DOCSLIB.ORG

Exploring the Environments of Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Exploring the Environments of Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts EXPLORING THE ENVIRONMENTS OF LONG-DURATION GAMMA-RAY BURSTS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ASTRONOMY August 2010 By Emily M. Levesque Dissertation Committee: L. J. Kewley, Chairperson A. Boesgaard F. Bresolin R. Kudritzki J. Learned P. Massey We certify that we have read this dissertation and that, in our opinion, it is satisfactory in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Astronomy. DISSERTATION COMMITTEE Chairperson ii c Copyright 2010 by Emily M. Levesque All Rights Reserved iii For Heather, who showed me what it means to reach for the stars. And for Pepere, who always believed I was already there. iv Acknowledgements First and foremost, thanks so much to my enthusiastic, tireless, and talented adviser, Lisa Kewley, for being an inspiring teacher, guide, and role model throughout the course of my time here as a grad student. Warm thanks to the rest of my thesis committee - Ann Boesgaard, Fabio Bresolin, Rolf Kudritzki, John Learned, and Phil Massey - for their valuable and thought-provoking input on my increasingly ungainly thesis. A special acknowledgment goes to Phil for his sanity-saving guidance, advice, and friendship throughout all of my astronomy adventures! Much gratitude must also go to Edo Berger at Harvard University's Center for Astrophysics for his guidance and assistance in deciphering the gritty details of every GRB host I had to wrestle with. Thanks as well to Alicia Soderberg, Bob Kirshner, and Scott Kenyon for their collaboration, advice, and support during my time as a CfA predoc. I am indebted to the wonderful support staff, astronomers, and telescope operators of the Keck Observatories and Las Campanas Observatory, in particular: Greg Wirth, for his invaluable guidance on observing with LRIS; Scott Dahm and Jim Lyke, for their vital assistance with NIRSPEC; and Nidia Morrell, for her mission-critical advice on using IMACS. Thanks to my many collaborators in our work on GRB and SN host galaxies (Megan Bagley, Josh Bloom, Nat Butler, Brad Cenko, Lisa Chien, Ryan Chornock, Andy Fruchter, John Graham, Emeric Le Floc'h, Maryam Modjaz, Dan Perley, Jason Prochaska, Sandra Savaglio, Christina Th¨one,and Tiantian Yuan), stellar population synthesis and photoionization modeling (Kirsten Larson, Claus Leitherer, Daniel Schaerer, and Leonie v Snijders), and red supergiants (Phil Bennett, Geoff Clayton, Peter Conti, Eric Josselin, Andre Maeder, Georges Meynet, Knut Olsen, Bertrand Plez, and Dave Silva). I wouldn't have published a word, traveled anywhere, or gotten paid without the unfailing patience and administrative magic of Amy Miyashiro. Thanks as well to Josh Barnes, Lisa Catella, Christine Crowley, Shadia Habbal, Nancy Lyttle, Dave Sanders, Lori Serikawa, Pui-Hin Rhoads, Narayan Raja, Sue Tedeski-Hamelin, Karen Teramura, Diane Tokumura, Bill Unruh, and Karl Uyehara, without whom I would have none of the critical paperwork, no working projectors, no internet access, no data analysis software, no room reservations, and no keys to the building! I am also grateful for the support I received from the Ford Predoctoral Diversity Fellowship and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Predoctoral program. My fellow Institute for Astronomy grad students, past and present, have been an endless font of research help, code triage, advice, encouragement, and therapy during the past four years! Special thanks to the class of \zzzz"s - Cooper, Geoff, Rach, Sonnett, Vivian, and Tiantian - and to the past and present residents of Grad House for their generosity with futons, wine, cheese, camaraderie, and the Wii. Thanks as well to the faculty and staff at the IfA for making the department such an immensely enjoyable place to work, learn, and grow as a scientist. A lifetime of thanks must go to Dad, for dragging the 8" Celestron out of the basement on lots of cold Massachusetts nights; to Mom, for doggedly insisting to the powers-that- be that yes, there was in fact \math after Calculus"; and to my brother, for perpetually giving me the dauntingly high goal of \I wanna be like Ben!" to strive for. Deep love and appreciation to Andrea, Jocelyn, Aaron, and every single member of the big crazy Levesque and Cabana families for their unwavering support, and to Sarah, Meredith, Cam, Heather, Jake, Glen, Gina, Lisa, and the rest of the Pi Tau