1,314 research outputs found
SAR investigations of glaciers in northwestern North America
The objective of this project was to investigate the utility of satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery for measurement of geophysical parameters on Alaskan glaciers relevant to their mass balance and dynamics, including: (1) the positions of firn lines (late-summer snow lines); (2) surface velocities on fast-flowing (surging) glaciers, and also on slower steady-flow glaciers; and (3) the positions and changes in the positions of glacier termini. Preliminary studies of topography and glacier surface velocity with SAR interferometry have also been carried out. This project was motivated by the relationships of multi-year to decadal changes in glacier geometry to changing climate, and the probable significant contribution of Alaskan glaciers to rising sea level
Proposed Next Generation GRB Mission: EXIST
A next generation Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) mission to follow the upcoming Swift
mission is described. The proposed Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope,
EXIST, would yield the limiting (practical) GRB trigger sensitivity, broad-band
spectral and temporal response, and spatial resolution over a wide field. It
would provide high resolution spectra and locations for GRBs detected at GeV
energies with GLAST. Together with the next generation missions
Constellation-X, NGST and LISA and optical-survey (LSST) telescopes, EXIST
would enable GRBs to be used as probes of the early universe and the first
generation of stars. EXIST alone would give ~10-50" positions (long or short
GRBs), approximate redshifts from lags, and constrain physics of jets, orphan
afterglows, neutrinos and SGRs.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Presented at Woods Hole GRB Conf. (2001); to
appear in AIP Conf. Pro
Observing GRBs with EXIST
We describe the Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope EXIST, designed to carry out a sensitive all-sky survey in the 10 keV – 600 keV band. The primary goal of EXIST is to find black holes in the local and distant universe. EXIST also traces cosmic star formation via gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray lines from radioactive elements ejected by supernovae and novae
Direct reconstruction of the effective atomic number of materials by the method of multi-energy radiography
A direct method is proposed for reconstruction of the effective atomic number
by means of multi-energy radiography of the material. The accuracy of the
method is up to 95% . Advantages over conventional radiographic methods, which
ensure accuracy of just about 50%, are discussed. A physical model has been
constructed, and general expressions have been obtained for description of the
effective atomic number in a two-energy monitoring scheme. A universal
dependence has been predicted for the effective atomic number as a function of
relative (two-energy) radiographic reflex. The established theoretical law is
confirmed by the experimental data presented. The proposed development can find
multiple applications in non-destructive testing and related fields, including
those in the civil sphere as well as anti-terrorist activities.Comment: 15 pages LaTeX, 4 figures, the paper accepted in Nuclear Methods and
Instruments in Physics Research, Section
Neural origins of human sickness in interoceptive responses to inflammation
BACKGROUND: Inflammation is associated with psychological, emotional, and behavioral disturbance, known as sickness behavior. Inflammatory cytokines are implicated in coordinating this central motivational reorientation accompanying peripheral immunologic responses to pathogens. Studies in rodents suggest an afferent interoceptive neural mechanism, although comparable data in humans are lacking.
METHODS: In a double-blind, randomized crossover study, 16 healthy male volunteers received typhoid vaccination or saline (placebo) injection in two experimental sessions. Profile of Mood State questionnaires were completed at baseline and at 2 and 3 hours. Two hours after injection, participants performed a high-demand color word Stroop task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Blood samples were performed at baseline and immediately after scanning.
RESULTS: Typhoid but not placebo injection produced a robust inflammatory response indexed by increased circulating interleukin-6 accompanied by a significant increase in fatigue, confusion, and impaired concentration at 3 hours. Performance of the Stroop task under inflammation activated brain regions encoding representations of internal bodily state. Spatial and temporal characteristics of this response are consistent with interoceptive information flow via afferent autonomic fibers. During performance of this task, activity within interoceptive brain regions also predicted individual differences in inflammation-associated but not placebo-associated fatigue and confusion. Maintenance of cognitive performance, despite inflammation-associated fatigue, led to recruitment of additional prefrontal cortical regions.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that peripheral infection selectively influences central nervous system function to generate core symptoms of sickness and reorient basic motivational states.
PMID:19409533[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC2885492Free PMC Articl
Dark matter line emission constraints from NuSTAR observations of the Bullet Cluster
Line emission from dark matter is well motivated for some candidates e.g.
sterile neutrinos. We present the first search for dark matter line emission in
the 3-80keV range in a pointed observation of the Bullet Cluster with NuSTAR.
We do not detect any significant line emission and instead we derive upper
limits (95% CL) on the flux, and interpret these constraints in the context of
sterile neutrinos and more generic dark matter candidates. NuSTAR does not have
the sensitivity to constrain the recently claimed line detection at 3.5keV, but
improves on the constraints for energies of 10-25keV.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Ap
A Soft X-Ray Spectral Episode for the Clocked Burster, GS 1826-24 as Measured by Swift and NuSTAR
We report on NuSTAR and Swift observations of a soft state of the neutron
star low-mass X-ray binary GS 1826-24, commonly known as the "clocked" burster.
