315 research outputs found
Circular Polarization from Gamma-ray Burst Afterglows
We investigate the circular polarization (CP) from Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB)
afterglows. We show that a tangled magnetic field cannot generate CP without an
ordered magnetic field because there is always an oppositely directed field, so
that no handedness exists. This implies the observation of CP could be a useful
probe of an ordered field, which carries valuable information on the GRB
central engine. By solving the transfer equation of polarized radiation, we
find that the CP reaches 1% at radio frequencies and 0.01% at optical for the
forward shock, and 10-1% at radio and 0.1-0.01% at optical for the reverse
shock.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Several New Active Galactic Nuclei Among X-ray Sources Detected by INTEGRAL and SWIFT Observatories
We present the results of the optical identifications of a set of X-ray
sources from the all-sky surveys of INTEGRAL and SWIFT observatories. Optical
data were obtained with Russian-Turkish 1.5-m Telescope (RTT150). Nine X-ray
sources were identified as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Two of them are
hosted by nearby, nearly exactly edge-on, spiral galaxies MCG -01-05-047 and
NGC 973. One source, IGR J16562-3301, is most probably BL Lac object (blazar).
Other AGNs are observed as stellar-like nuclei of spiral galaxies, with broad
emission lines in their spectra.
For the majority of our hard X-ray selected AGNs, their hard X-ray
luminosities are well-correlated with the luminosities in [OIII],5007 optical
emission line. However, the luminosities of some AGNs deviate from this
correlation. The fraction of these objects can be as high as 20%. In
particular, the flux in [OIII] line turns to be lower in two nearby edge-on
spiral galaxies, which can be explained by the extinction in their galactic
disks.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy Letters,
the original text in Russian can be found at
http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/~rodion/poptid.pd
Cosmic polarimetry in magnetoactive plasmas
Polarimetry of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) represents one of the
possible diagnostics aimed at testing large-scale magnetism at the epoch of the
photon decoupling. The propagation of electromagnetic disturbances in a
magnetized plasma leads naturally to a B-mode polarization whose angular power
spectrum is hereby computed both analytically and numerically. Combined
analyses of all the publicly available data on the B-mode polarization are
presented, for the first time, in the light of the magnetized CDM
scenario. Novel constraints on pre-equality magnetism are also derived in view
of the current and expected sensitivities to the B-mode polarization.Comment: 34 pages, 13 figure
Optical Identification of Four Hard X-ray Sources from the Swift All-Sky Survey
We present the results of our optical identifications of four hard X-ray
sources from the Swift all-sky survey. We obtained optical spectra for each of
the program objects with the 6-m BTA telescope (Special Astrophysical
Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhnii Arkhyz), which allowed their
nature to be established. Two sources (SWIFT J2237.2+6324} and SWIFT
J2341.0+7645) are shown to belong to the class of cataclysmic variables
(suspected polars or intermediate polars). The measured emission line width
turns out to be fairly large (FWHM ~ 15-25 A), suggesting the presence of
extended, rapidly rotating (v~400-600 km/s) accretion disks in the systems.
Apart from line broadening, we have detected a change in the positions of the
line centroids for SWIFT J2341.0+7645, which is most likely attributable to the
orbital motion of the white dwarf in the binary system. The other two program
objects (SWIFT J0003.3+2737 and SWIFT J0113.8+2515) are extragalactic in
origin: the first is a Seyfert 2 galaxy and the second is a blazar at redshift
z=1.594. Apart from the optical spectra, we provide the X-ray spectra for all
sources in the 0.6-10 keV energy band obtained from XRT/Swift data.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, will be published in Astronomy Letters, 38, No.5,
pp.281-289 (2012
INTEGRAL hard X-ray spectra of the cosmic X-ray background and Galactic ridge emission
We derive the spectra of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) and of the
Galactic ridge X-ray emission (GRXE) in the ~20-200 keV range from the data of
the IBIS instrument aboard the INTEGRAL satellite obtained during the four
dedicated Earth-occultation observations of early 2006. We analyse the
modulation of the IBIS/ISGRI detector counts induced by the passage of the
Earth through the field of view of the instrument. Unlike previous studies, we
do not fix the spectral shape of the various contributions, but model instead
their spatial distribution and derive for each of them the expected modulation
of the detector counts. The spectra of the diffuse emission components are
obtained by fitting the normalizations of the model lightcurves to the observed
modulation in different energy bins. The obtained CXB spectrum is consistent
with the historic HEAO-1 results and falls slightly below the spectrum derived
with Swift/BAT. A 10% higher normalization of the CXB cannot be completely
excluded, but it would imply an unrealistically high albedo of the Earth. The
derived spectrum of the GRXE confirms the presence of a minimum around 80 keV
with improved statistics and yields an estimate of ~0.6 M_Sun for the average
mass of white dwarfs in the Galaxy. The analysis also provides updated
normalizations for the spectra of the Earth's albedo and the cosmic-ray induced
atmospheric emission.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, minor changes to text, A&A in pres
Faraday rotation, stochastic magnetic fields and CMB maps
The high- and low-frequency descriptions of the pre-decoupling plasma are
deduced from the Vlasov-Landau treatment generalized to curved space-times and
in the presence of the relativistic fluctuations of the geometry. It is
demonstrated that the interplay between one-fluid and two-fluid treatments is
mandatory for a complete and reliable calculation of the polarization
observables. The Einstein-Boltzmann hierarchy is generalized to handle the
dispersive propagation of the electromagnetic disturbances in the
pre-decoupling plasma. Given the improved physical and numerical framework, the
polarization observables are computed within the magnetized CDM
paradigm (mCDM). In particular, the Faraday-induced B-mode is
consistently estimated by taking into account the effects of the magnetic
fields on the initial conditions of the Boltzmann hierarchy, on the dynamical
equations and on the dispersion relations. The complete calculations of the
angular power spectra constitutes the first step for the derivation of
magnetized maps of the CMB temperature and polarization which are here obtained
for the first time and within the minimal mCDM model. The obtained
results set the ground for direct experimental scrutiny of large-scale
magnetism via the low and high frequency instruments of the Planck explorer
satellite.Comment: 53 pages, 15 included figure
The Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect and Its Cosmological Significance
Comptonization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation by hot gas
in clusters of galaxies - the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (S-Z) effect - is of great
astrophysical and cosmological significance. In recent years observations of
the effect have improved tremendously; high signal-to-noise images of the
effect (at low microwave frequencies) can now be obtained by ground-based
interferometric arrays. In the near future, high frequency measurements of the
effect will be made with bolomateric arrays during long duration balloon
flights. Towards the end of the decade the PLANCK satellite will extensive S-Z
surveys over a wide frequency range. Along with the improved observational
capabilities, the theoretical description of the effect and its more precise
use as a probe have been considerably advanced. I review the current status of
theoretical and observational work on the effect, and the main results from its
use as a cosmological probe.Comment: Invited review; in proceedings of the Erice NATO/ASI `Astrophysical
Sources of High Energy Particles and Radiation'; 11 pages, 3 figure
Optical Multicolor WBVR-Observations of the X-Ray Star V1341 Cyg = Cyg X-2 in 1986-1992
We present the results of observations of the low-mass X-ray binary
V1341 X--2. Our observations include a total of
2375 individual measurements in four bands on 478 nights in 1986-1992. We tied
the comparison and check stars used for the binary to the catalog using
their magnitudes. The uncertainty of this procedure was 3 in the
and bands and 8%-10% for the and bands. In quiescence, the
amplitude of the periodic component in the binary's brightness variations
is within ( in ); this is due
to the ellipsoidal shape of the optical component, which is distorted with
gravitational forces from the X-ray component. Some of the system's active
states (long flares) may be due to instabilities in the accretion disk, and
possibly to instabilities of gas flows and other accretion structures. The
binary possesses a low-luminosity accretion disk. The light curves reveal no
indications of an eclipse near the phases of the upper and lower conjunctions
in quiescence or in active states during the observed intervals. We conclude
that the optical star in the close binary V1341
X-2 is a red giant rather than a blue straggler. We studied the long-term
variability of the binary during the seven years covered by our observations.
The optical observations presented in this study are compared to X-ray data
from the Ginga observatory for the same time intervals.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figure
Broad band high energy observations of the superluminal jet source GRO J1655-40 during an outburst
The X-ray/radio transient superluminal jet source GRO J1655-40 was recently
suggested to contain a black hole from optical observations. Being a relatively
close-by system (d \sim 3.2 kpc), it can likely provide us with rich
information about the physics operating in both galactic and extragalactic jet
sources. We present the first simultaneous broad band high energy observations
of GRO J1655-40 during the 1995 July-August outburst by three instruments:
ASCA, WATCH/GRANAT and BATSE/CGRO, in the energy band from 1 keV to 2 MeV. Our
observations strengthen the interpretation that GRO J1655-40 contains a black
hole. We detected a two-component energy spectrum, commonly seen from other
galactic black hole binaries, but never detected from a neutron star system.
Combining our results with the mass limits derived from optical radial velocity
and orbital period measurements, we further constrain the mass of the central
object to be between 3.3 and 5.8 M_{\sun}, above the well-established mass
upper limit of 3.2 M_{\sun} for a neutron star (the optical mass function for
GRO J1655-40 is 3.160.2 M_{\sun}). This system is therefore the first
galactic superluminal jet source for which there is strong evidence that the
system contains a stellar mass black hole. The inclination angle of the binary
system is constrained to be between 76 and 87 degrees, consistent with
estimates obtained from optical light curves and radio jet kinematics.Comment: 27 pages, 4 PostScript figures, Accepted for ApJ publicatio
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