Zeta, MIT, Boston, and Colorado folks for the adventures and friendship. Finally, unending love and bottomless gratitude to Dave for his encouragement, patience, and willingness to put himself at the front lines of a chaotic Ph.D. thesis for four long, vi challenging, and wonderful years. I love you as big as the sky...and coming from an astronomer, that is truly saying something. vii Abstract Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) are the signatures of extremely energetic phenomena occurring throughout our universe. These events, commonly thought to be associated with the deaths of massive stars, have been proposed as possible tracers of star formation at high redshift; however, such an association is dependent on a thorough understanding of LGRB host environments and progenitors. In particular, the metallicity of LGRB host galaxies has become a matter of hot debate in recent years, with several studies suggesting that these events may be biased towards low-metallicity environments. The main goal of this dissertation is to perform the first in-depth study of the ISM environments and host galaxies that produce LGRBs. I have conducted the first dedicated spectroscopic survey of LGRB host galaxies, and used these observations along with data from the literature to determine a wide range of ISM properties for 16 z < 1 LGRB hosts and compare them to the general star-forming galaxy population. This work constructs the first mass-metallicity relation determined for LGRBs out to z ∼ 1. I have also generated an extensive suite of new stellar population synthesis and photoionization models, tailored towards modeling the host environments of LGRBs - these models show key improvements over past work, but also highlight several shortcomings in current model codes that must be addressed in future studies. Finally, I have examined red supergiants in low-metallicity Local Group galaxies, a poorly-understood but critical mass-losing phase of massive stellar evolution. From this work, I have concluded that LGRBs do exhibit a trend towards lower-metallicity host environments. However, observations of high-metallicity LGRB host galaxies and a comparison of the energetic and environmental properties of LGRBs both demonstrate that viii the complex role metallicity plays in LGRB progenitor formation remains unclear. New generations of galaxy models and continued studies of massive stellar evolution in low- metallicity environments are both vital to improving our understanding of the progenitors and host galaxies that give rise to these enigmatic events. ix Table of Contents Acknowledgements . v Abstract . viii List of Tables . xiii List of Figures . xiv Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 1.1 Properties of LGRB Host Galaxies; Survey and Key Physical Properties . 6 1.2 Modeling of Star-Forming Galaxies . 10 1.3 Massive Stellar Evolutionary Theory . 12 Chapter 2: LGRB Host Galaxies - Observations and Analyses . 15 2.1 The Nearby LGRB Host Galaxy Survey . 15 2.1.1 Keck: GRBs 980703, 991208, 010921, 020819, 020903, 031203, 030329, 051022, 060218, and 070612A . 15 2.1.2 Magellan: GRB 020405 and GRB 050826 . 18 2.1.3 Published LGRB Host Spectra: GRB 980425, GRB 990712, GRB 030528, and GRB 050824 . 18 2.1.4 Data Reduction . 19 2.2 Analysis of Host ISM Properties . 20 2.2.1 Emission Line Fluxes . 20 2.2.2 Metallicity . 23 2.2.3 Star Formation Rates . 27 x 2.2.4 Young Stellar Population Ages . 27 2.2.5 Stellar Masses . 31 2.2.6 AGN Activity in the Host of GRB 031203 . 31 Chapter 3: LGRB Host Galaxies - Comparison and Interpretation . 33 3.1 LGRB Hosts and the General Galaxy Population . 33 3.1.1 Comparison Samples . 33 3.1.2 Emission Line Ratio Diagnostic Diagrams . 40 3.1.3 ISM Properties . 45 3.2 The Mass-Metallicity Relation for LGRB Hosts . 50 3.3 Host Metallicity and the Isotropic Energy Release of LGRBs . 54 3.4 Discussion . 59 Chapter 4: Unusual Events and Their Host Galaxies . 64 4.1 The High-Metallicity Host of the \Dark" GRB 020819 . 64 4.1.1 Observations . 65 4.1.2 ISM Properties . 66 4.1.3 Discussion . 68 4.2 The Relativistic Supernova 2009bb . 69 4.2.1 Observations . 71 4.2.2 Physical Properties of the SN 2009bb Environment . 71 4.2.3 Comparison with Nearby (z < 0:3) Galaxy Samples . 74 4.2.4 Discussion . 74 4.3 The Environment of the z = 2:609 Short GRB 090426 . 78 4.3.1 Discovery and Afterglow Observations of GRB 090426 . 80 4.3.2 Analysis and Interpretation . 82 4.3.3 The Host Galaxy of GRB 090426 . 83 4.3.4 Discussion . 