Search results for "solar [matter]"
showing 10 items of 1254 documents
Termination of the magnetorotational instability via parasitic instabilities in core-collapse supernovae
2016
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) can be a powerful mechanism amplifying the magnetic field in core-collapse supernovae. Whether initially weak magnetic fields can be amplified by this instability to dynamically relevant strengths is still a matter of debate. One of the main uncertainties concerns the process that terminates the growth of the instability. Parasitic instabilities of both Kelvin-Helmholtz and tearing-mode type have been suggested to play a crucial role in this process, disrupting MRI channel flows and quenching magnetic field amplification. We perform two-dimensional and three-dimensional sheering-disc simulations of a differentially rotating protoneutron star layer in …
Dark gamma-ray bursts
2016
Many theories of dark matter (DM) predict that DM particles can be captured by stars via scattering on ordinary matter. They subsequently condense into a DM core close to the center of the star and eventually annihilate. In this work, we trace DM capture and annihilation rates throughout the life of a massive star and show that this evolution culminates in an intense annihilation burst coincident with the death of the star in a core collapse supernova. The reason is that, along with the stellar interior, also its DM core heats up and contracts, so that the DM density increases rapidly during the final stages of stellar evolution. We argue that, counterintuitively, the annihilation burst is …
Spatial distribution of X-ray emitting ejecta in Tychos SNR: indications of shocked Titanium
2015
Young supernova remnants show a characteristic ejecta-dominated X-ray emission that allows us to probe the products of the explosive nucleosynthesis processes and to ascertain important information about the physics of the supernova explosions. Hard X-ray observations have recently revealed the radioactive decay lines of 44Ti at ~67.9 keV and ~78.4 keV in the Tycho's SNR. We here analyze the set of XMM-Newton archive observations of the Tycho's SNR. We produce equivalent width maps of the Fe K and Ca XIX emission lines and find indications for a stratification of the abundances of these elements and significant anisotropies. We then perform a spatially resolved spectral analysis by identify…
The discovery of the 401 Hz accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17498-2921 in a 3.8 h orbit
2011
We report on the detection of a 400.99018734(1) Hz coherent signal in the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer light curves of the recently discovered X-ray transient, IGR J17498-2921. By analysing the frequency modulation caused by the orbital motion observed between August 13 and September 8, 2011, we derive an orbital solution for the binary system with a period of 3.8432275(3) hr. The measured mass function, f(M_2, M_1, i)=0.00203807(8) Msun, allows to set a lower limit of 0.17 Msun on the mass of the companion star, while an upper limit of 0.48 Msun is set by imposing that the companion star does not overfill its Roche lobe. We observe a marginally significant evolution of the signal frequency …
Multi-frequency observations of SWIFT J1626.6-5156
2011
SWIFT J1626.6-5156 is an X-ray pulsar that was discovered in December 2005 during an X-ray outburst. Although the X-ray data suggest that the system is a high-mass X-ray binary, very little information exists on the nature of the optical counterpart. We have analysed all RXTE observations since its discovery, archived optical spectroscopic and photometric data and obtained for the first time near-IR spectra. The K-band spectrum shows HeI 20581 A and HI 21660 A (Brackett-gamma) in emission, which confine the spectral type of the companion to be earlier than B2.5. The H-band spectrum exhibits the HI Br-18-11 recombination series in emission. The most prominent feature of the optical band spec…
Simulations of an inhomogeneous stellar wind interacting with a pulsar wind in a binary system
2014
Binary systems containing a massive star and a non-accreting pulsar present strong interaction between the stellar and the pulsar winds. The properties of this interaction, which largely determine the non-thermal radiation in these systems, strongly depend on the structure of the stellar wind, which can be clumpy or strongly anisotropic, as in Be stars. We study numerically the influence of inhomogeneities in the stellar wind on the structure of the two-wind interaction region. We carried out for the first time axisymmetric, relativistic hydrodynamical simulations, with Lorentz factors of ~6 and accounting for the impact of instabilities, to study the impact in the two-wind interaction stru…
QPO emission from moving hot spots on the surface of neutron stars: a model
2009
We present recent results of 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of neutron stars with small misalignment angles, as regards the features in lightcurves produced by regular movements of the hot spots during accretion onto the star. In particular, we show that the variation of position of the hot spot created by the infalling matter, as observed in 3D simulations, can produce high frequency Quasi Periodic Oscillations with frequencies associated with the inner zone of the disk. Previously reported simulations showed that the usual assumption of a fixed hot spot near the polar region is valid only for misalignment angles relatively large. Otherwise, two phenomena challenge the assumption: one …
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…
XMM-Newton Large Program on SN1006 - I: Methods and Initial Results of Spatially-Resolved Spectroscopy
2015
Based on our newly developed methods and the XMM-Newton large program of SN1006, we extract and analyze the spectra from 3596 tessellated regions of this SNR each with 0.3-8 keV counts $>10^4$. For the first time, we map out multiple physical parameters, such as the temperature ($kT$), electron density ($n_e$), ionization parameter ($n_et$), ionization age ($t_{ion}$), metal abundances, as well as the radio-to-X-ray slope ($\alpha$) and cutoff frequency ($\nu_{cutoff}$) of the synchrotron emission. We construct probability distribution functions of $kT$ and $n_et$, and model them with several Gaussians, in order to characterize the average thermal and ionization states of such an extended s…
Magnetorotational Instability in Core-Collapse Supernovae
2017
We discuss the relevance of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Our recent numerical studies show that in CCSNe, the MRI is terminated by parasitic instabilities of the Kelvin-Helmholtz type. To determine whether the MRI can amplify initially weak magnetic fields to dynamically relevant strengths in CCSNe, we performed three-dimensional simulations of a region close to the surface of a differentially rotating proto-neutron star in non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics with two different numerical codes. We find that under the conditions prevailing in proto-neutron stars, the MRI can amplify the magnetic field by (only) one order of magnitude. This severely …