277 research outputs found
The X-ray Structure of the Pulsar Bow Shock G189.22+2.90 in the Supernova Remnant IC 443
We present a deep observation with the Chandra X-ray Observatory of the
neutron star bow shock G189.22+2.90 in the supernova remnant (SNR) IC 443. Our
data confirm the cometary morphology and central point source seen previously,
but also reveal considerable new structure. Specifically, we find that the
X-ray nebula consists of two distinct components: a "tongue" of bright emission
close to the neutron star, enveloped by a larger, fainter "tail". We interpret
the tongue and tail as delineating the termination shock and the post-shock
flow, respectively, as previously identified also in the pulsar bow shock
G359.23-0.82 ("the Mouse"). However, for G189.22+2.90 the tongue is much less
elongated than for the Mouse, while the tail is much broader. These differences
are consistent with the low Mach number, M >~ 2, expected for a neutron star
moving through the hot gas in a SNR's interior, supporting the case for a
physical association between G189.22+2.90 and IC 443. We resolve the stand-off
distance between the star and the head of the bow shock, which allows us to
estimate a space velocity for the neutron star of ~230 km/s, independent of
distance. We detect thermal emission from the neutron star surface at a
temperature of 102 +/- 22 eV, which is consistent with the age of SNR IC 443
for standard neutron star cooling models. We also identify two compact knots of
hard emission located 1-2 arcsec north and south of the neutron star.Comment: 8 pages, including 3 color EPS figure. Expaneded to include new
figures, plus discussion of the association between the pulsar and the
supernova remnant. ApJ, in pres
An extended scheme for fitting X-ray data with accretion disk spectra in the strong gravity regime
Accreting black holes are believed to emit X-rays which then mediate
information about strong gravity in the vicinity of the emission region. We
report on a set of new routines for the Xspec package for analysing X-ray
spectra of black-hole accretion disks. The new computational tool significantly
extends the capabilities of the currently available fitting procedures that
include the effects of strong gravity, and allows one to systematically explore
the constraints on more model parameters than previously possible (for example
black-hole angular momentum). Moreover, axial symmetry of the disk intrinsic
emissivity is not assumed, although it can be imposed to speed up the
computations. The new routines can be used also as a stand-alone and flexible
code with the capability of handling time-resolved spectra in the regime of
strong gravity. We have used the new code to analyse the mean X-ray spectrum
from the long XMM--Newton 2001 campaign of the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG--6-30-15.
Consistent with previous findings, we obtained a good fit to the broad Fe K
line profile for a radial line intrinsic emissivity law in the disk which is
not a simple power law, and for near maximal value of black hole angular
momentum. However, equally good fits can be obtained also for small values of
the black hole angular momentum. The code has been developed with the aim of
allowing precise modelling of relativistic effects. Although we find that
current data cannot constrain the parameters of black-hole/accretion disk
system well, the approach allows, for a given source or situation, detailed
investigations of what features of the data future studies should be focused on
in order to achieve the goal of uniquely isolating the parameters of such
systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ S
Isolated X-ray -- infrared sources in the region of interaction of the supernova remnant IC 443 with a molecular cloud
The nature of the extended hard X-ray source XMMU J061804.3+222732 and its
surroundings is investigated using XMM-Newton, Chandra, and Spitzer
observations. This source is located in an interaction region of the IC 443
supernova remnant with a neighboring molecular cloud. The X-ray emission
consists of a number of bright clumps embedded in an extended structured
non-thermal X-ray nebula larger than 30" in size. Some clumps show evidence for
line emission at ~1.9 keV and ~3.7 keV at the 99% confidence level. Large-scale
diffuse radio emission of IC 443 passes over the source region, with an
enhancement near the source. An IR source of about 14" x 7" size is prominent
in the 24 um, 70 um, and 2.2 um bands, adjacent to a putative Si K-shell X-ray
line emission region. The observed IR/X-ray morphology and spectra are
consistent with those expected for J/C-type shocks of different velocities
driven by fragmented supernova ejecta colliding with the dense medium of a
molecular cloud. The IR emission of the source detected by Spitzer can be
attributed to both continuum emission from an HII region created by the ejecta
fragment and line emission excited by shocks. This source region in IC 443 may
be an example of a rather numerous population of hard X-ray/IR sources created
by supernova explosions in the dense environment of star-forming regions.
