Contemporaneous VLBA 5 GHz Observations of Large Area Telescope Detected Blazars

The radio properties of blazars detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have been observed contemporaneously by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). In total, 232 sources were observed with the VLBA. Ninety sources that were previously observed as part of the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey (VIPS) have been included in the sample, as well as 142 sources not found in VIPS. This very large, 5 GHz flux-limited sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) provides insights into the mechanism that produces strong γ-ray emission. In particular, we see that γ-ray emission is related to strong, uniform magnetic fields in the cores of the host AGN. Included in this sample are non-blazar AGNs such as 3C84, M82, and NGC 6251. For the blazars, the total VLBA radio flux density at 5 GHz correlates strongly with γ-ray flux. The LAT BL Lac objects tend to be similar to the non-LAT BL Lac objects, but the LAT flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are significantly different from the non-LAT FSRQs. Strong core polarization is significantly more common among the LAT sources, and core fractional polarization appears to increase during LAT detection

HI Density Distribution Driven by Supernovae: A Simulation Study

We model the complex distribution of atomic hydrogen (HI) in the interstellar medium (ISM) assuming that it is driven entirely by supernovae (SN). We develop and assess two different models. In the first approach, the simulated volume is randomly populated with non-overlapping voids of a range of sizes. This may relate to a snapshot distribution of supernova-remnant voids, although somewhat artificially constrained by the non-overlap criterion. In the second approach, a simplified time evolution (considering momentum conservation as the only governing constraint during interactions) is followed as SN populate the space with the associated input mass and energy. We describe these simulations and present our results in the form of images of the mass and velocity distributions and the associated power spectra. The latter are compared with trends indicated by available observations. In both approaches, we find remarkable correspondence with the observed statistical description of well-studied components of the ISM, wherein the spatial spectra have been found to show significant deviations from the Kolmogorov spectrum. One of the key indications from this study, regardless of whether or not the SN-induced turbulence is the dominant process in the ISM, is that the apparent non-Kolmogorov spectral characteristics (of HI and/or electron column density across thick or thin screens) needed to explain related observations may not at all be in conflict with the underlying turbulence (i.e. the velocity structure) being of Kolmogorov nature. We briefly discuss the limitations of our simulations and the various implications of our results.Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal. 21 pages, 6 figure

Análise de logs do sistema Agritempo por meio do log do PHPNuke e WebAlizer.

O foco deste trabalho é a análise dos logs do sistema Agritempo, um sistema de monitoramento agrometeorológico que disponibiliza informações meteorológicas e agrometeorológicas de diferentes regiões brasileiras gratuitamente na internet3. O Agritempo possui um amplo público-alvo: produtores, extensionistas, consultores, agentes do governo, estudantes e professores universitários, além da iniciativa privada

Characteristics of Gamma-Ray Loud Blazars in the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey

The radio properties of blazars detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have been observed as part of the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey (VIPS). This large, flux-limited sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides insights into the mechanism that produces strong gamma-ray emission. At lower flux levels, radio flux density does not directly correlate with gamma-ray flux. We find that the LAT-detected BL Lacs tend to be similar to the non-LAT BL Lacs, but that the LAT-detected FSRQs are often significantly different from the non-LAT FSRQs. The differences between the gamma-ray loud and quiet FSRQs can be explained by Doppler boosting; these objects appear to require larger Doppler factors than those of the BL Lacs. It is possible that the gamma-ray loud FSRQs are fundamentally different from the gamma-ray quiet FSRQs. Strong polarization at the base of the jet appears to be a signature for gamma-ray loud AGN.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap

Simultaneous Absolute Timing of the Crab Pulsar at Radio and Optical Wavelengths

The Crab pulsar emits across a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Determining the time delay between the emission at different wavelengths will allow to better constrain the site and mechanism of the emission. We have simultaneously observed the Crab Pulsar in the optical with S-Cam, an instrument based on Superconducting Tunneling Junctions (STJs) with $\mu$s time resolution and at 2 GHz using the Nan\c{c}ay radio telescope with an instrument doing coherent dedispersion and able to record giant pulses data. We have studied the delay between the radio and optical pulse using simultaneously obtained data therefore reducing possible uncertainties present in previous observations. We determined the arrival times of the (mean) optical and radio pulse and compared them using the tempo2 software package. We present the most accurate value for the optical-radio lag of 255 $\pm$ 21 $\mu$s and suggest the likelihood of a spectral dependence to the excess optical emission asociated with giant radio pulses.Comment: 8 pages; accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

PSRs J0248+6021 and J2240+5832: Young Pulsars in the Northern Galactic Plane. Discovery, Timing, and Gamma-ray observations

