Gamma-ray spectroscopy: The diffuse galactic glow

The goal of this project is the development of a numerical code that provides statistical models of the sky distribution of gamma-ray lines due to the production of radioactive isotopes by ongoing Galactic nucleosynthesis. We are particularly interested in quasi-steady emission from novae, supernovae, and stellar winds, but continuum radiation and transient sources must also be considered. We have made significant progress during the first half period of this project and expect the timely completion of a code that can be applied to Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) Galactic plane survey data

Properties of GRB Host Galaxies

The transients following GRB970228 and GRB970508 showed that these (and probably all) GRBs are cosmological. However, the host galaxies expected to be associated with these and other bursts are largely absent, indicating that either bursts are further than expected or the host galaxies are underluminous. This apparent discrepancy does not invalidate the cosmological hypothesis, but instead host galaxy observations can test more sophisticated models.Comment: 5 pages, AIPPROC LaTeX, to appear in "Gamma-Ray Bursts, 4th Huntsville Symposium," eds. C. Meegan, R. Preece and T. Koshu

Astrophysics with Radioactive Atomic Nuclei

We propose to advance investigations of electromagnetic radiation originating in atomic nuclei beyond its current infancy to a true astronomy. Such nuclear emission is independent from conditions of gas, thus complements more traditional astronomical methods used to probe the nearby universe. Radioactive gamma-rays arise from isotopes which are made in specific locations inside massive stars, their decay in interstellar space traces an otherwise not directly observable hot and teneous phase of the ISM, which is crucial for feedback from massive stars. Its intrinsic ‘clocks’ can measure characteristic times of processes within the ISM. Frontier questions that can be addressed with studies in this field are the complex interiors of massive stars and supernovae which are key agents in galactic dynamics and chemical evolution, the history of star-forming and supernova activity affecting our solar-system environment, and explorations of occulted and inaccessible regions of young stellar nurseries in our Galaxy. This White paper addresses Science Areas “Stars and Stellar Evolution (SSE)” and “The Galactic Neighbourhood (GAN)” of the US National Academy’s Decadal Survey Outline Structure

Search for Supergalactic Anisotropies in the 3B Catalog

The angular distribution of GRBs is isotropic, while the brightness distribution of bursts shows a reduced number of faint events. These observations favor a cosmological burst origin. If GRBs are indeed at cosmological distances and if they trace luminous matter, we must eventually find an anisotropic distribution of bright bursts. If a significant number of bursts originate at redshifts less than z~1, the concentration of nearby galaxies towards the supergalactic plane is pronounced enough that we could discover the corresponding clustering of burst locations. We used the 3B catalog to search for a pattern visible in supergalactic coordinates. No compelling evidence for anisotropies was found. The absence of anisotropies in SG coordinates implies a minimum sampling distance of 200h^-1 Mpc.Comment: 5 pages, uuencoded postscript, to appear in the Proceedings of the Huntsville Conference on Gamma Ray Burst

Gamma ray pulsar analysis from photon probability maps

A new method is presented of analyzing skymap-type gamma ray data. Each photon event is replaced by a probability distribution on the sky corresponding to the observing instrument's point spread function. The skymap produced by this process may be used for source detection or identification. Most important, the use of these photon weights for pulsar analysis promises significant improvement over traditional techniques

Gamma ray pulsar analysis from photon pobability maps

We present a new method of analyzing skymap-type gamma ray data. Each photon event is replaced by a probability distribution on the sky corresponding to the observing instrument's point spread function. The skymap produced by this process may be used for source detection or identification. Most important, the use of these photon weights for pulsar analysis promises significant improvement over traditional techniques

Contributions of GRBs and Cen A-like RadioGalaxies to the Cosmic Gamma-ray Background

The contribution to the cosmic diffuse gamma-ray background (CGB) from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) is studied in the 40 keV - 2 MeV regime. We use High Energy Resolution (HER) data from the Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) to generate a GRB template spectrum. Although the GRB contribution to the CGB is generally small, in comparison to the dominant flux from Type Ia supernovae, the integrated GRB flux is in fact comparable to that from SNIa in the narrow 10-40 keV range. GRBs contribute to the CGB at the same level as Type II supernovae do. Although BATSE data are not available below ~40 keV, extrapolation of the template spectrum suggests that bursts can fill a significant part of the existing gap between Seyfert galaxies (dominating the CGB below ~ 100 keV) and SNIa (dominating at ~1 MeV). We estimate contributions from Cen A-like (FR I) radio galaxies in this energy regime, where INTEGRAL data is expected to provide major advances

Spectral Transformations of Novae in Andromeda Galaxy

Nova outburst is the nuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf, which is caused by mass accretion from its companion star in the binary system. It is commonly believed that novae in Andromeda Galaxy (M31) separate into two distinct populations: bulge and disk in the galaxy. These spatial distinctions in the galaxy appear to correlate with the two spectral types of novae (FeII type and He/N). However, recent observations of novae in our own galaxy, Milky Way has demonstrated spectral transformations from FeII to He/N and vice-versa, which calls the spectral distinction between two source classes into question. However, for M31 only one such case is known. Multi epoch spectroscopy is needed to address the questions whether novae in M31 also undergo spectral transformations and whether spatial distinction in the galaxy has any correlation with the spectral type of novae. We construct a spatial distribution model of the stars in M31 and its disk/bulge nova population in order to investigate possible selection effects during observations, that could play a role in spectral-spatial correlations

A Magnetohydrodynamic Boost for Relativistic Jets

We performed relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the hydrodynamic boosting mechanism for relativistic jets explored by Aloy & Rezzolla (2006) using the RAISHIN code. Simulation results show that the presence of a magnetic field changes the properties of the shock interface between the tenuous, overpressured jet ($V^z_j$) flowing tangentially to a dense external medium. Magnetic fields can lead to more efficient acceleration of the jet, in comparison to the pure-hydrodynamic case. A ``poloidal'' magnetic field ($B^z$), tangent to the interface and parallel to the jet flow, produces both a stronger outward moving shock and a stronger inward moving rarefaction wave. This leads to a large velocity component normal to the interface in addition to acceleration tangent to the interface, and the jet is thus accelerated to larger Lorentz factors than those obtained in the pure-hydrodynamic case. Likewise, a strong ``toroidal'' magnetic field ($B^y$), tangent to the interface but perpendicular to the jet flow, also leads to stronger acceleration tangent to the shock interface relative to the pure-hydrodynamic case. Overall, the acceleration efficiency in the ``poloidal'' case is less than that of the ``toroidal'' case but both geometries still result in higher Lorentz factors than the pure-hydrodynamic case. Thus, the presence and relative orientation of a magnetic field in relativistic jets can significant modify the hydrodynamic boost mechanism studied by Aloy & Rezzolla (2006).Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap