Accretion onto Black Holes and Neutron Stars: Differences and Similarities

Accreting black holes and neutron stars at luminosities above 0.01 of the critical Eddington luminosity have a lot of similarities, but also drastic differences in their radiation and power density spectra. The efficiency of energy release due to accretion onto a rotating neutron star usually is higher than in the case of a black hole. The theory of the spreading layer on the surface of an accreting neutron star is discussed. It predicts the appearance of two bright belts equidistant from the equator. This layer is unstable and its radiation flux must vary with high frequencies.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, invited talk, to appear in Proc. of ESO Workshop Held in Garching 6-8 Sept. 1999 in Honour of Riaccardo Giacconi (Springer, eds. L. Kaper et al.

Large scale motions in superclusters: their imprint in the CMB

We identify high density regions of supercluster size in high resolution N-body simulations of a representative volume of three Cold Dark Matter Universes. By assuming that (1) the density and peculiar velocities of baryons trace those of the dark matter, and (2) the temperature of plasma is proportional to the velocity dispersion of the dark matter particles in regions where the crossing times is smaller than the supercluster free-fall time, we investigate how thermal motions of electrons in the intra-cluster medium and peculiar velocity of clusters can affect the secondary anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We show that the thermal effect dominates the kinematic effect and that the largest thermal decrements are associated with the most massive clusters in superclusters. Thus, searching for the presence of two or more close large CMB decrements represents a viable strategy for identifying superclusters at cosmological distances. Moreover, maps of the kinematic effect in superclusters are characterized by neighboring large peaks of opposite signs. These peaks can be as high as ~ 10 microK at the arcminute angular resolution. Simultaneous pointed observations of superclusters in the millimeter and submillimeter bands with upcoming sensitive CMB experiments can separate between the thermal and kinematic effect contributions and constrain the evolution of the velocity field in large overdense regions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, ApJ Letters, in press; revised version according to referee's comment

Lensing reconstruction of cluster-mass cross-correlation with cosmic microwave background polarization

We extend our maximum likelihood method for reconstructing the cluster-mass cross-correlation from cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies and develop new estimators that utilize six different quadratic combinations of CMB temperature and polarization fields. Our maximum likelihood estimators are constructed with delensed CMB temperature and polarization fields by using an assumed model of the convergence field and they can be iteratively applied to a set of clusters, approaching to the optimal condition for the lensing reconstruction as the assumed initial model is refined. Using smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, we create a catalog of realistic clusters obtainable from the current Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) surveys, and we demonstrate the ability of the maximum likelihood estimators to reconstruct the cluster-mass cross-correlation from the massive clusters. The iTT temperature estimator provides a signal-to-noise ratio of a factor 3 larger than the iEB polarization estimator, unless the detector noise for measuring polarization anisotropies is controlled under 3 microK.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Maps of the Cosmos: The Cosmic Microwave Background

Since the IAU XXIV meeting in 2000, the CMB anisotropy has matured from being one of a number of cosmological probes to forming the bedrock foundation for what is now the standard model of cosmology. The large advances over the past three years have come from making better and better maps of the cosmos. We review the state of measurements of the anisotropy and outline some of what we have learned since 2000. The recent advancements may be placed roughly into three categories: 1) What we learn from the CMB with minimal input from other cosmic measurements such as the Hubble constant; 2) What we learn from the CMB in combination with other probes of large scale structure; and 3) What we learn by using the CMB as a back light. Future directions are also discussed. It is clear: we have much more to learn from the CMB anisotropy.Comment: 15 pgs, 6 figures, Proceedings from IAU 2003, M. Colless e

Close stars and an inactive accretion disk in Sgr A*: Eclipses and flares

A cold neutral and extremely dim accretion disk may be present as a remnant of a past vigorous activity around the black hole in our Galactic Center (GC). Here we discuss ways to detect such a disk through its interaction with numerous stars present in the central ~0.1 parsec of the Galaxy. The first major effect expected is X-ray and near infrared (NIR) flares arising when stars pass through the disk. The second is eclipses of the stars by the disk. We point out conditions under which the properties of the expected X-ray flares are similar to those recently discovered by Chandra. Since orbits of bright stars are now being precisely measured, the combination of the expected flares and eclipses offers an invaluable tool for constraining the disk density, size, plane and even direction of rotation. The winds of the O-type stars are optically thick to free-free absorption in radio frequencies. If present near Sgr A* core, such powerful stellar winds can modulate and even occult the radio source.Comment: typo in eq. 3 correcte

