A model for jets of low-mass microquasars

In this work we present a new jet model for the non-thermal broadband emission of low-mass microquasars. We calculate the contribution of relativistic particles, primary electrons and protons as well as secondary muons, charged pions and electron-positron pairs, to the electromagnetic spectrum of the sources. The distribution in energy of all particle species is obtained for an extended, inhomogeneous region. We include detailed analysis of particle energy losses, injection, decay and escape from the acceleration zone. We also calculate absorption effects due to photon-photon annihilation. As an application, we consider the case of XTE J1118+480, a well-known low-mass X-ray binary in the galactic halo, and we present predictions about its high-energy radiationComment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the 25th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics - TEXAS 2010, December 06-10, 2010, Heidelberg, German

The proton microquasar

We present a model for high-energy emission in microquasars where the energy content of the jets is dominated by relativistic protons. We also include a primary leptonic component. Particles are accelerated up to relativistic energies in a compact region located near the base of the jet, where most of the emission is produced. We calculate the production spectrum due to proton and electron synchrotron radiation and photohadronic interactions. The target field for proton-photon collisions is provided by the synchrotron radiation in the acceleration region. In models with a significant leptonic component, strong internal photon-photon absorption can attenuate the emission spectrum at high energies. Depending on the values of the parameters, our model predicts luminosities in the range 10^34-10^37 erg s^-1 up to GeV energies, with a high-energy tail that can extend up to 10^16 eV. In some cases, however, absorption effects can completely suppress the emission above 10 GeV, giving rise to different spectral shapes. These results can be tested in the near future by observations with instruments like GLAST-Fermi, HESS II and MAGIC II.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, contribution to the "Fourth Heidelberg International Symposium on High-Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy 2008

Leptonic/hadronic models for electromagnetic emission in microquasars: the case of GX 339-4

We present a general self-consistent lepto/hadronic jet model for the non-thermal electromagnetic emission of microquasars. The model is applied to the low-mass microquasar (LMMQ) GX 339-4 and predicts its high-energy features. We assume that both leptons and hadrons are accelerated up to relativistic energies by diffusive shock acceleration, and calculate their contribution to the electromagnetic spectrum through all main radiative processes. The radiative contribution of secondary particles (pions, muons and electron-positron pairs) is included. We use a set of simultaneous observations in radio and X-rays to constrain the model parameters and find the best fit to the data. We obtain different spectral energy distributions that can explain the observations, and make predictions for the high-energy emission. Observations with gamma-ray instruments like Fermi can be used to test the model and determine the proton content of the jets. Finally, we estimate the positron injection in the surrounding medium. Our findings support the suggested association between LMMQs and the observed distribution of the 511 keV line flux observed by INTEGRAL.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Thermal and Magnetic Quantum Discord in Heisenberg models

We investigate how the quantum correlations (quantum discord) of a two-qubit one dimensional XYZ Heisenberg chain in thermal equilibrium depends on the temperature (T) of the bath and also on an external magnetic field B. We show that the behavior of the thermal quantum discord (QD) differs in many unexpected ways from the thermal entanglement. For example, we show situations where QD increases with T when entanglement decreases, cases where QD increases with T even in regions with zero entanglement, and that QD signals a quantum phase transition even at finite T. We also show that by properly tuning B or the interaction between the qubits we get non-zero QD for any T and we present a new effect not seen for entanglement, the regrowth of thermal QD.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, RevTex, double column; v2: published versio

A study of the two northern open clusters NGC 1582 and NGC 1663

We present CCD UBV(I)C observations obtained in the field of the previously unstudied northern open clusters NGC 1582 and NGC 1663. For the former, we also provide high-resolution spectra of the brightest stars and complement our data with Two-Micron All-Sky-Survey (2MASS) near-infrared photometry and with astrometric data from the Tycho-2 catalog. From the analysis of all these data, we argue that NGC 1582 is a very poor, quite large and heavily contaminated open cluster. It turns out to have a reddening EB-V = 0.35 +/- 0.03, to be situated 1100 +/- 100 pc from the Sun and to have an age of 300 +/- 100 Myr. On the other hand, we were not able to unambiguously clarify the nature of NGC 1663. By assuming it is a real cluster and from the analysis of its photometric diagrams, we found a color excess value EB-V = 0.20, an intermediate age value ( ~ 2000 Myr) and a distance of about 700 pc. The distribution of the stars in the region however suggests we are probably facing an open cluster remnant. As an additional result, we obtained aperture photometry of three previously unclassified galaxies placed in the field of NGC 1663 and performed a preliminary morphological classification of them.Fil: Baume, Gustavo Luis. Università di Padova; ItaliaFil: Villanova, S.. Università di Padova; Italia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica la Plata; ArgentinaFil: Carraro, Giovanni. Università di Padova; Itali

Local and Effective Temperatures of Quantum Driven Systems

We introduce thermometers to define the local temperature of an electronic system driven out-of-equilibrium by local AC fields. We also define the effective temperature in terms of a local fluctuation-dissipation-relation. We show that within the weak driving regime these two temperatures coincide. We also discuss the behavior of the local temperature along the sample. We show that it exhibits spatial fluctuations following an oscillatory pattern. For weak driving, regions of the sample become heated, while others become cooled as a consequence of the driving

Hybrid confinement of optical and mechanical modes in a bullseye optomechanical resonator

Optomechanical cavities have proven to be an exceptional tool to explore fundamental and technological aspects of the interaction between mechanical and optical waves. Such interactions strongly benefit from cavities with large optomechanical coupling, high mechanical and optical quality factors, and mechanical frequencies larger than the optical mode linewidth, the so called resolved sideband limit. Here we demonstrate a novel optomechanical cavity based on a disk with a radial mechanical bandgap. This design confines light and mechanical waves through distinct physical mechanisms which allows for independent control of the mechanical and optical properties. Our device design is not limited by unique material properties and could be easily adapted to allow large optomechanical coupling and high mechanical quality factors with other promising materials. Finally, our demonstration is based on devices fabricated on a commercial silicon photonics facility, demonstrating that our approach can be easily scalable.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure