Gamma-ray bursts and X-ray melting of material as a potential source of chondrules and planets

The intense radiation from a gamma-ray burst (GRB) is shown to be capable of melting stony material at distances up to 300 light years which subsequently cool to form chondrules. These conditions were created in the laboratory for the first time when millimeter sized pellets were placed in a vacuum chamber in the white synchrotron beam at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The pellets were rapidly heated in the X-ray and gamma-ray furnace to above 1400 C melted and cooled. This process heats from the inside unlike normal furnaces. The melted spherical samples were examined with a range of techniques and found to have microstructural properties similar to the chondrules that come from meteorites. This experiment demonstrates that GRBs can melt precursor material to form chondrules that may subsequently influence the formation of planets. This work extends the field of laboratory astrophysics to include high power synchrotron sources.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures. Proceedings of the 5th INTEGRAL Workshop, Munich 16-20 February 2004. High resolution figures available at http://bermuda.ucd.ie/%7Esmcbreen/papers/duggan_01.pd

Wavelet Analysis and Lognormal Distributions in GRBs

A wavelet analysis has been performed on 80 intense gamma-ray bursts GRBs) from the BATSE 3B catalog with durations longer than 2 seconds. The wavelet analysis applied novel features developed for edge detection in image processing and this filtering process was used to extract a fit to the irregular GRB profile from the background. A straightforward algorithm was subsequently used to identify statistically significant peaks in this profile. The areas and FWHM of 270 peaks that were characterised as isolated were found to be consistent with lognormal distributions. The distribution of time intervals between peak maxima for all 963 identified peaks in the GRBs is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Similarities in the temporal properties of gamma-ray bursts and soft gamma-ray repeaters

Magnetars are modelled as sources that derive their output from magnetic energy that substantially exceeds their rotational energy. An implication of the recent polarization measurement of GRB 021206 is that the emission mechanism may be dominated by a magnetic field that originates in the central engine. Similarities in the temporal properties of SGRs and GRBs are considered in light of the fact that the central engine in GRBs may be magnetically dominated. The results show that 1) the time intervals between outbursts in SRG 1806-20 and pulses in GRBs are consistent with lognormal distributions and 2) the cumulative outputs of SGRs and GRBs increase linearly with time. This behaviour can be successfully modelled by a relaxation system that maintains a steady state situation.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 2003 GRB Conference, Santa Fe, 4 pages, 4 figure

Electrolytic hydrogen-metal interactions

The electrolyte composition and the electrodic conditions have a major effect on the entry of electrolytic hydrogen into metals. In the case of ferrous metals there is a large body of literature and various promoters have been identified. Only a few inhibitors have been found, such as organic nitriles. This paper reports the complete inhibition of the entry of hydrogen into iron by UPD Zn in concentrated alkali solutions. Less is known about the effect of electrolyte on the entry of hydrogen into palladium. The present work shows that many of the known promoters for ferrous metals actually inhibit the entry and egress of hydrogen from palladium. Permeation results on a Pd membrane in pure 0.1 M NaOH indicate that only 20% of the surface is used for the entry of hydrogen into the metal. In 0.1 M NaOH + 10{sup {minus}3} M NaCN it drops to 5%. The fraction of the surface used strongly depends on electrolyte purity. Impurity effects can account for the discrepant results for electrochemical hydrogen loading of Pd

Observation of a burst of cosmic-rays at energies above 7x10(13)eV

The authors report on an unusual simultaneous increase in the cosmic-ray shower rate at two recording stations separated by 250 km. The event lasted for 20 s. This event was the only one of its kind detected in three years of observation. The duration and structure of this event is different from a recently reported single-station cosmic-ray burst. The simultaneity of the coincident event suggests that it was caused by a burst of cosmic gamma rays. There is a possibility that this event may be related to the largest observed glitch of the pulsar in the Crab Nebula