Pulsars PSR J0248+6021 (rotation period P=217 ms and spin-down power Edot = 2.13E35 erg/s) and PSR J2240+5832 (P=140 ms, Edot = 2.12E35 erg/s) were discovered in 1997 with the Nancay radio telescope during a northern Galactic plane survey, using the Navy-Berkeley Pulsar Processor (NBPP) filter bank. GeV gamma-ray pulsations from both were discovered using the Fermi Large Area Telescope. Twelve years of radio and polarization data allow detailed investigations. The two pulsars resemble each other both in radio and in gamma-ray data. Both are rare in having a single gamma-ray pulse offset far from the radio peak. The high dispersion measure for PSR J0248+6021 (DM = 370 pc cm^-3) is most likely due to its being within the dense, giant HII region W5 in the Perseus arm at a distance of 2 kpc, not beyond the edge of the Galaxy as obtained from models of average electron distributions. Its high transverse velocity and the low magnetic field along the line-of-sight favor this small distance. Neither gamma-ray, X-ray, nor optical data yield evidence for a pulsar wind nebula surrounding PSR J0248+6021. The gamma-ray luminosity for PSR J0248+6021 is L_ gamma = (1.4 \pm 0.3)\times 10^34 erg/s. For PSR J2240+5832, we find either L_gamma = (7.9 \pm 5.2) \times 10^34 erg/s if the pulsar is in the Outer arm, or L_gamma = (2.2 \pm 1.7) \times 10^34 erg/s for the Perseus arm. These luminosities are consistent with an L_gamma ~ sqrt(Edot) rule. Comparison of the gamma-ray pulse profiles with model predictions, including the constraints obtained from radio polarization data, favor emission in the far magnetosphere. These two pulsars differ mainly in their inclination angles and acceleration gap widths, which in turn explains the observed differences in the gamma-ray peak widths.Comment: 13 pages, Accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysic

Radio Scintillation due to Discontinuities in the Interstellar Plasma Density

We develop the theory of interstellar scintillation as caused by an irregular plasma having a power-law spatial density spectrum with a spectral exponent of 4 corresponding to a medium with abrupt changes in its density. An ``outer scale'' is included in the model representing the typical scale over which the density of the medium remains uniform. Such a spectrum could be used to model plasma shock fronts in supernova remnants or other plasma discontinuities. We investigate and develop equations for the decorrelation bandwidth of diffractive scintillations and the refractive scintillation index and compare our results with pulsar measurements. We consider both a medium concentrated in a thin layer and an extended irregular medium. We conclude that the discontinuity model gives satisfactory agreement for many diffractive measurements, in particular the VLBI meaurements of the structure function exponent between 5/3 and 2. However, it gives less satisfactory agreement for the refractive scintillation index than does the Kolmogorov turbulence spectrum. The comparison suggests that the medium consists of a pervasive background distribution of turbulence embedded with randomly placed discrete plasma structures such as shocks or HII regions. This can be modeled by a composite spectrum following the Kolmogorov form at high wavenumbers and steepening at lower wavenumbers corresponding to the typical (inverse) size of the discrete structures. Such a model can also explain the extreme scattering events. However, lines of sight through the enhanced scattering prevalent at low galactic latitudes are accurately described by the Kolmogorov spectrum in an extended medium and do not appear to have a similar low-wavenumber steepening.Comment: Accpeted for ApJ vol 531, March 200

The Origin of the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background and Implications for Dark-Matter Annihilation

The origin of the extragalactic $\gamma$-ray background (EGB) has been debated for some time. { The EGB comprises the $\gamma$-ray emission from resolved and unresolved extragalactic sources, such as blazars, star-forming galaxies and radio galaxies, as well as radiation from truly diffuse processes.} This letter focuses on the blazar source class, the most numerous detected population, and presents an updated luminosity function and spectral energy distribution model consistent with the blazar observations performed by the {\it Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT). We show that blazars account for 50$^{+12}_{-11}$\,\% of the EGB photons ($>$0.1\,GeV), and that {\it Fermi}-LAT has already resolved $\sim$70\,\% of this contribution. Blazars, and in particular low-luminosity hard-spectrum nearby sources like BL Lacs, are responsible for most of the EGB emission above 100\,GeV. We find that the extragalactic background light, which attenuates blazars' high-energy emission, is responsible for the high-energy cut-off observed in the EGB spectrum. Finally, we show that blazars, star-forming galaxies and radio galaxies can naturally account for the amplitude and spectral shape of the background in the 0.1--820\,GeV range, leaving only modest room for other contributions. This allows us to set competitive constraints on the dark-matter annihilation cross section.Comment: On behalf of the Fermi-LAT collaboration. Contact authors: M. Ajello, D. Gasparrini, M. Sanchez-Conde, G. Zaharijas, M. Gustafsson. Accepted for publication on ApJ