3,934 research outputs found
XMM-Newton Observations of the Be/X-ray transient A0538-66 in quiescence
We present XMM-Newton observations of the recurrent Be/X-ray transient
A0538-66, situated in the Large Magellanic Cloud, in the quiescent state.
Despite a very low luminosity state of (5-8)E33 ergs/s in the range 0.3-10 keV,
the source is clearly detected up to ~8 keV. and can be fitted using either a
power law with photon index alpha=1.9+-0.3 or a bremsstrahlung spectrum with
kT=3.9+3.9-1.7 keV. The spectral analysis confirms that the off-state spectrum
is hard without requiring any soft component, contrary to the majority of
neutron stars observed in quiescence up to now.Comment: Accepted for proceedings of 5th INTEGRAL Worksho
Keck Measurement of the XTE J2123-058 Radial Velocity Curve
We measured the radial velocity curve of the companion of the neutron star
X-ray transient XTE J2123-058. Its semi-amplitude (K_2) of 298.5 +/- 6.9 km/s
is the highest value that has been measured for any neutron star LMXB. The high
value for K_2 is, in part, due to the high binary inclination of the system but
may also indicate a high neutron star mass. The mass function (f_2) of 0.684
+/- 0.047 solar masses, along with our constraints on the companion's spectral
type (K5V-K9V) and previous constraints on the inclination, gives a likely
range of neutron star masses from 1.2 to 1.8 solar masses. We also derive a
source distance of 8.5 +/- 2.5 kpc, indicating that XTE J2123-058 is unusually
far, 5.0 +/- 1.5 kpc, from the Galactic plane. Our measurement of the systemic
radial velocity is -94.5 +/- 5.5 km/s, which is significantly different from
what would be observed if this object corotates with the disk of the Galaxy.Comment: 4 pages, accepted by ApJ Letters after minor revision
Disappearing Pulses in Vela X-1
We present results from a 20 h RXTE observation of Vela X-1, ncluding a
peculiar low state of a few hours duration, during which the pulsation of the
X-ray emission ceased, while significant non-pulsed emission remained. This
``quiescent state'' was preceded by a ``normal state'' without any unusual
signs and followed by a ``high state'' of several hours of increased activity
with strong, flaring pulsations. while there is clear spectral evolution from
the normal state to the low state, the spectra of the following high state are
surprisingly similar to those of the low state.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the 5th Compton Symposium, AIP, in
pres
Infrared scintillation yield in gaseous and liquid argon
The study of primary and secondary scintillations in noble gases and liquids
is of paramount importance to rare-event experiments using noble gas media. In
the present work, the scintillation yield in gaseous and liquid Ar has for the
first time been measured in the near infrared (NIR) and visible region, both
for primary and secondary (proportional) scintillations, using Geiger-mode
avalanche photodiodes (G-APDs) and pulsed X-ray irradiation. The primary
scintillation yield of the fast component was measured to be 17000 photon/MeV
in gaseous Ar in the NIR, in the range of 690-1000 nm, and 510 photon/MeV in
liquid Ar, in the range of 400-1000 nm. Proportional NIR scintillations
(electroluminescence) in gaseous Ar have been also observed; their
amplification parameter at 163 K was measured to be 13 photons per drifting
electron per kV. Possible applications of NIR scintillations in high energy
physics experiments are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Europhysics Letter. Revised Figs. 3
and
Produktivität, Narbendichte und Vegetation einer Kurzrasenweide
Productivity, sward structure and floristic diversity of a continuous grazed pasture on organic permanent grassland were determined in 2015. Daily pasture growth reached
less than 50 kg dry matter per hectare in May and stayed low due to unfavorable weather conditions in 2015 (cold spring, dry and hot summer). Forage quality was quite high (> 6,5 MJ NEL/kg dm) most of the grazing season. Tiller density was moderate during summer but increased after sufficient rain in late summer. Perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and white clover were the dominant plant species and yielded more the 85 % of dry matter
Confirmation of Two Cyclotron Lines in Vela X-1
We present pulse phase-resolved X-ray spectra of the high mass X-ray binary
