1,491 research outputs found
Absolute timing of the Crab pulsar with the INTEGRAL/SPI telescope
We have investigated the pulse shape evolution of the Crab pulsar emission in
the hard X-ray domain of the electromagnetic spectrum. In particular, we have
studied the alignment of the Crab pulsar phase profiles measured in the hard
X-rays and in other wavebands. To obtain the hard X-ray pulse profiles, we have
used six year (2003-2009, with a total exposure of about 4 Ms) of publicly
available data of the SPI telescope on-board of the INTEGRAL observatory,
folded with the pulsar time solution derived from the Jodrell Bank Crab Pulsar
Monthly Ephemeris. We found that the main pulse in the hard X-ray 20-100 keV
energy band is leading the radio one by milliperiods in phase, or
in time. Quoted errors represent only statistical
uncertainties.Our systematic error is estimated to be and is
mainly caused by the radio measurement uncertainties. In hard X-rays, the
average distance between the main pulse and interpulse on the phase plane is
. To compare our findings in hard X-rays with the soft 2-20
keV X-ray band, we have used data of quasi-simultaneous Crab observations with
the PCA monitor on-board the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) mission. The
time lag and the pulses separation values measured in the 3-20 keV band are
(corresponding to ) and
parts of the cycle, respectively. While the pulse separation values measured in
soft X-rays and hard X-rays agree, the time lags are statistically different.
Additional analysis show that the delay between the radio and X-ray signals
varies with energy in the 2 - 300 keV energy range. We explain such a behaviour
as due to the superposition of two independent components responsible for the
Crab pulsed emission in this energy band
Low-energy gamma rays from Cygnus X-1
The Cyg X-1 was observed by the balloonborne telescope OPALE, in June 1976. The high energy spectrum of the source, which was in its superlow state, was seen to extend well beyond 1 MeV. The observed low energy gamma ray component of Cyg X-1 is compared with the predictions of recent models involving accretion onto a stellar black hole, and including a possible contribution from the pair annihilation 511 keV gamma ray line
Scintillation Caustics in Planetary Occultation Light Curves
We revisit the GSC5249-01240 light curve obtained during its occultation by
Saturn's North polar region. In addition to refractive scintillations, the
power spectrum of intensity fluctuations shows an enhancement of power between
refractive and diffractive regimes. We identify this excess power as due to
high amplitude spikes in the light curve and suggest that these spikes are due
to caustics associated with ray crossing situations. The flux variation in
individual spikes follows the expected caustic behavior, including diffraction
fringes which we have observed for the first time in a planetary occultation
light curve. The presence of caustics in scintillation light curves require an
inner scale cut off to the power spectrum of underlying density fluctuations
associated with turbulence. Another possibility is the presence of gravity
waves in the atmosphere. While occultation light curves previously showed the
existence of refractive scintillations, a combination of small projected
stellar size and a low relative velocity during the event have allowed us to
identify caustics in this occultation. This has led us to re-examine previous
data sets, in which we have also found likely examples of caustics.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; ApJL submitte
Kuiper Belt Object Occultations: Expected Rates, False Positives, and Survey Design
A novel method of generating artificial scintillation noise is developed and
used to evaluate occultation rates and false positive rates for surveys probing
the Kuiper Belt with the method of serendipitous stellar occultations. A
thorough examination of survey design shows that: (1) diffraction-dominated
occultations are critically (Nyquist) sampled at a rate of 2 Fsu^{-1},
corresponding to 40 s^{-1} for objects at 40 AU, (2) occultation detection
rates are maximized when targets are observed at solar opposition, (3) Main
Belt Asteroids will produce occultations lightcurves identical to those of
Kuiper Belt Objects if target stars are observed at solar elongations of: 116
deg < epsilon < 125 deg, or 131 deg < epsilon < 141 deg, and (4) genuine KBO
occultations are likely to be so rare that a detection threshold of >7-8 sigma
should be adopted to ensure that viable candidate events can be disentangled
from false positives.Comment: Accepted AJ, 12 pages, 12 figure
The emission of Cygnus X-1: observations with INTEGRAL SPI from 20 keV to 2 MeV
We report on Cyg X-1 observations performed by the SPI telescope onboard the
INTEGRAL mission and distributed over more than 6 years. We investigate the
variability of the intensity and spectral shape of this peculiar source in the
hard X-rays domain, and more particularly up to the MeV region. We first study
the total averaged spectrum which presents the best signal to noise ratio (4 Ms
of data). Then, we refine our results by building mean spectra by periods and
gathering those of similar hardness.
Several spectral shapes are observed with important changes in the curvature
between 20 and 200 keV, even at the same luminosity level. In all cases, the
emission decreases sharply above 700 keV, with flux values above 1 MeV (or
upper limits) well below the recently reported polarised flux (Laurent et al.
2011), while compatible with the MeV emission detected some years ago by
CGRO/COMPTEL (McConnell et al., 2002).
Finally, we take advantage of the spectroscopic capability of the instrument
to seek for spectral features in the 500 keV region with negative results for
any significant annihilation emission on 2 ks and days timescales, as well as
in the total dataset.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Nuclear Power: a Hedge against Uncertain Gas and Carbon Prices?
High fossil fuel prices have rekindled interest in nuclear power. This paper identifies specific nuclear characteristics making it unattractive to merchant generators in liberalised electricity markets, and argues that non-fossil fuel technologies have an overlooked à ¢à  à  option valueà ¢à  à  given fuel and carbon price uncertainty. Stochastic optimisation estimates the company option value of keeping open the choice between nuclear and gas technologies. This option value decreases sharply as the correlation between electricity, gas, and carbon prices rises, casting doubt on whether private investorsà ¢à  à  fuel-mix diversification incentives in electricity markets are aligned with the social value of a diverse fuel-mix
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