15 research outputs found
Supernova pointing with low- and high-energy neutrino detectors
A future galactic SN can be located several hours before the optical
explosion through the MeV-neutrino burst, exploiting the directionality of
--scattering in a water Cherenkov detector such as Super-Kamiokande. We
study the statistical efficiency of different methods for extracting the SN
direction and identify a simple approach that is nearly optimal, yet
independent of the exact SN neutrino spectra. We use this method to quantify
the increase in the pointing accuracy by the addition of gadolinium to water,
which tags neutrons from the inverse beta decay background. We also study the
dependence of the pointing accuracy on neutrino mixing scenarios and initial
spectra. We find that in the ``worst case'' scenario the pointing accuracy is
at 95% C.L. in the absence of tagging, which improves to
with a tagging efficiency of 95%. At a megaton detector, this accuracy can be
as good as . A TeV-neutrino burst is also expected to be emitted
contemporaneously with the SN optical explosion, which may locate the SN to
within a few tenths of a degree at a future km high-energy neutrino
telescope. If the SN is not seen in the electromagnetic spectrum, locating it
in the sky through neutrinos is crucial for identifying the Earth matter
effects on SN neutrino oscillations.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, Revtex4 format. The final version to be
published in Phys. Rev. D. A few points in the original text are clarifie
Theoretical overview on high-energy emission in microquasars
Microquasar (MQ) jets are sites of particle acceleration and synchrotron
emission. Such synchrotron radiation has been detected coming from jet regions
of different spatial scales, which for the instruments at work nowadays appear
as compact radio cores, slightly resolved radio jets, or (very) extended
structures. Because of the presence of relativistic particles and dense photon,
magnetic and matter fields, these outflows are also the best candidates to
generate the very high-energy (VHE) gamma-rays detected coming from two of
these objects, LS 5039 and LS I +61 303, and may be contributing significantly
to the X-rays emitted from the MQ core. In addition, beside electromagnetic
radiation, jets at different scales are producing some amount of leptonic and
hadronic cosmic rays (CR), and evidences of neutrino production in these
objects may be eventually found. In this work, we review on the different
physical processes that may be at work in or related to MQ jets. The jet
regions capable to produce significant amounts of emission at different
wavelengths have been reduced to the jet base, the jet at scales of the order
of the size of the system orbital semi-major axis, the jet middle scales (the
resolved radio jets), and the jet termination point. The surroundings of the
jet could be sites of multiwavelegnth emission as well, deserving also an
insight. We focus on those scenarios, either hadronic or leptonic, in which it
seems more plausible to generate both photons from radio to VHE and high-energy
neutrinos. We briefly comment as well on the relevance of MQ as possible
contributors to the galactic CR in the GeV-PeV range.Comment: Astrophysics & Space Science, in press (invited talk in the
conference: The multimessenger approach to the high-energy gamma-ray
sources", Barcelona/Catalonia, in July 4-7); 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables
(one reference corrected
Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Underlying Model
A pedagogical derivation is presented of the ``fireball'' model of gamma-ray
bursts, according to which the observable effects are due to the dissipation of
the kinetic energy of a relativistically expanding wind, a ``fireball.'' The
main open questions are emphasized, and key afterglow observations, that
provide support for this model, are briefly discussed. The relativistic outflow
is, most likely, driven by the accretion of a fraction of a solar mass onto a
newly born (few) solar mass black hole. The observed radiation is produced once
the plasma has expanded to a scale much larger than that of the underlying
``engine,'' and is therefore largely independent of the details of the
progenitor, whose gravitational collapse leads to fireball formation. Several
progenitor scenarios, and the prospects for discrimination among them using
future observations, are discussed. The production in gamma- ray burst
fireballs of high energy protons and neutrinos, and the implications of burst
neutrino detection by kilometer-scale telescopes under construction, are
briefly discussed.Comment: In "Supernovae and Gamma Ray Bursters", ed. K. W. Weiler, Lecture
Notes in Physics, Springer-Verlag (in press); 26 pages, 2 figure
Fermi acceleration in astrophysical jets
We consider the acceleration of energetic particles by Fermi processes (i.e.,
diffusive shock acceleration, second order Fermi acceleration, and gradual
shear acceleration) in relativistic astrophysical jets, with particular
attention given to recent progress in the field of viscous shear acceleration.
We analyze the associated acceleration timescales and the resulting particle
distributions, and discuss the relevance of these processes for the
acceleration of charged particles in the jets of AGNs, GRBs and microquasars,
showing that multi-component powerlaw-type particle distributions are likely to
occur.Comment: 6 pages, one figure; based on talk at "The multimessenger approach to
unidentified gamma-ray sources", Barcelona/Spain, July 2006; accepted for
publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Particle acceleration through multiple conversions from a charged into a neutral state and back
We propose a new means for a quick and efficient acceleration of protons and/or electrons in relativistic bulk flows. The maximum attainable particle energies are limited either by radiative losses or by the condition of confinement in the magnetic field. The new mechanism takes advantage of a conversion of particles from the charged state (protons, electrons or positrons) into a neutral state (neutrons or photons) and back. In most cases, the conversion is photon induced and requires the presence of intense radiation fields, but under special circumstances the converter acceleration mechanism may operate via other charge-changing reactions, for example, inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions. As in the traditional, "stochastic" (or diffusive) acceleration models, the acceleration cycle in the proposed scenario consists of the escape of particles from the relativistic flow followed by their return back after deflection from the ambient magnetic field. The difference is that the charge-changing reactions, which occur during the cycle, allow accelerated particles to increase their energies in each cycle by a factor much larger than 2 and usually roughly equal to the bulk Lorentz factor squared. The emerging spectra of accelerated particles can be very hard and their maximum energy in some cases is larger than in the standard mechanism. This significantly reduces the required energy budget of the sources of the highest-energy particles observed in cosmic rays. The proposed acceleration mechanism has a distinctive feature-it unavoidably creates neutral beams, consisting of photons, neutrinos, or neutrons, whose beam pattern may be much broader than the inverse Lorentz factor of the relativistic flow. Also, the new mechanism may serve as an efficient means of transferring the energy of bulk motion to gamma radiation and, if the accelerated particles are nucleons, inevitably produces high-energy neutrinos at a relative efficiency approaching greater than or similar to50