449 research outputs found
AGILE detection of delayed gamma-ray emission from GRB 080514B
GRB 080514B is the first gamma ray burst (GRB), since the time of EGRET, for
which individual photons of energy above several tens of MeV have been detected
with a pair-conversion tracker telescope. This burst was discovered with the
Italian AGILE gamma-ray satellite. The GRB was localized with a cooperation by
AGILE and the interplanetary network (IPN). The gamma-ray imager (GRID)
estimate of the position, obtained before the SuperAGILE-IPN localization, is
found to be consistent with the burst position. The hard X-ray emission
observed by SuperAGILE lasted about 7 s, while there is evidence that the
emission above 30 MeV extends for a longer duration (at least ~13 s). Similar
behavior was seen in the past from a few other GRBs observed with EGRET.
However, the latter measurements were affected, during the brightest phases, by
instrumental dead time effects, resulting in only lower limits to the burst
intensity. Thanks to the small dead time of the AGILE/GRID we could assess that
in the case of GRB 080514B the gamma-ray to X-ray flux ratio changes
significantly between the prompt and extended emission phase.Comment: A&A letters, in pres
Zeros of regular functions of quaternionic and octonionic variable: a division lemma and the camshaft effect
We study in detail the zero set of a regular function of a quaternionic or
octonionic variable. By means of a division lemma for convergent power series,
we find the exact relation existing between the zeros of two octonionic regular
functions and those of their product. In the case of octonionic polynomials, we
get a strong form of the fundamental theorem of algebra. We prove that the sum
of the multiplicities of zeros equals the degree of the polynomial and obtain a
factorization in linear polynomials.Comment: Proof of Lemma 7 rewritten (thanks to an anonymous reviewer
Discovery of extreme particle acceleration in the microquasar Cygnus X-3
The study of relativistic particle acceleration is a major topic of
high-energy astrophysics. It is well known that massive black holes in active
galaxies can release a substantial fraction of their accretion power into
energetic particles, producing gamma-rays and relativistic jets. Galactic
microquasars (hosting a compact star of 1-10 solar masses which accretes matter
from a binary companion) also produce relativistic jets. However, no direct
evidence of particle acceleration above GeV energies has ever been obtained in
microquasar ejections, leaving open the issue of the occurrence and timing of
extreme matter energization during jet formation. Here we report the detection
of transient gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV from the microquasar Cygnus X-3,
an exceptional X-ray binary which sporadically produces powerful radio jets.
Four gamma-ray flares (each lasting 1-2 days) were detected by the AGILE
satellite simultaneously with special spectral states of Cygnus X-3 during the
period mid-2007/mid-2009. Our observations show that very efficient particle
acceleration and gamma-ray propagation out of the inner disk of a microquasar
usually occur a few days before major relativistic jet ejections. Flaring
particle energies can be thousands of times larger than previously detected
maximum values (with Lorentz factors of 105 and 102 for electrons and protons,
respectively). We show that the transitional nature of gamma-ray flares and
particle acceleration above GeV energies in Cygnus X-3 is clearly linked to
special radio/X-ray states preceding strong radio flares. Thus gamma-rays
provide unique insight into the nature of physical processes in microquasars.Comment: 29 pages (including Supplementary Information), 8 figures, 2 tables
version submitted to Nature on August 7, 2009 (accepted version available at
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/nature08578.pdf
Detection of Gamma-Ray Emission from the Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula with AGILE
Pulsars are known to power winds of relativistic particles that can produce
bright nebulae by interacting with the surrounding medium. These pulsar wind
nebulae (PWNe) are observed in the radio, optical, x-rays and, in some cases,
also at TeV energies, but the lack of information in the gamma-ray band
prevents from drawing a comprehensive multiwavelength picture of their
phenomenology and emission mechanisms. Using data from the AGILE satellite, we
detected the Vela pulsar wind nebula in the energy range from 100 MeV to 3 GeV.
