Search results for "High energy astrophysics"
showing 10 items of 37 documents
The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU)
2016
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Follow-up of Astrophysical Transients in Real Time with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
2020
In multi-messenger astronomy, rapid investigation of interesting transients is imperative. As an observatory with a 4$\pi$ steradian field of view and $\sim$99\% uptime, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a unique facility to follow up transients, and to provide valuable insight for other observatories and inform their observing decisions. Since 2016, IceCube has been using low-latency data to rapidly respond to interesting astrophysical events reported by the multi-messenger observational community. Here, we describe the pipeline used to perform these follow up analyses and provide a summary of the 58 analyses performed as of July 2020. We find no significant signal in the first 58 analys…
LOFT - A large observatory for x-ray timing
2010
The high time resolution observations of the X-ray sky hold the key to a number of diagnostics of fundamental physics, some of which are unaccessible to other types of investigations, such as those based on imaging and spectroscopy. Revealing strong gravitational field effects, measuring the mass and spin of black holes and the equation of state of ultradense matter are among the goals of such observations. At present prospects for future, non-focused X-ray timing experiments following the exciting age of RXTE/PCA are uncertain. Technological limitations are unavoidably faced in the conception and development of experiments with effective area of several square meters, as needed in order to…
Timing and Spectral properties of Low Mass X-ray Binary Systems hosting Neutron Stars
The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit: a consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase
2023
The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer, studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory, a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), it aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over an hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (i…
Pinpointing the SMBH in NGC1052
2016
Supermassive black holes (SMBH) are essential for the production of jets in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN). Theoretical models based on Blandford & Znajek (1977MNRAS.179..433B) extract the rotational energy from a Kerr black hole, which could be the case for NGC1052, to launch these jets. This requires magnetic fields on the order of 1000G to 10000G. We imaged the vicinity of the SMBH of the AGN NGC1052 with the Global Millimetre VLBI Array and found a bright and compact central feature that is smaller than 1.9 light days (100 Schwarzschild radii) in radius. Interpreting this as a blend of the unresolved jet bases, we derive the magnetic field at 1 Schwarzschild radius to lie betwe…
Sub-milliarcsecond imaging of 3C111
2020
Flares in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are thought to be associated with the injection of fresh plasma into the compact jet base. Such flares are usually strongest and appear earlier at shorter radio wavelengths. Hence, very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) at millimeter (mm)-wavelengths is the best-suited technique for studying the earliest structural changes of compact jets associated with emission flares. Aims. We study the morphological changes of the parsec-scale jet in the nearby (z=0.049) gamma-ray bright radio galaxy 3C 111 following a flare that developed into a major radio outburst in 2007. We analyse three successive observations of 3C 111 at 86 GHz with the Global…
MOJAVE. VI. Kinematic analysis of blazar jets
2012
We discuss the jet kinematics of a complete flux-density-limited sample of 135 radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) resulting from a 13 year program to investigate the structure and evolution of parsec-scale jet phenomena. Our analysis is based on new 2cm Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images obtained between 2002 and 2007, but includes our previously published observations made at the same wavelength, and is supplemented by VLBA archive data. In all, we have used 2424 images spanning the years 1994-2007 to study and determine the motions of 526 separate jet features in 127 jets. Cone search capability for table J/AJ/138/1874/agn (AGN sample)
22GHz image of 3C 273
2017
RadioAstron is a 10m orbiting radio telescope mounted on the Spektr-R satellite, launched in 2011, performing Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (SVLBI) observations supported by a global ground array of radio telescopes. With an apogee of ~350000km, it is offering for the first time the possibility to perform as-resolution imaging in the cm-band. The RadioAstron Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) polarization Key Science Project (KSP) aims at exploiting the unprecedented angular resolution provided by RadioAstron to study jet launching/collimation and magnetic-field configuration in AGN jets. The targets of our KSP are some of the most powerful blazars in the sky. We present observations at…
LOFAR images of blazar S5 0836+710
2019
The emission and proper motion of the terminal hotspots of active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets can be used as a powerful probe of the intergalactic medium. However, measurements of hotspot advance speeds in active galaxies are difficult, especially in the young universe, because of the low angular velocities and the low brightness of distant radio galaxies. Our goal is to study the termination of an AGN jet in the young universe and to deduce physical parameters of the jet and the intergalactic medium. We used the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) to image the long-wavelength radio emission of the high-redshift blazar S5 0836+710 on arcsecond scales between 120MHz and 160MHz. The LOFAR image shows…