Abstracts of Interest
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Abstract: 1903.03174
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Title:On the parametrization of the distributions of depth of shower maximum of ultra-high energy extensive air showers
(Submitted on 7 Mar 2019)
Abstract: The distribution of depth in which a cosmic ray air shower reaches its maximum number of particles ($X_{max}$) is studied and parametrized. Three functions are studied for proton, carbon, silicon, and iron primary particles with energies ranging from $10^{17}$ eV to $10^{20}$ eV for three hadronic interaction models: EPOS-LHC, QGSJetII.04, and Sibyll2.3c. The function which best describes the $X_{max}$ distribution of a mixed composition is also studied. A very large number of simulated showers and a detailed analysis procedure were used to guarantee negligible effects of undersampling and of fitting in the final results. For the first time, a comparison of several functions is presented under the same assumption with the intention of selecting the best functional form to describe the $X_{max}$ distribution. The Generalized Gumbel distribution is shown to be the best option for a general description of all cases. The Log-normal distribution is also a good choice for some cases while the Exponentially Modified Gaussian distribution has shown to be the worst choice in almost all cases studied. All three functions are parametrized as a function of energy and primary mass.
Abstract: 1903.03225
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:RAMSES II - RAMan Search for Extragalactic Symbiotic Stars. Project concept, commissioning, and early results from the science verification phase
(Submitted on 8 Mar 2019)
Abstract: Symbiotic stars (SySts) are long-period interacting binaries composed of a hot compact star, an evolved giant star, and a tangled network of gas and dust nebulae. They represent unique laboratories for studying a variety of important astrophysical problems, and have also been proposed as possible progenitors of SNIa. Presently, we know 257 SySts in the Milky Way and 69 in external galaxies. However, these numbers are still in striking contrast with the predicted population of SySts in our Galaxy. Because of other astrophysical sources that mimic SySt colors, no photometric diagnostic tool has so far demonstrated the power to unambiguously identify a SySt, thus making the recourse to costly spectroscopic follow-up still inescapable. In this paper we present the concept, commissioning, and science verification phases, as well as the first scientific results, of RAMSES II - a Gemini Observatory Instrument Upgrade Project that has provided each GMOS instrument at both Gemini telescopes with a set of narrow-band filters centered on the Raman OVI 6830 A band. Continuum-subtracted images using these new filters clearly revealed known SySts with a range of Raman OVI line strengths, even in crowded fields. RAMSES II observations also produced the first detection of Raman OVI emission from the SySt LMC 1 and confirmed Hen 3-1768 as a new SySt - the first photometric confirmation of a SySt. Via Raman OVI narrow-band imaging, RAMSES II provides the astronomical community with the first purely photometric tool for hunting SySts in the local Universe.
Abstract: 1903.03226
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Discovery of a Pulsar-powered Bow Shock Nebula in the Small Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnant DEMS5
(Submitted on 8 Mar 2019)
Abstract: We report the discovery of a new Small Magellanic Cloud Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN) at the edge of the Supernova Remnant (SNR)-DEM S5. The pulsar powered object has a cometary morphology similar to the Galactic PWN analogs PSR B1951+32 and 'the mouse'. It is travelling supersonically through the interstellar medium. We estimate the Pulsar kick velocity to be in the range of 700-2000 km/s for an age between 28-10 kyr. The radio spectral index for this SNR PWN pulsar system is flat (-0.29 $\pm$ 0.01) consistent with other similar objects. We infer that the putative pulsar has a radio spectral index of -1.8, which is typical for Galactic pulsars. We searched for dispersion measures (DMs) up to 1000 cm/pc^3 but found no convincing candidates with a S/N greater than 8. We produce a polarisation map for this PWN at 5500 MHz and find a mean fractional polarisation of P $\sim 23$ percent. The X-ray power-law spectrum (Gamma $\sim 2$) is indicative of non-thermal synchrotron emission as is expected from PWN-pulsar system. Finally, we detect DEM S5 in Infrared (IR) bands. Our IR photometric measurements strongly indicate the presence of shocked gas which is expected for SNRs. However, it is unusual to detect such IR emission in a SNR with a supersonic bow-shock PWN. We also find a low-velocity HI cloud of $\sim 107$ km/s which is possibly interacting with DEM S5. SNR DEM S5 is the first confirmed detection of a pulsar-powered bow shock nebula found outside the Galaxy.
