780 research outputs found
Spatial distribution of X-ray emitting ejecta in Tycho's SNR: indications of shocked Titanium
Young supernova remnants show a characteristic ejecta-dominated X-ray
emission that allows us to probe the products of the explosive nucleosynthesis
processes and to ascertain important information about the physics of the
supernova explosions. Hard X-ray observations have recently revealed the
radioactive decay lines of 44Ti at ~67.9 keV and ~78.4 keV in the Tycho's SNR.
We here analyze the set of XMM-Newton archive observations of the Tycho's SNR.
We produce equivalent width maps of the Fe K and Ca XIX emission lines and find
indications for a stratification of the abundances of these elements and
significant anisotropies. We then perform a spatially resolved spectral
analysis by identifying five different regions characterized by high/low values
of the Fe K equivalent width. We find that the spatial distribution of the Fe K
emission is correlated with that of the Cr XXII. We also detect the Ti K-line
complex in the spectra extracted from the two regions with the highest values
of the Fe and Cr equivalent widths. The Ti line emissions remains undetected in
regions where the Fe and Cr equivalent widths are low. Our results indicate
that the post-shock Ti is spatially co-located with other iron-peak nuclei in
Tycho's SNR, in agreement with the predictions of multi-D models of Type Ia
supernovae.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
XMM-Newton Slew Survey observations of the gravitational wave event GW150914
The detection of the first gravitational wave (GW) transient GW150914
prompted an extensive campaign of follow-up observations at all wavelengths.
Although no dedicated XMM-Newton observations have been performed, the
satellite passed through the GW150914 error box during normal operations. Here
we report the analysis of the data taken during these satellite slews performed
two hours and two weeks after the GW event. Our data cover 1.1 square degrees
and 4.8 square degrees of the final GW localization region. No credible X-ray
counterpart to GW150914 is found down to a sensitivity of 6E-13 erg/cm2/s in
the 0.2-2 keV band. Nevertheless, these observations show the great potential
of XMM-Newton slew observations for the search of the electromagnetic
counterparts of GW events. A series of adjacent slews performed in response to
a GW trigger would take <1.5 days to cover most of the typical GW credible
region. We discuss this scenario and its prospects for detecting the X-ray
counterpart of future GW detections.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Anisotropies in the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Background Measured by the Fermi LAT
The contribution of unresolved sources to the diffuse gamma-ray background could induce anisotropies in this emission on small angular scales. We analyze the angular power spectrum of the diffuse emission measured by the Fermi LAT at Galactic latitudes absolute value of b > 30 deg in four energy bins spanning 1 to 50 GeV. At multipoles l >= 155, corresponding to angular scales approx 99.99% CL in the 1-2 GeV, 2- 5 GeV, and 5- 10 GeV energy bins, and at > 99% CL at 10-50 GeV. Within each energy bin the measured angular power takes approximately the same value at all multipoles l >= 155, suggesting that it originates from the contribution of one or more unclustered source populations. The amplitude of the angular power normalized to the mean intensity in each energy bin is consistent with a constant value at all energies, C(sub p) / (I)(exp 2) = 9.05 +/- 0.84 x 10(exp -6) sr, while the energy dependence of C(sub p) is consistent with the anisotropy arising from one or more source populations with power-law photon spectra with spectral index Gamma (sub s) = 2.40 +/- 0.07. We discuss the implications of the measured angular power for gamma-ray source populations that may provide a contribution to the diffuse gamma-ray background
On the metal abundances inside mixed-morphology supernova remnants: the case of IC443 and G166.0+4.3
Recent developments on the study of mixed morphology supernova remnants
(MMSNRs) have revealed the presence of metal rich X-ray emitting plasma inside
a fraction of these remnant, a feature not properly addressed by traditional
models for these objects. Radial profiles of thermodynamical and chemical
parameters are needed for a fruitful comparison of data and model of MMSNRs,
but these are available only in a few cases. We analyze XMM-Newton data of two
MMSNRs, namely IC443 and G166.0+4.3, previously known to have solar metal
abundances, and we perform spatially resolved spectral analysis of the X-ray
emission. We detected enhanced abundances of Ne, Mg and Si in the hard X-ray
bright peak in the north of IC443, and of S in the outer regions of G166.0+4.3.
The metal abundances are not distributed uniformly in both remnants. The
evaporating clouds model and the radiative SNR model fail to reproduce
consistently all the observational results. We suggest that further deep X-ray
observations of MMSNRs may reveal more metal rich objects. More detailed models
which include ISM-ejecta mixing are needed to explain the nature of this
growing subclass of MMSNRs.Comment: A&A in press. For journal style pdf file,
http://www.astropa.unipa.it/Library/OAPA_preprints/fb10742.pd
Swift and Fermi observations of X-ray flares: the case of Late Internal Shock
Simultaneous Swift and Fermi observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) offer a
unique broadband view of their afterglow emission, spanning more than ten
decades in energy. We present the sample of X-ray flares observed by both Swift
and Fermi during the first three years of Fermi operations. While bright in the
X-ray band, X-ray flares are often undetected at lower (optical), and higher
(MeV to GeV) energies. We show that this disfavors synchrotron self-Compton
processes as origin of the observed X-ray emission. We compare the broadband
properties of X-ray flares with the standard late internal shock model, and
find that, in this scenario, X-ray flares can be produced by a late-time
relativistic (Gamma>50) outflow at radii R~10^13-10^14 cm. This conclusion
holds only if the variability timescale is significantly shorter than the
observed flare duration, and implies that X-ray flares can directly probe the
activity of the GRB central engine.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Fall-Back Disks in Long and Short GRBs
We present numerical time-dependent calculations for fall-back disks relevant
to GRBs in which the disk of material surrounding the black hole (BH) powering
the GRB jet modulates the mass flow, and hence the strength of the jet. Given
the initial existence of a small mass <10^{-4} msun near the progenitor with a
circularization radius ~10^{10}-10^{11} cm, an unavoidable consequence will be
the formation of an "external disk" whose outer edge continually moves to
larger radii due to angular momentum transport and lack of a confining torque.
For long GRBs, if the mass distribution in the initial fall-back disk traces
the progenitor envelope, then a radius ~10^{11} cm gives a time scale ~10^4 s
for the X-ray plateau. For late times t>10^7 s a steepening due to a cooling
front in the disk may have observational support in GRB 060729. For short GRBs,
one expects most of the mass initially to lie at small radii <10^8 cm; however
the presence of even a trace amount ~10^{-9} msun of high angular momentum
material can give a brief plateau in the light curve. By studying the plateaus
in the X-ray decay of GRBs, which can last up to ~10^4 s after the prompt
emission, Dainotti et al. find an apparent inverse relation between the X-ray
luminosity at the end of the plateau and the duration of the plateau. We show
that this relation may simply represent the fact that one is biased against
detecting faint plateaus, and therefore preferentially sampling the more
energetic GRBs. If, however, there were a standard reservoir in fall-back mass,
our model can reproduce the inverse X-ray luminosity-duration relation. We
emphasize that we do not address the very steep, initial decays immediately
following the prompt emission, which have been modeled by Lindner et al. as
fall-back of the progenitor core, and may entail the accretion of > 1 msun.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, May 10,
2011, v. 73
Short gamma-ray bursts within 200 Mpc