The transition to the soft state was recorded in 2014 June through an increase
of the 2-20 keV source intensity measured by MAXI, simultaneous with a decrease
of the 15-50 keV intensity measured by Swift/BAT. The episode lasted
approximately two months, after which the source returned to its usual hard
state. We analyze the broad-band spectrum measured by Swift/XRT and NuSTAR, and
estimate the accretion rate during the soft episode to be about 13% of
Eddington, within the range of previous observations. However, the best fit
spectral model, adopting the double Comptonization used previously, exhibits
significantly softer components. We detect seven type-I X-ray bursts, all
significantly weaker (and with shorter rise and decay times) than observed
previously. The burst profiles and recurrence times vary significantly, ruling
out the regular bursts that are typical for this source. One burst exhibited
photospheric radius expansion, and we estimate the source distance at about
(5.7 / xi_b^1/2) kpc, where xi_b parameterizes the possible anisotropy of the
burst emission. Interpreting the soft state as a transition from an optically
thin inner flow to an optically thick flow passing through a boundary layer, as
is commonly observed in similar systems, is contradicted by the lower optical
depth measured for the double Comptonization model we find for this soft state.
The effect of a change in disk geometry on the burst behavior remains unclear.Comment: 40 pages (single-column, doubled spaced format), 9 figures, 3 tables;
submitted to Ap
NuSTAR Observations of the Black Hole GS 1354-645: Evidence of Rapid Black Hole Spin
We present the results of a NuSTAR study of the dynamically confirmed
stellar-mass black hole GS 1354-645. The source was observed during its 2015
"hard" state outburst; we concentrate on spectra from two relatively bright
phases. In the higher-flux observation, the broadband NuSTAR spectra reveal a
clear, strong disk reflection spectrum, blurred by a degree that requires a
black hole spin of a = cJ/GM^2 > 0.98 (1 sigma statistical limits only). The
fits also require a high inclination: theta = 75(2) degrees. Strong "dips" are
sometimes observed in the X-ray light curves of sources viewed at such an
angle; these are absent, perhaps indicating that dips correspond to flared disk
structures that only manifest at higher accretion rates. In the lower-flux
observation, there is evidence of radial truncation of the thin accretion disk.
We discuss these results in the context of spin in stellar-mass black holes,
and inner accretion flow geometries at moderate accretion rates.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
New Constraints on the Black Hole Low/Hard State Inner Accretion Flow with NuSTAR
We report on an observation of the Galactic black hole candidate GRS 1739-278
during its 2014 outburst, obtained with NuSTAR. The source was captured at the
peak of a rising "low/hard" state, at a flux of ~0.3 Crab. A broad, skewed iron
line and disk reflection spectrum are revealed. Fits to the sensitive NuSTAR
spectra with a number of relativistically blurred disk reflection models yield
strong geometrical constraints on the disk and hard X-ray "corona". Two models
that explicitly assume a "lamppost" corona find its base to have a vertical
height above the black hole of h = 5 (+7, -2) GM/c^2 and h = 18 +/-4 GM/c^2
(90% confidence errors); models that do not assume a "lamppost" return
emissivity profiles that are broadly consistent with coronae of this size.
Given that X-ray microlensing studies of quasars and reverberation lags in
Seyferts find similarly compact coronae, observations may now signal that
compact coronae are fundamental across the black hole mass scale. All of the
models fit to GRS 1739-278 find that the accretion disk extends very close to
the black hole - the least stringent constraint is r = 5 (+3,-4) GM/c^2. Only
two of the models deliver meaningful spin constraints, but a = 0.8 +/-0.2 is
consistent with all of the fits. Overall, the data provide especially
compelling evidence of an association between compact hard X-ray coronae and
the base of relativistic radio jets in black holes.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Observations of MCG-5-23-16 with Suzaku, XMM-Newton and NuSTAR: Disk tomography and Compton hump reverberation
MCG-5-23-16 is one of the first AGN where relativistic reverberation in the
iron K line originating in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole was
found, based on a short XMM-Newton observation. In this work, we present the
results from long X-ray observations using Suzaku, XMM-Newton and NuSTAR
designed to map the emission region using X-ray reverberation. A relativistic
iron line is detected in the lag spectra on three different time-scales,
allowing the emission from different regions around the black hole to be
separated. Using NuSTAR coverage of energies above 10 keV reveals a lag between
these energies and the primary continuum, which is detected for the first time
in an AGN. This lag is a result of the Compton reflection hump responding to
changes in the primary source in a manner similar to the response of the
relativistic iron K line.Comment: Accepted for Publication in Ap
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