Abstract: 1903.03633
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Integral representation of the cosmic microwave background spectrum
(Submitted on 8 Mar 2019)
Abstract: We use an integral representation for nonthermal radiation, which is bounded from below and above, to describe the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The upper bound is given by the Rayleigh-Jeans law with a temperature $T_{RJ}$ that can be determined by the absorption signal of 21 cm photons, where $T_{RJ}$ represents the equilibrium temperature of photons in the RJ tail. If $T_{RJ}>T_{CMB}$, then the lower bound allows us to conclude that photons, additional to the remnant of the Big Bang, are needed to explain the present CMB. These constraints are additional to other cosmological or astrophysical constraints in the study of the distortions of the CMB brought about by new physics particles or fields.
Abstract: 1903.03689
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Neutrino Mass from Cosmology: Probing Physics Beyond the Standard Model
(Submitted on 8 Mar 2019)
Abstract: Recent advances in cosmic observations have brought us to the verge of discovery of the absolute scale of neutrino masses. Nonzero neutrino masses are known evidence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Our understanding of the clustering of matter in the presence of massive neutrinos has significantly improved over the past decade, yielding cosmological constraints that are tighter than any laboratory experiment, and which will improve significantly over the next decade, resulting in a guaranteed detection of the absolute neutrino mass scale.
Abstract: 1903.03737
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Bow shocks, bow waves, and dust waves. I. Strong coupling limit
(Submitted on 9 Mar 2019)
Abstract: Dust waves and bow waves result from the action of a star's radiation pressure on a stream of dusty plasma that flows past it. They are an alternative mechanism to hydrodynamic bow shocks for explaining the curved arcs of infrared emission seen around some stars. When gas and grains are perfectly coupled, for a broad class of stellar parameters, wind-supported bow shocks predominate when the ambient density is below 100 per cubic cm. At higher densities radiation-supported bows can form, tending to be optically thin bow waves around B stars, or optically thick bow shocks around early O stars. For OB stars with particularly weak stellar winds, radiation-supported bows become more prevalent.
Abstract: 1903.03706
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Habitable zone predictions and how to test them
(Submitted on 9 Mar 2019 (v1), last revised 12 Mar 2019 (this version, v2))
Abstract: The habitable zone (HZ) is the region around a star(s) where standing bodies of water could exist on the surface of a rocky planet. The classical HZ definition makes a number of assumptions common to the Earth, including assuming that the most important greenhouse gases for habitable planets are CO2 and H3O, habitable planets orbit main-sequence stars, and that the carbonate-silicate cycle is a universal process on potentially habitable planets. Here, we discuss these and other predictions for the habitable zone and the observations that are needed to test them. We also, for the first time, argue why A-stars may be interesting HZ prospects. Instead of relying on unverified extrapolations from our Earth, we argue that future habitability studies require first principles approaches where temporal, spatial, physical, chemical, and biological systems are dynamically coupled. We also suggest that next-generation missions are only the beginning of a much more data-filled era in the not-too-distant future, when possibly hundreds to thousands of HZ planets will yield the statistical data we need to go beyond just finding habitable zone planets to actually determining which ones are most likely to exhibit life.
Abstract: 1903.03982
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:On the Time-Frequency Downward Drifting of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts
(Submitted on 10 Mar 2019)
Abstract: The newly discovered second repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source, FRB 180814.J0422+73, was reported to exhibit a time-frequency downward drifting pattern, which is also seen in the first repeater FRB 121102. We propose a generic geometrical model to account for the observed downward drifting of sub-pulse frequency, within the framework of coherent curvature radiation by bunches of electrons or positrons in the magnetosphere of a neutron star. A sudden trigger event excites these coherent bunches of charged particles, which stream outwards along open field lines. As the field lines sweep across the line of sight, the bunches seen later have traveled farther into the less curved part of the magnetic field lines, thus emitting at lower frequencies. We use this model to explain the time-frequency downward drifting in two FRB generation scenarios, the transient pulsar-like sparking from the inner gap region of a slowly rotating neutron star, and the externally-triggered magnetosphere reconfiguration known as the ``cosmic comb''.
Abstract: 1903.04058
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Classifying the unknown: discovering novel gravitational-wave detector glitches using similarity learning
(Submitted on 10 Mar 2019)
Abstract: The observation of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences by LIGO and Virgo has begun a new era in astronomy. A critical challenge in making detections is determining whether loud transient features in the data are caused by gravitational waves or by instrumental or environmental sources. The citizen-science project \emph{Gravity Spy} has been demonstrated as an efficient infrastructure for classifying known types of noise transients (glitches) through a combination of data analysis performed by both citizen volunteers and machine learning. We present the next iteration of this project, using similarity indices to empower citizen scientists to create large data sets of unknown transients, which can then be used to facilitate supervised machine-learning characterization. This new evolution aims to alleviate a persistent challenge that plagues both citizen-science and instrumental detector work: the ability to build large samples of relatively rare events. Using two families of transient noise that appeared unexpectedly during LIGO's second observing run (O2), we demonstrate the impact that the similarity indices could have had on finding these new glitch types in the Gravity Spy program.
Abstract: 1903.04117
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:A Scintillator and Radio Enhancement of the IceCube Surface Detector Array
(Submitted on 11 Mar 2019)
Abstract: An upgrade of the present IceCube surface array (IceTop) with scintillation detectors and possibly radio antennas is foreseen. The enhanced array will calibrate the impact of snow accumulation on the reconstruction of cosmic-ray showers detected by IceTop as well as improve the veto capabilities of the surface array. In addition, such a hybrid surface array of radio antennas, scintillators and Cherenkov tanks will enable a number of complementary science targets for IceCube such as enhanced accuracy to mass composition of cosmic rays, search for PeV photons from the Galactic Center, or more thorough tests of the hadronic interaction models. Two prototype stations with 7 scintillation detectors each have been already deployed at the South Pole in January 2018. These R&D studies provide a window of opportunity to integrate radio antennas with minimal effort.
Abstract: 1903.04199
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Numerical Simulations of Magnetized Astrophysical Jets and Comparison with Laboratory Laser Experiments
(Submitted on 11 Mar 2019)
Abstract: The results of MHD numerical simulations of the formation and development of magnetized jets are presented. Similarity criteria for comparisons of the results of laboratory laser experiments and numerical simulations of astrophysical jets are discussed. The results of laboratory simulations of jets generated in experiments at the Neodim laser installation are presented.
Abstract: 1903.04902
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Extragalactic Globular Clusters
(Submitted on 8 Mar 2019)
Abstract: Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) have masses of about 100 to 100,000 solar masses. They remain elusive. Observing IMBHs in present-day globular clusters (GCs) would validate a formation channel for seed black holes in the early universe and inform event predictions for gravitational wave facilities. Reaching a large number of GCs per galaxy is key, as models predict that only a few percent will have retained their gravitational-wave fostering IMBHs. Related, many galaxies will need to be examined to establish a robust sample of IMBHs in GCs. These needs can be meet by using a next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) to search for IMBHs in the GCs of hundreds of galaxies out to a distance of 25 Mpc. These galaxies hold tens of thousands of GCs in total. We describe how to convert an ngVLA signal from a GC to an IMBH mass according to a semi-empirical accretion model. Simulations of gas flows in GCs would help to improve the robustness of the conversion. Also, self-consistent dynamical models of GCs, with stellar and binary evolution in the presence of IMBHs, would help to improve IMBH retention predictions for present-day GCs.
Abstract: 1903.04989
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Extending the observation limits of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes toward horizon
(Submitted on 12 Mar 2019)
Abstract: Usually the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, used for the ground-based gamma-ray astronomy in the very high energy range 50 GeV - 50 TeV, perform air shower observations till the zenith angle of ~60 deg. Beyond that limit the column density of air increases rapidly and the Cherenkov light absorption starts playing a major role. Absence of a proper calibration method of light transmission restrained researchers performing regular measurements under zenith angles >>60 deg. We extend the observation of air showers in Cherenkov light till almost the horizon. We use an aperture photometry technique for calibrating the Cherenkov light transmission in atmosphere during observations under very large zenith angles. Along with longer in time observations of a given source, this observation technique allows one to strongly increase the collection area and the event statistics of Cherenkov telescopes for the very high energy part of the spectrum. Study of the spectra of the highest energy gamma rays from a handful of candidate sources can provide a clue for the origin of the galactic cosmic rays. We show that MAGIC very large zenith angle observations yield a collection area in excess of a square kilometer. For selected sources this is becoming comparable with the target collection area anticipated with the Cherenkov Telescope Array.
Abstract: 1903.05096
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Neutrino - Dark Matter Scattering and Coincident Detections of UHE Neutrinos with EM Sources
(Submitted on 12 Mar 2019)
Abstract: The scattering of neutrinos off dark matter can induce time delays in their propagation compared to that of photons, which would wash out correlations between ultra-high-energy neutrinos and electromagnetic observations of their sources - while preserving the observed diffuse neutrino flux. This may explain the significant discrepancy between predictions of neutrino fluxes from gamma ray bursts and the lack of neutrinos correlated with EM observations of GRBs. Conversely, the detection of an UHE neutrino in association with a source provides a strong constraint on such interactions. We construct a microphysical model of dark photon dark matter interacting through the neutrino portal which exhibits this effect.
Abstract: 1903.05368
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Neutrino Telescope at Yemilab, Korea
(Submitted on 13 Mar 2019)
Abstract: A new underground lab, Yemilab, is being constructed in Handuk iron mine, Korea. The default design of Yemilab includes a space for a future neutrino experiment. We propose to build a water-based liquid scintillator (WbLS) detector of 4$\sim$5 kiloton size at the Yemilab. The WbLS technology combines the benefits from both water and liquid scintillator (LS) in a single detector so that low energy physics and rare event searches can have higher sensitivities due to the larger size detector with increased light yield. No experiment has ever used a WbLS technology since it still needs some R&D studies, as currently being performed by THEIA group. If this technology works successfully with kiloton scale detector at Yemilab then it can be applied to future T2HKK (Hyper-K 2$^{nd}$ detector in Korea) to improve its physics potentials especially in the low energy region.
Abstract: 1903.05647
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Detection of a $γ$-ray halo around Geminga with the Fermi-LAT and implications for the positron flux
(Submitted on 13 Mar 2019)
Abstract: The HAWC Collaboration has discovered a $\gamma$-ray emission extended about 2 degrees around the Geminga and Monogem pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) at $\gamma$-ray energies $E_\gamma >5$ TeV. We analyze, for the first time, almost 10 years of $\gamma$-ray data obtained with the Fermi Large Area Telescope at $E_\gamma >$ 8 GeV in the direction of Geminga and Monogem. Since these two pulsars are close the Galactic plane we run our analysis with 10 different interstellar emission models (IEMs) to study the systematics due to the modeling of this component. We detect a $\gamma$-ray halo around Geminga with a significance in the range $7.8-11.8\sigma$ depending on the IEM considered. This measurement is compatible with $e^+$ and $e^-$ emitted by the PWN, which inverse-Compton scatter (ICS) with photon fields located within a distance of about 100 pc from the pulsar, where the diffusion coefficient is estimated to be around $1.1 \times 10^{27}$ cm$^2$/s at 100 GeV. We include in our analysis the proper motion of the Geminga pulsar which is relevant for $\gamma$ rays produced for ICS in the Fermi-LAT energy range. We find that an efficiency of about $1\%$ for the conversion of the spin-down energy of the pulsar into $e^+$ and $e^-$ is required to be consistent with $\gamma$-ray data from Fermi-LAT and HAWC. The inferred contribution of Geminga to the $e^+$ flux is at most $20\%$ at the highest energy AMS-02 data. Our results are compatible with the interpretation that the cumulative emission from Galactic pulsars explains the positron excess.
