971 research outputs found
High Energy Emission Processes in OJ 287 during 2009 Flare
The broadband spectrum of a BL Lac object, OJ 287, from radio to
-rays obtained during a major -ray flare detected by
\emph{Fermi} in 2009 are studied to understand the high energy emission
mechanism during this episode. Using a simple one-zone leptonic model,
incorporating synchrotron and inverse Compton emission processes, we show that
the explanation of high energy emission from X-rays to -rays, by
considering a single emission mechanism, namely, synchrotron self-Compton (SSC)
or external Compton (EC) requires unlikely physical conditions. However, a
combination of both SSC and EC mechanisms can reproduce the observed high
energy spectrum satisfactorily. Using these emission mechanisms we extract the
physical parameters governing the source and its environment. Our study
suggests that the emission region of OJ 287 is surrounded by a warm infrared
(IR) emitting region of . Assuming this region as a spherical
cloud illuminated by an accretion disk, we obtain the location of the emission
region to be . This supports the claim that the -ray
emission from OJ 287 during the 2009 flare arises from a location far away from
the central engine as deduced from millimeter-gamma ray correlation study and
very long baseline array images.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRA
Brightest Fermi-LAT Flares of PKS 1222+216: Implications on Emission and Acceleration Processes
We present a high time resolution study of the two brightest -ray
outbursts from a blazar PKS 1222+216 observed by the \textit{Fermi} Large Area
Telescope (LAT) in 2010. The -ray light-curves obtained in four
different energy bands: 0.1--3, 0.1--0.3, 0.3--1 and 1--3 GeV, with time bin of
6 hr, show asymmetric profiles with a similar rise time in all the bands but a
rapid decline during the April flare and a gradual one during the June. The
light-curves during the April flare show days long plateau in 0.1--0.3
GeV emission, erratic variations in 0.3--1 GeV emission, and a daily recurring
feature in 1--3 GeV emission until the rapid rise and decline within a day. The
June flare shows a monotonic rise until the peak, followed by a gradual decline
powered mainly by the multi-peak 0.1--0.3 GeV emission. The peak fluxes during
both the flares are similar except in the 1--3 GeV band in April which is twice
the corresponding flux during the June flare. Hardness ratios during the April
flare indicate spectral hardening in the rising phase followed by softening
during the decay. We attribute this behavior to the development of a shock
associated with an increase in acceleration efficiency followed by its decay
leading to spectral softening. The June flare suggests hardening during the
rise followed by a complicated energy dependent behavior during the decay.
Observed features during the June flare favor multiple emission regions while
the overall flaring episode can be related to jet dynamics.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
Measurement of the topological surface state optical conductance in bulk-insulating Sn-doped BiSbTeS single crystals
Topological surface states have been extensively observed via optics in thin
films of topological insulators. However, in typical thick single crystals of
these materials, bulk states are dominant and it is difficult for optics to
verify the existence of topological surface states definitively. In this work,
we studied the charge dynamics of the newly formulated bulk-insulating Sn-doped
BiSbTeS crystal by using time-domain terahertz
spectroscopy. This compound shows much better insulating behavior than any
other bulk-insulating topological insulators reported previously. The
transmission can be enhanced an amount which is 5 of the zero-field
transmission by applying magnetic field to 7 T, an effect which we believe is
due to the suppression of topological surface states. This suppression is
essentially independent of the thicknesses of the samples, showing the
two-dimensional nature of the transport. The suppression of surface states in
field allows us to use the crystal slab itself as a reference sample to extract
the surface conductance, mobility, charge density and scattering rate. Our
measurements set the stage for the investigation of phenomena out of the
semi-classical regime, such as the topological magneto-electric effect.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted in Augus
Influence of weather parameters on progress of rust disease severity in pea (Pisum sativum L.)
Decision to apply one or more fungicide spray will depend on the risk of rust epidemic in a particular year. Rust epidemic is determined by interaction of three important factors namely, susceptible host, virulent pathogen and the most important i.e. favourable environment for a particular period of time. Therefore, it is necessary to study the correlation between different meteorological parameters and rust severity. Present study revealed that rust dis-ease generally appeared 60 days after sowing and was subsequently increased with a period of time till harvest (4.17 to 64.17 per cent). Disease was observed at a maximum temperature of 16.85 to 24.79áµ’C, 8.09 to 12.27áµ’C minimum temperature, 90.30 to 95.70 percent morning Relative Humidity (RH), 54.80 to 78.40 percent afternoons RH, 0.10 to 5.45mm rainfall and wind velocity of 3.93 to 4.23 km/hr. The correlation between different meteorological parameters and rust severity revealed that per cent disease severity showed highly positive correlation with maxi-mum temperature (r = 0.977), minimum temperature (r = 0.704), rainfall (r = 0.039) and wind velocity(r = 0.093) whereas disease severity show negative correlation with morning(r=-0.925) and afternoon RH (r = -0.926). It was observed that the rust severity is highly influenced by the different weather parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and wind velocity. This information will help the researchers in formulating the forecasting model for the rust disease in pea and will also supports farmers in decision making regarding time of occurrence of rust epi-demic and thereby, allow timely scheduling and need based utilization of fungicides accordingly for the management of pea rust
The Hard X-ray emission of the blazar PKS 2155--304
The synchrotron peak of the X-ray bright High Energy Peaked Blazar (HBL) PKS
2155304 occurs in the UV-EUV region and hence its X-ray emission (0.6--10
keV) lies mostly in the falling part of the synchrotron hump. We aim to study
the X-ray emission of PKS 2155304 during different intensity states in
20092014 using XMMNewton satellite. We studied the spectral curvature of
all of the observations to provide crucial information on the energy
distribution of the non-thermal particles. Most of the observations show
curvature or deviation from a single power-law and can be well modeled by a log
parabola model. In some of the observations, we find spectral flattening after
6 keV. In order to find the possible origin of the X-ray excess, we built the
Multi-band Spectral Energy distribution (SED). We find that the X-ray excess in
PKS 2155--304 is difficult to fit in the one zone model but, could be easily
reconciled in the spine/layer jet structure. The hard X-ray excess can be
explained by the inverse Comptonization of the synchrotron photons (from the
layer) by the spine electrons.Comment: 14 pages, 7 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Superconductivity with high upper critical field in Ta-Hf Alloys
High upper-critical field superconducting alloys are required for
superconducting device applications. In this study, we extensively
characterized the structure and superconducting properties of alloys Ta
Hf (x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.8). The substitution of Hf (T =
0.12 K, type-I superconductor) with Ta (T = 4.4 K, type-I superconductor)
shows an anomalous enhancement of T with variation of composition.
Interestingly, all compositions exhibited strongly coupled bulk type-II
superconductivity with a high upper critical field. In particular, for
compositions x = 0.2, and 0.4, the upper critical field (H) approached
the Pauli limiting field.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
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