X-ray absorption studies of battery materials

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is ideal for {ital in}{ital situ} studies of battery materials because both the probe and signal are penetrating x rays. The advantage of XAS being element specific permits investigation of the environment of a constituent element in a composite material. This makes it very powerful for studying electrode additives and corrosion of individual components of complex metal hydride alloys. The near edge part of the spectrum (XANES) provides information on oxidation state and site symmetry of the excited atom. This is particularly useful in study of corrosion and oxidation changes in cathode materials during charge/discharge cycle. Extended fine structure (EXAFS) gives structural information. Thus the technique provides both chemical and structural information. Since XAS probes only short range order, it can be applied to study of amorphous electrode materials and electrolytes. This paper discusses advantages and limitations of the method, as well as some experimental aspects

Localisation of gamma-ray interaction points in thick monolithic CeBr3 and LaBr3:Ce scintillators

Localisation of gamma-ray interaction points in monolithic scintillator crystals can simplify the design and improve the performance of a future Compton telescope for gamma-ray astronomy. In this paper we compare the position resolution of three monolithic scintillators: a 28x28x20 mm3 (length x breadth x thickness) LaBr3:Ce crystal, a 25x25x20 mm3 CeBr3 crystal and a 25x25x10 mm3 CeBr3 crystal. Each crystal was encapsulated and coupled to an array of 4x4 silicon photomultipliers through an optical window. The measurements were conducted using 81 keV and 356 keV gamma-rays from a collimated 133Ba source. The 3D position reconstruction of interaction points was performed using artificial neural networks trained with experimental data. Although the position resolution was significantly better for the thinner crystal, the 20 mm thick CeBr3 crystal showed an acceptable resolution of about 5.4 mm FWHM for the x and y coordinates, and 7.8 mm FWHM for the z-coordinate (crystal depth) at 356 keV. These values were obtained from the full position scans of the crystal sides. The position resolution of the LaBr3:Ce crystal was found to be considerably worse, presumably due to the highly diffusive optical in- terface between the crystal and the optical window of the enclosure. The energy resolution (FWHM) measured for 662 keV gamma-rays was 4.0% for LaBr3:Ce and 5.5% for CeBr3. The same crystals equipped with a PMT (Hamamatsu R6322-100) gave an energy resolution of 3.0% and 4.7%, respectively

Lognormal Properties of SGR 1806-20 and Implications for Other SGR Sources

The time interval between successive bursts from SGR 1806-20 and the intensity of these bursts are both consistent with lognormal distributions. Monte Carlo simulations of lognormal burst models with a range of distribution parameters have been investigated. The main conclusions are that while most sources like SGR 1806-20 should be detected in a time interval of 25 years, sources with means about 100 times longer have a probability of about 5\% of being detected in the same interval. A new breed of experiments that operate for long periods are required to search for sources with mean recurrence intervals much longer than SGR 1806-20.Comment: 4 pages, latex with seperate file containing 2 uuencoded, gzip'ed, tarred, .eps figures. Replaced with file that does not use kluwer.sty to allow automatic postscript generation. To appear in proceedings of ESLAB 2

The effect of Ru and Sn additions to Pt on the electrocatalysis of methanol oxidation: An in situ XAS investigation

Elements such as Ru and Sn used as ad-atoms or as alloying elements are known to enhance methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Ru, both as alloying element as well as upd deposited on Pt/C is widely acknowledged for enhancing MOR. Sn on the other hand is more controversial, with evidence indicating enhancements for MOR when present as upd layer and marginally effective when present as an alloying element. In situ XAS is used to investigate some of these inconsistencies in the electrocatalysis of MOR. Results indicate that alloying Sn with Pt (Pt{sub 3}Sn primary phase) causes partial filling of the Pt 5 d-band vacancies and increase in the Pt-Pt bond distances which is directly opposite to a similar situation with Ru. Upd Sn however does not perturb Pt structurally or electronically. Ru and Sn (both as alloying element and as upd ad-layer) are associated with oxygenated species, the nature and strength of the Ru. and Sn - oxygen interactions are potential dependent. Hence alloying with Sn renders Pt surface unfavorable for methanol adsorption in contrast to alloying with Ru. Both Ru and Sn however promote MOR via their ability to nucleate oxygenated species on their surface at lower potentials as compared to pure Pt