14,924 research outputs found
A NuSTAR Observation of the Gamma-ray Emitting Millisecond Pulsar PSR J1723-2837
We report on the first NuSTAR observation of the gamma-ray emitting
millisecond pulsar binary PSR J1723-2837. X-ray radiation up to 79 keV is
clearly detected and the simultaneous NuSTAR and Swift spectrum is well
described by an absorbed power-law with a photon index of ~1.3. We also find
X-ray modulations in the 3-10 keV, 10-20 keV, 20-79 keV, and 3-79 keV bands at
the 14.8-hr binary orbital period. All these are entirely consistent with
previous X-ray observations below 10 keV. This new hard X-ray observation of
PSR J1723-2837 provides strong evidence that the X-rays are from the
intrabinary shock via an interaction between the pulsar wind and the outflow
from the companion star. We discuss how the NuSTAR observation constrains the
physical parameters of the intrabinary shock model.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 5 pages, 3 figure
Observed Tightening of Tropical Ascent in Recent Decades and Linkage to Regional Precipitation Changes
Climate models predict that the tropical ascending region should tighten under global warming, but observational quantification of the tightening rate is limited. Here we show that the observed spatial extent of the relatively moist, rainy and cloudy regions in the tropics associated with large‐scale ascent has been decreasing at a rate of −1%/decade (−5%/K) from 1979 to 2016, resulting from combined effects of interdecadal variability and anthropogenic forcings, with the former contributing more than the latter. The tightening of tropical ascent is associated with an increase in the occurrence frequency of extremely strong ascent, leading to an increase in the average precipitation rate in the top 1% of monthly rainfall in the tropics. At the margins of the convective zones such as the Southeast Amazonia region, the contraction of large‐scale ascent is related to a long‐term drying trend about −3.2%/decade in the past 38 years
Swift, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR observations of PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213
We report our recent Swift, NuSTAR, and XMM-Newton X-ray and Lijiang optical
observations on PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213, the gamma-ray binary candidate with a
period of 45-50 years. The coming periastron of the system was predicted to be
in November 2017, around which high-energy flares from keV to TeV are expected.
Recent studies with Chandra and Swift X-ray observations taken in 2015/16
showed that its X-ray emission has been brighter by a factors of ~10 than that
before 2013, probably revealing some on-going activities between the pulsar
wind and the stellar wind. Our new Swift/XRT lightcurve shows no strong
evidence of a single vigorous brightening trend, but rather several strong
X-ray flares on weekly to monthly timescales with a slowly brightening
baseline, namely the low state. The NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations taken
during the flaring and the low states, respectively, show a denser environment
and a softer power-law index during the flaring state, implying that the pulsar
wind interacted with stronger stellar winds of the companion to produce the
flares. These precursors would be crucial in studying the predicted giant
outburst from this extreme gamma-ray binary during the periastron passage in
late 2017.Comment: 6 pages, including 3 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication
in Ap
Imprint of Inhomogeneous Reionization on the Power Spectrum of Galaxy Surveys at High Redshifts
We consider the effects of inhomogeneous reionization on the distribution of
galaxies at high redshifts. Modulation of the formation process of the ionizing
sources by large scale density modes makes reionization inhomogeneous and
introduces a spread to the reionization times of different regions with the
same size. After sources photo-ionize and heat these regions to a temperature
\ga 10^4K at different times, their temperatures evolve as the ionized
intergalactic medium (IGM) expands. The varying IGM temperature makes the
minimum mass of galaxies spatially non-uniform with a fluctuation amplitude
that increases towards small scales. These scale-dependent fluctuations modify
the shape of the power spectrum of low-mass galaxies at high redshifts in a way
that depends on the history of reionization. The resulting distortion of the
primordial power spectrum is significantly larger than changes associated with
uncertainties in the inflationary parameters, such as the spectral index of the
scalar power spectrum or the running of the spectral index. Future surveys of
high-redshift galaxies will offer a new probe of the thermal history of the IGM
but might have a more limited scope in constraining inflation.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, replaced to match version accepted by Ap
NuSTAR observations and broadband spectral energy distribution modeling of the millisecond pulsar binary PSR J1023+0038
We report the first hard X-ray (3-79 keV) observations of the millisecond
pulsar (MSP) binary PSR J1023+0038 using NuSTAR. This system has been shown
transiting between a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) state and a rotation-powered
MSP state. The NuSTAR observations were taken in both LMXB state and
rotation-powered state. The source is clearly seen in both states up to ~79
keV. During the LMXB state, the 3-79 keV flux is about a factor of 10 higher
that in the rotation-powered state. The hard X-rays show clear orbital
modulation during the X-ray faint rotation-powered state but the X-ray orbital
period is not detected in the X-ray bright LMXB state. In addition, the X-ray
spectrum changes from a flat power-law spectrum during the rotation-powered
state to a steeper power-law spectrum in the LMXB state. We suggest that the
hard X-rays are due to the intra-binary shock from the interaction between the
pulsar wind and the injected material from the low-mass companion star. During
the rotation-powered MSP state, the X-ray orbital modulation is due to Doppler
boosting of the shocked pulsar wind. At the LMXB state, the evaporating matter
of the accretion disk due to the gamma-ray irradiation from the pulsar stops
almost all the pulsar wind, resulting the disappearance of the X-ray orbital
modulation.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in Ap
Fluorescent Ly-alpha emission from the high-redshift intergalactic medium
We combine a high-resolution hydro-simulation of the LambdaCDM cosmology with
two radiative transfer schemes (for continuum and line radiation) to predict
the properties, spectra and spatial distribution of fluorescent Ly-alpha
emission at z~3. We focus on line radiation produced by recombinations in the
dense intergalactic medium ionized by UV photons. In particular, we consider
both a uniform background and the case where gas clouds are illuminated by a
nearby quasar. We find that the emission from optically thick regions is
substantially less than predicted from the widely used static, plane-parallel
model. The effects induced by a realistic velocity field and by the complex
geometric structure of the emitting regions are discussed in detail. We make
predictions for the expected brightness and size distributions of the
fluorescent sources.Our results account for recent null detections and can be
used to plan new observational campaigns both in the field (to measure the
intensity of the diffuse UV background) and in the proximity of bright quasars
(to understand the origin of high colum-density absorbers).Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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