Fermi-LAT upper limits on gamma-ray emission from colliding wind binaries

Context: Colliding wind binaries (CWBs) are thought to give rise to a plethora of physical processes including acceleration and interaction of relativistic particles. Observation of synchrotron radiation in the radio band confirms there is a relativistic electron population in CWBs. Accordingly, CWBs have been suspected sources of high-energy gamma-ray emission since the COS-B era. Theoretical models exist that characterize the underlying physical processes leading to particle acceleration and quantitatively predict the non-thermal energy emission observable at Earth. Aims: We strive to find evidence of gamma-ray emission from a sample of seven CWB systems: WR 11, WR 70, WR 125, WR 137, WR 140, WR 146, and WR 147. Theoretical modelling identified these systems as the most favourable candidates for emitting gamma-rays. We make a comparison with existing gamma-ray flux predictions and investigate possible constraints. Methods: We used 24 months of data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope to perform a dedicated likelihood analysis of CWBs in the LAT energy range. Results: We find no evidence of gamma-ray emission from any of the studied CWB systems and determine corresponding flux upper limits. For some CWBs the interplay of orbital and stellar parameters renders the Fermi-LAT data not sensitive enough to constrain the parameter space of the emission models. In the cases of WR140 and WR147, the Fermi-LAT upper limits appear to rule out some model predictions entirely and constrain theoretical models over a significant parameter space. A comparison of our findings to the CWB eta Car is made.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

High-energy particle transport in 3D hydrodynamic models of colliding-wind binaries

Massive stars in binary systems (as WR140, WR147 or $\eta$ Carinae) have long been regarded as potential sources of high-energy $\gamma$-rays. The emission is thought to arise in the region where the stellar winds collide and produce relativistic particles which subsequently might be able to emit $\gamma$-rays. Detailed numerical hydrodynamic simulations have already offered insight in the complex dynamics of the wind collision region (WCR), while independent analytical studies, albeit with simplified descriptions of the WCR, have shed light on the spectra of charged particles. In this paper, we describe a combination of these two approaches. We present a 3D-hydrodynamical model for colliding stellar winds and compute spectral energy distributions of relativistic particles for the resulting structure of the WCR. The hydrodynamic part of our model incorporates the line-driven acceleration of the winds, gravity, orbital motion and the radiative cooling of the shocked plasma. In our treatment of charged particles we consider diffusive shock acceleration in the WCR and the subsequent cooling via inverse Compton losses (including Klein-Nishina effects), bremsstrahlung, collisions and other energy loss mechanisms.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures / accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

The pion parton distribution function in the valence region

The parton distribution function of the pion in the valence region is extracted in a next-to-leading order analysis from Fermilab E-615 pionic Drell-Yan data. The effects of the parameterization of the pion's valence distributions are examined. Modern nucleon parton distributions and nuclear corrections were used and possible effects from higher twist contributions were considered in the analysis. In the next-to-leading order analysis, the high-$x$ dependence of the pion structure function differs from that of the leading order analysis, but not enough to agree with the expectations of pQCD and Dyson-Schwinger calculations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

A candidate gamma-ray pulsar in the supernova remnant CTA 1

We present a detailed analysis of the high energy gamma-ray source 2EG J0008+7307. The source has a steady flux and a hard spectrum, softening above 2 GeV. The properties of the gamma-ray source are suggestive of emission from a young pulsar in the spatially coincident CTA 1 supernova remnant, which has recently been found to have a non-thermal X-ray plerion. Our 95% uncertainty contour around the >1 GeV source position includes the point-like X-ray source at the centre of the plerion. We propose that this object is a young pulsar and is the most likely counterpart of 2EG J0008+7307.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 6 pages including four PS figures. Uses mn.te

Cosmic rays and Radio Halos in galaxy clusters : new constraints from radio observations

Clusters of galaxies are sites of acceleration of charged particles and sources of non-thermal radiation. We report on new constraints on the population of cosmic rays in the Intra Cluster Medium (ICM) obtained via radio observations of a fairly large sample of massive, X-ray luminous, galaxy clusters in the redshift interval 0.2--0.4. The bulk of the observed galaxy clusters does not show any hint of Mpc scale synchrotron radio emission at the cluster center (Radio Halo). We obtained solid upper limits to the diffuse radio emission and discuss their implications for the models for the origin of Radio Halos. Our measurements allow us to derive also a limit to the content of cosmic ray protons in the ICM. Assuming spectral indices of these protons delta =2.1-2.4 and microG level magnetic fields, as from Rotation Measures, these limits are one order of magnitude deeper than present EGRET upper limits, while they are less stringent for steeper spectra and lower magnetic fields.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, ApJ Letter, accepte

Upper ocean climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene Insolation Maximum – a model study

ine thousand years ago (9 ka BP), the Northern Hemisphere experienced enhanced seasonality caused by an orbital configuration close to the minimum of the precession index. To assess the impact of this "Holocene Insolation Maximum" (HIM) on the Mediterranean Sea, we use a regional ocean general circulation model forced by atmospheric input derived from global simulations. A stronger seasonal cycle is simulated by the model, which shows a relatively homogeneous winter cooling and a summer warming with well-defined spatial patterns, in particular, a subsurface warming in the Cretan and western Levantine areas. The comparison between the SST simulated for the HIM and a reconstruction from planktonic foraminifera transfer functions shows a poor agreement, especially for summer, when the vertical temperature gradient is strong. As a novel approach, we propose a reinterpretation of the reconstruction, to consider the conditions throughout the upper water column rather than at a single depth. We claim that such a depth-integrated approach is more adequate for surface temperature comparison purposes in a situation where the upper ocean structure in the past was different from the present-day. In this case, the depth-integrated interpretation of the proxy data strongly improves the agreement between modelled and reconstructed temperature signal with the subsurface summer warming being recorded by both model and proxies, with a small shift to the south in the model results. The mechanisms responsible for the peculiar subsurface pattern are found to be a combination of enhanced downwelling and wind mixing due to strengthened Etesian winds, and enhanced thermal forcing due to the stronger summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere. Together, these processes induce a stronger heat transfer from the surface to the subsurface during late summer in the western Levantine; this leads to an enhanced heat piracy in this region, a process never identified before, but potentially characteristic of time slices with enhanced insolation

Chasing the second gamma-ray bright isolated neutron star: 3EG J1835+5918/RX J1836.2+5925

The EGRET telescope aboard NASAs Compton GRO has repeatedly detected 3EG J1835+5918, a bright and steady source of high-energy gamma-ray emission with no identification suggested until recently. The long absence of any likely counterpart for a bright gamma-ray source located 25 degrees off the Galactic plane initiated several attempts of deep observations at other wavelengths. We report on counterparts in X-rays on a basis of a 60 ksec ROSAT HRI image. In order to conclude on the plausibility of the X-ray counterparts, we reanalyzed data from EGRET at energies above 100 MeV and above 1 GeV, including data up to CGRO observation cycle 7. The gamma-ray source location represents the latest and probably the final positional assessment based on EGRET data. The X-ray counterparts were studied during follow-up optical identification campaigns, leaving only one object to be likely associated with the gamma-ray source 3EG J1835+5918. This object, RX J1836.2+5925, has the characteristics of an isolated neutron star and possibly of a radio-quiet pulsar.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the 270. WE-Heraeus Seminar on Neutron Stars, Pulsars and Supernova Remnants, Jan. 21-25, 2002, Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, eds W. Becker, H. Lesch & J. Truemper. Proceedings are available as MPE-Report 27