1,832 research outputs found
The astroclimatological comparison of the Paranal Observatory and El Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory
The new extremely large telescope projects need accurate evaluation of the
candidate sites. In this paper we present the astroclimatological comparison
between the Paranal Observatory, located on the coast of the Atacama Desert
(Chile), and the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos (ORM), located in La
Palma (Canary Islands). We apply a statistical analysis using long term
databases from Paranal and Carlsberg Meridian Telescope (CAMC) weather
stations. Significant differences between the two analyzed sites have been
found.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 11 pages, 12 figures, 12 table
The mystery of the 'Kite' radio source in Abell 2626: insights from new Chandra observations
We present the results of a new Chandra study of the galaxy cluster A2626.
The radio emission of the cluster shows a complex system of four symmetric arcs
without known correlations with the X-ray emission. The mirror symmetry of the
radio arcs toward the center and the presence of two optical cores in the
central galaxy suggested that they may be created by pairs of precessing radio
jets powered by dual AGNs inside the cD galaxy. However, previous observations
failed to observe the second jetted AGN and the spectral trend due to radiative
age along the radio arcs, thus challenging this interpretation. The new Chandra
observation had several scientific objectives, including the search for the
second AGN that would support the jet precession model. We focus here on the
detailed study of the local properties of the thermal and non-thermal emission
in the proximity of the radio arcs, in order to get more insights into their
origin. We performed a standard data reduction of the Chandra dataset deriving
the radial profiles of temperature, density, pressure and cooling time of the
intra-cluster medium. We further analyzed the 2D distribution of the gas
temperature, discovering that the south-western junction of the radio arcs
surrounds the cool core of the cluster. We studied the X-ray SB and spectral
profiles across the junction, finding a cold front spatially coincident with
the radio arcs. This may suggest a connection between the sloshing of the
thermal gas and the nature of the radio filaments, raising new scenarios for
their origin. A possibility is that the radio arcs trace the projection of a
complex surface connecting the sites where electrons are most efficiently
reaccelerated by the turbulence that is generated by the gas sloshing. In this
case, diffuse emission embedded by the arcs and with extremely steep spectrum
should be most visible at very low radio frequencies.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication on A&
L-H transition dynamics in fluid turbulence simulations with neoclassical force balance
Spontaneous transport barrier generation at the edge of a magnetically
confined plasma is investigated. To this end, a model of electrostatic
turbulence in three-dimensional geometry is extended to account for the impact
of friction between trapped and passing particles on the radial electric field.
Non-linear flux-driven simulations are carried out, and it is shown that
considering the radial and temporal variations of the neoclassical friction
coefficients allows for a transport barrier to be generated above a threshold
of the input power
Control of test particle transport in a turbulent electrostatic model of the Scrape Off Layer
The drift motion of charged test particle dynamics in
the Scrape Off Layer (SOL)is analyzed to investigate a transport control
strategy based on Hamiltonian dynamics. We model SOL turbulence using a 2D
non-linear fluid code based on interchange instability which was found to
exhibit intermittent dynamics of the particle flux. The effect of a small and
appropriate modification of the turbulent electric potential is studied with
respect to the chaotic diffusion of test particle dynamics. Over a significant
range in the magnitude of the turbulent electrostatic field, a three-fold
reduction of the test particle diffusion coefficient is achieved
Neutrinos and Gamma Rays from Galaxy Clusters
The next generation of neutrino and gamma-ray detectors should provide new
insights into the creation and propagation of high-energy protons within galaxy
clusters, probing both the particle physics of cosmic rays interacting with the
background medium and the mechanisms for high-energy particle production within
the cluster. In this paper we examine the possible detection of gamma-rays (via
the GLAST satellite) and neutrinos (via the ICECUBE and Auger experiments) from
the Coma cluster of galaxies, as well as for the gamma-ray bright clusters
Abell 85, 1758, and 1914. These three were selected from their possible
association with unidentified EGRET sources, so it is not yet entirely certain
that their gamma-rays are indeed produced diffusively within the intracluster
medium, as opposed to AGNs. It is not obvious why these inconspicuous
Abell-clusters should be the first to be seen in gamma-rays, but a possible
reason is that all of them show direct evidence of recent or ongoing mergers.
Their identification with the EGRET gamma-ray sources is also supported by the
close correlation between their radio and (purported) gamma-ray fluxes. Under
favorable conditions (including a proton spectral index of 2.5 in the case of
Abell 85, and sim 2.3 for Coma, and Abell 1758 and 1914), we expect ICECUBE to
make as many as 0.3 neutrino detections per year from the Coma cluster of
galaxies, and as many as a few per year from the Abell clusters 85, 1758, and
1914. Also, Auger may detect as many as 2 events per decade at ~ EeV energies
from these gamma-ray bright clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Coma revealed as an extended hard X-rays source by INTEGRAL IBIS/ISGRI
Aims. We report the INTEGRAL/IBIS observations of the Coma Cluster in the
hard X-ray/soft-ray domain. Methods. Since the Coma Cluster appears as an
extended source, its global intensity and significance cannot be directly
extracted with standard coded mask analysis. We used the method of imaging the
extended sources with a coded mask telescope developed by Renaud et al. (2006).
Results. The imaging capabilities and the sensitivity of the IBIS/ISGRI coded
mask instrument allows us to identify for the first time the site of the
emission above ~ 15 keV. We have studied the Coma Cluster morphology in the
18-30keV band and found that it follows the prediction based on X-ray
observations.We also bring constraints on the non-thermal mechanism
contribution at higher energies.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Diffuse Gas and LMXBs in the Chandra Observation of the S0 Galaxy NGC 1553
We have spatially and spectrally resolved the sources of X-ray emission from
the X-ray faint S0 galaxy NGC 1553 using an observation from the Chandra X-ray
Observatory. The majority (70%) of the emission in the 0.3 - 10.0 keV band is
diffuse, and the remaining 30% is resolved into 49 discrete sources. Most of
the discrete sources associated with the galaxy appear to be low mass X-ray
binaries (LMXBs). The luminosity function of the LMXB sources is well-fit by a
broken power-law with a break luminosity comparable to the Eddington luminosity
for a 1.4 solar mass neutron star. It is likely that those sources with
luminosities above the break are accreting black holes and those below are
mostly neutron stars in binary systems. Spectra were extracted for the total
emission, diffuse emission, and sum of the resolved sources; the spectral fits
for all require a model including both a soft and hard component. The diffuse
emission is predominately soft while the emission from the sources is mostly
hard. Approximately 24% of the diffuse emission arises from unresolved LMXBs,
with the remainder resulting from thermal emission from hot gas. There is a
very bright source at the projected position of the nucleus of the galaxy. The
spectrum and luminosity derived from this central source are consistent with it
being an AGN; the galaxy also is a weak radio source. Finally, the diffuse
emission exhibits significant substructure with an intriguing spiral feature
passing through the center of the galaxy. The X-ray spectrum and surface
brightness of the spiral feature are consistent with adiabatic or shock
compression of ambient gas, but not with cooling. This feature may be due to
compression of the hot interstellar gas by radio lobes or jets associated with
the AGN.Comment: 23 pages using emulateapj.sty; ApJ, in press; revised version
includes correction to error in the L_X,src/L_B ratio as well as other
revision
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