Vela X-1 using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We observed Vela X-1 in 1998
and 2000 with a total observation time of ~90 ksec. We find an absorption
feature at 23.3 +1.3 -0.6 kev in the main pulse, that we interpret as the
fundamental cyclotron resonant scattering feature (CRSF). The feature is
deepest in the rise of the main pulse where it has a width of 7.6 +4.4 -2.2 kev
and an optical depth of 0.33 +0.06 -0.13. This CRSF is also clearly detected in
the secondary pulse, but it is far less significant or undetected during the
pulse minima. We conclude that the well known CRSF at 50.9 +0.6 -0.7 kev, which
is clearly visible even in phase-averaged spectra, is the first harmonic and
not the fundamental. Thus we infer a magnetic field strength of B=2.6 x 10^12
G.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, 15 Figures, accepted by A&
INTEGRAL and RXTE monitoring of GRS 1758-258 in 2003 and 2004. A transition from the dim soft state to the hard state
The Galactic Center black hole candidate (BHC) GRS 1758-258 has been observed
extensively within INTEGRAL's Galactic Center Deep Exposure (GCDE) program in
2003 and 2004, while also being monitored with RXTE. We present
quasi-simultaneous PCA, ISGRI, and SPI spectra from four GCDE observation
epochs, as well as the evolution of energy-resolved PCA and ISGRI light curves
on time scales of days to months. We find that during the first epoch GRS
1758-258 displayed another of its peculiar dim soft states like the one
observed in 2001, increasing the number of observed occurrences of this state
to three. During the other epochs the source was in the hard state. The hard
X-ray emission component in the epoch-summed spectra can be well described
either by phenomenological models, namely a cutoff power law in the hard state
and a pure power law in the dim soft state, or by thermal Comptonization
models. A soft thermal component is clearly present in the dim soft state and
might also contribute to the softer hard state spectra. We argue that in the
recently emerging picture of the hardness-intensity evolution of black hole
transient outbursts in which hard and soft states are observed to occur in a
large overlapping range of luminosities (hysteresis), the dim soft state is not
peculiar. As noted before for the 2001 dim soft state, these episodes seem to
be triggered by a sudden decrease (within days) of the hard emission, with the
soft spectral component decaying on a longer time scale (weeks). We discuss
this behavior in terms of the existence of two independent accretion flows, the
model previously suggested for the 2001 episode. (Abridged)Comment: Replaced to match accepted versio
Timing and Spectroscopy of Accreting X-ray Pulsars: the State of Cyclotron Line Studies
A great deal of emphasis on timing in the RXTE era has been on pushing toward
higher and higher frequency phenomena, particularly kHz QPOs. However, the
large areas of the RXTE pointed instruments provide another capability which is
key for the understanding of accreting X-ray pulsars -- the ability to
accumulate high quality spectra in a limited observing time. For the accreting
X-ray pulsars, with their relatively modest spin frequencies, this translates
into an ability to study broad band spectra as a function of pulse phase. This
is a critical tool, as pulsar spectra are strong functions of the geometry of
the "accretion mound" and the observers' viewing angle to the ~10^12 G magnetic
field. In particular, the appearance of "cyclotron lines" is sensitively
dependent on the viewing geometry, which must change with the rotation of the
star. These spectral features, seen in only a handful of objects, are quite
important, as they give us our only direct measure of neutron star magnetic
fields. Furthermore, they carry a great deal of information as to the geometry
and physical conditions in the accretion mound. In this paper, we review the
status of cyclotron line studies with the RXTE. We present an overview of
phase-averaged results and give examples of observations which illustrate the
power of phase-resolved spectroscopy.Comment: 8 pages, 13 figures. to appear in the proceedings of "X-Ray Timing
2003: Rossi and Beyond", eds. P. Kaaret, F.K. Lamb, & J.H. Swank (Melville,
NY: AIP
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