154 research outputs found
Optical and Infrared Observations of SGR 1806-20
The soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) 180620 is associated with the
center-brightened non-thermal nebula G~10.00.3, thought to be a plerion. As
in other plerions, a steady \Xray\ source, AX~1805.72025, has been detected
coincident with the peak of the nebular radio emission. Vasisht et al.\ have
shown that the radio peak has a core-jet appearance, and argue that the core
marks the true position of the SGR. At optical wavelengths, we detect three
objects in the vicinity of the radio core. Only for the star closest to the
core, barely visible in the optical but bright in the infrared (mag.),
the reddening is consistent with the high extinction (mag.) that
has been inferred for AX~1805.72025. From the absence of CO band absorption,
we infer that the spectral type of this star is earlier than late~G/early~K.
The large extinction probably arises in a molecular cloud located at a distance
of 6kpc, which means that the star, just like AX~1805.72025, is in or
behind this cloud. This implies that the star is a supergiant. Since
supergiants are rare, a chance coincidence with the compact radio core is very
unlikely. To our knowledge, there are only three other examples of luminous
stars embedded in non-thermal radio nebulae, SS~433, \mbox{Cir X-1} and
G~70.7+1.2. Given this and the low coincidence probability, we suggest that the
bright star is physically associated with SGR~180620, making it the first
stellar identification of a high-energy transient.Comment: 7 pages, AASTeX (needs LaTeX style files aaspptwo.sty and epsf.sty,
plus PostScript figure). In case of problems, contact [email protected]
A Giant Glitch in the Energetic 69 ms X-ray Pulsar AXS J161730-505505
We present new results on the recently discovered 69 ms X-ray pulsar AXS
J161730-505505, the sixth youngest sample of all known pulsars. We have
undertaken a comprehensive X-ray observing campaign of AXS J161730-505505 with
the ASCA, SAX, and XTE observatories and follow its long term spin-down history
between 1989 and 1999, using these, archival GINGA and ASCA data sets, and the
radio ephemeris. The spin-down is not simply described by a linear function as
originally thought, but instead we find evidence of a giant glitch (|Delta P/P|
> 10E-6) between 1993 August and 1997 September, perhaps the largest yet
observed from a young pulsar. The glitch is well described by steps in the
period and its first derivative accompanied by a persistent second derivative
similar to those in the Vela pulsar. The pulse profile of AXS J161730-505505
presents a single asymmetric peak which is maintained over all observation
epochs. The energy spectrum is also steady over time, characterized by a highly
absorbed power-law with a photon index 1.4 +/- 0.2, consistent with that found
for other young rotation powered pulsars.Comment: 6 pages with 2 figures, LaTex, emulateapj.sty. To appear in the
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Chandra Observations of G11.2-0.3: Implications for Pulsar Ages
We present Chandra X-ray Observatory imaging observations of the young
Galactic supernova remnant G11.2-0.3. The image shows that the previously known
young 65-ms X-ray pulsar is at position (J2000) RA 18h 11m 29.22s, DEC -19o 25'
27.''6, with 1 sigma error radius 0.''6. This is within 8'' of the geometric
center of the shell. This provides strong confirming evidence that the system
is younger, by a factor of ~12, than the characteristic age of the pulsar. The
age discrepancy suggests that pulsar characteristic ages can be poor age
estimators for young pulsars. Assuming conventional spin down with constant
magnetic field and braking index, the most likely explanation for the age
discrepancy in G11.2-0.3 is that the pulsar was born with a spin period of ~62
ms. The Chandra image also reveals, for the first time, the morphology of the
