A Chandra observation of GRO J1744-28: the bursting pulsar in quiescence

We present a Chandra/ACIS-I observation of GRO J1744-28. We detected a source at a position of R.A = 17h 44m 33.09s and Dec. = -28degr 44' 27.0'' (J2000.0; with a 1sigma error of ~0.8 arcseconds), consistent with both ROSAT and interplanetary network localizations of GRO J1744-28 when it was in outburst. This makes it likely that we have detected the quiescent X-ray counterpart of GRO J1744-28. Our Chandra position demonstrates that the previously proposed infrared counterpart is not related to GRO J1744-28. The 0.5-10 keV luminosity of the source is 2 - 4 x 10^{33} erg/s (assuming the source is near the Galactic center at a distance of 8 kpc). We discuss our results in the context of the quiescent X-ray emission of pulsating and non-pulsating neutron star X-ray transients.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 20 February 200

On the Chandra X-ray Sources in the Galactic Center

Recent deep Chandra surveys of the Galactic center region have revealed the existence of a faint, hard X-ray source population. While the nature of this population is unknown, it is likely that several types of stellar objects contribute. For sources involving binary systems, accreting white dwarfs and accreting neutron stars with main sequence companions have been proposed. Among the accreting neutron star systems, previous studies have focused on stellar wind-fed sources. In this paper, we point out that binary systems in which mass transfer occurs via Roche lobe overflow (RLOF) can also contribute to this X-ray source population. A binary population synthesis study of the Galactic center region has been carried out, and it is found that evolutionary channels for neutron star formation involving the accretion induced collapse of a massive ONeMg white dwarf, in addition to the core collapse of massive stars, can contribute to this population. The RLOF systems would appear as transients with quiescent luminosities, above 2 keV, in the range from 10^31-10^32 ergs/s. The results reveal that RLOF systems primarily contribute to the faint X-ray source population in the Muno et al. (2003) survey and wind-fed systems can contribute to the less sensitive Wang et al. (2002) survey. However, our results suggest that accreting neutron star systems are not likely to be the major contributor to the faint X-ray source population in the Galactic center.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 table ApJ in press (Dec 2004). Substantial change

A XMM-Newton observation during the 2000 outburst of SAX J1808.4-3658

I present a XMM-Newton observation of the accretion driven millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 during its 2000 outburst. The source was conclusively detected, albeit at a level of only ~2 x 10^{32} erg/s. The source spectrum could be fitted with a power-law model (with a photon index of ~2.2), a neutron star atmosphere model (with a temperature of ~0.2 keV), or with a combination of a thermal (either a black-body or an atmosphere model) and a power-law component. During a XMM-Newton observation taken approximately one year later, the source was in quiescence and its luminosity was a factor of ~4 lower. It is possible that the source spectrum during the 2000 outburst was softer than its quiescent 2001 spectrum, however, the statistics of the data do not allow to make a firm conclusion. The results obtained are discussed in the context of the 2000 outburst of SAX J1808.4-3658 and the quiescent properties of the source.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 15 January 200

Quasi-Superradiant Soliton State of Matter in Quantum Metamaterials

Strong interaction of a system of quantum emitters (e.g., two-level atoms) with electromagnetic field induces specific correlations in the system accompanied by a drastic insrease of emitted radiation (superradiation or superfluorescence). Despite the fact that since its prediction this phenomenon was subject to a vigorous experimental and theoretical research, there remain open question, in particular, concerning the possibility of a first order phase transition to the superradiant state from the vacuum state. In systems of natural and charge-based artificial atome this transition is prohibited by "no-go" theorems. Here we demonstrate numerically a similar transition in a one-dimensional quantum metamaterial - a chain of artificial atoms (qubits) strongly interacting with classical electromagnetic fields in a transmission line. The system switches from vacuum state with zero classical electromagnetic fields and all qubits being in the ground state to the quasi-superradiant (QS) phase with one or several magnetic solitons and finite average occupation of qubit excited states along the transmission line. A quantum metamaterial in the QS phase circumvents the "no-go" restrictions by considerably decreasing its total energy relative to the vacuum state by exciting nonlinear electromagnetic solitons with many nonlinearly coupled electromagnetic modes in the presence of external magnetic field.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

XMM-Newton observations of the neutron star X-ray transient KS 1731-260 in quiescence

We report on XMM-Newton observations performed on 2001 September 13-14 of the neutron star X-ray transient KS 1731-260 in quiescence. The source was detected at an unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux of only 4 - 8 x 10^{-14} erg/s, depending on the model used to fit the data, which for a distance of 7 kpc implies a 0.5-10 keV X-ray luminosity of approximately 2 - 5 x 10^{32} erg/s. The September 2001 quiescent flux of KS 1731-260 is lower than that observed during the Chandra observation in March 2001. In the cooling neutron star model for the quiescent X-ray emission of neutron star X-ray transients, this decrease in the quiescent flux implies that the crust of the neutron star in KS 1731-260 cooled down rapidly between the two epochs, indicating that the crust has a high conductivity. Furthermore, enhanced cooling in the neutron star core is also favored by our results.Comment: Accepter for publication in ApJ Letters, 22 May 200

