Abstracts of Interest
Selected by:
Sabrina Einecke
Abstract: 2204.13658
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Title:The Active Galactic Nuclei in the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment Survey (HETDEX) I. Sample selection
Download PDFAbstract: We present the first Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) catalog in the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment Survey (HETDEX) observed between January 2017 and June 2020. HETDEX is an ongoing spectroscopic survey with no pre-selection based on magnitudes, colors or morphologies, enabling us to select AGN based on their spectral features. Both luminous quasars and low-luminosity Seyferts are found in our catalog. AGN candidates are selected with at least two significant AGN emission lines, such as the LyA and CIV line pair, or with single broad emission lines (FWHM > 1000 km/s). Each source is further confirmed by visual inspections. This catalog contains 5,322 AGN, covering an effective sky coverage of 30.61 deg^2. A total of 3,733 of these AGN have secure redshifts, and we provide redshift estimates for the remaining 1,589 single broad-line AGN with no cross matched spectral redshifts from SDSS DR14Q. The redshift range of the AGN catalog is 0.25 < z < 4.32, with a median of z = 2.1. The bolometric luminosity range is 10^9-10^14 Lsun with a median of 10^12 Lsun. The median r-band magnitude of the AGN is 21.6 mag, with 34% of the AGN have r > 22.5, and 2.6% reaching the detection limit at r ~ 26 mag of the deepest imaging surveys we searched. We also provide a composite spectrum of the AGN sample covering 700 AA - 4400 AA.
Abstract: 2204.13489
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Title:Formation of periodic FRB in binary systems with eccentricity
Download PDFAbstract: Long-term periodicity in the rate of flares is observed for two repeating sources of fast radio bursts (FRBs). In this paper We present a hydrodynamical modeling of a massive binary consisting of a magnetar and an early-type star. We model the interaction of the pulsar wind from the magnetar with an intense stellar wind. It is shown that only during a fraction of the orbital period radio emission can escape the system. This explains the duty cycle of the two repeating FRB sources with periodic activity. The width of the transparency window depends on the eccentricity, stellar wind properties, and the viewing angle. To describe properties of the known sources it is necessary to assume large eccentricities $\gtrsim 0.5$. We apply the maser cyclotron mechanism of the radio emission generation to model spectral properties of the sources. The produced spectrum is not wide: $\Delta \nu/\nu \sim 0.3$ and the typical frequency depends on the radius of the shock where the emission is generated. The shock radius changes along the orbit. This, together with changing parameters of the medium, allows us to explain the frequency drift during the phase of visibility. Frequency dependence of the degree of polarization at few GHz can be a consequence of a small scale turbulence in the shocked stellar wind. It is much more difficult to explain huge ($\sim 10^5$ [rad/m$^2$]) and variable value of the rotation measure observed for FRB 121102. We suggest that this can be explained if the supernova explosion which produced the magnetar happened near a dense interstellar cloud with $n \sim100$ cm$^{-3}$.
Abstract: 2204.13469
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Title:Uncertainties in measuring the dark matter signal from Milky Way satellites using Cherenkov telescopes
Download PDFAbstract: In this work, we present a modelling of the galactic sub-clumps based on statistical estimations of the full Milky Way satellite population. We introduce 10 substructure modellings (SM$_{i}$, i $\in$ {1, . . . , 10}) with the following varying parameters: a) subhalos inner profile, b) spatial distribution of subhalos, c) mass distribution of subhalos, d) total number of subhalos and e) concentration parameter. The sensitivity curves of CTA for sources in each model are calculated for the $\tau^{+}\tau^{-}$ and $b\bar{b}$ annihilation channels. With both detection of a signal (5$\sigma$) with the CTA and no signal observation, no model was effective in accessing the thermal values of <$\sigma$ v>. We analyse the systematic effects introduced by the substructures models.