This result constrains the particle population responsible for the GeV
emission, probing multivavelength PWN models, and establishes a class of
gamma-ray emitters that could account for a fraction of the unidentified
Galactic gamma-ray sources.Comment: Accepted by Science; first published online on December 31, 2009 in
Science Express. Science article and Supporting Online Material are available
at http://www.sciencemag.or
AGILE detection of extreme gamma-ray activity from the blazar PKS 1510-089 during March 2009. Multifrequency analysis
We report on the extreme gamma-ray activity from the FSRQ PKS 1510-089
observed by AGILE in March 2009. In the same period a radio-to-optical
monitoring of the source was provided by the GASP-WEBT and REM. Moreover,
several Swift ToO observations were triggered, adding important information on
the source behaviour from optical/UV to hard X-rays. We paid particular
attention to the calibration of the Swift/UVOT data to make it suitable to the
blazars spectra. Simultaneous observations from radio to gamma rays allowed us
to study in detail the correlation among the emission variability at different
frequencies and to investigate the mechanisms at work. In the period 9-30 March
2009, AGILE detected an average gamma-ray flux of (311+/-21)x10^-8 ph cm^-2
s^-1 for E>100 MeV, and a peak level of (702+/-131)x10^-8 ph cm^-2 s^-1 on
daily integration. The gamma-ray activity occurred during a period of
increasing activity from near-IR to UV, with a flaring episode detected on
26-27 March 2009, suggesting that a single mechanism is responsible for the
flux enhancement observed from near-IR to UV. By contrast, Swift/XRT
observations seem to show no clear correlation of the X-ray fluxes with the
optical and gamma-ray ones. However, the X-ray observations show a harder
photon index (1.3-1.6) with respect to most FSRQs and a hint of
harder-when-brighter behaviour, indicating the possible presence of a second
emission component at soft X-ray energies. Moreover, the broad band spectrum
from radio-to-UV confirmed the evidence of thermal features in the optical/UV
spectrum of PKS 1510-089 also during high gamma-ray state. On the other hand,
during 25-26 March 2009 a flat spectrum in the optical/UV energy band was
observed, suggesting an important contribution of the synchrotron emission in
this part of the spectrum during the brightest gamma-ray flare, therefore a
significant shift of the synchrotron peak.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy
and Astrophysic
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Culex pipiens development is greatly influenced by native bacteria and exogenous yeast
Culex pipiens is the most cosmopolitan mosquito of the Pipiens Assemblage. By studying the nature of interactions between this species and microorganisms common to its breeding environment we can unravel important pitfalls encountered during development. We tested the survival rate of larval stages, pupae and adults of a Cx. pipiens colony exposed to a variety of microorganisms in laboratory conditions and assessed the transmission to offspring (F1) by those organisms that secured development up to adulthood. Three complementary experiments were designed to: 1) explore the nutritional value of yeasts and other microorganisms during Cx. pipiens development; 2) elucidate the transstadial transmission of yeast to the host offspring; and 3) to examine the relevance of all these microorganisms in female choice for oviposition-substratum. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae proved to be the most nutritional diet, but despite showing the highest survival rates, vertical transmission to F1 was never confirmed. In addition, during the oviposition trials, none of the gravid females was attracted to the yeast substratum. Notably, the two native bacterial strains, Klebsiella sp. and Aeromonas sp., were the preferred oviposition media, the same two bacteria that managed to feed neonates until molting into 2nd instar larvae. Our results not only suggest that Klebsiella sp. or Aeromonas sp. serve as attractants for oviposition habitat selection, but also nurture the most fragile instar, L1, to assure molting into a more resilient stage, L2, while yeast proves to be the most supportive diet for completing development. These experiments unearthed survival traits that might be considered in the future development of strategies of Cx. pipiens control. These studies can be extended to other members of the Pipiens Assemblag
AGILE detection of GeV gamma-ray emission from the SNR W28
Supernova remnants (SNRs) are believed to be the main sources of Galactic
cosmic rays. Molecular clouds associated with SNRs can produce gamma-ray
emission through the interaction of accelerated particles with the concentrated
gas. The middle aged SNR W28, for its associated system of dense molecular
clouds, provides an excellent opportunity to test this hypothesis. We present
the AGILE/GRID observations of SNR W28, and compare them with observations at
other wavelengths (TeV and 12CO J=1-->0 molecular line emission). The gamma-ray
flux detected by AGILE from the dominant source associated with W28 is (14 +-
5) 10^-8 ph cm^-2 s^-1 for E > 400 MeV. This source is positionally well
correlated with the TeV emission observed by the HESS telescope. The local
variations of the GeV to TeV flux ratio suggest a difference between the CR
spectra of the north-west and south molecular cloud complexes. A model based on
a hadronic-induced interaction and diffusion with two molecular clouds at
different distances from the W28 shell can explain both the morphological and
spectral features observed by AGILE in the MeV-GeV energy range and by the HESS
telescope in the TeV energy range. The combined set of AGILE and H.E.S.S. data
strongly support a hadronic model for the gamma-ray production in W28.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter
Multiwavelength observations of 3C 454.3 II. The AGILE 2007 December campaign
We report on the second AGILE multiwavelength campaign of the blazar 3C 454.3
during the first half of December 2007. This campaign involved AGILE, Spitzer,
Swift,Suzaku,the WEBT consortium,the REM and MITSuME telescopes,offering a
broad band coverage that allowed for a simultaneous sampling of the synchrotron
and inverse Compton (IC) emissions.The 2-week AGILE monitoring was accompanied
by radio to optical monitoring by WEBT and REM and by sparse observations in
mid-Infrared and soft/hard X-ray energy bands performed by means of Target of
Opportunity observations by Spitzer, Swift and Suzaku, respectively.The source
was detected with an average flux of~250x10^{-8}ph cm^-2s^-1 above 100
MeV,typical of its flaring states.The simultaneous optical and gamma-ray
monitoring allowed us to study the time-lag associated with the variability in
the two energy bands, resulting in a possible ~1-day delay of the gamma-ray
emission with respect to the optical one. From the simultaneous optical and
gamma-ray fast flare detected on December 12, we can constrain the delay
between the gamma-ray and optical emissions within 12 hours. Moreover, we
obtain three Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) with simultaneous data for
2007 December 5, 13, 15, characterized by the widest multifrequency coverage.
We found that a model with an external Compton on seed photons by a standard
disk and reprocessed by the Broad Line Regions does not describe in a
satisfactory way the SEDs of 2007 December 5, 13 and 15. An additional
contribution, possibly from the hot corona with T=10^6 K surrounding the jet,
is required to account simultaneously for the softness of the synchrotron and
the hardness of the inverse Compton emissions during those epochs.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in Ap
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