Search results for "Telescope"
showing 10 items of 499 documents
Localisation of gamma-ray bursts from the combined SpIRIT+HERMES-TP/SP nano-satellite constellation
2023
Multi-messenger observations of the transient sky to detect cosmic explosions and counterparts of gravitational wave mergers critically rely on orbiting wide-FoV telescopes to cover the wide range of wavelengths where atmospheric absorption and emission limit the use of ground facilities. Thanks to continuing technological improvements, miniaturised space instruments operating as distributed-aperture constellations are offering new capabilities for the study of high energy transients to complement ageing existing satellites. In this paper we characterise the performance of the upcoming joint SpIRIT + HERMES-TP/SP nano-satellite constellation for the localisation of high-energy transients th…
Search for Neutrino‐induced Cascades from Gamma‐Ray Bursts with AMANDA
2007
Using the neutrino telescope AMANDA-II, we have conducted two analyses searching for neutrino-induced cascades from gamma-ray bursts. No evidence of astrophysical neutrinos was found, and limits are presented for several models. We also present neutrino effective areas which allow the calculation of limits for any neutrino production model. The first analysis looked for a statistical excess of events within a sliding window of 1 or 100 seconds (for short and long burst classes, respectively) during the years 2001-2003. The resulting upper limit on the diffuse flux normalization times E^2 for the Waxman-Bahcall model at 1 PeV is 1.6 x 10^-6 GeV cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 (a factor of 120 above the the…
The IceCube realtime alert system
2016
Following the detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos in 2013, their origin is still unknown. Aiming for the identification of an electromagnetic counterpart of a rapidly fading source, we have implemented a realtime analysis framework for the IceCube neutrino observatory. Several analyses selecting neutrinos of astrophysical origin are now operating in realtime at the detector site in Antarctica and are producing alerts to the community to enable rapid follow-up observations. The goal of these observations is to locate the astrophysical objects responsible for these neutrino signals. This paper highlights the infrastructure in place both at the South Pole detector site and at IceC…
Recent GRBs observed with the 1.23m CAHA telescope and the status of its upgrade
2010
We report on optical observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) followed up by our collaboration with the 1.23m telescope located at the Calar Alto observatory. The 1.23m telescope is an old facility, currently undergoing upgrades to enable fully autonomous response to GRB alerts. We discuss the current status of the control system upgrade of the 1.23m telescope. The upgrade is being done by our group based on the Remote Telescope System, 2nd Version (RTS2), which controls the available instruments and interacts with the EPICS database of Calar Alto. (Our group is called ARAE (Robotic Astronomy & High-Energy Astrophysics) and is based on members of IAA (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía). …
Millimeter-VLBI observations of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei with source-frequency phase-referencing
2021
We report millimeter-VLBI results of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (M 84 and M 87) up to 88 GHz with source-frequency phase-referencing observations. We detected the weak VLBI core and obtained the first image of M 84 at 88 GHz. The derived brightness temperature of M 84 core was about 7.2$\times$10$^9$ K, which could serve as a lower limit as the core down to 30 Schwarzschild radii was still un-resolved in our 88 GHz observations. We successfully determined the core-shifts of M 87 at 22-44 GHz and 44-88 GHz through source-frequency phase-referencing technique. The jet apex of M 87 could be deduced at about 46 $\mu$as upstream of the 43 GHz core from core-shift measurements. The est…
Gravitational Test beyond the First Post-Newtonian Order with the Shadow of the M87 Black Hole
2020
All authors: Psaltis, Dimitrios; Medeiros, Lia; Christian, Pierre; Özel, Feryal; Akiyama, Kazunori; Alberdi, Antxon; Alef, Walter; Asada, Keiichi; Azulay, Rebecca; Ball, David; Baloković, Mislav; Barrett, John; Bintley, Dan; Blackburn, Lindy; Boland, Wilfred; Bower, Geoffrey C.; Bremer, Michael; Brinkerink, Christiaan D.; Brissenden, Roger; Britzen, Silke Broguiere, Dominique; Bronzwaer, Thomas; Byun, Do-Young; Carlstrom, John E.; Chael, Andrew; Chan, Chi-kwan; Chatterjee, Shami; Chatterjee, Koushik; Chen, Ming-Tang; Chen, Yongjun; Cho, Ilje; Conway, John E.; Cordes, James M.; Crew, Geoffrey B.; Cui, Yuzhu; Davelaar, Jordy; De Laurentis, Mariafelicia; Deane, Roger; Dempsey, Jessica; Desvign…
A Connection Between Apparent VLBA Jet Speeds and Initial Active Galactic Nucleus Detections Made by the Fermi Gamma-ray Observatory
2009
In its first three months of operations, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Observatory has detected approximately one quarter of the radio-flux-limited MOJAVE sample of bright flat-spectrum active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at energies above 100 MeV. We have investigated the apparent parsec-scale jet speeds of 26 MOJAVE AGNs measured by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) that are in the LAT bright AGN sample (LBAS). We find that the gamma-ray bright quasars have faster jets on average than the non-LBAS quasars, with a median of 15 c, and values ranging up to 34 c. The LBAS AGNs in which the LAT has detected significant gamma-ray flux variability generally have faster jets than the nonvariable ones. These fi…
Four Years of Real-Time GRB Followup by BOOTES-1B (2005–2008)
2010
Four years of BOOTES-1B GRB follow-up history are summarised for the first time in the form of a table. The successfully followed events are described case by case. Further, the data are used to show the GRB trigger rate in Spain on a per-year basis, resulting in an estimate of 18 triggers and about 51 hours of telescope time per year for real-time triggers. These numbers grow to about 22 triggers and 77 hours per year if we include also the GRBs observable within 2 hours after the trigger. Copyright © 2010 Martin Jelínek et al.
The unusual multiwavelength properties of the gamma-ray source PMN J1603-4904
2013
We investigate the nature and classification of PMNJ1603-4904, a bright radio source close to the Galactic plane, which is associated with one of the brightest hard-spectrum gamma-ray sources detected by Fermi/LAT. It has previously been classified as a low-peaked BL Lac object based on its broadband emission and the absence of optical emission lines. Optical measurements, however, suffer strongly from extinction and the absence of pronounced short-time gamma-ray variability over years of monitoring is unusual for a blazar. We are combining new and archival multiwavelength data in order to reconsider the classification and nature of this unusual gamma-ray source. For the first time, we stud…
X-RAY AND OPTICAL OBSERVATIONS OF A 0535+26
2011
We present recent contemporaneous X-ray and optical observations of the Be/X-ray binary system A\,0535+26 with the \textit{Fermi}/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and several ground-based observatories. These new observations are put into the context of the rich historical data (since $\sim$1978) and discussed in terms of the neutron star Be-disk interaction. The Be circumstellar disk was exceptionally large just before the 2009 December giant outburst, which may explain the origin of the unusual recent X-ray activity of this source. We found a peculiar evolution of the pulse profile during this giant outburst, with the two main components evolving in opposite ways with energy. A hard 30-70 mH…