The Afterglows of Swift-Era Gamma-Ray Bursts. I. Comparing Pre-Swift and Swift-Era Long/Soft (Type Ii) Grb Optical Afterglows∗
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Staff, Visiting Scientists and Graduate Students 2010
Staff, Visiting Scientists and Graduate Students at the Pescara Center November 2010 2 Contents ICRANet Faculty Staff……………………………………………………………………. p. 17 Adjunct Professors of the Faculty .……………………………………………………… p. 31 Lecturers……………………………………………………………………………………..p. 67 Research Scientists ……………………………………………………………………….. p. 93 Short-term Visiting Scientists …………………………………………………………... p. 109 Long-Term Visiting Scientists …………………………………………………………... p. 129 IRAP Ph. D. Students …………………………………………………………………….. p. 141 IRAP Ph. D. Erasmus Mundus Students………………………………………………. p. 161 Administrative and Secretarial Staff …………………………………………………… p. 171 3 4 ICRANet Faculty Staff Belinski Vladimir ICRANet Bianco Carlo Luciano ICRANet Novello Mario Cesare Lattes-ICRANet Chair CBPF, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Rueda Jorge A. ICRANet Ruffini Remo Università di Roma "Sapienza"and ICRANet Vereshchagin Gregory ICRANet Xue She-Sheng ICRANet 5 Adjunct Professors Of The Faculty Aharonian Felix Albert Benjamin Jegischewitsch Markarjan Chair Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, Ireland Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysis, Heidelberg, Germany Amati Lorenzo Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Italy Arnett David Subramanyan Chandrasektar- ICRANet Chair University of Arizona, Tucson, USA Chakrabarti Sandip P. Centre for Space Physics, India Chardonnet Pascal Université de la Savoie, France Chechetkin Valeri Mstislav Vsevolodich Keldysh-ICRANet Chair Keldysh institute for Applied Mathematics Moscow, Russia Christodoulou Dimitrios ETH, Zurich, Switzerland Coppi Bruno -
Astronomical Distances
The Act of Measurement I: Astronomical Distances B. F. Riley The act of measurement causes astronomical distances to adopt discrete values. When measured, the distance to the object corresponds through an inverse 5/2 power law – the Quantum/Classical connection – to a sub-Planckian mass scale on a level or sub-level of one or both of two geometric sequences, of common ratio 1/π and 1/e, that descend from the Planck mass and may derive from the geometry of a higher-dimensional spacetime. The distances themselves lie on the levels and sub-levels of two sequences, of common ratio π and e, that ascend from the Planck length. Analyses have been performed of stellar distances, the semi-major axes of the planets and planetary satellites of the Solar System and the distances measured to quasars, galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. 1 Introduction Using Planck units the Quantum/Classical connection, characterised by the equation (1) maps astronomical distances R – in previous papers only the radii of astronomical bodies [1, 2] – onto sub-Planckian mass scales m on the mass levels and sub-levels1 of two geometric sequences that descend from the Planck mass: Sequence 1 of common ratio 1/π and Sequence 3 of common ratio 1/e.2 The sequences may derive from the geometry of a higher-dimensional spacetime [3]. First, we show that several distances associated with the Alpha Centauri system correspond through (1) to the mass scales of principal levels3 in Sequences 1 and 3. We then show that the mass scales corresponding through (1) to the distances from both Alpha Centauri and the Sun to the other stars lie on the levels and sub-levels of Sequences 1 and 3. -
Glossary of Terms Absorption Line a Dark Line at a Particular Wavelength Superimposed Upon a Bright, Continuous Spectrum
