Structure of pair winds from compact objects with application to emission from bare strange stars

We present the results of numerical simulations of stationary, spherically outflowing, electron-positron pair winds, with total luminosities in the range 10^{34}- 10^{42} ergs/s. In the concrete example described here, the wind injection source is a hot, bare, strange star, predicted to be a powerful source of electron-positron pairs created by the Coulomb barrier at the quark surface. We find that photons dominate in the emerging emission, and the emerging photon spectrum is rather hard and differs substantially from the thermal spectrum expected from a neutron star with the same luminosity. This might help distinguish the putative bare strange stars from neutron stars.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, added references, to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Isolated Neutron Stars: from the Surface to the Interior", London, UK, 24-28 April 200

The Contribution of Fermi Gamma-Ray Pulsars to the local Flux of Cosmic-Ray Electrons and Positrons

We analyze the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars from the first Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalogue to the local flux of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (e+e-). We present new distance estimates for all Fermi gamma-ray pulsars, based on the measured gamma-ray flux and pulse shape. We then estimate the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars to the local e+e- flux, in the context of a simple model for the pulsar e+e- emission. We find that 10 of the Fermi pulsars potentially contribute significantly to the measured e+e- flux in the energy range between 100 GeV and 1 TeV. Of the 10 pulsars, 2 are old EGRET gamma-ray pulsars, 2 pulsars were discovered with radio ephemerides, and 6 were discovered with the Fermi pulsar blind-search campaign. We argue that known radio pulsars fall in regions of parameter space where the e+e- contribution is predicted to be typically much smaller than from those regions where Fermi-LAT pulsars exist. However, comparing the Fermi gamma-ray flux sensitivity to the regions of pulsar parameter space where a significant e+e- contribution is predicted, we find that a few known radio pulsars that have not yet been detected by Fermi can also significantly contribute to the local e+e- flux if (i) they are closer than 2 kpc, and if (ii) they have a characteristic age on the order of one mega-year.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in JCA

QED can explain the non-thermal emission from SGRs and AXPs : Variability

Owing to effects arising from quantum electrodynamics (QED), magnetohydrodynamical fast modes of sufficient strength will break down to form electron-positron pairs while traversing the magnetospheres of strongly magnetised neutron stars. The bulk of the energy of the fast mode fuels the development of an electron-positron fireball. However, a small, but potentially observable, fraction of the energy ($\sim 10^{33}$ ergs) can generate a non-thermal distribution of electrons and positrons far from the star. This paper examines the cooling and radiative output of these particles. Small-scale waves may produce only the non-thermal emission. The properties of this non-thermal emission in the absence of a fireball match those of the quiescent, non-thermal radiation recently observed non-thermal emission from several anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft-gamma repeaters. Initial estimates of the emission as a function of angle indicate that the non-thermal emission should be beamed and therefore one would expect this emission to be pulsed as well. According to this model the pulsation of the non-thermal emission should be between 90 and 180 degrees out of phase from the thermal emission from the stellar surface.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Isolated Neutron Stars: from the Interior to the Surface" (April 2006, London), eds. D. Page, R. Turolla, & S. Zane, Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Search for narrow resonances in e+ e- annihilation between 1.85 and 3.1 GeV with the KEDR Detector

We report results of a search for narrow resonances in e+ e- annihilation at center-of-mass energies between 1.85 and 3.1 GeV performed with the KEDR detector at the VEPP-4M e+ e- collider. The upper limit on the leptonic width of a narrow resonance Gamma(R -> ee) Br(R -> hadr) < 120 eV has been obtained (at 90 % C.L.)

Measurement of main parameters of the \psi(2S) resonance

A high-precision determination of the main parameters of the \psi(2S) resonance has been performed with the KEDR detector at the VEPP-4M e^{+}e^{-} collider in three scans of the \psi(2S) -- \psi(3770) energy range. Fitting the energy dependence of the multihadron cross section in the vicinity of the \psi(2S) we obtained the mass value M = 3686.114 +- 0.007 +- 0.011 ^{+0.002}_{-0.012} MeV and the product of the electron partial width by the branching fraction into hadrons \Gamma_{ee}*B_{h} = 2.233 +- 0.015 +- 0.037 +- 0.020 keV. The third error quoted is an estimate of the model dependence of the result due to assumptions on the interference effects in the cross section of the single-photon e^{+}e^{-} annihilation to hadrons explicitly considered in this work. Implicitly, the same assumptions were employed to obtain the charmonium leptonic width and the absolute branching fractions in many experiments. Using the result presented and the world average values of the electron and hadron branching fractions, one obtains the electron partial width and the total width of the \psi(2S): \Gamma_{ee} =2.282 +- 0.015 +- 0.038 +- 0.021 keV, \Gamma = 296 +- 2 +- 8 +- 3 keV. These results are consistent with and more than two times more precise than any of the previous experiments

Measurement of RudsR_{\text{uds}} and RR between 3.12 and 3.72 GeV at the KEDR detector

Using the KEDR detector at the VEPP-4M $e^+e^-$ collider, we have measured the values of $R_{\text{uds}}$ and $R$ at seven points of the center-of-mass energy between 3.12 and 3.72 GeV. The total achieved accuracy is about or better than $3.3\%$ at most of energy points with a systematic uncertainty of about $2.1\%$. At the moment it is the most accurate measurement of $R(s)$ in this energy range

Measurement of \Gamma_{ee}(J/\psi)*Br(J/\psi->e^+e^-) and \Gamma_{ee}(J/\psi)*Br(J/\psi->\mu^+\mu^-)

The products of the electron width of the J/\psi meson and the branching fraction of its decays to the lepton pairs were measured using data from the KEDR experiment at the VEPP-4M electron-positron collider. The results are \Gamma_{ee}(J/\psi)*Br(J/\psi->e^+e^-)=(0.3323\pm0.0064\pm0.0048) keV, \Gamma_{ee}(J/\psi)*Br(J/\psi->\mu^+\mu^-)=(0.3318\pm0.0052\pm0.0063) keV. Their combinations \Gamma_{ee}\times(\Gamma_{ee}+\Gamma_{\mu\mu})/\Gamma=(0.6641\pm0.0082\pm0.0100) keV, \Gamma_{ee}/\Gamma_{\mu\mu}=1.002\pm0.021\pm0.013 can be used to improve theaccuracy of the leptonic and full widths and test leptonic universality. Assuming e\mu universality and using the world average value of the lepton branching fraction, we also determine the leptonic \Gamma_{ll}=5.59\pm0.12 keV and total \Gamma=94.1\pm2.7 keV widths of the J/\psi meson.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Strange stars in Krori-Barua space-time

The singularity space-time metric obtained by Krori and Barua\cite{Krori1975} satisfies the physical requirements of a realistic star. Consequently, we explore the possibility of applying the Krori and Barua model to describe ultra-compact objects like strange stars. For it to become a viable model for strange stars, bounds on the model parameters have been obtained. Consequences of a mathematical description to model strange stars have been analyzed.Comment: 9 pages (two column), 12 figures. Some changes have been made. " To appear in European Physical Journal C

New precise determination of the \tau lepton mass at KEDR detector

The status of the experiment on the precise $\tau$ lepton mass measurement running at the VEPP-4M collider with the KEDR detector is reported. The mass value is evaluated from the $\tau^+\tau^-$ cross section behaviour around the production threshold. The preliminary result based on 6.7 pb$^{-1}$ of data is $m_{\tau}=1776.80^{+0.25}_{-0.23} \pm 0.15$ MeV. Using 0.8 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected at the $\psi'$ peak the preliminary result is also obtained: $\Gamma_{ee}B_{\tau\tau}(\psi') = 7.2 \pm 2.1$ eV.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures; The 9th International Workshop on Tau-Lepton Physics, Tau0

Radio precursors to neutron star binary mergings

We discuss a possible generation of radio bursts preceding final stages of binary neutron star mergings which can be accompanied by short gamma-ray bursts. Detection of such bursts appear to be advantageous in the low-frequency radio band due to a time delay of ten to several hundred seconds required for radio signal to propagate in the ionized intergalactic medium. This delay makes it possible to use short gamma-ray burst alerts to promptly monitor specific regions on the sky by low-frequency radio facilities, especially by LOFAR. To estimate the strength of the radio signal, we assume a power-law dependence of the radio luminosity on the total energy release in a magnetically dominated outflow, as found in millisecond pulsars. Based on the planned LOFAR sensitivity at 120 MHz, we estimate that the LOFAR detection rate of such radio transients could be about several events per month from redshifts up to $z\sim1.3$ in the most optimistic scenario. The LOFAR ability to detect such events would crucially depend on exact efficiency of low-frequency radio emission mechanism.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science. Largely extended version of ArXiv:0912.521