86 Chapter 5: Stellar Population Synthesis and Photoionization Models - Design and Applications . 88 xi 5.1 Introduction . 88 5.2 Starburst99/Mappings III Model Grids . 92 5.2.1 Model Grid Parameters . 92 5.2.2 Stellar Evolutionary Tracks . 95 5.2.3 Starburst99 Ionizing Spectra . 97 5.3 Optical Emission Line Diagnostics . 102 5.3.1 [NII]/Hα ................................. 104 5.3.2 [NII]/[OII] . 105 5.3.3 [OIII]/Hβ ................................. 106 5.3.4 [OIII]/[OII] . 106 5.3.5 [SII]/Hα .................................. 108 5.4 Emission Line Diagnostic Diagrams . 109 5.4.1 Comparison With Star-Forming Galaxies . 109 5.4.2 Comparison with LGRB Host Galaxies . 118 5.4.3 Comparison with Previous Model Grids . 121 5.5 Late-Age Models and the Stellar Populations of LGRB Hosts .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Magnetic Inhibition of Convection and the Fundamental Properties of Low-Mass Stars. I. Stars with a Radiative Core Gregory A
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Dartmouth Digital Commons (Dartmouth College) Dartmouth College Dartmouth Digital Commons Open Dartmouth: Faculty Open Access Articles 12-4-2013 Magnetic Inhibition of Convection and the Fundamental Properties of Low-Mass Stars. I. Stars with a Radiative Core Gregory A. Feiden Dartmouth College Brian Chaboyer Dartmouth College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa Part of the Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy Commons Recommended Citation Feiden, Gregory A. and Chaboyer, Brian, "Magnetic Inhibition of Convection and the Fundamental Properties of Low-Mass Stars. I. Stars with a Radiative Core" (2013). Open Dartmouth: Faculty Open Access Articles. 2188. https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/2188 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Dartmouth: Faculty Open Access Articles by an authorized administrator of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Astrophysical Journal, 779:183 (25pp), 2013 December 20 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/183 C 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. MAGNETIC INHIBITION OF CONVECTION AND THE FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF LOW-MASS STARS. I. STARS WITH A RADIATIVE CORE Gregory A. Feiden1 and Brian Chaboyer Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755, USA; [email protected], [email protected] Received 2013 August 20; accepted 2013 October 31; published 2013 December 4 ABSTRACT Magnetic fields are hypothesized to inflate the radii of low-mass stars—defined as less massive than 0.8 M—in detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs).
    [Show full text]
  • JOHN R. THORSTENSEN Address
    CURRICULUM VITAE: JOHN R. THORSTENSEN Address: Department of Physics and Astronomy Dartmouth College 6127 Wilder Laboratory Hanover, NH 03755-3528; (603)-646-2869 [email protected] Undergraduate Studies: Haverford College, B. A. 1974 Astronomy and Physics double major, High Honors in both. Graduate Studies: Ph. D., 1980, University of California, Berkeley Astronomy Department Dissertation : \Optical Studies of Faint Blue X-ray Stars" Graduate Advisor: Professor C. Stuart Bowyer Employment History: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College: { Professor, July 1991 { present { Associate Professor, July 1986 { July 1991 { Assistant Professor, September 1980 { June 1986 Research Assistant, Space Sciences Lab., U.C. Berkeley, 1975 { 1980. Summer Student, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1974. Summer Student, Bartol Research Foundation, 1973. Consultant, IBM Corporation, 1973. (STARMAP program). Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, 1974. National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, 1974 { 1977. Dorothea Klumpke Roberts Award of the Berkeley Astronomy Dept., 1978. Professional Societies: American Astronomical Society Astronomical Society of the Pacific International Astronomical Union Lifetime Publication List * \Can Collapsed Stars Close the Universe?" Thorstensen, J. R., and Partridge, R. B. 1975, Ap. J., 200, 527. \Optical Identification of Nova Scuti 1975." Raff, M. I., and Thorstensen, J. 1975, P. A. S. P., 87, 593. \Photometry of Slow X-ray Pulsars II: The 13.9 Minute Period of X Persei." Margon, B., Thorstensen, J., Bowyer, S., Mason, K. O., White, N. E., Sanford, P. W., Parkes, G., Stone, R. P. S., and Bailey, J. 1977, Ap. J., 218, 504. \A Spectrophotometric Survey of the A 0535+26 Field." Margon, B., Thorstensen, J., Nelson, J., Chanan, G., and Bowyer, S.