We present a systematic search for short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the local Universe based on 14 yr of observations with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. We cross-correlate the GRB positions with the GLADE catalogue of nearby galaxies, and find no event at a distance ≲100 Mpc and four plausible candidates in the range 100 Mpc ≲ D ≲ 200 Mpc. Although affected by low statistics, this number is higher than the one expected for chance alignments to random galaxies, and possibly suggests a physical association between these bursts and nearby galaxies. By assuming a local origin, we use these events to constrain the range of properties for X-ray counterparts of neutron star mergers. Optical upper limits place tight constraints on the onset of a blue kilonova, and imply either low masses (≲10−3M⊙) of lanthanide-poor ejecta or unfavorable orientations (θ_(obs) ≳ 30 deg). Finally, we derive that the all-sky rate of detectable short GRBs within 200 Mpc is 1.3^(+1.7)_(−0.8) yr⁻¹ (68 per cent confidence interval), and discuss the implications for the GRB outflow structure. If these candidates are instead of cosmological origin, we set a upper limit of ≲2.0 yr⁻¹ (90 per cent confidence interval) to the rate of nearby events detectable with operating gamma-ray observatories, such as Swift and Fermi
Diversity of Microorganisms Hosted by the Albanian Medicinal Plants and the Antimicrobial Effect of the Chemical Compounds Extracted by Them
Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Supernova Remnant GS.7-0.1
We present a detailed analysis of the GeV gamma-ray emission toward the supernova remnant (SNR) G8.7-0.1 with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. An investigation of the relationship among G8.7-0.1 and the TeV unidentified source HESS J1804-216 provides us with an important clue on diffusion process of cosmic rays if particle acceleration operates in the SNR. The GeV gamma-ray emission is extended with most of the emission in positional coincidence with the SNR G8.7-0.1 and a lesser part located outside the western boundary of G8.7-0.1. The region of the gamma-ray emission overlaps spatially-connected molecular clouds, implying a physical connection for the gamma-ray structure. The total gamma-ray spectrum measured with LAT from 200 MeV-100 GeV can be described by a broken power-law function with a break of 2.4 +/- 0.6 (stat) +/- 1.2 (sys) GeV, and photon indices of2.10 +/- 0.06 (stat) +/- 0.10 (sys) below the break and 2.70 +/- 0.12 (stat) +/- 0.14 (sys) above the break. Given the spatial association among the gamma rays, the radio emission ofG8.7-0.1, and the molecular clouds, the decay of pions produced by particles accelerated in the SNR and hitting the molecular clouds naturally explains the GeV gamma-ray spectrum. We also find that the GeV morphology is not well represented by the TeV emission from HESS Jl804-2l6 and that the spectrum in the Ge V band is not consistent with the extrapolation of the TeV gamma-ray spectrum. The spectral index of the TeV emission is consistent with the particle spectral index predicted by a theory that assumes energy-dependent diffusion of particles accelerated in an SNR. We discuss the possibility that the TeV-spectrum originates from the interaction of particles accelerated in G8.7-0.l with molecular clouds, and we constrain the diffusion coefficient of the particles
A year in the life of GW170817: the rise and fall of a structured jet from a binary neutron star merger
We present the results of our year-long afterglow monitoring of GW170817, the
first binary neutron star (NS) merger detected by advanced LIGO and advanced
Virgo. New observations with the Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and
the Chandra X-ray Telescope were used to constrain its late-time behavior. The
broadband emission, from radio to X-rays, is well-described by a simple
power-law spectrum with index ~0.585 at all epochs. After an initial shallow
rise ~t^0.9, the afterglow displayed a smooth turn-over, reaching a peak X-ray
luminosity of ~5e39 erg/s at 160 d, and has now entered a phase of rapid
decline ~t^(-2). The latest temporal trend challenges most models of choked
jet/cocoon systems, and is instead consistent with the emergence of a
relativistic structured jet seen at an angle of ~22 deg from its axis. Within
such model, the properties of the explosion (such as its blastwave energy
E_K~2E50 erg, jet width theta_c~4 deg, and ambient density n~3E-3 cm^(-3)) fit
well within the range of properties of cosmological short GRBs.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS, in press. Final version, minor
changes only relative to original submission dated 21 August 201
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