Ultrahigh-Energy Photons as a Probe of Nearby Transient Ultrahigh-Energy Cosmic-Ray Sources and Possible Lorentz-Invariance Violation

Detecting neutrinos and photons is crucial to identifying the sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), especially for transient sources. We focus on ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray emission from transient sources such as gamma-ray bursts, since >EeV gamma rays can be more direct evidence of UHECRs than PeV neutrinos and GeV-TeV gamma rays. We demonstrate that coincident detections of about 1-100 events can be expected by current and future UHECR detectors such as Auger and JEM-EUSO, and the detection probability can be higher than that of neutrinos for nearby transient sources at <50-100 Mpc. They may be useful for constraining the uncertain cosmic radio background as well as knowing the source properties and maximum energy of UHECRs. They can also give us more than 10^4 times stronger limits on the Lorentz-invariance violation than current constraints.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, replaced to match the published version (PRL, 103, 081102

Closure Relations for Electron-Positron Pair-Signatures in Gamma-Ray Bursts

We present recipes to diagnose the fireball of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by combining observations of electron-positron pair-signatures (the pair-annihilation line and the cutoff energy due to the pair-creation process). Our recipes are largely model-independent and extract information even from the non-detection of either pair-signature. We evaluate physical quantities such as the Lorentz factor, optical depth and pair-to-baryon ratio, only from the observable quantities. In particular, we can test whether the prompt emission of GRBs comes from the pair/baryonic photosphere or not. The future-coming Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) satellite will provide us with good chances to use our recipes by detecting or non-detecting pair-signatures.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, with extended discussions. Conclusions unchange

Unstable GRB photospheres and electron-positron annihilation lines

We propose an emission mechanism of prompt gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that can reproduce the observed non-thermal spectra with high radiative efficiencies, >50%. Internal dissipation below a photosphere can create a radiation-dominated thermal fireball. If electron-positron pairs outnumber protons, radiative acceleration of pairs drives the two-stream instabilities between pairs and protons, leading to the ``proton sedimentation'' in the accelerating pair frame. Pairs are continuously shock heated by proton clumps, scattering the thermal photons into the broken power-law shape, with the non-thermal energy that is comparable to the proton kinetic energy, consistent with observations. Pair photospheres become unstable around the radius of the progenitor star where strong thermalization occurs, if parameters satisfy the observed spectral (Yonetoku) relation. Pair annihilation lines are predicted above continua, which could be verified by GLAST.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Weighted Radon transforms for which the Chang approximate inversion formula is precise

We describe all weighted Radon transforms on the plane for which the Chang approximate inversion formula is precise. Some subsequent results, including the Cormack type inversion for these transforms, are also given

Pressure Raman effects and internal stress in network glasses

Raman scattering from binary GexSe1-x glasses under hydrostatic pressure shows onset of a steady increase in the frequency of modes of corner-sharing GeSe4 tetrahedral units when the external pressure P exceeds a threshold value Pc. The threshold pressure Pc(x) decreases with x in the 0.15 < x < 0.20 range, nearly vanishes in the 0.20 < x < 0.25 range, and then increases in the 0.25 < x < 1/3 range. These Pc(x) trends closely track those in the non-reversing enthalpy, DHnr(x), near glass transitions (Tgs), and in particular, both DHnr(x) and Pc(x) vanish in the reversibility window (0.20 < x < 0.25). It is suggested that Pc provides a measure of stress at the Raman active units; and its vanishing in the reversibility window suggests that these units are part of an isostatically rigid backbone. Isostaticity also accounts for the non-aging behavior of glasses observed in the reversibility window