Abstracts of Interest

Selected by: Gavin Rowell


Abstract: 2305.05372
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Title:Measurement of ultra-high-energy diffuse gamma-ray emission of the Galactic plane from 10 TeV to 1 PeV with LHAASO-KM2A

Authors:Zhen Cao, F. Aharonian, Q. An, Axikegu, Y.X. Bai, Y.W. Bao, D. Bastieri, X.J. Bi, Y.J. Bi, J.T. Cai, Q. Cao, W.Y. Cao, Zhe Cao, J. Chang, J.F. Chang, A.M. Chen, E.S. Chen, Liang Chen, Lin Chen, Long Chen, M.J. Chen, M.L. Chen, Q.H. Chen, S.H. Chen, S.Z. Chen, T.L. Chen, Y. Chen, N. Cheng, Y.D. Cheng, M.Y. Cui, S.W. Cui, X.H. Cui, Y.D. Cui, B.Z. Dai, H.L. Dai, Z.G. Dai, Danzengluobu, D. della Volpe, X.Q. Dong, K.K. Duan, J.H. Fan, Y.Z. Fan, J. Fang, K. Fang, C.F. Feng, L. Feng, S.H. Feng, X.T. Feng, Y.L. Feng, S. Gabici, B. Gao, C.D. Gao, L.Q. Gao, Q. Gao, W. Gao, W.K. Gao, M.M. Ge, L.S. Geng, G. Giacinti, G.H. Gong, Q.B. Gou, M.H. Gu, F.L. Guo, X.L. Guo, Y.Q. Guo, Y.Y. Guo, Y.A. Han, H.H. He, H.N. He, J.Y. He, X.B. He, Y. He, M. Heller, Y.K. Hor, B.W. Hou, C. Hou, X. Hou, H.B. Hu, Q. Hu, S.C. Hu, D.H. Huang, T.Q. Huang, W.J. Huang, X.T. Huang, X.Y. Huang, Y. Huang, Z.C. Huang, X.L. Ji, H.Y. Jia, K. Jia, K. Jiang, X.W. Jiang, Z.J. Jiang, M. Jin, M.M. Kang, T. Ke, D. Kuleshov, K. Kurinov, B.B. Li, Cheng Li et al. (180 additional authors not shown)
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Abstract: The diffuse Galactic $\gamma$-ray emission, mainly produced via interactions between cosmic rays and the diffuse interstellar medium, is a very important probe of the distribution, propagation, and interaction of cosmic rays in the Milky Way. In this work we report the measurements of diffuse $\gamma$-rays from the Galactic plane between 10 TeV and 1 PeV energies, with the square kilometer array of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). Diffuse emissions from the inner ($15^{\circ}<l<125^{\circ}$, $|b|<5^{\circ}$) and outer ($125^{\circ}<l<235^{\circ}$, $|b|<5^{\circ}$) Galactic plane are detected with $29.1\sigma$ and $12.7\sigma$ significance, respectively. The outer Galactic plane diffuse emission is detected for the first time in the very- to ultra-high-energy domain ($E>10$~TeV). The energy spectrum in the inner Galaxy regions can be described by a power-law function with an index of $-2.99\pm0.04$, which is different from the curved spectrum as expected from hadronic interactions between locally measured cosmic rays and the line-of-sight integrated gas content. Furthermore, the measured flux is higher by a factor of $\sim3$ than the prediction. A similar spectrum with an index of $-2.99\pm0.07$ is found in the outer Galaxy region, and the absolute flux for $10\lesssim E\lesssim60$ TeV is again higher than the prediction for hadronic cosmic ray interactions. The latitude distributions of the diffuse emission are consistent with the gas distribution, while the longitude distributions show slight deviation from the gas distribution. The LHAASO measurements imply that either additional emission sources exist or cosmic ray intensities have spatial variations.

Comments: 11 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables


Abstract: 2305.04571
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Title:High energy gamma-ray emission powered by a young protostar: the case of S255 NIRS 3

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Abstract: Evidence of efficient acceleration of cosmic rays in massive young stellar objects has been recently reported. Among these massive protostars, S255 NIRS 3 for which extreme flaring events associated with radio jets have been detected, is one of the best objects to test this hypothesis. We search for gamma-ray emission associated with this object in Fermi-LAT data and inspect the gas content in different molecular lines using the MWISP survey. A GeV source dubbed 4FGL J0613.1+1749c lies on top of the MYSO region, where two filamentary ~10 pc CO structures extend along the same direction of the sub-parsec radio jets. We investigate the spectrum, morphology, and light curve of the gamma-ray source and compare it with the theoretical emission expected from hadronic and leptonic populations accelerated in the radio jets. We argue that the gamma-ray source could be powered by particles accelerated in the S255 NIRS 3 jets, radiating via Bremsstrahlung or proton-proton interaction, and with a synchrotron component shinning in radio from primary or secondary electrons in the case of a leptonic or hadronic population.

Comments: accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society


Abstract: 2305.03435
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Title:Advances on the classification of radio image cubes

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Abstract: Modern radio telescopes will daily generate data sets on the scale of exabytes for systems like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Massive data sets are a source of unknown and rare astrophysical phenomena that lead to discoveries. Nonetheless, this is only plausible with the exploitation of intensive machine intelligence to complement human-aided and traditional statistical techniques. Recently, there has been a surge in scientific publications focusing on the use of artificial intelligence in radio astronomy, addressing challenges such as source extraction, morphological classification, and anomaly detection. This study presents a succinct, but comprehensive review of the application of machine intelligence techniques on radio images with emphasis on the morphological classification of radio galaxies. It aims to present a detailed synthesis of the relevant papers summarizing the literature based on data complexity, data pre-processing, and methodological novelty in radio astronomy. The rapid advancement and application of computer intelligence in radio astronomy has resulted in a revolution and a new paradigm shift in the automation of daunting data processes. However, the optimal exploitation of artificial intelligence in radio astronomy, calls for continued collaborative efforts in the creation of annotated data sets. Additionally, in order to quickly locate radio galaxies with similar or dissimilar physical characteristics, it is necessary to index the identified radio sources. Nonetheless, this issue has not been adequately addressed in the literature, making it an open area for further study.

Comments: 21 page review paper submitted to New astronomy reviews journal for review


Abstract: 2305.02890
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Title:Galactic cosmic ray transport in the absence of resonant scattering

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Abstract: Galactic cosmic ray transport relies on the existence of turbulence on scales comparable with the gyration radius of the particles and with wavenumber vector oriented along the local magnetic field. In the standard picture, in which turbulence is injected at large scales and cascades down to smaller scales, it is all but guaranteed that turbulence on the relevant scales may be present, either because of anisotropic cascading or because of the onset of damping processes. This raises questions on the nature of cosmic-ray scattering, especially at energies $\gtrsim 1$ TeV, where self-generation is hardly relevant. Here, by means of numerical simulations of charged test-particles in a prescribed magnetic field, we investigate particle diffusion in a situation in which turbulence is mainly present at large scales, with the possible presence of a smaller power on small scales, and discuss possible implications of this setup for cosmic-ray transport phenomenology.

Comments: 5 pages, submitted to MNRAS Letters


Abstract: 2305.02860
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Title:VERITAS discovery of very high energy gamma-ray emission from S3 1227+25 and multiwavelength observations

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Abstract: We report the detection of very high energy gamma-ray emission from the blazar S3 1227+25 (VER J1230+253) with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). VERITAS observations of the source were triggered by the detection of a hard-spectrum GeV flare on May 15, 2015 with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT). A combined five-hour VERITAS exposure on May 16th and May 18th resulted in a strong 13$\sigma$ detection with a differential photon spectral index, $\Gamma$ = 3.8 $\pm$ 0.4, and a flux level at 9% of the Crab Nebula above 120 GeV. This also triggered target of opportunity observations with Swift, optical photometry, polarimetry and radio measurements, also presented in this work, in addition to the VERITAS and Fermi-LAT data. A temporal analysis of the gamma-ray flux during this period finds evidence of a shortest variability timescale of $\tau_{obs}$ = 6.2 $\pm$ 0.9 hours, indicating emission from compact regions within the jet, and the combined gamma-ray spectrum shows no strong evidence of a spectral cut-off. An investigation into correlations between the multiwavelength observations found evidence of optical and gamma-ray correlations, suggesting a single-zone model of emission. Finally, the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution is well described by a simple one-zone leptonic synchrotron self-Compton radiation model.

Comments: 18 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (ApJ)


Abstract: 2305.01992
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Title:Constraining the dark matter interpretation of the positron excess with $γ$-ray data

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Abstract: The particle origin of dark matter (DM) is still one of the main puzzles in modern physics. One of the most promising search strategy to detect DM at laboratories is through the indirect search of cosmic particles that are produced from DM annihilation in space. In particular, the flux of cosmic positrons has been measured with high precision by the AMS-02 experiment demonstrating that an excess above 10 GeV, with respect to the secondary production, is present. We study in this paper the possible DM origin of the positron excess finding the values of the DM mass $M$ and annihilation cross section $\langle \sigma v \rangle$ that are needed to fit high-energy positron data. In particular, we find that for DM annihilating into $b\bar{b}$ it is required to have $M=43$ TeV and $\langle \sigma v \rangle = 10^{-21}$ cm$^3$/s while for $\tau^+\tau^-$ $M=2$ TeV and $\langle \sigma v \rangle = 3\times 10^{-23}$ cm$^3$/s. If DM produce positrons, they are expected to generate gamma rays from the center of the Milky Way and around dwarf galaxy satellites of the Galaxy. We thus combine the values for the DM mass and annihilation cross section obtained with the fit to AMS-02 positron data with the upper limits derived with the non-detection of $\gamma$ rays with HESS in the direction of the Galactic center and Fermi-LAT for the combined analysis of dwarf galaxies. The main result of the paper is that only DM annihilating into $\mu^+ \mu^-$ with a mass around 500 GeV and $\langle \sigma v \rangle = 4\times 10^{-24}$ cm$^3$/s can fit AMS-02 data and be compatible with the upper limits found with $\gamma$ rays. As for the $\tau^+ \tau^-$ ($b\bar{b}$) channel, DM can contribute at most at a few tens $\%$ (a few \%) level.

Comments: 15 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Comments are welcome


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