pulsar wind nebula. The elongated hard-X-ray structure can be interpreted as
either a jet or a Crab-like torus seen edge on. This adds to the growing list
of highly aspherical pulsar wind nebulae and argues that such structures are
common around young pulsars.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ. For a full
resolution version of Fig 1, see
http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~vkaspi/G11.2-0.3/f1.ep
WhiteHaul: An Efficient Spectrum Aggregation System for Low-Cost and High Capacity Backhaul over White Spaces
We address the challenge of backhaul connectivity for rural and developing regions, which is essential for universal fixed/mobile Internet access. To this end, we propose to exploit the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum for its attractive properties: low cost, abundance in under-served regions and favorable propagation characteristics. Specifically, we propose a system called WhiteHaul for the efficient aggregation of the TVWS spectrum tailored for the backhaul use case. At the core of WhiteHaul are two key innovations: (i) a TVWS conversion substrate that can efficiently handle multiple non-contiguous chunks of TVWS spectrum using multiple low cost 802.11n/ac cards but with a single antenna; (ii) novel use of MPTCP as a link-level tunnel abstraction and its use for efficiently aggregating multiple chunks of the TVWS spectrum via a novel uncoupled, cross-layer congestion control algorithm. Through extensive evaluations using a prototype implementation of WhiteHaul, we show that: (a) WhiteHaul can aggregate almost the whole of TV band with 3 interfaces and achieve nearly 600Mbps TCP throughput; (b) the WhiteHaul MPTCP congestion control algorithm provides an order of magnitude improvement over state of the art algorithms for typical TVWS backhaul links. We also present additional measurement and simulation based results to evaluate other aspects of the WhiteHaul design
CANGAROO-III observation of TeV gamma rays from the unidentified gamma-ray source HESS J1614-518
We report the detection, with the CANGAROO-III imaging atmospheric Cherenkov
telescope array, of a very high energy gamma-ray signal from the unidentified
gamma-ray source HESS J1614-518, which was discovered in the H.E.S.S. Galactic
plane survey. Diffuse gamma-ray emission was detected above 760 GeV at the 8.9
sigma level during an effective exposure of 54 hr from 2008 May to August. The
spectrum can be represented by a power-law:
8.2+-2.2_{stat}+-2.5_{sys}x10^{-12}x (E/1TeV)^{-Gamma} cm^{-2} s^{-1} TeV^{-1}
with a photon index Gamma of 2.4+-0.3_{stat}+-0.2_{sys}, which is compatible
with that of the H.E.S.S. observations. By combining our result with
multi-wavelength data, we discuss the possible counterparts for HESS J1614-518
and consider radiation mechanisms based on hadronic and leptonic processes for
a supernova remnant, stellar winds from massive stars, and a pulsar wind
nebula. Although a leptonic origin from a pulsar wind nebula driven by an
unknown pulsar remains possible, hadronic-origin emission from an unknown
supernova remnant is preferred.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Directly Imaging Rocky Planets from the Ground
Over the past three decades instruments on the ground and in space have
discovered thousands of planets outside the solar system. These observations
have given rise to an astonishingly detailed picture of the demographics of
short-period planets, but are incomplete at longer periods where both the
sensitivity of transit surveys and radial velocity signals plummet. Even more
glaring is that the spectra of planets discovered with these indirect methods
are either inaccessible (radial velocity detections) or only available for a
small subclass of transiting planets with thick, clear atmospheres. Direct
detection can be used to discover and characterize the atmospheres of planets
at intermediate and wide separations, including non-transiting exoplanets.
