117 research outputs found
The one-loop six-dimensional hexagon integral with three massive corners
We compute the six-dimensional hexagon integral with three non-adjacent
external masses analytically. After a simple rescaling, it is given by a
function of six dual conformally invariant cross-ratios. The result can be
expressed as a sum of 24 terms involving only one basic function, which is a
simple linear combination of logarithms, dilogarithms, and trilogarithms of
uniform degree three transcendentality. Our method uses differential equations
to determine the symbol of the function, and an algorithm to reconstruct the
latter from its symbol. It is known that six-dimensional hexagon integrals are
closely related to scattering amplitudes in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, and we
therefore expect our result to be helpful for understanding the structure of
scattering amplitudes in this theory, in particular at two loops.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
Discovery of GeV Emission from the Circinus galaxy with the Fermi-LAT
We report the discovery of gamma-ray emission from the Circinus galaxy using
the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Circinus is a nearby (~4 Mpc) starburst with a heavily obscured Seyfert-type
active nucleus, bipolar radio lobes perpendicular to the spiral disk, and
kpc-scale jet-like structures. Our analysis of 0.1-100 GeV events collected
during 4 years of LAT observations reveals a significant (~ 7.3 sigma) excess
above the background. We find no indications of variability or spatial
extension beyond the LAT point-spread function. A power-law model used to
describe the 0.1-100 GeV gamma-ray spectrum yields a flux of
(18.8+/-5.8)x10^{-9} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} and photon index 2.19+/-0.12,
corresponding to an isotropic gamma-ray luminosity of 3 x 10^{40} erg s^{-1}.
This observed gamma-ray luminosity exceeds the luminosity expected from
cosmic-ray interactions in the interstellar medium and inverse Compton
radiation from the radio lobes. Thus the origin of the GeV excess requires
further investigation.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Upper Bound on the First Star Formation History
Our understanding of the nature of the extragalactic background light (EBL)
has improved with the recent development of gamma-ray observation techniques.
An open subject in the context of the EBL is the reionization epoch, which is
an important probe of the formation history of first stars, the so-called
Population III (Pop III) stars. Although the mechanisms for the formation of
Pop III stars are rather well understood on theoretical grounds, their
formation history is still veiled in mystery because of their faintness. To
shed light into this matter, we study jointly the gamma-ray opacity of distant
objects and the reionization constraints from studies of intergalactic gas. By
combining these studies, we obtain a sensitive upper bound on the Pop III star
formation rate density as at
, where and are the escape fraction of ionizing
photons from galaxies and the clumping factor of the intergalactic hydrogen
gas. This limit is a times tighter constraint compared with previous
studies that take into account gamma-ray opacity constraints only. Even if we
do not include the current gamma-ray constraints, the results do not change.
This is because the detected gamma-ray sources are still at where
the reionization has already finished.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
The low-frequency radio catalog of flat spectrum sources
A well known property of the gamma-ray sources detected by COS-B in the
1970s, by the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory in the 1990s and recently by the
Fermi observations is the presence of radio counterparts, in particular for
those associated to extragalactic objects. This observational evidence is the
basis of the radio-gamma-ray connection established for the class of active
galactic nuclei known as blazars. In particular, the main spectral property of
the radio counterparts associated with gamma-ray blazars is that they show a
flat spectrum in the GHz frequency range. Our recent analysis dedicated to
search blazar-like candidates as potential counterparts for the unidentified
gamma-ray sources (UGSs) allowed us to extend the radio-gamma-ray connection in
the MHz regime. We also showed that below 1 GHz blazars maintain flat radio
spectra. Thus on the basis of these new results, we assembled a low-frequency
radio catalog of flat spectrum sources built by combining the radio
observations of the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) and of the
Westerbork in the southern hemisphere (WISH) catalog with those of the NRAO
Very Large Array Sky survey (NVSS). This could be used in the future to search
for new, unknown blazar-like counterparts of the gamma-ray sources. First we
found NVSS counterparts of WSRT radio sources and then we selected flat
spectrum radio sources according to a new spectral criterion specifically
defined for radio observations performed below 1 GHz. We also described the
main properties of the catalog listing 28358 radio sources and their logN-logS
distributions. Finally a comparison with with the Green Bank 6-cm radio source
catalog has been performed to investigate the spectral shape of the
low-frequency flat spectrum radio sources at higher frequencies.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, ApJS published in 2014 (pre-proof
version uploaded
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Constraints on the Low-Energy Cutoff in the Electron Distributionof the PKS 0637--752 Jet
We re-analyze the Chandra X-ray spectrum of the kpc-scale jet in PKS 0637-752 to investigate the possible low energy cutoff in the relativistic electron spectrum producing the non-thermal radiation in the scenario of inverse Compton emission off the cosmic microwave background. This was among the first objects targeted by the Chandra Observatory and gives a unique opportunity to study the low energy X-ray emission free of contamination. As previously noted, the spectrum can be fit by a power law, with the slope predicted by the radio spectrum, modified by low energy absorption through the Galaxy as determined from the spectrum of the quasar core and by HI 21 cm observations. We report evidence for a broad excess of emission below 1 keV, but are unable to constrain the shape very well. If we assume that this soft excess is unrelated to the electron population responsible for the power law emission, and that the electron spectrum cuts off at an energy of {gamma}{sub min}m{sub e}c{sup 2}, then we must have {gamma}{sub min} ({Lambda}/10) {approx}< 75 due to the absence of any low energy turn-over in the X-ray spectrum. This predicts that the observed radio spectrum should extend unbroken down below 2 MHz for the estimated jet restframe magnetic field B = 10 {micro} G. In addition, the observed optical flux can be used to place a lower limit on {gamma}{sub min}; the constraint is not very strong, but does suggest that {gamma}{sub min} must be higher than 1 to avoid overproducing the optical emission. The implication of these limits on the jet luminosity is discussed. An alternative phenomenological description of the soft excess is offered where the low-energy end of the electron spectrum is modified to account for the excess
