On the selection of AGN neutrino source candidates for a source stacking analysis with neutrino telescopes

The sensitivity of a search for sources of TeV neutrinos can be improved by grouping potential sources together into generic classes in a procedure that is known as source stacking. In this paper, we define catalogs of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and use them to perform a source stacking analysis. The grouping of AGN into classes is done in two steps: first, AGN classes are defined, then, sources to be stacked are selected assuming that a potential neutrino flux is linearly correlated with the photon luminosity in a certain energy band (radio, IR, optical, keV, GeV, TeV). Lacking any secure detailed knowledge on neutrino production in AGN, this correlation is motivated by hadronic AGN models, as briefly reviewed in this paper. The source stacking search for neutrinos from generic AGN classes is illustrated using the data collected by the AMANDA-II high energy neutrino detector during the year 2000. No significant excess for any of the suggested groups was found.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Astroparticle Physic

Hepatitis E

Hepatitis E, previously known as enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis, is an infectious viral disease with clinical and morphologic features of acute hepatitis. The disease was recognized first as a distinct clinical entity in the 1980s, when sera from persons affected during a large waterborne epidemic of viral hepatitis during 1955-1956 in Delhi, India116 and another epidemic in Kashmir were found to lack serologic markers of acute hepatitis A and B.56 and 119 The first proof of the existence of a new viral hepatitis agent was obtained in 1983, when viruslike particles were detected by immune electron microscopy in feces collected from a volunteer infected with fecal material from patients who had suspected enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis.12 The disease was transmitted successfully to cynomolgus monkeys that excreted similar viruslike particles in their feces.12 The genome of this virus, known as hepatitis E virus (HEV),90 was cloned in 199093 and fully sequenced shortly thereafter.99 and 104 The occurrence of the first recorded epidemic of hepatitis E as late as 1955 and the infrequency of this disease in developed countries suggest that hepatitis E is a new, emerging infectious disease. However, several epidemics of enterically transmitted hepatitis with epidemiologic features similar to those of hepatitis E outbreaks occurred in Europe and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries.17 and 28 It can be postulated, therefore, that HEV infection may have occurred in various parts of the world and only recently has become restricted to certain geographic areas, mostly underdeveloped with poor environmental sanitation

Multiwavelength Observations of 1ES 1959+650 in 2003, One Year After the Strong 2002 Outburst

In April-May 2003, the blazar 1ES 1959+650 showed a very high level of X-ray activity. The 2-12 keV fluxes measured with the RXTE All Sky Monitor exceeded 10 mCrab for a number of days. This prompted a multiwavelength campaign of observations including triggering ToO pointed RXTE observations. RXTE observations totaling 33.7 ksec from May 2, 2003 to June 7, 2003 were complemented by TeV gamma-ray observations taken with the Whipple 10m Cerenkov telescope, radio observations taken with the UMRAO radio telescope and optical observations taken at the Bordeaux optical observatory. While the X-ray flares were of intermediate amplitude, from 0.63 keV-1 cm-2 s-1 to 0.75 keV-1 cm-2 s-1 at 10 keV, observations did not result in the firm detection of any TeV flares. We will present the radio, optical, X-ray and TeV gamma-ray observations taken during 2003 and compare them with earlier results from the years 2000 and 2002. Finally, we present fits of a Synchrotron Self-Compton model to the data