    [Show full text]
  • POSTERS SESSION I: Atmospheres of Massive Stars
    Abstracts of Posters 25 POSTERS (Grouped by sessions in alphabetical order by first author) SESSION I: Atmospheres of Massive Stars I-1. Pulsational Seeding of Structure in a Line-Driven Stellar Wind Nurdan Anilmis & Stan Owocki, University of Delaware Massive stars often exhibit signatures of radial or non-radial pulsation, and in principal these can play a key role in seeding structure in their radiatively driven stellar wind. We have been carrying out time-dependent hydrodynamical simulations of such winds with time-variable surface brightness and lower boundary condi- tions that are intended to mimic the forms expected from stellar pulsation. We present sample results for a strong radial pulsation, using also an SEI (Sobolev with Exact Integration) line-transfer code to derive characteristic line-profile signatures of the resulting wind structure. Future work will compare these with observed signatures in a variety of specific stars known to be radial and non-radial pulsators. I-2. Wind and Photospheric Variability in Late-B Supergiants Matt Austin, University College London (UCL); Nevyana Markova, National Astronomical Observatory, Bulgaria; Raman Prinja, UCL There is currently a growing realisation that the time-variable properties of massive stars can have a funda- mental influence in the determination of key parameters. Specifically, the fact that the winds may be highly clumped and structured can lead to significant downward revision in the mass-loss rates of OB stars. While wind clumping is generally well studied in O-type stars, it is by contrast poorly understood in B stars. In this study we present the analysis of optical data of the B8 Iae star HD 199478.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide Du Ciel Profond
    Guide du ciel profond Olivier PETIT 8 mai 2004 2 Introduction hjjdfhgf ghjfghfd fg hdfjgdf gfdhfdk dfkgfd fghfkg fdkg fhdkg fkg kfghfhk Table des mati`eres I Objets par constellation 21 1 Androm`ede (And) Andromeda 23 1.1 Messier 31 (La grande Galaxie d'Androm`ede) . 25 1.2 Messier 32 . 27 1.3 Messier 110 . 29 1.4 NGC 404 . 31 1.5 NGC 752 . 33 1.6 NGC 891 . 35 1.7 NGC 7640 . 37 1.8 NGC 7662 (La boule de neige bleue) . 39 2 La Machine pneumatique (Ant) Antlia 41 2.1 NGC 2997 . 43 3 le Verseau (Aqr) Aquarius 45 3.1 Messier 2 . 47 3.2 Messier 72 . 49 3.3 Messier 73 . 51 3.4 NGC 7009 (La n¶ebuleuse Saturne) . 53 3.5 NGC 7293 (La n¶ebuleuse de l'h¶elice) . 56 3.6 NGC 7492 . 58 3.7 NGC 7606 . 60 3.8 Cederblad 211 (N¶ebuleuse de R Aquarii) . 62 4 l'Aigle (Aql) Aquila 63 4.1 NGC 6709 . 65 4.2 NGC 6741 . 67 4.3 NGC 6751 (La n¶ebuleuse de l’œil flou) . 69 4.4 NGC 6760 . 71 4.5 NGC 6781 (Le nid de l'Aigle ) . 73 TABLE DES MATIERES` 5 4.6 NGC 6790 . 75 4.7 NGC 6804 . 77 4.8 Barnard 142-143 (La tani`ere noire) . 79 5 le B¶elier (Ari) Aries 81 5.1 NGC 772 . 83 6 le Cocher (Aur) Auriga 85 6.1 Messier 36 . 87 6.2 Messier 37 . 89 6.3 Messier 38 .
    [Show full text]
  • Star Systems in the Solar Neighborhood up to 10 Parsecs Distance
    Vol. 16 No. 3 June 15, 2020 Journal of Double Star Observations Page 229 Star Systems in the Solar Neighborhood up to 10 Parsecs Distance Wilfried R.A. Knapp Vienna, Austria [email protected] Abstract: The stars and star systems in the solar neighborhood are for obvious reasons the most likely best investigated stellar objects besides the Sun. Very fast proper motion catches the attention of astronomers and the small distances to the Sun allow for precise measurements so the wealth of data for most of these objects is impressive. This report lists 94 star systems (doubles or multiples most likely bound by gravitation) in up to 10 parsecs distance from the Sun as well over 60 questionable objects which are for different reasons considered rather not star systems (at least not within 10 parsecs) but might be if with a small likelihood. A few of the listed star systems are newly detected and for several systems first or updated preliminary orbits are suggested. A good part of the listed nearby star systems are included in the GAIA DR2 catalog with par- allax and proper motion data for at least some of the components – this offers the opportunity to counter-check the so far reported data with the most precise star catalog data currently available. A side result of this counter-check is the confirmation of the expectation that the GAIA DR2 single star model is not well suited to deliver fully reliable parallax and proper motion data for binary or multiple star systems. 1. Introduction high proper motion speed might cause visually noticea- The answer to the question at which distance the ble position changes from year to year.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:1910.04776V2 [Astro-Ph.SR] 2 Dec 2019 Lion Years
    Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. smsmax c ESO 2019 December 3, 2019 Letter to the Editor Maximally accreting supermassive stars: a fundamental limit imposed by hydrostatic equilibrium L. Haemmerle´1, G. Meynet1, L. Mayer2, R. S. Klessen3;4, T. E. Woods5, A. Heger6;7 1 Departement´ d’Astronomie, Universite´ de Geneve,` chemin des Maillettes 51, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland 2 Center for Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology, Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland 3 Universitat¨ Heidelberg, Zentrum fur¨ Astronomie, Institut fur¨ Theoretische Astrophysik, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany 4 Universitat¨ Heidelberg, Interdisziplinares¨ Zentrum fur¨ Wissenschaftliches Rechnen, Im Neuenheimer Feld 205, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany 5 National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada 6 School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia 7 Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai 200240, China Received ; accepted ABSTRACT Context. Major mergers of gas-rich galaxies provide promising conditions for the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs; 5 4 5 −1 & 10 M ) by direct collapse because they can trigger mass inflows as high as 10 − 10 M yr on sub-parsec scales. However, the channel of SMBH formation in this case, either dark collapse (direct collapse without prior stellar phase) or supermassive star (SMS; 4 & 10 M ), remains unknown. Aims. Here, we investigate the limit in accretion rate up to which stars can maintain hydrostatic equilibrium. −1 Methods. We compute hydrostatic models of SMSs accreting at 1 – 1000 M yr , and estimate the departures from equilibrium a posteriori by taking into account the finite speed of sound.
    [Show full text]
  • The Solar Neighborhood XXXVII: the Mass-Luminosity Relation for Main Sequence M Dwarfs 1
    The Solar Neighborhood XXXVII: The Mass-Luminosity Relation for Main Sequence M Dwarfs 1 G. F. Benedict2, T. J. Henry3;11, O. G. Franz4, B. E. McArthur2, L. H. Wasserman4, Wei-Chun Jao5;11, P. A. Cargile6, S. B. Dieterich 7;11, A. J. Bradley8, E. P. Nelan9, and A. L. Whipple10 ABSTRACT We present a Mass-Luminosity Relation (MLR) for red dwarfs spanning a range of masses from 0.62 M to the end of the stellar main sequence at 0.08 M . The relation is based on 47 stars for which dynamical masses have been determined, primarily using astrometric data from Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) 3 and 1r, white-light interferometers on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and radial velocity data from McDonald Observatory. For our HST/FGS sample of 15 binaries, component mass errors range from 0.4% to 4.0% with a median error of 1.8%. With these and masses from other sources, we construct a V -band MLR for the lower main sequence with 47 stars, and a K-band MLR with 45 stars with fit residuals half of those of the V -band. We use GJ 831 AB as an example, obtaining an absolute trigonometric par- allax, πabs = 125:3 ± 0:3 milliseconds of arc, with orbital elements yielding MA = 0:270 ± 0:004M and MB = 0:145 ± 0:002M . The mass precision rivals that derived for eclipsing binaries. 2McDonald Observatory, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 3RECONS Institute, Chambersburg, PA 17201 4Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Rd., Flagstaff, AZ 86001 5Dept.
    [Show full text]
  • Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: Gw170817 and Grb 170817A
    Draft version October 15, 2017 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX61 GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND GAMMA-RAYS FROM A BINARY NEUTRON STAR MERGER: GW170817 AND GRB 170817A B. P. Abbott,1 R. Abbott,1 T. D. Abbott,2 F. Acernese,3, 4 K. Ackley,5, 6 C. Adams,7 T. Adams,8 P. Addesso,9 R. X. Adhikari,1 V. B. Adya,10 C. Affeldt,10 M. Afrough,11 B. Agarwal,12 M. Agathos,13 K. Agatsuma,14 N. Aggarwal,15 O. D. Aguiar,16 L. Aiello,17, 18 A. Ain,19 P. Ajith,20 B. Allen,10, 21, 22 G. Allen,12 A. Allocca,23, 24 M. A. Aloy,25 P. A. Altin,26 A. Amato,27 A. Ananyeva,1 S. B. Anderson,1 W. G. Anderson,21 S. V. Angelova,28 S. Antier,29 S. Appert,1 K. Arai,1 M. C. Araya,1 J. S. Areeda,30 N. Arnaud,29, 31 K. G. Arun,32 S. Ascenzi,33, 34 G. Ashton,10 M. Ast,35 S. M. Aston,7 P. Astone,36 D. V. Atallah,37 P. Aufmuth,22 C. Aulbert,10 K. AultONeal,38 C. Austin,2 A. Avila-Alvarez,30 S. Babak,39 P. Bacon,40 M. K. M. Bader,14 S. Bae,41 P. T. Baker,42 F. Baldaccini,43, 44 G. Ballardin,31 S. W. Ballmer,45 S. Banagiri,46 J. C. Barayoga,1 S. E. Barclay,47 B. C. Barish,1 D. Barker,48 K. Barkett,49 F. Barone,3, 4 B. Barr,47 L. Barsotti,15 M. Barsuglia,40 D. Barta,50 J.
    [Show full text]
  • To Trappist-1 RAIR Golaith Ship
    Mission Profile Navigator 10:07 AM - 12/2/2018 page 1 of 10 Interstellar Mission Profile for SGC Navigator - Report - Printable ver 4.3 Start: omicron 2 40 Eri (Star Trek Vulcan home star) (HD Dest: Trappist-1 2Mass J23062928-0502285 in Aquarii [X -9.150] [Y - 26965) (Keid) (HIP 19849) in Eridani [X 14.437] [Y - 38.296] [Z -3.452] 7.102] [Z -2.167] Rendezvous Earth date arrival: Tuesday, December 8, 2420 Ship Type: RAIR Golaith Ship date arrival: Tuesday, January 8, 2419 Type 2: Rendezvous with a coasting leg ( Top speed is reached before mid-point ) Start Position: Start Date: 2-December-2018 Star System omicron 2 40 Eri (Star Trek Vulcan home star) (HD 26965) (Keid) Earth Polar Primary Star: (HIP 19849) RA hours: inactive Type: K0 V Planets: 1e RA min: inactive Binary: B, C, b RA sec: inactive Type: M4.5V, DA2.9 dec. degrees inactive Rank from Earth: 69 Abs Mag.: 5.915956445 dec. minutes inactive dec. seconds inactive Galactic SGC Stats Distance l/y Sector X Y Z Earth to Start Position: 16.2346953 Kappa 14.43696547 -7.10221947 -2.16744969 Destination Arrival Date (Earth time): 8-December-2420 Star System Earth Polar Trappist-1 2Mass J23062928-0502285 Primary Star: RA hours: inactive Type: M8V Planets 4, 3e RA min: inactive Binary: B C RA sec: inactive Type: 0 dec. degrees inactive Rank from Earth 679 Abs Mag.: 18.4 dec. minutes inactive Course Headings SGC decimal dec. seconds inactive RA: (0 <360) 232.905748 dec: (0-180) 91.8817176 Galactic SGC Sector X Y Z Destination: Apparent position | Start of Mission Omega -9.09279603 -38.2336637 -3.46695345 Destination: Real position | Start of Mission Omega -9.09548281 -38.2366036 -3.46626331 Destination: Real position | End of Mission Omega -9.14988933 -38.2961361 -3.45228825 Shifts in distances of Destination Distance l/y X Y Z Change in Apparent vs.
    [Show full text]
  • Plasmas in Gamma-Ray Bursts: Particle Acceleration, Magnetic Fields, Radiative Processes and Environments
    galaxies Article Plasmas in Gamma-Ray Bursts: Particle Acceleration, Magnetic Fields, Radiative Processes and Environments Asaf Pe’er Physics Department, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel; [email protected]; Tel.: +972-3-5318438 Received: 22 November 2018; Accepted: 7 February 2019; Published: 15 February 2019 Abstract: Being the most extreme explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide a unique laboratory to study various plasma physics phenomena. The complex light curve and broad-band, non-thermal spectra indicate a very complicated system on the one hand, but, on the other hand, provide a wealth of information to study it. In this chapter, I focus on recent progress in some of the key unsolved physical problems. These include: (1) particle acceleration and magnetic field generation in shock waves; (2) possible role of strong magnetic fields in accelerating the plasmas, and accelerating particles via the magnetic reconnection process; (3) various radiative processes that shape the observed light curve and spectra, both during the prompt and the afterglow phases, and finally (4) GRB environments and their possible observational signature. Keywords: jets; radiation mechanism: non-thermal; galaxies: active; gamma-ray bursts; TBD 1. Introduction Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most extreme explosions known since the big bang, releasing as much as 1055 erg (isotropically equivalent) in a few seconds, in the form of gamma rays [1]. Such a huge amount of energy released in such a short time must be accompanied by a relativistic motion of a relativistically expanding plasma. There are two separate arguments for that. First, the existence of > ± photons at energies ∼ MeV as are observed in many GRBs necessitates the production of e pairs by photon–photon interactions, as long as the optical depth for such interactions is greater than unity.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded Data
    Spectral and Timing Analysis of the Prompt Emission of Gamma Ray Bursts A Thesis Submitted to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics by Rupal Basak School of Natural Sciences Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai Final Submission: Aug, 2014 arXiv:1409.5626v1 [astro-ph.HE] 19 Sep 2014 To my Parents Contents List of Publication viii 1 GRBs: The Extreme Transients 1 1.1 Overview ........................................ .............. 1 1.2 ThesisOrganization.. ... .... .... .... ... .... .... .. ................... 2 1.3 HistoryAndClassification . .................... 2 1.3.1 Discovery,AfterglowandDistanceScale . ...................... 2 1.3.2 ClassificationofGRBs . ................ 3 1.4 Observables..................................... ................ 7 1.4.1 PromptEmissionCharacteristics . ..................... 7 1.4.2 GenericFeaturesOfAfterglows . ................... 9 1.4.3 GeVEmission ................................... ............ 10 1.4.4 GRBCorrelations ............................... .............. 10 1.5 AWorkingModelforGRBs .... .... .... ... .... .... .... ................ 11 1.5.1 CompactnessAndRelativisticMotion . ..................... 11 1.5.2 “FireballModel”AndRadiationMechanism . ..................... 12 1.5.3 CentralEngineAndProgenitor. ................... 15 1.6 GRBResearch ..................................... .............. 16 1.7 BooksAndReviewArticles . .................. 17 2 Instruments And Data Analysis 18 2.1 Overview .......................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Solar Neighborhood. Xxxvii. the Mass–Luminosity Relation for Main-Sequence M Dwarfs* G
    The Astronomical Journal, 152:141 (33pp), 2016 November doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/5/141 © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXXVII. THE MASS–LUMINOSITY RELATION FOR MAIN-SEQUENCE M DWARFS* G. F. Benedict1, T. J. Henry2,10, O. G. Franz3, B. E. McArthur1, L. H. Wasserman3, Wei-Chun Jao4,10, P. A. Cargile5, S. B. Dieterich6,10, A. J. Bradley7, E. P. Nelan8, and A. L. Whipple9 1 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA 2 RECONS Institute, Chambersburg, PA 17201, USA 3 Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA 4 Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Georgia State University, Atlanta GA 30302, USA 5 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 6 NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Institiution of Washington, Washington, DC 20005, USA 7 Spacecraft System Engineering Services, P.O. Box 91, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701, USA 8 Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA 9 Conceptual Analytics, LLC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA Received 2016 August 10; revised 2016 August 16; accepted 2016 August 16; published 2016 October 27 ABSTRACT We present a mass–luminosity relation (MLR) for red dwarfs spanning a range of masses from 0.62 to the end of the stellar main sequence at 0.08 . The relation is based on 47 stars for which dynamical masses have been determined, primarily using astrometric data from Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) 3 and 1r, white-light interferometers on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and radial velocity data from McDonald Observatory.
    [Show full text]