Search results for "PULSAR"
showing 10 items of 209 documents
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…
Are pulsars born with a hidden magnetic field?
2015
The observation of several neutron stars in the center of supernova remnants and with significantly lower values of the dipolar magnetic field than the average radio-pulsar population has motivated a lively debate about their formation and origin, with controversial interpretations. A possible explanation requires the slow rotation of the proto-neutron star at birth, which is unable to amplify its magnetic field to typical pulsar levels. An alternative possibility, the hidden magnetic field scenario, considers the accretion of the fallback of the supernova debris onto the neutron star as responsible for the submergence (or screening) of the field and its apparently low value. In this paper …
Observation of TeV gamma rays from the Cygnus region with the ARGO-YBJ experiment
2012
We report the observation of TeV gamma-rays from the Cygnus region using the ARGO-YBJ data collected from 2007 November to 2011 August. Several TeV sources are located in this region including the two bright extended MGRO J2019+37 and MGRO J2031+41. According to the Milagro data set, at 20 TeV MGRO J2019+37 is the most significant source apart from the Crab Nebula. No signal from MGRO J2019+37 is detected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment, and the derived flux upper limits at 90% confidence level for all the events above 600 GeV with medium energy of 3 TeV are lower than the Milagro flux, implying that the source might be variable and hard to be identified as a pulsar wind nebula. The only statist…
Non-thermal radiation from a pulsar wind interacting with an inhomogeneous stellar wind
2017
Binaries hosting a massive star and a non-accreting pulsar are powerful non-thermal emitters due to the interaction of the pulsar and the stellar wind. The winds of massive stars are thought to be inhomogeneous, which could have an impact on the non-thermal emission. We study numerically the impact of the presence of inhomogeneities or clumps in the stellar wind on the high-energy non-thermal radiation of high-mass binaries hosting a non-accreting pulsar. We compute the trajectories and physical properties of the streamlines in the shocked pulsar wind without clumps, with a small clump, and with a large one. This information is used to compute the synchrotron and inverse Compton emission fr…
Activity from the Be/X-ray binary system V0332+53 during its intermediate-luminosity outburst in 2008
2015
Aims: We present a study of the Be/X-ray binary system V 0332+53 with the main goal of characterizing its behavior mainly during the intermediate-luminosity X-ray event on 2008. In addition, we aim to contribute to the understanding of the global behavior of the donor companion by including optical data from our dedicated campaign starting on 2006. Methods: V 0332+53 was observed by RXTE and Swift during the decay of the intermediate-luminosity X-ray outburst of 2008, as well as with Suzaku before the rising of the third normal outburst of the 2010 series. In addition, we present recent data from the Spanish ground-based astronomical observatories of El Teide (Tenerife), Roque de los Muchac…
GW170817: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Compact Binary Coalescences
2018
The LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations have announced the first detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of two neutron stars. The merger rate of binary neutron stars estimated from this event suggests that distant, unresolvable binary neutron stars create a significant astrophysical stochastic gravitational-wave background. The binary neutron star background will add to the background from binary black holes, increasing the amplitude of the total astrophysical background relative to previous expectations. In the Advanced LIGO-Virgo frequency band most sensitive to stochastic backgrounds (near 25 Hz), we predict a total astrophysical background with amplitude $\Omega_{\rm…
GW170817: Measurements of Neutron Star Radii and Equation of State
2018
On 17 August 2017, the LIGO and Virgo observatories made the first direct detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of a neutron star binary system. The detection of this gravitational-wave signal, GW170817, offers a novel opportunity to directly probe the properties of matter at the extreme conditions found in the interior of these stars. The initial, minimal-assumption analysis of the LIGO and Virgo data placed constraints on the tidal effects of the coalescing bodies, which were then translated to constraints on neutron star radii. Here, we expand upon previous analyses by working under the hypothesis that both bodies were neutron stars that are described by the same equation…
Constraints on ultra-high-energy cosmic ray sources from a search for neutrinos above 10 PeV with IceCube
2016
We report constraints on the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) above $10^{9}$ GeV, based on an analysis of seven years of IceCube data. This analysis efficiently selects very high energy neutrino-induced events which have deposited energies from $\sim 10^6$ GeV to above $10^{11}$ GeV. Two neutrino-induced events with an estimated deposited energy of $(2.6 \pm 0.3) \times 10^6$ GeV, the highest neutrino energies observed so far, and $(7.7 \pm 2.0) \times 10^5$ GeV were detected. The atmospheric background-only hypothesis of detecting these events is rejected at 3.6$\sigma$. The hypothesis that the observed events are of cosmogenic origin is also rejected at $>$99% CL because of…
Dense matter with eXTP
2019
In this White Paper we present the potential of the Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission for determining the nature of dense matter; neutron star cores host an extreme density regime which cannot be replicated in a terrestrial laboratory. The tightest statistical constraints on the dense matter equation of state will come from pulse profile modelling of accretion-powered pulsars, burst oscillation sources, and rotation-powered pulsars. Additional constraints will derive from spin measurements, burst spectra, and properties of the accretion flows in the vicinity of the neutron star. Under development by an international Consortium led by the Institute of High Energy Physics o…
Qualitative remarks on some non-linear aspects of the radio-pulsar magnetosphere
2011
In the class of the submodels SCLF (space-charge limited flow) of the family of "gap-plus-PPF" models, let us exposes some qualitative remarks on the possible turbulent dynamics showed by the zone (II) (see Fig. 1 of the text) of the acceleration zone of the "direct inner gap". Furthermore, we will discuss some consequent physical implications (as, for instance, self-focussing phenomena, Petviashvili's diamagnetism, and so on) concerning structure and physical phenomenology of the remaining subzones (above the subzone (II)) of the given acceleration zone, in connection with possible models for the external solid crust of the radio-pulsar.