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Electromagnetic Models of Extragalactic Jets
Relativistic jets may be confined by large-scale, anisotropic electromagnetic stresses that balance isotropic particle pressure and disordered magnetic field. A class of axisymmetric equilibrium jet models will be described and their radiative properties outlined under simple assumptions. The partition of the jet power between electromagnetic and mechanical forms and the comoving energy density between particles and magnetic field will be discussed. Current carrying jets may be recognized by their polarization patterns. Progress and prospects for measuring this using VLBI and GLAST observations will be summarized
The 60 month all-sky Burst Alert Telescope survey of active galactic nucleus and the anisotropy of nearby AGNs
Surveys above 10 keV represent one of the best resources to provide an unbiased census of the population of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We present the results of 60 months of observation of the hard X-ray sky with Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). In this time frame, BAT-detected (in the 15-55 keV band) 720 sources in an all-sky survey of which 428 are associated with AGNs, most of which are nearby. Our sample has negligible incompleteness and statistics a factor of ~2 larger over similarly complete sets of AGNs. Our sample contains (at least) 15 bona fide Compton-thick AGNs and 3 likely candidates. Compton-thick AGNs represent ~5% of AGN samples detected above 15 keV. We use the BAT data set to refine the determination of the log N-log S of AGNs which is extremely important, now that NuSTAR prepares for launch, toward assessing the AGN contribution to the cosmic X-ray background. We show that the log N-log S of AGNs selected above 10 keV is now established to ~10% precision. We derive the luminosity function of Compton-thick AGNs and measure a space density of 7.9+4.1 - 2.9 × 10-5 Mpc-3 for objects with a de-absorbed luminosity larger than 2 × 1042 erg s-1. As the BAT AGNs are all mostly local, they allow us to investigate the spatial distribution of AGNs in the nearby universe regardless of absorption. We find concentrations of AGNs that coincide spatially with the largest congregations of matter in the local (<=85 Mpc) universe. There is some evidence that the fraction of Seyfert 2 objects is larger than average in the direction of these dense regions
Fermi-LAT Observation of Supernova Remnant S147
We present an analysis of gamma-ray data obtained with the Large Area
Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the region
around SNR S147 (G180.0-1.7). A spatially extended gamma-ray source detected in
an energy range of 0.2--10 GeV is found to coincide with SNR S147. We confirm
its spatial extension at >5sigma confidence level. The gamma-ray flux is (3.8
\pm 0.6) x 10^{-8} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1}, corresponding to a luminosity of 1.3
x 10^{34} (d/1.3 kpc)^2 erg s^{-1} in this energy range. The gamma-ray emission
exhibits a possible spatial correlation with prominent Halpha filaments of
S147. There is no indication that the gamma-ray emission comes from the
associated pulsar PSR J0538+2817. The gamma-ray spectrum integrated over the
remnant is likely dominated by the decay of neutral pi mesons produced through
the proton--proton collisions in the filaments. Reacceleration of pre-existing
CRs and subsequent adiabatic compression in the filaments is sufficient to
provide the required energy density of high-energy protons.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in Ap
Unveiling the nature of the unidentified gamma-ray sources IV: the catalog of potential X-ray counterparts
A significant fraction ( %) of the high-energy gamma-ray sources
listed in the second LAT (2FGL) catalog are still of unknown
origin, being not yet associated with counterparts at lower energies. In order
to investigate the nature of these enigmatic sources, we present here an
extensive search of X-ray sources lying in the positional uncertainty region of
a selected sample of these Unidentified Gamma-ray Sources (UGSs) that makes use
of all available observations performed by the X-ray Telescope
before March 31, 2013, available for 205 UGSs. To detect the fainter sources,
we merged all the observations covering the LAT positional
uncertainty region at 95 % level of confidence of each UGSs. This yields a
catalog of 357 X-ray sources, finding {candidate} X-ray counterparts for % of the selected sample. In particular, 25 % of the UGSs feature a single
X-ray source within their positional uncertainty region while 45 % have
multiple X-ray sources. For each X-ray source we also looked in the
corresponding UVOT merged images for optical and ultraviolet
counterparts, also performing source photometry. We found ultraviolet-optical
correspondences for % of the X-ray sources. We searched several major
radio, infrared, optical and ultraviolet surveys for possible counterparts
within the positional error of the sources in the X-ray catalog to obtain
additional information on their nature. Applying the kernel density estimator
technique to infrared colors of WISE counterparts of our X-ray sources we
select 6 -ray blazar candidates. In addition, comparing our results
with previous analyses, we select 11 additional -ray blazar candidates.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication on Ap
Resistive-Wall Instability in the Damping Rings of the ILC
In the damping rings of the International Linear Collider (ILC), the resistive-wall instability is one of the dominant transverse instabilities. This instability directly influences the choice of material and aperture of the vacuum pipe, and the parameters of the transverse feedback system. This paper investigates the resistive-wall instabilities in an ILC damping ring under various conditions of beam pipe material, aperture, and fill pattern
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