Abstract: 2204.13269
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Title:Radioactively-Powered Gamma-Ray Transient Associated with a Kilonova from Neutron Star Merger
Download PDFAbstract: Association of GW170817/GRB170817A/AT2017gfo provides the first direct evidence for neutron star mergers as significant sources of $r$-process nucleosynthesis. A gamma-ray transient (GRT) would be powered by the radioactive decay of the freshly-synthesized $r$-process elements. By analyzing the composition and gamma-ray opacity of the kilonova ejecta in details, we calculate the lightcurve and spectrum of the GRT for a spherically symmetric merger ejecta with mass $M_{\rm ej}=0.001 \sim 0.05M_{\odot}$ and expansion velocity $v_{\rm ej}= 0.1\sim 0.4c$. It is found that the peak of the GRT lightcurve depends on $M_{\rm ej}$ and $v_{\rm ej}$ as $t_{\rm pk} \approx 0.9~{\rm days} ~ (M_{\rm ej}/0.01M_{\odot})^{1/2}(v_{\rm ej}/0.2c)^{-1}$ and $L_{\rm pk} \approx 7.0\times10^{40} ~{\rm erg~s} ^{-1} (M_{\rm ej}/0.01M_{\odot})^{1/2}(v_{\rm ej}/0.2c)$. Most radiating photons are in the $100-3000$ keV band and the spectrum peaks at round 800 keV for different nuclear physics inputs. The line features are blurred out by the Doppler broadening effect and the uncertainties of nuclear physics data. Adopting the ejecta parameters reported in literature, we examine the detection probability of the possible GRT associated with AT2017gfo. We show that the GRT cannot be convincingly detected with the proposed missions in the MeV band, such as ETCC and AMEGO. The low gamma-ray flux, together with the extremely low event rate at local universe, makes a great challenge for discovery of the GRTs.
Abstract: 2204.13167
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Title:"The Goose" Pulsar Wind Nebula of PSR J1016-5857: The Birth of a Plerion
Download PDFAbstract: We report the results of X-ray (CXO) and radio (ATCA) observations of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) powered by the young pulsar PSR J1016--5857, which we dub "the Goose" PWN. In both bands the images reveal a tail-like PWN morphology which can be attributed to pulsar's motion. By comparing archival and new CXO observations, we measure the pulsar's proper motion $\mu=28.8\pm7.3$ mas/yr, yielding a projected pulsar velocity $v \approx 440\pm110$ km/s (at d=3.2 kpc); its direction is consistent with the PWN shape. Radio emission from the PWN is polarized, with the magnetic field oriented along the pulsar tail. The radio tail connects to a larger radio structure (not seen in X-rays) which we interpret as a relic PWN (also known as a plerion). The spectral analysis of the CXO data shows that the PWN spectrum softens from $\Gamma=1.7$ to $\Gamma\approx2.3-2.5$ with increasing distance from the pulsar. The softening can be attributed to rapid synchrotron burn-off, which would explain the lack of X-ray emission from the older relic PWN. In addition to non-thermal PWN emission, we detected thermal emission from a hot plasma which we attribute to the host SNR. The radio PWN morphology and the proper motion of the pulsar suggest that the reverse shock passed through the pulsar's vicinity and pushed the PWN to one side.
Abstract: 2204.13118
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Title:A new technique to determine a pulsar period: the waterfall principal component analysis
Download PDFAbstract: This paper describes a new technique for determining the optimal period of a pulsar and consequently its light curve. The implemented technique makes use of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) applied to the so-called waterfall diagram, which is a bidimensional representation of the pulsar acquired data. In this context we have developed the python package pywpf to easily retrieve the period with the presented method. We applied this technique to sets of data of the brightest pulsars in visible light that we obtained with the fast photon counter Iqueye. Our results are compared with those obtained by different and more classical analyses (e.g., epoch folding), showing that the periods so determined agree within the errors, and that the errors associated to the waterfall-PCA folding technique are slightly smaller than those obtained by the $\chi^2$ epoch folding technique. We also simulated extremely noisy situations, showing that by means of a new merit function associated to the waterfall-PCA folding it is possible to get more confidence on the determined period with respect to the $\chi^2$ epoch folding technique.
Abstract: 2204.13135
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Title:Timing and Multi-Channel: Novel Method for Determining the Neutrino Mass Ordering from Supernovae
Download PDFAbstract: One of the few remaining unknowns in the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation paradigm is the ordering of neutrino masses. In this work we propose a novel method for determining neutrino mass ordering using the time information on early supernova neutrino events. In a core-collapse supernova, neutrinos are produced earlier than antineutrinos and, depending on the mass ordering which affects the adiabatic flavor evolution, may cause earlier observable signals in $\nu_e$ detection channels than in others. Hence, the time differences are sensitive to the mass ordering. We find that using the time information on the detection of the first galactic supernova events at future detectors like DUNE, JUNO and Hyper-Kamiokande, the mass ordering can already be determined at 2$\sigma$ CL, while $\mathcal{O}(10)$ events suffice for the discovery. Our method does not require high-statistics and could be used within the supernova early warning system (SNEWS) which will have access to the time information on early supernova neutrino events recorded in a number of detectors. The method proposed in this paper also implies a crucial interplay between the mass ordering and the triangulation method for locating supernovae.
Abstract: 2204.13014
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Title:A semi-analytical solution to the forward-reverse shock hydrodynamics of the gamma-ray burst afterglow
Download PDFAbstract: We extend the standard model of forward-reverse shock (FS-RS) for gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow to more general cases. On one hand, we derive the analytical solution to the hydrodynamics of the shocks in two limiting cases, i.e., an ultra-relativistic reverse shock case and a Newtonian reverse shock case. Based on the asymptotic solutions in these two limiting cases, we constitute a semi-analytical solution for the hydrodynamics of the shocks in the generic case, covering the mildly-relativistic reverse shock case. On the other hand, we derive the evolution of the system taking into account the condition of energy conservation which is not satisfied in the standard FS-RS model. A generic solution of semi-analytical expressions is also given. In both the extended standard FS-RS model (satisfying pressure balance condition) and the model satisfying energy conservation, we find that the results in the ultra-relativistic reverse shock case and in the early stage of the Newtonian reverse shock case are different from those in the standard FS-RS model by only a factor that close to one while the same initial conditions adopted. However, the asymptotic solutions in the limiting cases are not good approximations to those in the intermediate case. Our semi-analytical results agree well with the numerical results for a large range of model parameters, and hence can be easily employed to diagnose the physical quantities of the GRB shell and circumburst environment.
Abstract: 2204.12978
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Title:On the gravitational lensing interpretation of three gravitational wave detections in the mass gap by LIGO and Virgo
Download PDFAbstract: We search for gravitational wave (GW) events from LIGO-Virgo's third run that may have been affected by gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing delays the arrival of GWs, and alters their amplitude -- thus biasing the inferred progenitor masses. This would provide a physically well-understood interpretation of GW detections in the "mass gap" between neutron stars and black holes, as gravitationally lensed binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We selected three GW detections in LIGO-Virgo's third run for which the probability of at least one of the constituent compact objects being in the mass gap was reported as high with low latency -- i.e. candidate lensed BNS mergers. Our observations of powerful strong lensing clusters located adjacent to the peak of their sky localisation error maps reached a sensitivity $\rm AB\simeq25.5$ in the $z'$-band with the GMOS instruments on the Gemini telescopes, and detected no candidate lensed optical counterparts. We combine recent kilonova lightcurve models with recent predictions of the lensed BNS population and the properties of the objects that we followed up to show that realistic optical counterparts were detectable in our observations. Further detailed analysis of two of the candidates suggests that they are a plausible pair of images of the same low-mass binary black hole merger, lensed by a local galaxy or small group of galaxies. This further underlines that access to accurate mass information with low latency would improve the efficiency of candidate lensed NS-NS selection.
Abstract: 2204.12977
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Title:Discovering gravitationally lensed gravitational waves: predicted rates, candidate selection, and localization with the Vera Rubin Observatory
Download PDFAbstract: The first secure detection of a gravitationally lensed gravitational (GW) will be a watershed moment, as it will bring together these two pillars of General Relativity for the first time. Accurate selection and interpretation of candidate lensed GWs is challenging for numerous reasons, including large sky localization uncertainties for most GW detections, the broad range of gravitational lenses spanning galaxy/group/cluster-scales in the dark matter halo mass function, and uncertainty in the intrinsic mass function of compact object remnants of stellar evolution. We introduce a new magnification-based approach to predicting the rates of lensed GWs that is agnostic to the mass and structure of the lenses and combine it with expressions for arrival time difference for representative lenses and their catastrophes to delineate the range of expected arrival time differences. We also predict the lightcurves of lensed kilonova counterparts to lensed binary neutron star (NS-NS) mergers and assess the feasibility of detection with the Vera Rubin Observatory. Our main conclusions are: (1) selection of candidate lensed NS-NS mergers from the mass gap between NS and black holes in low latency is an efficient approach with a rate approaching one per year in the mid-2020s, (2) the arrival time differences of lensed NS-NS/kilonovae are typically $\lesssim1\,$year, and thus well-matched to the operations of GW detectors and optical telescopes, and (3) detection of lensed kilonovae is feasible with the Vera Rubin Observatory. Whilst our predictions are motivated by lensing, they provide a physically well-understood approach to exploring the mass gap electromagnetically as the number of detections in this exciting region of parameter space grows.
