228 research outputs found
Synchrotron and Inverse Compton Constraints on Lorentz Violations for Electrons
We present a method for constraining Lorentz violation in the electron
sector, based on observations of the photons emitted by high-energy
astrophysical sources. The most important Lorentz-violating operators at the
relevant energies are parameterized by a tensor c^{nu mu) with nine independent
components. If c is nonvanishing, then there may be either a maximum electron
velocity less than the speed of light or a maximum energy for subluminal
electrons; both these quantities will generally depend on the direction of an
electron's motion. From synchrotron radiation, we may infer a lower bound on
the maximum velocity, and from inverse Compton emission, a lower bound on the
maximum subluminal energy. With observational data for both these types of
emission from multiple celestial sources, we may then place bounds on all nine
of the coefficients that make up c. The most stringent bound, on a certain
combination of the coefficients, is at the 6 x 10^(-20) level, and bounds on
the coefficients individually range from the 7 x 10^(-15) level to the 2 x
10^(-17) level. For most of the coefficients, these are the most precise bounds
available, and with newly available data, we can already improve over previous
bounds obtained by the same methods.Comment: 28 page
Constraining Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows with Polarization
The low-luminosity black hole Sgr A* provides a testbed for models of
Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows (RIAFs). Recent sub-millimeter linear
polarization measurements of Sgr A* have provided evidence that the electrons
in the accretion flow are relativistic over a large range of radii. Here, we
show that these high temperatures result in elliptical plasma normal modes.
Thus, polarized millimeter and sub-millimeter radiation emitted within RIAFs
will undergo generalized Faraday rotation, a cyclic conversion between linear
and circular polarization. This effect will not depolarize the radiation even
if the rotation measure is extremely high. Rather, the beam will take on the
linear and circular polarization properties of the plasma normal modes. As a
result, polarization measurements of Sgr A* in this frequency regime will
constrain the temperature, density and magnetic profiles of RIAF models.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ Letter
Generation of circular polarization of the CMB
According to the standard cosmology, near the last scattering surface, the
photons scattered via Compton scattering are just linearly polarized and then
the primordial circular polarization of the CMB photons is zero. In this work
we show that CMB polarization acquires a small degree of circular polarization
when a background magnetic field is considered or the quantum electrodynamic
sector of standard model is extended by Lorentz-noninvariant operators as well
as noncommutativity. The existence of circular polarization for the CMB
radiation may be verified during future observation programs and it represents
a possible new channel for investigating new physics effects.Comment: 28 pages, v3, Phys. Rev. D 81, 084035 (2010
Discovery of circularly polarised radio emission from SS 433
We report the discovery of circularly polarised radio emission from the
radio-jet X-ray binary SS 433 with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The
flux density spectrum of the circular polarization, clearly detected at four
frequencies between 1 - 9 GHz, has a spectral index of (-0.9 +/- 0.1). Multiple
components in the source and a lack of very high spatial resolution do not
allow a unique determination of the origin of the circular polarization, nor of
the spectrum of fractional polarization. However, we argue that the emission is
likely to arise in the inner regions of the binary, possibly via
propagation-induced conversion of linear to circular polarization, and the
fractional circular polarization of these regions may be as high as 10%.
Observations such as these have the potential to investigate the composition,
whether pairs or baryonic, of the ejecta from X-ray binaries.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Measurement of the Integrated Faraday Rotations of BL Lac Objects
We present the results of multi-frequency polarization VLA observations of
radio sources from the complete sample of northern, radio-bright BL Lac objects
compiled by H. Kuhr and G. Schmidt. These were used to determine the integrated
rotation measures of 18 objects, 15 of which had never been measured
previously, which hindered analysis of the intrinsic polarization properties of
objects in the complete sample. These measurements make it possible to correct
the observed orientations of the linear polarizations of these sources for the
effect of Faraday rotation. The most probable origin for Faraday rotation in
these objects is the Galactic interstellar medium. The results presented
complete measurements of the integrated rotation measures for all 34 sources in
the complete sample of BL Lac objects.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Confirmation and Analysis of Circular Polarization from Sagittarius A*
Recently Bower et al. (1999b) have reported the detection of circular
polarization from the Galactic Center black hole candidate, Sagittarius A*. We
provide an independent confirmation of this detection, and provide some
analysis on the possible mechanisms.Comment: 14 pages, to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letter
A multifrequency study of giant radio sources-II. Spectral ageing analysis of the lobes of selected sources
Multifrequency observations with the GMRT and the VLA are used to determine
the spectral breaks in consecutive strips along the lobes of a sample of
selected giant radio sources (GRSs) in order to estimate their spectral ages.
The maximum spectral ages estimated for the detected radio emission in the
lobes of our sources range from 6 to 36 Myr with a median value of
20 Myr using the classical equipartition fields. Using the magnetic field
estimates from the Beck & Krause formalism the spectral ages range from 5
to 38 Myr with a median value of 22 Myr. These ages are significantly
older than smaller sources. In all but one source (J1313+6937) the spectral age
gradually increases with distance from the hotspot regions, confirming that
acceleration of the particles mainly occurs in the hotspots. Most of the GRSs
do not exhibit zero spectral ages in the hotspots, as is the case in earlier
studies of smaller sources. This is likely to be largely due to contamination
by more extended emission due to relatively modest resolutions. The injection
spectral indices range from 0.55 to 0.88 with a median value of
0.6. We discuss these values in the light of theoretical expectations,
and show that the injection spectral index appears to be correlated with
luminosity and/or redshift as well as with linear size.Comment: 12 Pages, 13 Figures, 9 Tables, Accepted for publication in MNRA
Circular Polarization Induced by Scintillation in a Magnetized Medium
A new theory is presented for the development of circular polarization as
radio waves propagate through the turbulent, birefringent interstellar medium.
The fourth order moments of the wavefield are calculated and it is shown that
unpolarized incident radiation develops a nonzero variance in circular
polarization. A magnetized turbulent medium causes the Stokes parameters to
scintillate in a non-identical manner. A specific model for this effect is
developed for the case of density fluctuations in a uniform magnetic field.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, Phys. Rev. E, accepte
Maximum brightness temperature for an incoherent synchrotron radio source
We discuss here a limit on the maximum brightness temperature achievable for
an incoherent synchrotron radio source. This limit, commonly referred to in the
literature as an inverse Compton limit, prescribes that the brightness
temperature for an incoherent synchrotron radio source may not exceed ~10^{12}
K, a fact known from observations. However one gets a somewhat tighter limit on
the brightness temperatures, T_{b}~10^{11.5} K, independent of the inverse
Compton effects, if one employs the condition of equipartition of energy in
magnetic fields and relativistic particles in a synchrotron radio source. Pros
and cons of the two brightness temperature limits are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, Proceedings of the First Kodai-Trieste Workshop on Plasma
Astrophysics, August 27-September 7, 200
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