Glossary of terms absorption line A dark line at a particular wavelength superimposed upon a bright, continuous spectrum. Such a spectral line can be formed when electromag- netic radiation, while travelling on its way to an observer, meets a substance; if that substance can absorb energy at that particular wavelength then the observer sees an absorption line. Compare with emission line. accretion disk A disk of gas or dust orbiting a massive object such as a star, a stellar-mass black hole or an active galactic nucleus. An accretion disk plays an important role in the formation of a planetary system around a young star. An accretion disk around a supermassive black hole is thought to be the key mecha- nism powering an active galactic nucleus. active galactic nucleus (agn) A compact region at the center of a galaxy that emits vast amounts of electromagnetic radiation and fast-moving jets of particles; an agn can outshine the rest of the galaxy despite being hardly larger in volume than the Solar System. Various classes of agn exist, including quasars and Seyfert galaxies, but in each case the energy is believed to be generated as matter accretes onto a supermassive black hole. adaptive optics A technique used by large ground-based optical telescopes to remove the blurring affects caused by Earth’s atmosphere. Light from a guide star is used as a calibration source; a complicated system of software and hardware then deforms a small mirror to correct for atmospheric distortions. The mirror shape changes more quickly than the atmosphere itself fluctuates. -
HET Publication Report HET Board Meeting 3/4 December 2020 Zoom Land
HET Publication Report HET Board Meeting 3/4 December 2020 Zoom Land 1 Executive Summary • There are now 420 peer-reviewed HET publications – Fifteen papers published in 2019 – As of 27 November, nineteen published papers in 2020 • HET papers have 29363 citations – Average of 70, median of 39 citations per paper – H-number of 90 – 81 papers have ≥ 100 citations; 175 have ≥ 50 cites • Wide angle surveys account for 26% of papers and 35% of citations. • Synoptic (e.g., planet searches) and Target of Opportunity (e.g., supernovae and γ-ray bursts) programs have produced 47% of the papers and 47% of the citations, respectively. • Listing of the HET papers (with ADS links) is given at http://personal.psu.edu/dps7/hetpapers.html 2 HET Program Classification Code TypeofProgram Examples 1 ToO Supernovae,Gamma-rayBursts 2 Synoptic Exoplanets,EclipsingBinaries 3 OneorTwoObjects HaloofNGC821 4 Narrow-angle HDF,VirgoCluster 5 Wide-angle BlazarSurvey 6 HETTechnical HETQueue 7 HETDEXTheory DarkEnergywithBAO 8 Other HETOptics Programs also broken down into “Dark Time”, “Light Time”, and “Other”. 3 Peer-reviewed Publications • There are now 420 journal papers that either use HET data or (nine cases) use the HET as the motivation for the paper (e.g., technical papers, theoretical studies). • Except for 2005, approximately 22 HET papers were published each year since 2002 through the shutdown. A record 44 papers were published in 2012. • In 2020 a total of fifteen HET papers appeared; nineteen have been published to date in 2020. • Each HET partner has published at least 14 papers using HET data. • Nineteen papers have been published from NOAO time. -
EBL with GRB and Blazars Joel Primack with Rudy Gilmore, Alberto Dominguez, & Rachel Somerville
EBL with GRB and Blazars Joel Primack with Rudy Gilmore, Alberto Dominguez, & Rachel Somerville Thursday, March 25, 2010 The EBL is very difficult to observe directly because of foregrounds, especially the zodiacal light. Reliable lower limits are obtained by integrating the light from observed galaxies. The best upper limits come from (non-) attenuation of gamma rays from distant blazars, but these are uncertain because of the unknown emitted spectrum of these blazars. This talk concerns both the optical-IR EBL relevant to attenuation of TeV gamma rays, and also the UV EBL relevant to attenuation of gamma rays from very distant sources observed by Fermi and low-threshold ground- based ACTs. log dNγ/dE Just as IR light penetrates dust better than shorter wavelengths, so lower energy gamma rays penetrate the EBL better than higher energy, resulting in a softer observed gamma- ray spectrum from more distant sources. log E Thursday, March 25, 2010 PILLAR OF STAR BIRTH Carina Nebula in UV Visible Light Thursday, March 25, 2010 PILLAR OF STAR BIRTH Carina Nebula in IR Light Longer wavelength light penetrates the dust better Longer wavelength gamma rays also penetrate the EBL better Thursday, March 25, 2010 Gamma Ray Attenuation due to γγ e+e- If we know the intrinsic spectrum, we can infer the optical depth (E,z) from the observed spectrum. In -Γ practice, we assume that dN/dE|int is not harder than E with Γ = 1.5, since local sources have Γ ≥ 2. Thursday, March 25, 2010 Three approaches to calculate the EBL: Backward Evolution, which starts with the existing galaxy population and evolves it backward in time -- e.g., Stecker, Malkan, & Scully 2006. -