Abstract: 2204.12942
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Title:Improved performances of the NectarCAM, a Medium-Sized Telescope Camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
Download PDFAbstract: NectarCAM is a camera developed to detect Cherenkov light between 80 GeV and 30 TeV. It will equip the medium-sized telescopes (MST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO). The camera comprises 265 modules, covering a field of view of 8 degrees. Each module consists of 7 photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs) equipped with light guides and a front-end board performing the data capture. NectarCAM is based on the NECTAr chip, which combines a switch capacitor array sampling at 1GHz and a 12-bit Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). The NectarCAM camera is currently under integration in CEA Paris-Saclay (France). In this contribution, I focus on the ongoing performance tests for its characterization and calibration before deployment on the CTAO North site.
Abstract: 2204.12762
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Title:GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array survey eXtended (GLEAM-X) I: Survey Description and Initial Data Release
Download PDFAbstract: We describe a new low-frequency wideband radio survey of the southern sky. Observations covering 72 - 231 MHz and Declinations south of $+30^\circ$ have been performed with the Murchison Widefield Array "extended" Phase II configuration over 2018 - 2020 and will be processed to form data products including continuum and polarisation images and mosaics, multi-frequency catalogues, transient search data, and ionospheric measurements. From a pilot field described in this work, we publish an initial data release covering 1,447 sq. deg over 4h < RA < 13h, -32.7deg < Dec < -20.7deg. We process twenty frequency bands sampling 72 - 231 MHz, with a resolution of $2'$ - $45"$, and produce a wideband source-finding image across 170 - 231MHz with a root-mean-square noise of $1.27\pm0.15$ mJy/beam. Source-finding yields 78,967 components, of which 71,320 are fitted spectrally. The catalogue has a completeness of 98% at $\sim50$mJy, and a reliability of 98.2% at $5\sigma$ rising to 99.7% at $7\sigma$. A catalogue is available from Vizier; images are made available on AAO Data Central, SkyView, and the PASA Datastore. This is the first in a series of data releases from the GLEAM-X survey.
Abstract: 2204.12631
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Title:Digital Radio Arrays for the Detection of Air Showers Initiated by Ultra-High-Energy Particles (Epiphany 2022)
Download PDFAbstract: Digital radio arrays have become an effective tool to measure air showers at energies around and above 100 PeV. Compared to optical techniques, the radio technique is not restricted to clear nights. Thanks to recent progress on computational analysis techniques, radio arrays can provide an equally accurate measurement of the energy and the depth of the shower maximum. Stand-alone radio arrays offer an economic way towards huge apertures, e.g., for the search for ultra-high-energy neutrinos, but still require technical demonstration on large scales. Hybrid arrays combining radio antennas and particle detectors have already started to contribute to cosmic-ray physics in the energy range of the presumed Galactic-to-extragalactic transition. In particular, the combination of radio and muon detectors can pave a path to unprecedented accuracy for the mass composition of cosmic rays. This proceeding reviews recent developments regarding the radio technique and highlights selected running and planned antennas arrays, such as GCOS, GRAND, the SKA, the AugerPrime Upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory, and IceCube-Gen2.
Abstract: 2204.12487
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Title:First constraints on axion-like particles from Galactic sub-PeV gamma rays
Download PDFAbstract: Experimental refinements and technical innovations in the field of extensive air shower telescopes have enabled measurements of Galactic cosmic-ray interactions in the sub-PeV (100 TeV to 1 PeV) range, providing new avenues for the search for new physics and dark matter. For the first time, we exploit sub-PeV (from 10 TeV to 1 PeV) observations of Galactic diffuse gamma rays by Tibet AS$\gamma$ and HAWC to search for an axion-like-particle (ALP) induced gamma-ray signal directly linked to the origin of the IceCube extragalactic high-energy neutrino flux. Indeed, the production of high-energy neutrinos in extragalatic sources implies the concomitant production of gamma rays at comparable energies. Within the magnetic field of the neutrino emitting sources, gamma rays may efficiently convert into ALPs and escape their host galaxy unattenuated, propagate through intergalactic space, and reconvert into gamma rays in the magnetic field of the Milky Way. Such a scenario creates an all-sky diffuse high-energy gamma-ray signal in the sub-PeV range. Accounting for the guaranteed Galactic astrophysical gamma-ray contributions from cosmic-ray interactions with gas and radiation and from sub-threshold sources, we set competitive upper limits on the photon-ALP coupling constant $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$. We find $g_{a\gamma\gamma} < 2.1\times10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for ALP masses $m_a \leq 2\times10^{-7}$ eV at a 95$\%$ confidence level, progressively closing the mass gap towards ADMX limits.
Abstract: 2204.12362
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Title:The carbon footprint of IRAP
Download PDFAbstract: We present an assessment of the greenhouse gases emissions of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP), located in Toulouse (France). It was performed following the established "Bilan Carbone" methodology, over a large scope compared to similar previous studies, including in particular the contribution from the purchase of goods and services as well as IRAP's use of external research infrastructures, such as ground-based observatories and space-borne facilities. The carbon footprint of the institute for the reference year 2019 is 7400 +/- 900 tCO2e. If we exclude the contribution from external research infrastructures to focus on a restricted perimeter over which the institute has some operational control, IRAP's emissions in 2019 amounted to 3300 +/- 400 tCO2e. Over the restricted perimeter, the contribution from purchasing goods and services is dominant, about 40% of the total, slightly exceeding the contribution from professional travel including hotel stays, which accounts for 38%. Local infrastructures make a smaller contribution to IRAP's carbon footprint, about 25% over the restricted perimeter. We note that this repartition may be specific to IRAP, since the energy used to produce the electricity and heating has a relatively low carbon footprint. Over the full perimeter, the large share from the use of ground-based observatories and space-borne facilities and the fact that the majority of IRAP purchases are related to instrument development indicate that research infrastructures represent the most significant challenge for reducing the carbon footprint of research at our institute. With ~260 staff members employed, our results imply that performing research in astronomy and astrophysics at IRAP according to the standards of 2019 produces average GHG emissions of 28 tCO2e/yr per person involved in that activity (Abridged).
Abstract: 2204.12299
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Title:Deuterated ammonia in Galactic massive star-forming regions
Download PDFAbstract: We present sensitive observations of NH3D at 110.153599 GHz toward 50 Galactic massive star-forming regions with IRAM 30-m telescope. The NH3D transition is detected toward 36 objects, yielding a detection rate of 72%. Column densities of NH3D, HC3N and C18O for each source are derived by assuming local thermal equilibrium conditions with a fixed excitation temperature. The deuterium ratio of NH$_3$, defined as the abundance ratio of NH3D to NH3, for 19 sources is also obtained with the information of NH3 from the literature. The range of deuterium fractionation bends to be large in the late-stage star-forming regions in this work, with the value from 0.043 to 0.0006. The highest deuterium ratio of NH3 is 0.043 in G081.75+00.78 (DR21). We also find that the deuterium ratio of NH3 increases with the Galactocentric distances and decreases with the line width.
Abstract: 2204.12242
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Title:Multiwavelength and Multimessenger Observations of Blazars and Theoretical Modeling: Blazars as Astrophysical Neutrino Sources
Download PDFAbstract: This contribution reviews recent advances in the possible identification of blazars as potential sources of at least some of the very-high-energy neutrinos detected by the IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. The basic physical requirements for neutrino production and physics constraints that may be drawn from neutrino - blazar associations are reviewed. Several individual cases of possible associations will be discussed in more detail. It is emphasized that due to $\gamma\gamma$ opacity constraints in efficiently neutrino-producing blazars, an association between X-ray -- soft $\gamma$-ray activity and very-high-energy neutrino production is more naturally expected than a connection between neutrino and high-energy/very-high-energy $\gamma$-ray activity.
Abstract: 2204.12171
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Title:Supernovae and photoionizing feedback in spiral arm molecular clouds
Download PDFAbstract: We explore the interplay between supernovae and the ionizing radiation of their progenitors in star forming regions. The relative contributions of these stellar feedback processes are not well understood, particularly on scales greater than a single star forming cloud. We focus predominantly on how they affect the interstellar medium. We re-simulate a 500 pc^2 region from previous work that included photoionization and add supernovae. Over the course of 10 Myr more than 500 supernovae occur in the region. The supernovae remnants cool very quickly in the absence of earlier photoionization, but form much larger and more spherical hot bubbles when photoionization is present. Overall, the photoionization has a significantly greater effect on gas morphology and the sites of star formation. However, the two processes are comparable when looking at their effect on velocity dispersion. When combined, the two feedback processes increase the velocity dispersions by more than the sum of their parts, particularly on scales above 5 pc.
Abstract: 2204.12166
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Title:Probing the extragalactic mid-infrared background with HAWC
Download PDFAbstract: The extragalactic background light (EBL) contains all the radiation emitted by nuclear and accretion processes in stars and compact objects since the epoch of recombination. Measuring the EBL density directly is challenging, especially in the near- to far-infrared waveband, mainly due to the zodiacal light foreground. Instead, gamma-ray astronomy offers the possibility to indirectly set limits on the EBL by studying the effects of gamma-ray absorption in the very high energy (VHE:$>$100 GeV) spectra of distant blazars. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov gamma ray observatory (HAWC) is one of the few instruments sensitive to gamma rays with energies above 10 TeV. This offers the opportunity to probe the EBL in the near/mid IR region: $\lambda$ = 1 $\mu$m - 100 $\mu$m. In this study, we fit physically motivated emission models to Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) GeV data to extrapolate the intrinsic TeV spectra of blazars. We then simulate a large number of absorbed spectra for different randomly generated EBL model shapes and calculate Bayesian credible bands in the EBL intensity space by comparing and testing the agreement between the absorbed spectra and HAWC extragalactic observations of two blazars. The resulting bands are in agreement with current EBL lower and upper limits, showing a downward trend towards higher wavelength values $\lambda>10\, \mu$m also observed in previous measurements.
Abstract: 2204.12065
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Title:Search for supernova neutrinos and constraint on the galactic star formation rate with the KamLAND data
Download PDFAbstract: We present the results of a search for core-collapse supernova neutrinos, using long-term KamLAND data from 2002 March 9th to 2020 April 25th. We focus on the electron anti-neutrinos emitted from supernovae in the energy range of 1.8--111 MeV. Supernovae will make a neutrino event cluster with the length of $\sim$10 s in the KamLAND data. We find no neutrino clusters and give the upper limit on the supernova rate as to be 0.15 yr$^{-1}$ with a 90% confidence level. The detectable range, which corresponds to a >95% detection probability, is 40--59 kpc and 65--81 kpc for core-collapse supernovae and failed core-collapse supernovae, respectively. This paper proposes to convert the supernova rate obtained by the neutrino observation to the galactic star formation rate. Assuming a modified Salpter-type initial mass function, the upper limit on the galactic star formation rate is <17.5--22.7 (8.1--10.5) $M_{\odot} \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ with a 90% (68.3%) confidence level.
Abstract: 2204.12054
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Title:Detection of gamma-ray emission from the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal galaxy
Download PDFAbstract: The Fermi Bubbles are giant, gamma-ray emitting lobes emanating from the nucleus of the Milky Way discovered in 1-100 GeV data collected by the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. Previous work has revealed substructure within the Fermi Bubbles that has been interpreted as a signature of collimated outflows from the Galaxy's super-massive black hole. Here we show that much of the gamma-ray emission associated to the brightest region of substructure - the so-called cocoon - is actually due to the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal (Sgr dSph) galaxy. This large Milky Way satellite is viewed through the Fermi Bubbles from the position of the Solar System. As a tidally and ram-pressure stripped remnant, the Sgr dSph has no on-going star formation, but we demonstrate that its gamma-ray signal is naturally explained by inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons by high-energy electron-positron pairs injected by the dwarf's millisecond pulsar (MSP) population, combined with these objects' magnetospheric emission. This finding suggests that MSPs likely produce significant gamma-ray emission amongst old stellar populations, potentially confounding indirect dark matter searches in regions such as the Galactic Centre, the Andromeda galaxy, and other massive Milky Way dwarf spheroidals.
Abstract: 2204.12053
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Title:GeV Gamma-ray Emission and Molecular Clouds towards Supernova Remnant G35.6$-$0.4 and the TeV Source HESS J1858+020
Download PDFAbstract: It is difficult to distinguish hadronic process from the leptonic one in $\gamma$-ray observation, which is however crucial in revealing the origin of cosmic rays. As an endeavor in the regard, we focus in this work on the complex $\gamma$-ray emitting region, which partially overlaps with the unidentified TeV source HESS~J1858+020 and includes supernova remnant (SNR) G35.6$-$0.4 and HII region G35.6$-$0.5. We reanalyze CO-line, HI, and Fermi-LAT GeV $\gamma$-ray emission data of this region. The analysis of the molecular and HI data suggests that SNR G35.6$-$0.4 and HII region G35.6$-$0.5 are located at different distances. The analysis the GeV $\gamma$-rays shows that GeV emission arises from two point sources: one (SrcA) coincident with the SNR, and the other (SrcB) coincident with both HESS J1858+020 and HII region G35.6$-$0.5. The GeV emission of SrcA can be explained by the hadronic process in the SNR-MC association scenario. The GeV-band spectrum of SrcB and the TeV-band spectrum of HESS J1858+020 can be smoothly connected by a power-law function, with an index of $\sim$2.2. The connected spectrum is well explained with a hadronic emission, with the cutoff energy of protons above 1 PeV. It thus indicates that there is a potential PeVatron in the HII region and should be further verified with ultra-high energy observations with, e.g., LHAASO.