Quiescent Thermal Emission from the Neutron Star in Aql X-1

We report on the quiescent spectrum measured with Chandra/ACIS-S of the transient, type-I X-ray bursting neutron star Aql X-1, immediately following an accretion outburst. The neutron star radius, assuming a pure hydrogen atmosphere and hard power-law spectrum, is $R_\infty$=13.4{+5}{-4} (d/5 \kpc) km. Based on the historical outburst record of RXTE/ASM, the quiescent luminosity is consistent with that predicted by Brown, Bildsten and Rutledge from deep crustal heating, lending support to this theory for providing a minimum quiescent luminosity of transient neutron stars. While not required by the data, the hard power-law component can account for 18+/-8% of the 0.5-10 keV thermal flux. Short-timescale intensity variability during this observation is less than 15% rms (3 sigma; 0.0001-1 Hz, 0.2-8 keV). Comparison between the Chandra spectrum and three X-ray spectral observations made between Oct 1992 and Oct 1996 find all spectra consistent with a pure H atmosphere, but with temperatures ranging from 145--168 eV, spanning a factor of 1.87+/-0.21 in observed flux. The source of variability in the quiescent luminosity on long timescales (greater than years) remains a puzzle. If from accretion, then it remains to be explained why the quiescent accretion rate provides a luminosity so nearly equal to that from deep crustal heating.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables; ApJ, accepte

A model for the interaction of high-energy particles in straight and bent crystals implemented in Geant4

A model for the simulation of orientational effects in straight and bent periodic atomic structures is presented. The continuum potential approximation has been adopted.The model allows the manipulation of particle trajectories by means of straight and bent crystals and the scaling of the cross sections of hadronic and electromagnetic processes for channeled particles. Based on such a model, an extension of the Geant4 toolkit has been developed. The code has been validated against data from channeling experiments carried out at CERN

Chandra observations of the bursting X-ray transient SAX J1747.0-2853 during low-level accretion activity

We present Chandra/ACIS observations of the bursting X-ray transient SAX J1747.0-2853 performed on 18 July 2001. We detected a bright source at the position of R.A = 17^h 47^m 02.60^s and Dec. = -28 52' 58.9'' (J2000.0; with a 1 sigma error of ~0.7 arcseconds), consistent with the BeppoSAX and ASCA positions of SAX J1747.0-2853 and with the Ariel V position of the transient GX +0.2,-0.2, which was active during the 1970's. The 0.5-10 keV luminosity of the source during our observations was ~3 x 10^{35} erg/s (assuming a distance of 9 kpc) demonstrating that the source was in a low-level accretion state. We also report on the long-term light curve of the source as observed with the all sky monitor aboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. After the initial 1998 outburst, two more outbursts (in 2000 and 2001) were detected with peak luminosities about two orders of magnitude larger than our Chandra luminosity. Our Chandra observation falls in-between those two outbursts, making the outburst history for SAX J1747.0-2853 complex. Those bright 2000 and 2001 outbursts combined with the likely extended period of low level activity in-between those outbursts strongly suggest that the classification of SAX J1747.0-2853 as a faint X-ray transient was premature. It might be possible that the other faint X-ray transients also can exhibit bright, extended outbursts which would eliminate the need for a separate sub-class of X-ray transients. We discuss our results also in the context of the behavior of X-ray binaries accreting at low levels with luminosities around 10^{35} erg/s, a poorly studied accretion rate regime.Comment: Accepte for publication in ApJ, 11 July 200

Coupled-Cluster Approach to Electron Correlations in the Two-Dimensional Hubbard Model

We have studied electron correlations in the doped two-dimensional (2D) Hubbard model by using the coupled-cluster method (CCM) to investigate whether or not the method can be applied to correct the independent particle approximations actually used in ab-initio band calculations. The double excitation version of the CCM, implemented using the approximate coupled pair (ACP) method, account for most of the correlation energies of the 2D Hubbard model in the weak ($U/t \simeq 1$) and the intermediate $U/t$ regions ($U/t \simeq 4$). The error is always less than 1% there. The ACP approximation gets less accurate for large $U/t$ ($U/t \simeq 8$) and/or near half-filling. Further incorporation of electron correlation effects is necessary in this region. The accuracy does not depend on the system size and the gap between the lowest unoccupied level and the highest occupied level due to the finite size effect. Hence, the CCM may be favorably applied to ab-initio band calculations on metals as well as semiconductors and insulators.Comment: RevTeX3.0, 4 pages, 4 figure

Free field approach to diagonalization of boundary transfer matrix : recent advances

We diagonalize infinitely many commuting operators $T_B(z)$. We call these operators $T_B(z)$ the boundary transfer matrix associated with the quantum group and the elliptic quantum group. The boundary transfer matrix is related to the solvable model with a boundary. When we diagonalize the boundary transfer matrix, we can calculate the correlation functions for the solvable model with a boundary. We review the free field approach to diagonalization of the boundary transfer matrix $T_B(z)$ associated with $U_q(A_2^{(2)})$ and $U_{q,p}(\hat{sl_N})$. We construct the free field realizations of the eigenvectors of the boundary transfer matrix $T_B(z)$. This paper includes new unpublished formula of the eigenvector for $U_q(A_2^{(2)})$. It is thought that this diagonalization method can be extended to more general quantum group $U_q(g)$ and elliptic quantum group $U_{q,p}(g)$.Comment: To appear in Group 28 : Group Theoretical Method in Physic