandra} Cycle 3 period, bringing the total to
six monitoring observations over the past three years. These six observations
provide a detailed time history of the birth of a new supernova remnant in
X-rays. The high angular resolution images indicate that soft X-ray bright
knots are associated with the optical spots, while hard X-ray features are
better correlated with radio images. We interpret this in terms of a model in
which fast shocks propagating through the circumstellar HII region produce the
hard X-ray and radio emission, while the soft X-ray and optical emission arise
in slower shocks entering into dense knots in the circumstellar inner ring. New
observations begin to show changes in the morphology that may herald a new
stage in the development of this incipient supernova remnant. The observed
X-ray fluxes increase by nearly a factor of three over the last 30 months. The
X-ray remnant is expanding at a velocity of 5000 km s.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 2 color figures, To appear in AdSpR (Proceedings
34th COSPAR Synposium E1.4 "High Energy Studies of Supernova Remnants and
Neutron stars" For high resolution color figures contact [email protected]
Science with the EXTraS Project: Exploring the X-ray Transient and variable Sky
The EXTraS project (Exploring the X-ray Transient and variable Sky) will
characterise the temporal behaviour of the largest ever sample of objects in
the soft X-ray range (0.1-12 keV) with a complex, systematic and consistent
analysis of all data collected by the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC)
instrument onboard the ESA XMM-Newton X-ray observatory since its launch. We
will search for, and characterize variability (both periodic and aperiodic) in
hundreds of thousands of sources spanning more than nine orders of magnitude in
time scale and six orders of magnitude in flux. We will also search for fast
transients, missed by standard image analysis. Our analysis will be completed
by multiwavelength characterization of new discoveries and phenomenological
classification of variable sources. All results and products will be made
available to the community in a public archive, serving as a reference for a
broad range of astrophysical investigations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Refereed Proceeding of "The Universe of Digital
Sky Surveys" conference held at the INAF - Observatory of Capodimonte,
Naples, on 25th-28th November 2014, to be published in the Astrophysics and
Space Science Proceedings, edited by Longo, Napolitano, Marconi, Paolillo,
Iodic
Ultra-Transparent Antarctic Ice as a Supernova Detector
We have simulated the response of a high energy neutrino telescope in deep
Antarctic ice to the stream of low energy neutrinos produced by a supernova.
The passage of a large flux of MeV-energy neutrinos during a period of seconds
will be detected as an excess of single counting rates in all individual
optical modules. We update here a previous estimate of the performance of such
an instrument taking into account the recent discovery of absorption lengths of
several hundred meters for near-UV photons in natural deep ice. The existing
AMANDA detector can, even by the most conservative estimates, act as a galactic
supernova watch.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex file, no figures. Postscript file also available from
http://phenom.physics.wisc.edu/pub/preprints/1995/madph-95-888.ps.Z or from
ftp://phenom.physics.wisc.edu/pub/preprints/1995/madph-95-888.ps.
Swift detection of a third burst from SGR J1745-29
At 02:09:09 UT on August 5th, 2013, Swift/BAT triggered on a short SGR-like burst (GCN #15069) consistent with the location of SGR J1745-29, a recently discovered magnetar near Sgr A* (e.g. Kennea et al., 2013). This is the third burst detected from SGR J1745-29 after its first on April 25th, 2013 (ATEL #5009) and second on June 7th, 2013 (ATEL #5124)
GRB 081028 and its late-time afterglow re-brightening
‘The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com '. Copyright Royal Astronomical SocietySwift captured for the first time a smoothly rising X-ray re-brightening of clear non-flaring origin after the steep decay in a long gamma-ray burst (GRB): GRB 081028. A rising phase is likely present in all GRBs but is usually hidden by the prompt tail emission and constitutes the first manifestation of what is later to give rise to the shallow decay phase. Contemporaneous optical observations reveal a rapid evolution of the injection frequency of a fast cooling synchrotron spectrum through the optical band, which disfavours the afterglow onset (start of the forward shock emission along our line of sight when the outflow is decelerated) as the origin of the observed re-brightening. We investigate alternative scenarios and find that the observations are consistent with the predictions for a narrow jet viewed off-axis. The high on-axis energy budget implied by this interpretation suggests different physical origins of the prompt and (late) afterglow emission. Strong spectral softening takes place from the prompt to the steep decay phase: we track the evolution of the spectral peak energy from the γ-rays to the X-rays and highlight the problems of the high latitude and adiabatic cooling interpretations. Notably, a softening of both the high and low spectral slopes with time is also observed. We discuss the low on-axis radiative efficiency of GRB 081028 comparing its properties against a sample of Swift long GRBs with secure Eγ,iso measurements.Peer reviewe
The first multi-wavelength campaign of AXP 4U 0142+61 from radio to hard X-rays
For the first time a quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength campaign has been
performed on an Anomalous X-ray Pulsar from the radio to the hard X-ray band.
4U 0142+61 was an INTEGRAL target for 1 Ms in July 2005. During these
observations it was also observed in the X-ray band with Swift and RXTE, in the
optical and NIR with Gemini North and in the radio with the WSRT. In this paper
we present the source-energy distribution. The spectral results obtained in the
individual wave bands do not connect smoothly; apparently components of
different origin contribute to the total spectrum. Remarkable is that the
INTEGRAL hard X-ray spectrum (power-law index 0.79 +/- 0.10) is now measured up
to an energy of ~230 keV with no indication of a spectral break. Extrapolation
of the INTEGRAL power-law spectrum to lower energies passes orders of magnitude
underneath the NIR and optical fluxes, as well as the low ~30 microJy (2 sigma)
upper limit in the radio band.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. To be published in the proceedings of the
conference "Isolated Neutron Stars: from the Interior to the Surface" (April
24-28, 2006, London, UK), eds. S. Zane, R. Turolla and D. Pag
United classification of cosmic gamma-ray bursts and their counterparts
United classification of gamma-ray bursts and their counterparts is
established on the basis of measured characteristics: photon energy E and
emission duration T. The founded interrelation between the mentioned
characteristics of events consists in that, as the energy increases, the
duration decreases (and vice versa). The given interrelation reflects the
nature of the phenomenon and forms the E-T diagram, which represents a natural
classification of all observed events in the energy range from 10E9 to 10E-6 eV
and in the corresponding interval of durations from about 10E-2 up to 10E8 s.
The proposed classification results in the consequences, which are principal
for the theory and practical study of the phenomenon.Comment: Keywords Gamma rays: burst
The Spectrum of Electromagnetic Jets from Kerr Black Holes and Naked Singularities in the Teukolsky Perturbation Theory
We give a new theoretical basis for examination of the presence of the Kerr
black hole (KBH) or the Kerr naked singularity (KNS) in the central engine of
different astrophysical objects around which astrophysical jets are typically
formed: X-ray binary systems, gamma ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei
(AGN), etc. Our method is based on the study of the exact solutions of the
Teukolsky master equation for electromagnetic perturbations of the Kerr metric.
By imposing original boundary conditions on the solutions so that they describe
a collimated electromagnetic outflow, we obtain the spectra of possible {\em
primary jets} of radiation, introduced here for the first time. The theoretical
spectra of primary electromagnetic jets are calculated numerically. Our main
result is a detailed description of the qualitative change of the behavior of
primary electromagnetic jet frequencies under the transition from the KBH to
the KNS, considered here as a bifurcation of the Kerr metric. We show that
quite surprisingly the novel spectra describe linearly stable primary
electromagnetic jets from both the KBH and the KNS. Numerical investigation of
the dependence of these primary jet spectra on the rotation of the Kerr metric
is presented and discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 35 figures, LaTeX file. Final version. Accepted for
publication in Astrophysics and Space Science. Amendments. Typos corrected.
Novel notion -"primary jet" is introduced. New references and comments adde
Exploring the sub-eV neutrino mass range with supernova neutrinos
A new method to study the effects of neutrino masses on a supernova neutrino
signal is proposed. The method relies exclusively on the analysis of the full
statistics of neutrino events, it is independent of astrophysical assumptions,
and does not require the observation of any additional phenomenon to trace
possible delays in the neutrino arrival times. The sensitivity of the method to
the sub-eV neutrino mass range, defined as the capability of disentangling at
95% c.l. the case eV from , is tested by analyzing a set of
synthetic neutrino samples modeled according to the signal that could be
detected at SuperKamiokande. For a supernova at the Galactic center success is
achieved in more than 50% of the cases. It is argued that a future Galactic
supernova yielding several thousands of inverse decays might provide
enough information to explore a neutrino mass range somewhat below 1 eV.Comment: Included analysis with numerical neutrino energy spectrum and
oscillations effects. 7 pages, 6 figure
The Swift-XRT imaging Performances and Serendipitous Survey
We are exploiting thc Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) deepest GR.B follow-up observations to study the cosmic X-Ray Background (XRB) population in the 0.2-10 keV energy band. We present some preliminary results of a serendipitous survey performed on 221 fields observed with exposure longer than 10 ks. We show that the XRT is a profitable instrument for surveys and that it is particularly suitable for the search and observation of ext,ended objects like clusters of galaxies. We used the brightest serendipitous sources and the longest observations to test. the XRT optics performance and the background characteristics all over the field of view, in different energy bands during the first 2.5 years of fully operational missions
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