1,011 research outputs found
Spectral Hardness Decay with Respect to Fluence in BATSE Gamma-Ray Bursts
We have analyzed the evolution of the spectral hardness parameter Epk as a
function of fluence in gamma-ray bursts. We fit 41 pulses within 26 bursts with
the trend reported by Liang & Kargatis (1996) which found that Epk decays
exponentially with respect to photon fluence. We also fit these pulses with a
slight modification of this trend, where Epk decays linearly with energy
fluence. In both cases, we found the set of 41 pulses to be consistent with the
trend. For the latter trend, which we believe to be more physical, the
distribution of the decay constant is roughly log-normal, with a mean of 1.75
+/- 0.07 and a FWHM of 1.0 +/- 0.1. Regarding an earlier reported invariance in
the decay constant among different pulses in a single burst, we found
probabilities of 0.49 to 0.84 (depending on the test used) that such invariance
would occur by coincidence, most likely due to the narrow distribution of decay
constant values among pulses.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure pages, 2 table pages, submitted to The
Astrophysical Journa
Nanoparticle catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells:Can surfactant effects be beneficial for electrocatalysis?
Evolution of the Low-Energy Photon Spectra in Gamma-Ray Bursts
We report evidence that the asymptotic low-energy power law slope alpha
(below the spectral break) of BATSE gamma-ray burst photon spectra evolves with
time rather than remaining constant. We find a high degree of positive
correlation exists between the time-resolved spectral break energy E_pk and
alpha. In samples of 18 "hard-to-soft" and 12 "tracking" pulses, evolution of
alpha was found to correlate with that of the spectral break energy E_pk at the
99.7% and 98% confidence levels respectively. We also find that in the flux
rise phase of "hard-to-soft" pulses, the mean value of alpha is often positive
and in some bursts the maximum value of alpha is consistent with a value > +1.
BATSE burst 3B 910927, for example, has a alpha_max equal to 1.6 +/- 0.3. These
findings challenge GRB spectral models in which alpha must be negative of
remain constant.Comment: 12 pages (including 6 figures), accepted to Ap
Spectral analysis of 35 GRBs/XRFs observed with HETE-2/FREGATE
We present a spectral analysis of 35 GRBs detected with the HETE-2 gamma-ray
detectors (the FREGATE instrument) in the energy range 7-400 keV. The GRB
sample analyzed is made of GRBs localized with the Wide Field X-ray Monitor
onboard HETE-2 or with the GRB Interplanetary Network. We derive the spectral
parameters of the time-integrated spectra, and present the distribution of the
low-energy photon index, alpha, and of the peak energy, e_peak . We then
discuss the existence and nature of the recently discovered X-Ray Flashes and
their relationship with classical GRBs.Comment: 14 pages, 43 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Efficacy of early diagnosis and treatment in women with a family history of breast cancer
BACKGROUND: Surveillance programmes for women at increased genetic risk of breast cancer are being established worldwide but little is known of their efficacy in early detection of cancers and hence reduction in mortality. METHODS: Data were contributed from seven centres participating in the EU Demonstration Programme on Clinical Services for Familial Breast Cancer. All breast tumours (n = 161) detected prospectively, from the time of enrolment of women in a screening programme, were recorded. Analysis took account of age at diagnosis, whether tumours were screen-detected or not, their pathological stage and outcome by Kaplan—Meier survival plots. RESULTS: Mean age at diagnosis was 48.6 years. Overall, 75% of tumours were detected in the course of planned examinations. For women under age 50 at diagnosis, this figure was 68%. Eighteen percent were mammographically negative, (23% in patients under age 50). At first (“prevalence”) round and at follow-up screening, 16% and 22% of tumours respectively were carcinoma in situ (CIS) while 27% and 22% respectively had evidence of nodal or distant spread (CaN+). Comparison of screen-detected and other tumours showed that the latter were more frequently mammogram-negative and CaN+. Overall five-year survival was 89% and five-year event-free survival 86%. Five-year event-free survival was 100% for CIS, 88% for invasive cancer without nodal or distant spread and 67% for CaN+. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of cancers arising in women at increased genetic risk of breast cancer can be detected by planned screening, even in those under age 50. Surveillance should include regular expert clinical examination and teaching of “breast awareness” as well as mammography. Attention to the logistics of screening programmes may improve still further the proportion of tumours that are screen-detected. The trend towards earlier pathological stage in tumours detected during follow-up rounds and the preliminary findings on survival analysis suggest that this approach will prove to be of long-term benefit for breast cancer families.publishedVersio
The Second Swift BAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog
We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004
December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog (hereafter the BAT2 catalog)
presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence,
peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters and time-resolved spectral
parameters measured by the BAT. In the correlation study of various observed
parameters extracted from the BAT prompt emission data, we distinguish among
long-duration GRBs (L-GRBs), short-duration GRBs (S-GRBs), and short-duration
GRBs with extended emission (S-GRBs with E.E.) to investigate differences in
the prompt emission properties. The fraction of L-GRBs, S-GRBs and S-GRBs with
E.E. in the catalog are 89%, 8% and 2% respectively. We compare the BAT prompt
emission properties with the BATSE, BeppoSAX and HETE-2 GRB samples. We also
correlate the observed prompt emission properties with the redshifts for the
GRBs with known redshift. The BAT T90 and T50 durations peak at 70 s and 30 s,
respectively. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT S-GRBs are generally
harder than those of the L-GRBs. The time-averaged spectra of the BAT S-GRBs
with E.E. are similar to those of the L-GRBs. Whereas, the spectra of the
initial short spikes of the S-GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the
S-GRBs. We show that the BAT GRB samples are significantly softer than the
BATSE bright GRBs, and that the time-averaged Epeak of the BAT GRBs peaks at 80
keV which is significantly lower energy than those of the BATSE sample which
peak at 320 keV. The time-averaged spectral properties of the BAT GRB sample
are similar to those of the HETE-2 GRB samples. By time-resolved spectral
analysis, we find that only 10% of the BAT observed photon indices are outside
the allowed region of the synchrotron shock model.Comment: 65 pages, 33 figures, 13 tables, Accepted in ApJS, Nine
machine-readable tables are available at
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/results/bat2_catalog
Results from the First Science Run of the ZEPLIN-III Dark Matter Search Experiment
The ZEPLIN-III experiment in the Palmer Underground Laboratory at Boulby uses
a 12kg two-phase xenon time projection chamber to search for the weakly
interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that may account for the dark matter of
our Galaxy. The detector measures both scintillation and ionisation produced by
radiation interacting in the liquid to differentiate between the nuclear
recoils expected from WIMPs and the electron recoil background signals down to
~10keV nuclear recoil energy. An analysis of 847kg.days of data acquired
between February 27th 2008 and May 20th 2008 has excluded a WIMP-nucleon
elastic scattering spin-independent cross-section above 8.1x10(-8)pb at
55GeV/c2 with a 90% confidence limit. It has also demonstrated that the
two-phase xenon technique is capable of better discrimination between electron
and nuclear recoils at low-energy than previously achieved by other xenon-based
experiments.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figure
WIMP-nucleon cross-section results from the second science run of ZEPLIN-III
We report experimental upper limits on WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross
sections from the second science run of ZEPLIN-III at the Boulby Underground
Laboratory. A raw fiducial exposure of 1,344 kg.days was accrued over 319 days
of continuous operation between June 2010 and May 2011. A total of eight events
was observed in the signal acceptance region in the nuclear recoil energy range
7-29 keV, which is compatible with background expectations. This allows the
exclusion of the scalar cross-section above 4.8E-8 pb near 50 GeV/c^2 WIMP mass
with 90% confidence. Combined with data from the first run, this result
improves to 3.9E-8 pb. The corresponding WIMP-neutron spin-dependent
cross-section limit is 8.0E-3 pb. The ZEPLIN programme reaches thus its
conclusion at Boulby, having deployed and exploited successfully three liquid
xenon experiments of increasing reach
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