Preheating of the Universe by cosmic rays from primordial supernovae at the beginning of cosmic reionization

The 21-cm signal from the cosmic reionization epoch can shed light on the history of heating of the primordial intergalactic medium (IGM) at z~30-10. It has been suggested that X-rays from the first accreting black holes could significantly heat the Universe at these early epochs. Here we propose another IGM heating mechanism associated with the first stars. As known from previous work, the remnants of powerful supernovae (SNe) ending the lives of massive Population III stars could readily expand out of their host dark matter minihalos into the surrounding IGM, aided by the preceeding photoevaporation of the halo's gas by the UV radiation from the progenitor star. We argue that during the evolution of such a remnant a significant fraction of the SN kinetic energy can be put into low-energy (E<30 MeV) cosmic rays that will eventually escape into the IGM. These subrelativistic cosmic rays could propagate through the Universe and heat the IGM by ~10-100 K by z~15, before more powerful reionization/heating mechanisms associated with the first galaxies and quasars came into play. Future 21-cm observations could thus constrain the energetics of the first supernovae and provide information on the magnetic fields in the primordial IGM.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRA

Relative velocity of dark matter and barions in clusters of galaxies and measurements of their peculiar velocities

The increasing sensitivity of current experiments, which nowadays routinely measure the thermal SZ effect within galaxy clusters, provide the hope that peculiar velocities of individual clusters of galaxies will be measured rather soon using the kinematic SZ effect. Also next generation of X-ray telescopes with microcalorimeters, promise first detections of the motion of the intra cluster medium (ICM) within clusters. We used a large set of cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations, which cover very large cosmological volume, hosting a large number of rich clusters of galaxies, as well as moderate volumes where the internal structures of individual galaxy clusters can be resolved with very high resolution to investigate, how the presence of baryons and their associated physical processes like cooling and star-formation are affecting the systematic difference between mass averaged velocities of dark matter and the ICM inside a cluster. We, for the first time, quantify the peculiar motion of galaxy clusters as function of the large scale environment. We also demonstrate that especially in very massive systems, the relative velocity of the ICM compared to the cluster peculiar velocity add significant scatter onto the inferred peculiar velocity, especially when measurements are limited to the central regions of the cluster. Depending on the aperture used, this scatter varies between 50% and 20%, when going from the core (e.g. ten percent of the virial radius) to the full cluster (e.g. the virial radius).Comment: 17 pages, 18 figures, submitted to MNRA

Equivalent width, shape and proper motion of the iron fluorescent line emission from the molecular clouds as an indicator of the illuminating source X-ray flux history

Observations of the diffuse emission in the 8--22 keV energy range, elongated parallel to the Galactic plane (Sunyaev et al. 1993) and detection of the strong 6.4 keV fluorescent line with $\sim$ 1 keV equivalent width from some giant molecular clouds (e.g. Sgr B2) in the Galactic Centre region (Koyama 1994) suggest that the neutral matter of these clouds is (or was) illuminated by powerful X-ray radiation, which gave rise to the reprocessed radiation. The source of this radiation remains unknown. Transient source close to the Sgr B2 cloud or short outburst of the X-ray emission from supermassive black hole at the Galactic Centre are the two prime candidates under consideration. We argue that new generation of X-ray telescopes combining very high sensitivity and excellent energy and angular resolutions would be able to discriminate between these two possibilities studying time dependent changes of the morphology of the surface brightness distribution, the equivalent width and the shape of the fluorescent line in the Sgr B2 and other molecular clouds in the region. We note also that detection of broad and complex structures near the 6.4 keV line in the spectra of distant AGNs, which are X-ray weak now, may prove the presence of violent activity of the central engines of these objects in the past. Accurate measurements of the line shape may provide an information on the time elapsed since the outburst. Proper motion (super or subluminal) of the fluorescent radiation wave front can give additional information on the location of the source. Observations of the described effects can provide unique information on the matter distribution inside Sgr B2 and other giant molecular clouds.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA