Gravitational interaction of antimatter

Until now, there is no experimental evidence on the gravitational behaviour of antimatter. While we may be confident that antimatter attracts antimatter, we do not know anything on the interaction between matter and antimatter. We investigate this issue on theoretical grounds. Starting from the CPT invariance of physical laws, we transform matter into antimatter in the equations of both electrodynamics and gravitation. In the former case, the result is the well-known change of sign of the electric charge. In the latter, we find that the gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter is a mutual repulsion. This result supports cosmological models attempting to explain the Universe accelerated expansion in terms of a matter-antimatter symmetry.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to General Relativity and Gravitation on 2 February 201

Polarimetric Properties of Blazars Caught by the WEBT

Active galactic nuclei come in many varieties. A minority of them are radio-loud, and exhibit two opposite prominent plasma jets extending from the proximity of the supermassive black hole up to megaparsec distances. When one of the relativistic jets is oriented closely to the line of sight, its emission is Doppler beamed and these objects show extreme variability properties at all wavelengths. These are called "blazars". The unpredictable blazar variability, occurring on a continuous range of time-scales, from minutes to years, is most effectively investigated in a multi-wavelength context. Ground-based and space observations together contribute to give us a comprehensive picture of the blazar emission properties from the radio to the gamma-ray band. Moreover, in recent years, a lot of effort has been devoted to the observation and analysis of the blazar polarimetric radio and optical behaviour, showing strong variability of both the polarisation degree and angle. The Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration, involving many tens of astronomers all around the globe, has been monitoring several blazars since 1997. The results of the corresponding data analysis have contributed to the understanding of the blazar phenomenon, particularly stressing the viability of a geometrical interpretation of the blazar variability. We review here the most significant polarimetric results achieved in the WEBT studies.Comment: Review published in "Galaxies" as part of the Special Issue "Polarimetry as a Probe of Magnetic Fields in AGN Jets", Academic Editors: Margo Aller, Jose L. G\'omez and Eric Perlma

The matter-antimatter interpretation of Kerr spacetime

https://www.media.inaf.it/2015/06/14/gravita-solo-attrattiva-non-e-detto/Repulsive gravity is not very popular in physics. However, one comes across it in at least two main occurrences in general relativity: in the negative-$r$ region of Kerr spacetime, and as the result of the gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter, when the latter is assumed to be CPT-transformed matter. Here we show how these two independent developments of general relativity are perfectly consistent in predicting gravitational repulsion and how the above Kerr negative-$r$ region can be interpreted as the habitat of antimatter. As a consequence, matter particles traveling along vortical geodesics can pass through the throat of a rotating black hole and emerge as antimatter particles (and vice versa). An experimental definitive answer on the gravitational behavior of antimatter is awaited in the next few years

A direct-drive solution for Hydrogen supplied all-electric airplane

This paper present a solution for traction motor in ultra light motored (ULM) aircraft applications. A new All electric aircraft is here presented with a hydrogen supplied fuel-cell system and a direct-drive configuration for traction motor. A reverse brushless solution with a distributed winding high pole-pair motor is presented for a 60 kW continuous power solution. Materials and geometry have been analyzed with a goal of high torque density and high speed realization. Motor design key points and losses estimation in comparison with the experimental results will be presented

Peculiar emission from the new VHE gamma-ray source H1722+119

The BL Lac object H1722+119 was observed in the very high energy band (VHE, E > 100 GeV) by the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) telescopes (Aleksić et al. 2016a, b)) between 2013 May 17 and 22, following a state of high activity in the optical band measured by the KVA (Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) telescope. Optical high states are often used to trigger MAGIC observations, which result in the VHE γ-ray signal detection (see e.g. Aleksić et al. 2015, Ahnen et al. 2016 and references therein)

Swift multi-wavelength observations of the high-redshift Blazar S5 0836+710 (4C 71.07)

We present the preliminary results of a year-long Swift monitoring campaign of the high-redshift (z=2.172) flat-spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) S5 0836+710 (4C 71.07). The campaign, based on one observation per month, 5 ks each observation, for 12 months, allowed us to investigate the synchrotron and nuclear emission contributions to the optical-UV frequency range of its spectral energy distribution and the X-ray spectral variations along a baseline of a year. We obtained a high-accuracy determination of UVOT magnitudes, an X-ray photon index with an uncertainty of the order of 5%, and well-sampled light curves both in the optical-UV and X-ray energy bands to study their possible modulations and correlations. Our study allowed us to exploit the unique Swift capabilities in terms of both simultaneous energy coverage and schedule flexibility. The Swift monitoring campaign was supported by observations by the GLAST-AGILE Support Program (GASP) of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration, which provided radio, near-infrared, and optical photometric data as well as optical polarimetry. Moreover, a spectroscopic monitoring was obtained at the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) and the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT). All these observations will allow us to obtain a comprehensive picture of the jet as well as of the nuclear source emission. <P /

Blazar Variability with the Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time

With their emission mainly coming from a relativistic jet pointing toward us, blazars are fundamental sources for studying extragalactic jets and their central engines, consisting of supermassive black holes fed by accretion disks. They are also candidate sources of high-energy neutrinos and cosmic rays. Because of the jet orientation, the nonthermal blazar emission is Doppler beamed; its variability is unpredictable, and it occurs on timescales from less than 1 hr to years. Comprehension of the diverse mechanisms producing the flux and spectral changes requires well-sampled multiband light curves over long time periods. In particular, outbursts are the best test bench for shedding light on the underlying physics, especially when studied in a multiwavelength context. The Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time (Rubin-LSST) will monitor the southern sky for 10 yr in six photometric bands, offering a formidable tool for studying blazar variability features in a statistical way. The alert system will allow us to trigger follow-up observations of outstanding events, especially at high (keV-to-GeV) and very high (TeV) energies. We here examine the simulated Rubin-LSST survey strategies with the aim of understanding which cadences are more suitable for blazar variability science. Our metrics include light curve and color sampling. We also investigate the problem of saturation, which will affect the brightest and many flaring sources, and will have a detrimental impact on follow-up observations

Multi-frequency monitoring of γ-ray loud blazars I. Light curves and spectral energy distributions

Context: Being dominated by non-thermal emission from aligned relativistic jets, blazars allow us to elucidate the physics of extragalactic jets, and, ltimately, how the energy is extracted from the central black hole in radio-loud active galactic nuclei. Aims: Crucial information is provided by broad-band spectral energy distributions (SEDs), their trends with luminosity and correlated multi-frequency variability. With this study we plan to obtain a database of contemporaneous radio-to-optical spectra of a sample of blazars, which are and will be observed by current and future high-energy satellites. Methods: Since December 2004 we are performing a monthly multi-frequency radio monitoring of a sample of 35 blazars at the antennas in Medicina and Noto. Contemporaneous near-IR and optical observations for all our observing epochs are organised. Results: Until June 2006 about 4000 radio measurements and 5500 near-IR and optical measurements were obtained. Most of the sources show significant variability in all observing bands. Here we present the multi-frequency data acquired during the first eighteen months of the project, and construct the SEDs for the best-sampled sources