1,734 research outputs found
Constraining A General-Relativistic Frame-Dragging Model for Pulsed Radiation from a Population of Millisecond Pulsars in 47 Tucanae using GLAST/LAT
Although only 22 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are currently known to exist in
the globular cluster (GC) 47 Tucanae, this cluster may harbor 30-60 MSPs, or
even up to ~200. In this Letter, we model the pulsed curvature radiation (CR)
gamma-ray flux expected from a population of MSPs in 47 Tucanae. These MSPs
produce gamma-rays in their magnetospheres via accelerated electron primaries
which are moving along curved magnetic field lines. A GC like 47 Tucanae
containing a large number of MSPs provides the opportunity to study a
randomized set of pulsar geometries. Geometry-averaged spectra make the testing
of the underlying pulsar model more reliable, since in this case the relative
flux uncertainty is reduced by one order of magnitude relative to the variation
expected for individual pulsars (if the number of visible pulsars N=100). Our
predicted spectra violate the EGRET upper limit at 1 GeV, constraining the
product of the number of visible pulsars N and the average integral flux above
1 GeV per pulsar. GLAST/LAT should place even more stringent constraints on
this product, and may also limit the maximum average accelerating potential by
probing the CR spectral tail. For N=22-200, a GLAST/LAT non-detection will lead
to the constraints that the average integral flux per pulsar should be lower by
factors 0.03-0.003 than current model predictions.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letter
Predictions of Gamma-ray Emission from Globular Cluster Millisecond Pulsars Above 100 MeV
The recent Fermi detection of the globular cluster (GC) 47 Tucanae
highlighted the importance of modeling collective gamma-ray emission of
millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in GCs. Steady flux from such populations is also
expected in the very high energy (VHE) domain covered by ground-based Cherenkov
telescopes. We present pulsed curvature radiation (CR) as well as unpulsed
inverse Compton (IC) calculations for an ensemble of MSPs in the GCs 47 Tucanae
and Terzan 5. We demonstrate that the CR from these GCs should be easily
detectable for Fermi, while constraints on the total number of MSPs and the
nebular B-field may be derived using the IC flux components.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Towards the discrimination of milk (origin) applied in cheddar cheese manufacturing through the application of an artificial neural network approach on Lactococcus lactis profiles
Published ArticleAn artificial neural network (ANN) that is able to distinguish between Cheddar cheese produced with milk from mixed and single breed sources was designed. Samples of each batch (4 pure Ayrshire/4 mixed with no Ayrshire milk) were ripened for 92 days and analysed every 14 days. A novel ANN was designed and applied which, based only on Lactococcus lactis counts, provided an acceptable classification of the cheeses. The ANN consisted of a multi-layered network with supervised training arranged in an ordered hierarchy of layers, in which connections were allowed only between nodes in immediately adjacent layers
Insights into the use and affordances of social and collaborative applications for student projects
The use of social and collaborative computing has the potential of assisting learning and improving the ability to work
together as part of a team. Team work is a graduate attribute that students need to acquire before transitioning from
university into the workplace. The aim of this exploratory research was to provide insights into the use of social and
collaborative applications by Computer Science students, and the emergent affordances student project teams have
created with the use of these applications. It answers the questions: What elearning platforms or applications do students
use to collaborate for team projects? What technology affordance draws students to use these applications? This study
adopts affordance theory as the theoretical framework. Two types of content analysis: conventional content analysis and
summative content analysis were used to analyse the data. Data was gathered using a pre-designed questionnaire with
the teams during the first semester of 2016. Findings show that the university’s elearning platform is utilised for some of
their courses; however students seem to prefer free and open source platforms. Student project teams used applications
such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Docs, as well as email messages, to work jointly, and were
successfully able to complete their team projects. Four types of technology affordances: communicative-affordance,
document share-affordance, course resource-affordance, and integrity-affordance, were identified as being relevant
A Cosmic Ray Positron Anisotropy due to Two Middle-Aged, Nearby Pulsars?
Geminga and B0656+14 are the closest pulsars with characteristic ages in the
ran ge of 100 kyr to 1 Myr. They both have spindown powers of the order 3e34
erg/s at present. The winds of these pulsars had most probably powered pulsar
wind nebulae (PWNe) that broke up less than about 100 kyr after the birth of
the pulsars. Assuming that leptonic particles accelerated by the pulsars were
confined in th e PWNe and were released into the interstellar medium (ISM) on
breakup of the PW Ne, we show that, depending on the pulsar parameters, both
pulsars make a non-ne gligible contribution to the local cosmic ray (CR)
positron spectrum, and they m ay be the main contributors above several GeV.
The relatively small angular dist ance between Geminga and B0656+14 thus
implies an anisotropy in the local CR po sitron flux at these energies. We
calculate the contribution of these pulsars to the locally observed CR electr
on and positron spectra depending on the pulsar birth period and the magnitude
o f the local CR diffusion coefficient. We further give an estimate of the
expecte d anisotropy in the local CR positron flux. Our calculations show that
within the framework of our model, the local CR posit ron spectrum imposes
constraints on pulsar parameters for Geminga and B0656+14, notably the pulsar
period at birth, and also the local interstellar diffusion co efficient for CR
leptons.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ
Unidentified Galactic High-Energy Sources as Ancient Pulsar Wind Nebulae in the light of new high energy observations and the new code
In a Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN), the lifetime of inverse Compton (IC) emitting
electrons exceeds the lifetime of its progenitor pulsar (as well as its
shell-type remnant), but it also exceeds the age of those that emit via
synchrotron radiation. Therefore, during its evolution, the PWN can remain
bright in IC so that its GeV-TeV gamma-ray flux remains high for timescales
much larger (for 10^5 - 10^6 yrs) than the pulsar lifetime and the X-ray PWN
lifetime. In this scenario, the magnetic field in the cavity induced by the
wind of the progenitor star plays a crucial role. This scenario is in line with
the discovery of several unidentified or "dark" sources in the TeV gamma-ray
band without X-ray counterparts; and it is also finding confirmation in the
recent discoveries at GeV gamma rays. Moreover, these consequences could be
also important for reinterpreting the detection of starburst galaxies in the
TeV gamma-ray band when considering a leptonic origin of the gamma-ray signal.
Both theoretical aspects and their observational proofs will be discussed, as
well as the first results of our new modeling code.Comment: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on High-Energy
Gamma-Ray Astronomy (Gamma2012
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