Alternative Galactic and extragalactic interpretations of the observed source
are also discussed.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, v. 677 (April 2008), in pres
Ergs: The Evolution of Shell Supernova Remnants
This paper reports on a workshop hosted by the University of Minnesota, March
23-26, 1997. It addressed fundamental dynamical issues associated with the
evolution of shell supernova remnants and the relationships between supernova
remnants and their environments. The workshop considered, in addition to
classical shell SNRs, dynamical issues involving X-ray filled composite
remnants and pulsar driven shells, such as that in the Crab Nebula.
Approximately 75 participants with wide ranging interests attended the
workshop. An even larger community helped through extensive on-line debates
prior to the meeting. Each of the several sessions, organized mostly around
chronological labels, also addressed some underlying, general physical themes:
How are SNR dynamics and structures modified by the character of the CSM and
the ISM and vice versa? How are magnetic fields generated in SNRs and how do
magnetic fields influence SNRs? Where and how are cosmic-rays (electrons and
ions) produced in SNRs and how does their presence influence or reveal SNR
dynamics? How does SNR blast energy partition into various components over time
and what controls conversion between components? In lieu of a proceedings
volume, we present here a synopsis of the workshop in the form of brief
summaries of the workshop sessions. The sharpest impressions from the workshop
were the crucial and under-appreciated roles that environments have on SNR
appearance and dynamics and the critical need for broad-based studies to
understand these beautiful, but enigmatic objects. \\Comment: 54 pages text, no figures, Latex (aasms4.sty). submitted to the PAS
Decaying Dark Matter in Supersymmetric Model and Cosmic-Ray Observations
We study cosmic-rays in decaying dark matter scenario, assuming that the dark
matter is the lightest superparticle and it decays through a R-parity violating
operator. We calculate the fluxes of cosmic-rays from the decay of the dark
matter and those from the standard astrophysical phenomena in the same
propagation model using the GALPROP package. We reevaluate the preferred
parameters characterizing standard astrophysical cosmic-ray sources with taking
account of the effects of dark matter decay. We show that, if energetic leptons
are produced by the decay of the dark matter, the fluxes of cosmic-ray positron
and electron can be in good agreements with both PAMELA and Fermi-LAT data in
wide parameter region. It is also discussed that, in the case where sizable
number of hadrons are also produced by the decay of the dark matter, the mass
of the dark matter is constrained to be less than 200-300 GeV in order to avoid
the overproduction of anti-proton. We also show that the cosmic gamma-ray flux
can be consistent with the results of Fermi-LAT observation if the mass of the
dark matter is smaller than nearly 4 TeV.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure
Launch of the Space experiment PAMELA
PAMELA is a satellite borne experiment designed to study with great accuracy
cosmic rays of galactic, solar, and trapped nature in a wide energy range
protons: 80 MeV-700 GeV, electrons 50 MeV-400 GeV). Main objective is the study
of the antimatter component: antiprotons (80 MeV-190 GeV), positrons (50
MeV-270 GeV) and search for antimatter with a precision of the order of 10^-8).
The experiment, housed on board the Russian Resurs-DK1 satellite, was launched
on June, 15, 2006 in a 350*600 km orbit with an inclination of 70 degrees. The
detector is composed of a series of scintillator counters arranged at the
extremities of a permanent magnet spectrometer to provide charge,
Time-of-Flight and rigidity information. Lepton/hadron identification is
performed by a Silicon-Tungsten calorimeter and a Neutron detector placed at
the bottom of the device. An Anticounter system is used offline to reject false
triggers coming from the satellite. In self-trigger mode the Calorimeter, the
neutron detector and a shower tail catcher are capable of an independent
measure of the lepton component up to 2 TeV. In this work we describe the
experiment, its scientific objectives and the performance in the first months
after launch.Comment: Accepted for publication on Advances in Space Researc
General Analysis of Antideuteron Searches for Dark Matter
Low energy cosmic ray antideuterons provide a unique low background channel
for indirect detection of dark matter. We compute the cosmic ray flux of
antideuterons from hadronic annihilations of dark matter for various Standard
Model final states and determine the mass reach of two future experiments
(AMS-02 and GAPS) designed to greatly increase the sensitivity of antideuteron
detection over current bounds. We consider generic models of scalar, fermion,
and massive vector bosons as thermal dark matter, describe their basic features
relevant to direct and indirect detection, and discuss the implications of
direct detection bounds on models of dark matter as a thermal relic. We also
consider specific dark matter candidates and assess their potential for
detection via antideuterons from their hadronic annihilation channels. Since
the dark matter mass reach of the GAPS experiment can be well above 100 GeV, we
find that antideuterons can be a good indirect detection channel for a variety
of thermal relic electroweak scale dark matter candidates, even when the rate
for direct detection is highly suppressed.Comment: 44 pages, 15 Figure
The Relation Between the Surface Brightness and the Diameter for Galactic Supernova Remnants
In this work, we have constructed a relation between the surface brightness
() and diameter (D) of Galactic C- and S-type supernova remnants
(SNRs). In order to calibrate the -D dependence, we have carefully
examined some intrinsic (e.g. explosion energy) and extrinsic (e.g. density of
the ambient medium) properties of the remnants and, taking into account also
the distance values given in the literature, we have adopted distances for some
of the SNRs which have relatively more reliable distance values. These
calibrator SNRs are all C- and S-type SNRs, i.e. F-type SNRs (and S-type SNR
Cas A which has an exceptionally high surface brightness) are excluded. The
Sigma-D relation has 2 slopes with a turning point at D=36.5 pc: (at 1
GHz)=8.4 D
WmHzster (for
WmHzster and D36.5 pc) and (at 1
GHz)=2.7 10 D
WmHzster (for
WmHzster and D36.5 pc). We discussed the theoretical
basis for the -D dependence and particularly the reasons for the change
in slope of the relation were stated. Added to this, we have shown the
dependence between the radio luminosity and the diameter which seems to have a
slope close to zero up to about D=36.5 pc. We have also adopted distance and
diameter values for all of the observed Galactic SNRs by examining all the
available distance values presented in the literature together with the
distances found from our -D relation.Comment: 45 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomical and
Astrophysical Transaction
On-orbit Operations and Offline Data Processing of CALET onboard the ISS
The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), launched for installation on the
International Space Station (ISS) in August, 2015, has been accumulating
scientific data since October, 2015. CALET is intended to perform long-duration
observations of high-energy cosmic rays onboard the ISS. CALET directly
measures the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range of 1 GeV to 20
TeV with a 2% energy resolution above 30 GeV. In addition, the instrument can
measure the spectrum of gamma rays well into the TeV range, and the spectra of
protons and nuclei up to a PeV.
In order to operate the CALET onboard ISS, JAXA Ground Support Equipment
(JAXA-GSE) and the Waseda CALET Operations Center (WCOC) have been established.
Scientific operations using CALET are planned at WCOC, taking into account
orbital variations of geomagnetic rigidity cutoff. Scheduled command sequences
are used to control the CALET observation modes on orbit. Calibration data
acquisition by, for example, recording pedestal and penetrating particle
events, a low-energy electron trigger mode operating at high geomagnetic
latitude, a low-energy gamma-ray trigger mode operating at low geomagnetic
latitude, and an ultra heavy trigger mode, are scheduled around the ISS orbit
while maintaining maximum exposure to high-energy electrons and other
high-energy shower events by always having the high-energy trigger mode active.
The WCOC also prepares and distributes CALET flight data to collaborators in
Italy and the United States.
As of August 31, 2017, the total observation time is 689 days with a live
time fraction of the total time of approximately 84%. Nearly 450 million events
are collected with a high-energy (E>10 GeV) trigger. By combining all operation
modes with the excellent-quality on-orbit data collected thus far, it is
expected that a five-year observation period will provide a wealth of new and
interesting results.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, published online 27 February 201
Search for GeV Gamma-ray Counterparts of Gravitational Wave Events by CALET
We present results on searches for gamma-ray counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo
gravitational-wave events using CALorimetric Electron Telescope ({\sl CALET})
observations. The main instrument of {\sl CALET}, CALorimeter (CAL), observes
gamma-rays from GeV up to 10 TeV with a field of view of nearly 2 sr.
In addition, the {\sl CALET} gamma-ray burst monitor (CGBM) views 3 sr
and sr of the sky in the 7 keV -- 1 MeV and the 40 keV -- 20 MeV
bands, respectively, by using two different crystal scintillators. The {\sl
CALET} observations on the International Space Station started in October 2015,
and here we report analyses of events associated with the following
gravitational wave events: GW151226, GW170104, GW170608, GW170814 and GW170817.
Although only upper limits on gamma-ray emission are obtained, they correspond
to a luminosity of erg s in the GeV energy band
depending on the distance and the assumed time duration of each event, which is
approximately the order of luminosity of typical short gamma-ray bursts. This
implies there will be a favorable opportunity to detect high-energy gamma-ray
emission in further observations if additional gravitational wave events with
favorable geometry will occur within our field-of-view. We also show the
sensitivity of {\sl CALET} for gamma-ray transient events which is the order of
~erg\,cm\,s for an observation of 100~s duration.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in
Astrophysical Journa
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