Today, a small number of exoplanets have been directly imaged, but they
represent only a rare class of young, self-luminous super-Jovian-mass objects
orbiting tens to hundreds of AU from their host stars. Atmospheric
characterization of planets in the <5 AU regime, where radial velocity (RV)
surveys have revealed an abundance of other worlds, is technically feasible
with 30-m class apertures in combination with an advanced AO system,
coronagraph, and suite of spectrometers and imagers. There is a vast range of
unexplored science accessible through astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopy
of rocky planets, ice giants, and gas giants. In this whitepaper we will focus
on one of the most ambitious science goals --- detecting for the first time
habitable-zone rocky (<1.6 R_Earth) exoplanets in reflected light around nearby
M-dwarfsComment: 8 pages, 1 figure, Astro2020 Science White Pape
Milliarcsecond N-Band Observations of the Nova RS Ophiuchi: First Science with the Keck Interferometer Nuller
We report observations of the nova RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph) using the Keck
Interferometer Nuller (KIN), approximately 3.8 days following the most recent
outburst that occurred on 2006 February 12. These observations represent the
first scientific results from the KIN, which operates in N-band from 8 to 12.5
microns in a nulling mode. By fitting the unique KIN data, we have obtained an
angular size of the mid-infrared continuum of 6.2, 4.0, or 5.4 mas for a disk
profile, gaussian profile (FWHM), and shell profile respectively. The data show
evidence of enhanced neutral atomic hydrogen emission and atomic metals
including silicon located in the inner spatial regime near the white dwarf (WD)
relative to the outer regime. There are also nebular emission lines and
evidence of hot silicate dust in the outer spatial region, centered at ! 17 AU
from the WD, that are not found in the inner regime. Our evidence suggests that
these features have been excited by the nova flash in the outer spatial regime
before the blast wave reached these regions. These identifications support a
model in which the dust appears to be present between outbursts and is not
created during the outburst event. We further discuss the present results in
terms of a unifying model of the system that includes an increase in density in
the plane of the orbit of the two stars created by a spiral shock wave caused
by the motion of the stars through the cool wind of the red giant star. These
data show the power and potential of the nulling technique which has been
developed for the detection of Earth-like planets around nearby stars for the
Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission and Darwin missions.Comment: 41 pages, 10 figure
Searching for Exoplanets Using a Microresonator Astrocomb
Detection of weak radial velocity shifts of host stars induced by orbiting
planets is an important technique for discovering and characterizing planets
beyond our solar system. Optical frequency combs enable calibration of stellar
radial velocity shifts at levels required for detection of Earth analogs. A new
chip-based device, the Kerr soliton microcomb, has properties ideal for
ubiquitous application outside the lab and even in future space-borne
instruments. Moreover, microcomb spectra are ideally suited for astronomical
spectrograph calibration and eliminate filtering steps required by conventional
mode-locked-laser frequency combs. Here, for the calibration of astronomical
spectrographs, we demonstrate an atomic/molecular line-referenced,
near-infrared soliton microcomb. Efforts to search for the known exoplanet HD
187123b were conducted at the Keck-II telescope as a first in-the-field
demonstration of microcombs
The Relation Between the Surface Brightness and the Diameter for Galactic Supernova Remnants
In this work, we have constructed a relation between the surface brightness
() and diameter (D) of Galactic C- and S-type supernova remnants
(SNRs). In order to calibrate the -D dependence, we have carefully
examined some intrinsic (e.g. explosion energy) and extrinsic (e.g. density of
the ambient medium) properties of the remnants and, taking into account also
the distance values given in the literature, we have adopted distances for some
of the SNRs which have relatively more reliable distance values. These
calibrator SNRs are all C- and S-type SNRs, i.e. F-type SNRs (and S-type SNR
Cas A which has an exceptionally high surface brightness) are excluded. The
Sigma-D relation has 2 slopes with a turning point at D=36.5 pc: (at 1
GHz)=8.4 D
WmHzster (for
WmHzster and D36.5 pc) and (at 1
GHz)=2.7 10 D
WmHzster (for
WmHzster and D36.5 pc). We discussed the theoretical
basis for the -D dependence and particularly the reasons for the change
in slope of the relation were stated. Added to this, we have shown the
dependence between the radio luminosity and the diameter which seems to have a
slope close to zero up to about D=36.5 pc. We have also adopted distance and
diameter values for all of the observed Galactic SNRs by examining all the
available distance values presented in the literature together with the
distances found from our -D relation.Comment: 45 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomical and
Astrophysical Transaction
Much Ado About Nothing: Several Large-Area Surveys for Radio Pulsars From Arecibo
We report surveyed regions and flux limits for several large-area surveys at 430 MHz for radio pulsars using the 305 m reflector at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The surveys used integration times between 8 and 67 s and covered a total area of ~515 square degrees. No previously undiscovered pulsars were detected in these regions, although all previously known pulsars were detected. The nondetection of new pulsars places constraints on the population of low-luminosity pulsars and must be taken into account in estimates of the local density of millisecond pulsars
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