352 research outputs found
Probing cosmological parameters with GRBs
In light of the recent finding of the narrow clustering of the
geometrically-corrected gamma-ray energies emitted by Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs),
we investigate the possibility to use these sources as standard candles to
probe cosmological parameters such as the matter density Omega_m and the
cosmological constant energy density Omega_Lambda. By simulating different
samples of gamma-ray bursts, based on recent observational results, we find
that Omega_m (with the prior Omega_m + Omega_Lambda = 1) can be determined with
accuracy ~7% with data from 300 GRBs, provided a local calibration of the
standard candles be achieved.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the Conference
"30 Years of GRB Discovery", Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, September 8-12, 200
On the generation of UHECRs in GRBs: a reappraisal
We re-examine critically the arguments raised against the theory that Ultra
High Energy Cosmic Rays observed at Earth are produced in Gamma Ray Bursts.
These include the limitations to the highest energy attainable by protons
around the bursts' shocks, the spectral slope at the highest energies, the
total energy released in non--thermal particles, the occurrence of doublets and
triplets in the data reported by AGASA. We show that, to within the
uncertainties in our current knowledge of GRBs, none of these objections is
really fatal to the scenario. In particular, we show that the total energy
budget of GRBs easily accounts for the energy injection rate necessary to
account for UHECRs as observed at Earth. We also compute the expected particle
spectrum at Earth, showing that it fits the HiRes and AGASA data to within
statistical uncertainties. We consider the existence of multiplets in AGASA'
data. To this end, we present a Langevin--like treatment for the motion of a
charged particle in the IGM magnetic field, which allows us to estimate both
the average and the rms timedelay for particles of given energy; we discuss
when particles of identical energies reach the Earth in bunches, or spread over
the rms timedelay, showing that multiplets pose no problem for an explosive
model for the sources of UHECRs. We compare our model with a scenario where the
particles are accelerated at internal shocks, underlining differences and
advantages of particle acceleration at external shocks.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; minor change
Correlations in the QPO Frequencies of Low Mass X-Ray Binaries and the Relativistic Precession Model
A remarkable correlation between the centroid frequencies of quasi periodic
oscillations, QPOs, (or peaked noise components) from low mass X-ray binaries,
has been recently discovered by Psaltis, Belloni and van der Klis (1999). This
correlation extends over nearly 3 decades in frequency and encompasses both
neutron star and black hole candidate systems. We discuss this result in the
light of the relativistic precession model, which has been proposed to
interpret the kHz QPOs as well as some of the lower frequency QPOs of neutron
star low mass X-ray binaries of the Atoll and Z classes. Unlike other models
the relativistic precession model does not require the compact object to be a
neutron star and can be applied to black hole candidates as well. We show that
the predictions of the relativistic precession model match both the value and
dependence of the correlation to a very good accuracy without resorting to
additional assumptions.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letters. AASTEX Latex v. 5.0, 1 figure not include
Ultra high energy neutrinos from gamma ray bursts
Protons accelerated to high energies in the relativistic shocks that generate
gamma ray bursts photoproduce pions, and then neutrinos in situ. I show that
ultra high energy neutrinos (> 10^19 eV) are produced during the burst and the
afterglow. A larger flux, also from bursts, is generated via photoproduction
off CMBR photons in flight but is not correlated with currently observable
bursts, appearing as a bright background. Adiabatic/synchrotron losses from
protons/pions/muons are negligible. Temporal and directional coincidences with
bursts detected by satellites can separate correlated neutrinos from the
background.Comment: Adiabatic/synchrotron losses from protons/pions/muons shown to be
negligible. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Letters. RevTe
Gravitational shocks as a key ingredient of Gamma-Ray Bursts
We identify a novel physical mechanism that may be responsible for energy
release in -ray bursts. Radial perturbations in the neutron core,
induced by its collision with collapsing outer layers during the early stages
of supernova explosions, can trigger a gravitational shock, which can readily
eject a small but significant fraction of the collapsing material at
ultra-relativistic speeds. The development of such shocks is a strong-field
effect arising in near-critical collapse in General Relativity and has been
observed in numerical simulations in various contexts, including in particular
radially perturbed neutron star collapse, albeit for a tiny range of initial
conditions. Therefore, this effect can be easily missed in numerical
simulations if the relevant parameter space is not exhaustively investigated.
In the proposed picture, the observed rarity of -ray bursts would be
explained if the relevant conditions for this mechanism appear in only about
one in every core collapse supernovae. We also mention the
possibility that near-critical collapse could play a role in powering the
central engines of Active Galactic Nuclei.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
GeV Photons from Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays accelerated in Gamma Ray Bursts
Gamma-ray bursts are produced by the dissipation of the kinetic energy of a
highly relativistic fireball, via the formation of a collisionless shock. When
this happens, Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays up to 10^20 eV are produced. I show
in this paper that these particles produce, via synchrotron emission as they
cross the acceleration region, photons up to 300 GeV which carry away a small,
~0.01, but non-negligible fraction of the total burst energy. I show that, when
the shock occurs with the interstellar medium, the optical depth to
photon-photon scattering, which might cause energy degradation of the photons,
is small. The burst thusly produced would be detected at Earth simultaneoulsy
with the parent gamma-ray burst, although its duration may differ significantly
from that of the lower energy photons. The expected fluences, ~10^{-5}-10^{-6}
erg/cm^2 are well within the range of planned detectors. A new explanation for
the exceptional burst GRB 940217 is discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Physical Review Letters. 4 pages,
RevTeX needed, no figure
High Energy Neutrinos from Cosmological Gamma-Ray Burst Fireballs
Observations suggest that -ray bursts (GRBs) are produced by the
dissipation of the kinetic energy of a relativistic fireball. We show that a
large fraction, , of the fireball energy is expected to be converted
by photo-meson production to a burst of neutrinos. A km^2
neutrino detector would observe at least several tens of events per year
correlated with GRBs, and test for neutrino properties (e.g. flavor
oscillations, for which upward moving 's would be a unique signature, and
coupling to gravity) with an accuracy many orders of magnitude better than is
currently possible.Comment: Submitted to PRL (4 pages, LaTeX
The prompt emission of GRB990712 with BeppoSAX: evidence of a transient X-ray emission feature
We report on the prompt X- and gamma-ray observations of GRB990712 with the
BeppoSAX Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor and Wide Field Camera No. 2. Due to Sun
constraints, we could not perform a follow-up observation with the BeppoSAX
Narrow Field Instruments. The light curve of the prompt emission shows two
pulses and a total duration of about 40s in X-rays. In gamma-rays the event is
even shorter. The 2-700 keV spectral emission with time shows a discontinuity
in the peak energy Ep of the E F(E) spectrum: Ep is above our energy passband
during the first pulse and goes down to ~10 keV during the second pulse.
Another peculiarity is noted in this event for the first time: the possible
evidence of a 2s duration emission feature during the tail of the first pulse.
The feature is consistent with either a Gaussian profile with centroid energy
of 4.5 keV or a blackbody spectrum with kTbb ~1.3 keV. We discuss the possible
origin of the feature. The most attractive possibility is that we are observing
the thermal emission of a baryon-loaded expanding fireball, when it becomes
optically thin.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters,
relevant changes in the Discussion (section 4) with respect to previous
versio
kHz Quasi Periodic Oscillations in Low Mass X-ray Binaries as Probes of General Relativity in the Strong Field Regime
We consider the interpretation of a pair of kHz Quasi Periodic Oscillations
(QPOs) in the Fourier spectra of two Low Mass X-Ray Binaries, Sco X-1 and
4U1608-52, hosting an old accreting neutron star. The observed frequency
difference of these QPOs decreaseas as their frequency increases, contrary to
simple beat frequency models, which predict a constant frequency difference. We
show that the behaviour of these QPOs is instead well matched in terms of the
fundamental frequencies (in the radial and azimuthal directions) for test
particle motion in the gravitational field of the neutron star, for reasonable
star masses, and nearly independent of the star spin. The radial frequency must
be much smaller than the azimuthal one, testifying that kHz QPOs are produced
close to the innermost stable orbit. These results are not reproduced through
the post--Newtonian (PN) approximation of General Relativity (GR). kHz QPOs
from X-ray binaries likely provide an accurate laboratory for strong field GR.Comment: to appear in Physical Review Letters, PRL Latex plus 2 figures in
standard PostScript forma
Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays and Prompt TeV Gamma Rays from Gamma Ray Bursts
Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) have been proposed as one {\it possible} class of
sources of the Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) events observed up to
energies \gsim10^{20}\ev. The synchrotron radiation of the highest energy
protons accelerated within the GRB source should produce gamma rays up to TeV
energies. Here we briefly discuss the implications on the energetics of the GRB
from the point of view of the detectability of the prompt TeV gamma rays of
proton-synchrotron origin in GRBs in the up-coming ICECUBE muon detector in the
south pole.Comment: 3 pages Latex including 1 ps figure, invited parallel session talk
given at the IXth International Symposium on Particles, Strings and Cosmology
(PASCOS-03), TIFR, Mumbai, India, Jan 2003, to appear in the proceedings to
be published as a special issue of Pramana -- Jour. of Physics, style files
include
- …