Abstract: 2204.11913
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Title:And then they were two: detection of non-thermal radio emission from the bow shocks of two runaway stars
Download PDFAbstract: Winds from massive stars have recently been deemed promising sites for investigating relativistic particle acceleration. Particularly, the resulting bow shock from the interaction of the winds of runaway stars with interstellar matter has been observed at multiple wavelengths. Here we investigate the O4If star, BD+433654, the bow shock of which is, so far, the only one proven to radiate both thermally and non-thermally at radio frequencies. We also consider NGC7635 as a bow shock candidate and examine its apex for indications of thermal and non-thermal radio emission. We observed both sources with the VLA at 4-8 GHz and 8-12 GHz, and with the Effelsberg telescope at 4-8 GHz. We analysed data from both telescopes individually and combined, obtained their spectral index maps and calculated their Spectral Energy Distributions. We present the first high-resolution maps of radio emission from NGC7635. We find that both emit non-thermal emission in the radio regime, with the clearest evidence for NGC7635. Our results are less conclusive for BD+433654, as the emission from its bow shock becomes weaker and fainter at higher radio frequencies. Our results extend the previous radio results for the BD+433654 bow shock to higher frequencies. Modelling of our data for both sources shows that accelerated electrons at the wind termination shock are a plausible source for the non-thermal radio emission, but energetics arguments suggest that any non-thermal X-ray and $\gamma$-ray emission could be significantly below existing upper limits. Enhanced synchrotron emission from compressed Galactic cosmic rays in the radiative bow shock could also explain the radio emission from the BD+433654 bow shock but not NGC7635. Non-detection of point-like radio emission from BD+433654 puts an upper limit on the mass-loss rate of the star that is lower than values quoted in the literature. [abridged]
Abstract: 2204.12310
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Title:Observation of large scale precursor correlations between cosmic rays and earthquakes
Download PDFAbstract: The search for correlations between secondary cosmic ray detection rates and seismic effects has long been a subject of investigation motivated by the hope of identifying a new precursor type that could feed a global early warning system against earthquakes. Here we show for the first time that the average variation of the cosmic ray detection rates correlates with the global seismic activity to be observed with a time lag of approximately two weeks, and that the significance of the effect varies with a periodicity resembling the undecenal solar cycle, with a shift in phase of around three years, exceeding 6 sigma at local maxima. The precursor characteristics of the observed correlations point to a pioneer perspective of an early warning system against earthquakes.
Abstract: 2204.11885
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Title:Neutrino secret self-interactions: a booster shot for the cosmic neutrino background
Download PDFAbstract: Neutrinos might interact among themselves through forces that have so far remained hidden. Throughout the history of the Universe, such secret interactions could lead to scatterings between the neutrinos from supernova explosions and the non-relativistic relic neutrinos left over from the Big Bang. Such scatterings can boost the cosmic neutrino background (C$\nu$B) to energies of ${\cal O}$(MeV), making it, in principle, observable in experiments searching for the diffuse supernova neutrino background. Assuming a model-independent four-Fermi interaction, we determine the upscattered cosmic neutrino flux, and derive constraints on such secret interactions from the latest results from Super-Kamiokande. Furthermore, we also study prospects for detection of the boosted flux in future lead-based coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering experiments.
Abstract: 2204.11715
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Title:The Galactic 3D large-scale dust distribution via Gaussian process regression on spherical coordinates
Download PDFAbstract: Knowing the Galactic 3D dust distribution is relevant for understanding many processes in the interstellar medium and for correcting many astronomical observations for dust absorption and emission. Here, we aim for a 3D reconstruction of the Galactic dust distribution with an increase in the number of meaningful resolution elements by orders of magnitude with respect to previous reconstructions, while taking advantage of the dust's spatial correlations to inform the dust map. We use iterative grid refinement to define a log-normal process in spherical coordinates. This log-normal process assumes a fixed correlation structure, which was inferred in an earlier reconstruction of Galactic dust. Our map is informed through 111 Million data points, combining data of PANSTARRS, 2MASS, Gaia DR2 and ALLWISE. The log-normal process is discretized to 122 Billion degrees of freedom, a factor of 400 more than our previous map. We derive the most probable posterior map and an uncertainty estimate using natural gradient descent and the Fisher-Laplace approximation. The dust reconstruction covers a quarter of the volume of our Galaxy, with a maximum coordinate distance of $16\,\text{kpc}$, and meaningful information can be found up to at distances of $4\,$kpc, still improving upon our earlier map by a factor of 5 in maximal distance, of $900$ in volume, and of about eighteen in angular grid resolution. Unfortunately, the maximum posterior approach chosen to make the reconstruction computational affordable introduces artifacts and reduces the accuracy of our uncertainty estimate. Despite of the apparent limitations of the presented 3D dust map, a good part of the reconstructed structures are confirmed by independent maser observations. Thus, the map is a step towards reliable 3D Galactic cartography and already can serve for a number of tasks, if used with care.
Abstract: 2204.11648
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Full Text: [ PostScript, PDF]
Title:The Multiple Images of the Plasma Lensing FRB
Download PDFAbstract: We investigate the formation of multiple images as the radio signals from fast radio bursts (FRBs) pass through the plane of a plasma clump. The exponential model for the plasma clump is adopted to analyze the properties of the multiple images. By comparing with the classical dispersion relations, we find that one image has exhibited specific inverse properties to others, such as their delay times at high frequency is higher than that at low frequency, owing to the lensing effects of the plasma clump. We demonstrate that these inverse effects should be observable in some repeating FRBs. Our results predict deviation in the estimated DM across multiple images, consistent with the observations of FRB 121102 and FRB 180916.J0158+65. If other plasma lenses have effects similar to an exponential lens, we find that they should also give rise to the similar dispersion relation in the multiple images. For some repeating FRBs, analysis of the differences in time delay and in DM between multiple images at different frequencies can serve as a method to reveal the plasma distribution.
Abstract: 2204.11110
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Title:Constraints on the extragalactic magnetic field strength from blazar spectra based on 145 months of Fermi-LAT observations
Download PDFAbstract: Properties of the extragalactic magnetic field (EGMF) outside of clusters and filaments of the large-scale structure are essentially unknown. The EGMF could be probed with $\gamma$-ray observations of distant (redshift $z > 0.1$) blazars. TeV $\gamma$ rays from these sources are strongly absorbed on extragalactic background light photons; secondary electrons and positrons produce cascade $\gamma$ rays with the observable flux dependent on EGMF parameters. We put constraints on the EGMF strength using 145 months of Fermi-LAT observations of the blazars 1ES 1218+304, 1ES 1101-232, and 1ES 0347-121, and imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope observations of the same sources. We perform a series of full direct Monte Carlo simulations of intergalactic electromagnetic cascades with the ELMAG 3.01 code and construct a model of the observable spectra inside the point spread functions of the observing instruments for a range of EGMF strengths. We compare the observed spectra with the models for various values of the EGMF strength $B$ and calculate the exclusion statistical significance for every value of $B$. We find that the values of the EGMF strength $B \le 10^{-17}$ G are excluded at a high level of the statistical significance $Z > 4 \sigma$ for all the four options of the intrinsic spectral shape considered (power-law, power-law with exponential cutoff, log-parabola, log-parabola with exponential cutoff). The value of $B = 10^{-16}$ G is not excluded; it is still a viable option of the EGMF strength. These results were obtained for the case of steady sources.
Abstract: 2204.10864
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Title:A Kilonova Following a Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Burst at 350 Mpc
Download PDFAbstract: Here, we report the discovery of a kilonova associated with the nearby (350 Mpc) minute-duration GRB 211211A. In tandem with deep optical limits that rule out the presence of an accompanying supernova to $M_I > -13$ mag at 17.7 days post-burst, the identification of a kilonova confirms that this burst's progenitor was a compact object merger. While the spectrally softer tail in GRB 211211A's gamma-ray light curve is reminiscent of previous extended emission short GRBs (EE-SGRBs), its prompt, bright spikes last $\gtrsim 12$ s, separating it from past EE-SGRBs. GRB 211211A's kilonova has a similar luminosity, duration and color to AT2017gfo, the kilonova found in association with the gravitational wave (GW)-detected binary neutron star (BNS) merger GW170817. We find that the merger ejected $\approx 0.04 M_{\odot}$ of r-process-rich material, and is consistent with the merger of two neutron stars (NSs) with masses close to the canonical $1.4 M_{\odot}$. This discovery implies that GRBs with long, complex light curves can be spawned from compact object merger events and that a population of kilonovae following GRBs with durations $\gg 2$ s should be accounted for in calculations of the NS merger r-process contribution and rate. At 350 Mpc, the current network of GW interferometers at design sensitivity would have detected the merger precipitating GRB 211211A, had it been operating at the time of the event. Further searches for GW signals coincident with long GRBs are therefore a promising route for future multi-messenger astronomy.
This page created: Mon May 2 11:30:03 ACST 2022 by Sabrina Einecke
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