1,380 research outputs found
The IBIS view of the galactic centre: INTEGRAL's imager observations simulations
The Imager on Board Integral Satellite (IBIS) is the imaging instrument of
the INTEGRAL satellite, the hard-X/soft-gamma ray ESA mission to be launched in
2001. It provides diagnostic capabilities of fine imaging (12' FWHM), source
identification and spectral sensitivity to both continuum and broad lines over
a broad (15 keV--10 MeV) energy range. It has a continuum sensitivity of
2~10^{-7} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} at 1 MeV for a 10^6 seconds observation and a
spectral resolution better than 7 % at 100 keV and of 6 % at 1 MeV. The imaging
capabilities of the IBIS are characterized by the coupling of the above quoted
source discrimination capability with a very wide field of view (FOV), namely 9
x 9 degrees fully coded, 29 x 29 degrees partially coded FOV. We present
simulations of IBIS observations of the Galactic Center based on the results of
the SIGMA Galactic Center survey. They show the capabilities of this instrument
in discriminating between different sources while at the same time monitoring a
huge FOV. It will be possible to simultaneously take spectra of all of these
sources over the FOV even if the sensitivity decreases out of the fully coded
area. It is envisaged that a proper exploitation of both the FOV dimension and
the source localization capability of the IBIS will be a key factor in
maximizing its scientific output.Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX, to be published in the 4th Compton Symposium
Conference Proceedings, uses aipproc.cls, aipproc.sty (included
The X-ray flaring activity of the galactic nucleus observed with XMM-Newton
We report the results of XMM-Newton observations of Sgr A*, the radiative
counterpart of the massive black hole at the nucleus of our Galaxy, performed
in the frame of the guaranteed time survey program of the Galactic Center
region. The discovery of bright X-ray flares from Sgr A* with Chandra in
October 2000 have opened new perspectives to understand the processes at work
in this object and in general in black holes accreting at low accretion rates.
We report here the important results obtained with XMM-Newton on the Sgr A*
high-energy flaring activity and we discuss the implications on the models and
the future observational perspectives.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proc. of the SF2A conf. held in Bordeaux, France,
June 2003, eds.: F. Combes, D. Barret and T. Contini, EdP-Sciences Conf.
Serie
X-ray Observation of SS 433 with RXTE
Apart from regular monitoring by ASM, the compact object SS 433 was observed
with RXTE several times last two/three years. We present the first analysis of
these observations. We also include the results of the recent exciting TOO
campaign made during donour inferior (orbital phase ) and superior
() conjunctions which took place on Oct. 2nd, 2003, and on March
13th, 2004 respectively, when the jet itself was directly pointing towards us
(i.e., precessional phase ). Generally, we found that two distinct
lines fit the spectra taken on all these days. We present some of the
light-curves and the X-ray spectra, and show that the Doppler shifts of the
emitted lines roughly match those predicted by the kinematic model for the
jets. We find that the line with a higher energy can be best identified with a
FeXXVI Ly- transition while the line with lower energy can be
identified with a FeXXV (1s2p - 1s) transition. We observe that the X-ray
flux on March 13th, 2004 (when the base of the jet is exposed) is more than
twice compared to that on Oct. 2nd, 2003 (when the base is covered by the
companion). We find the flux to continue to remain high at least till another
orbital period. We believe that this is because SS 433 was undergoing a weak
flaring activity during the recent observation.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, submitted for publication in MNRAS (April, 2004
Raman signatures of classical and quantum phases in coupled dots: A theoretical prediction
We study electron molecules in realistic vertically coupled quantum dots in a
strong magnetic field. Computing the energy spectrum, pair correlation
functions, and dynamical form factor as a function of inter-dot coupling via
diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian, we identify structural
transitions between different phases, some of which do not have a classical
counterpart. The calculated Raman cross section shows how such phases can be
experimentally singled out.Comment: 9 pages, 2 postscript figures, 1 colour postscript figure, Latex 2e,
Europhysics Letters style and epsfig macros. Submitted to Europhysics Letter
Valence band spectroscopy in V-grooved quantum wires
We present a combined theoretical and experimental study of the anisotropy in
the optical absorption of V-shaped quantum wires. By means of realistic band
structure calculations for these structures, we show that detailed information
on the heavy- and light-hole states can be singled out from the anisotropy
spectra {\em independently of the electron confinement}, thus allowing accurate
valence band spectroscopy.Comment: To be published in Appl. Phys. Lett. (8 pages in REVTeX, two
postscipt figures
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