Search results for " Planetary"
showing 10 items of 5408 documents
The near-IR counterpart of IGR J17480-2446 in Terzan 5
2012
Some globular clusters in our Galaxy are noticeably rich in low-mass X-ray binaries. Terzan 5 has the richest population among globular clusters of X- and radio-pulsars and low-mass X-ray binaries. The detection and study of optical/IR counterparts of low-mass X-ray binaries is fundamental to characterizing both the low-mass donor in the binary system and investigating the mechanisms of the formation and evolution of this class of objects. We aim at identifying the near-IR counterpart of the 11 Hz pulsar IGRJ17480-2446 discovered in Terzan 5. Adaptive optics (AO) systems represent the only possibility for studying the very dense environment of GC cores from the ground. We carried out observ…
Radio Emission from Sgr A*: Pulsar Transits Through the Accretion Disc
2017
Radiatively inefficient accretion flow models have been shown to accurately account for the spectrum and luminosity observed from Sgr A* in the X-ray regime down to mm wavelengths. However, observations at a few GHz cannot be explained by thermal electrons alone but require the presence of an additional non-thermal particle population. Here, we propose a model for the origin of such a population in the accretion flow via means of a pulsar orbiting the supermassive black hole in our Galaxy. Interactions between the relativistic pulsar wind with the disc lead to the formation of a bow shock in the wind. During the pulsar's transit through the accretion disc, relativistic pairs, accelerated at…
SAX J1808.4-3658, an accreting millisecond pulsar shining in gamma rays?
2016
We report the detection of a possible gamma-ray counterpart of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. The analysis of ~6 years of data from the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi-LAT) within a region of 15deg radius around the position of the pulsar reveals a point gamma-ray source detected at a significance of ~6 sigma (Test Statistic TS = 32), with position compatible with that of SAX J1808.4-3658 within 95% Confidence Level. The energy flux in the energy range between 0.6 GeV and 10 GeV amounts to (2.1 +- 0.5) x 10-12 erg cm-2 s-1 and the spectrum is well-represented by a power-law function with photon index 2.1 +- 0.1. We searched for si…
Discovery of a soft X-ray 8 mHz QPO from the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J00291+5934
2016
In this paper, we report on the analysis of the peculiar X-ray variability displayed by the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J00291+5934 in a 80 ks-long joint NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observation performed during the source outburst in 2015. The light curve of the source was characterized by a flaring-like behavior, with typical rise and decay time scales of ~120 s. The flares are accompanied by a remarkable spectral variability, with the X-ray emission being generally softer at the peak of the flares. A strong quasi periodic oscillation (QPO) is detected at ~8 mHz in the power spectrum of the source and clearly associated with the flaring-like behavior. This feature has the strongest po…
Measurement of day and night neutrino energy spectra at SNO and constraints on neutrino mixing parameters
2002
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) has measured day and night solar neutrino energy spectra and rates. For charged current events, assuming an undistorted $^8$B spectrum, the night minus day rate is $14.0% \pm 6.3% ^{+1.5}_{-1.4}%$ of the average rate. If the total flux of active neutrinos is additionally constrained to have no asymmetry, the $\nu_e$ asymmetry is found to be $7.0% \pm 4.9% ^{+1.3}_{-1.2}%$. A global solar neutrino analysis in terms of matter-enhanced oscillations of two active flavors strongly favors the Large Mixing Angle (LMA) solution.
RadioAstron reveals a spine-sheath jet structure in 3C 273
2021
We present Space-VLBI RadioAstron observations at 1.6 GHz and 4.8 GHz of the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 273, with detections on baselines up to 4.5 and 3.3 Earth Diameters, respectively. Achieving the best angular resolution at 1.6 GHz to date, we have imaged limb-brightening in the jet, not previously detected in this source. In contrast, at 4.8 GHz, we detected emission from a central stream of plasma, with a spatial distribution complementary to the limb-brightened emission, indicating an origin in the spine of the jet. While a stratification across the jet width in the flow density, internal energy, magnetic field, or bulk flow velocity are usually invoked to explain the limb-brighte…
A photometric redshift of z = 1.8$^{\sf{+0.4}}_{\sf{-0.3}}$ for the AGILE GRB 080514B
2008
Aims: The AGILE gamma-ray burst GRB 080514B is the first burst with detected emission above 30 MeV and an optical afterglow. However, no spectroscopic redshift for this burst is known. Methods: We compiled ground-based photometric optical/NIR and millimeter data from several observatories, including the multi-channel imager GROND, as well as ultraviolet \swift UVOT and X-ray XRT observations. The spectral energy distribution of the optical/NIR afterglow shows a sharp drop in the \swift UVOT UV filters that can be utilized for the estimation of a redshift. Results: Fitting the SED from the \swift UVOT $uvw2$ band to the $H$ band, we estimate a photometric redshift of $z=1.8^{+0.4}_{-0.3}$, c…
The pre-outburst flare of the A 0535+26 August/September 2005 outburst
2008
We study the spectral and temporal behavior of the High Mass X-ray Binary A 0535+26 during a `pre-outburst flare' which took place ~5 d before the peak of a normal (type I) outburst in August/September 2005. We compare the studied behavior with that observed during the outburst. We analyse RXTE observations that monitored A 0535+26 during the outburst. We complete spectral and timing analyses of the data. We study the evolution of the pulse period, present energy-dependent pulse profiles both at the initial pre-outburst flare and close to outburst maximum, and measure how the cyclotron resonance-scattering feature (hereafter CRSF) evolves. We present three main results: a constant period P=…
Gravitational Lensing: the Structure of Quasars and Galaxies
2016
We use gravitational lens systems in which a galaxy produces multiple images of a distant quasar to study the properties of both the unresolved structure of the lensed quasar and the mass distribution in the gravitational lens. First, we estimate the size and the logarithmic slope of the temperature profile in the accretion disk of the lensed quasar Q2237+0305 using a method that is independent of the component velocities, based on six epochs of multi-wavelength narrowband images from the Nordic Optical Telescope. A statistical comparison of the observed microlensing with simulations based on microlensing magnification maps gives Bayesian estimates for the half-light radius of ~8 light-days…
YSO accretion shocks: magnetic, chromospheric or stochastic flow effects can suppress fluctuations of X-ray emission
2013
Context. Theoretical arguments and numerical simulations of radiative shocks produced by the impact of the accreting gas onto young stars predict quasi-periodic oscillations in the emitted radiation. However, observational data do not show evidence of such periodicity. Aims. We investigate whether physically plausible perturbations in the accretion column or in the chromosphere could disrupt the shock structure influencing the observability of the oscillatory behavior. Methods. We performed local 2D magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of an accretion shock impacting a chromosphere, taking optically thin radiation losses and thermal conduction into account. We investigated the effects of seve…