Abstract: 1903.05660
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Cosmic Rays and Interstellar Medium with Gamma-Ray Observations at MeV Energies
(Submitted on 13 Mar 2019)
Abstract: Latest precise cosmic-ray (CR) measurements and present gamma-ray observations have started challenging our understanding of CR transport and interaction in the Galaxy. Moreover, because the density of CRs is similar to the density of the magnetic field, gas, and starlight in the interstellar medium (ISM), CRs are expected to affect the ISM dynamics, including the physical and chemical processes that determine transport and star formation. In this context, observations of gamma-ray emission at MeV energies produced by the low-energy CRs are very important and urgent. A telescope covering the energy range between ~0.1 MeV and a few GeV with a sensitivity more than an order of magnitude better than previous instruments would allow for the first time to study in detail the low-energy CRs, providing information on their sources, their spectra throughout the Galaxy, their abundances, transport properties, and their role on the evolution of the Galaxy and star formation. Here we discuss the scientific prospects for studies of CRs, ISM (gas, interstellar photons, and magnetic fields) and associated gamma-ray emissions with such an instrument.
Abstract: 1903.05722
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Ultra-high energy cosmic rays from a nearby extragalactic source in the diffusive regime
(Submitted on 13 Mar 2019)
Abstract: We study the effects that the diffusion of the cosmic rays in the magnetic field of the Local Supercluster can have on the spectrum of a nearby extragalactic source at ultra-high energies. We find that the strong enhancement of the flux below the energy at which the transition between the diffusive and quasi-rectilinear regimes takes place, as well as the suppression at lower energies associated with a finite source age, can help to explain the observed features of the cosmic-ray spectrum and the composition. Scenarios are discussed in which a nearby extragalactic source with mixed composition and rigidity-dependent spectrum accounts for most of the observed cosmic rays at energies above few EeV while the rest of the extragalactic sources lead to a diffuse flux that dominates at lower energies and down to $\sim 0.1$ EeV. The nearby source can also naturally account for the dipolar anisotropy measurements above 4 EeV.
Abstract: 1903.06279
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Searching for Faint X-ray Emission from Galactic Stellar Wind Bow Shocks
(Submitted on 14 Mar 2019)
Abstract: We present a stacking analysis of 2.61 Msec of archival Chandra observations of stellar wind bow shocks. We place an upper limit on the X-ray luminosity of IR-detected bow shocks of $<2\times10^{29}$ erg s$^{-1}$, a more stringent constraint than has been found in previous archival studies and dedicated observing campaigns of nearby bow shocks. We compare the X-ray luminosities and $L_X/L_{\rm bol}$ ratios of bow shock driving stars to those of other OB stars within the Chandra field of view. Driving stars are, on average, of later spectral type than the "field of view" OB stars, and we do not observe any unambiguously high $L_X/L_{\rm bol}$ ratios indicative of magnetic stars in our sample. We additionally asses the feasibility of detecting X-rays from stellar wind bow shocks with the proposed Lynx X-ray Observatory. If the X-ray flux originating from the bow shocks is just below our Chandra detection limit, the nearest bow shock in our sample (at $\sim$0.4 kpc with an absorbing column of $\sim10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$) should be observable with Lynx in exposure times on the order of $\sim$100 kiloseconds.
Abstract: 1903.06364
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:Study of Three Rotating Radio Transients with FAST
(Submitted on 15 Mar 2019)
Abstract: Rotating radio transients (RRATs) are peculiar astronomical objects whose emission mechanism remains under investigation. In this paper, we present observations of three RRATs, J1538+2345, J1854+0306 and J1913+1330, observed with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Specifically, we analyze the mean pulse profiles and temporal flux density evolutions of the RRATs. Owing to the high sensitivity of FAST, the derived burst rates of the three RRATs are higher than those in previous reports. RRAT J1854+0306 exhibited a time-dynamic mean pulse profile, whereas RRAT J1913+1330 showed distinct radiation and nulling segments on its pulse intensity trains. The mean pulse profile variation with frequency is also studied for RRAT J1538+2345 and RRAT J1913+1330, and the profiles at different frequencies could be well fitted with a cone-core model and a conal-beam model, respectively.
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