Arxiv:0902.2419V2 [Astro-Ph.HE] 6 Aug 2009 Ls Ntecr/AS R Ae Ntebimodal Diagram 1993) the Duration-Hardness Al
2009, ApJ, in press Preprint typeset using LATEX style emulateapj v. 08/22/09 DISCERNING THE PHYSICAL ORIGINS OF COSMOLOGICAL GAMMA-RAY BURSTS BASED ON MULTIPLE OBSERVATIONAL CRITERIA: THE CASES OF Z =6.7 GRB 080913, Z =8.3 GRB 090423, AND SOME SHORT/HARD GRBS Bing Zhang1, Bin-Bin Zhang1, Francisco J. Virgili1, En-Wei Liang2, D. Alexander Kann3, Xue-Feng Wu4,5, Daniel Proga1, Hou-Jun Lv2, Kenji Toma4, Peter Mesz´ aros´ 4,6, David N. Burrows4, Peter W. A. Roming4, Neil Gehrels7 Draft version October 2, 2018 ABSTRACT The two high-redshift gamma-ray bursts, GRB 080913 at z = 6.7 and GRB 090423 at z = 8.3, recently detected by Swift appear as intrinsically short, hard GRBs. They could have been recognized by BATSE as short/hard GRBs should they have occurred at z 1. In order to address their physi- cal origin, we perform a more thorough investigation on two physica≤ lly distinct types (Type I/II) of cosmological GRBs and their observational characteristics. We reiterate the definitions of Type I/II GRBs and then review the following observational criteria and their physical motivations: supernova association, specific star forming rate of the host galaxy, location offset, duration, hardness, spectral lag, statistical correlations, energetics and collimation, afterglow properties, redshift distribution, lu- minosity function, and gravitational wave signature. Contrary to the traditional approach of assigning the physical category based on the gamma-ray properties (duration, hardness, and spectral lag), we take an alternative approach to define the Type I and Type II Gold Samples using several criteria that are more directly related to the GRB progenitors (supernova association, host galaxy type, and specific star forming rate). -
SPACETIME SINGULARITIES: the STORY of BLACK HOLES
1 SPACETIME SINGULARITIES: The STORY of BLACK HOLES We have already seen that the Big Bang is a kind of 'singularity' in the structure of spacetime. To the question "what was before the Big Bang?", one can reply, at least in the context of GR, that the question actually has no meaning - that time has no meaning 'before' the Big Bang. The point is that the universe can be ¯nite in extent in both time and space, and yet have no boundary in either. We saw what a curved space which is ¯nite in size but has no boundary means for a 2-d surface - a balloon is an example. Notice that if we made a balloon that curved smoothly except at one point (we could, for example, pinch it at this point) we could say that the balloon surface curvature was singular (ie., in¯nite) at this point. The idea of a 4-d spacetime with no boundary in spacetime, but with a ¯nite spacetime 4-dimensional volume, is a simple generalization of this. And just as it makes no sense, inside a 2-d balloon, to ask where the boundary is, we can have spacetime geometries which have no boundary in space or time, or where spacetime 'terminates' at a singularity. All of this is easy to say, but the attitude of most early workers in GR was to ignore the possible existence of singularities, and/or hope that they would just go away. The reaction of Einstein to the discovery of singular solutions to his equations was quite striking. -
The Two-Component Jet of GRB 080413B⋆
A&A 526, A113 (2011) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201015320 & c ESO 2011 Astrophysics The two-component jet of GRB 080413B R. Filgas1, T. Krühler1,2, J. Greiner1,A.Rau1, E. Palazzi3,S.Klose4, P. Schady1, A. Rossi4,P.M.J.Afonso1, L. A. Antonelli5,C.Clemens1,S.Covino6,P.D’Avanzo6, A. Küpcü Yolda¸s7,8,M.Nardini1, A. Nicuesa Guelbenzu4, F. Olivares1,E.A.C.Updike9,andA.Yolda¸s1,8 1 Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Universe Cluster, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstraße 2, 85748 Garching, Germany 3 INAF - IASF di Bologna, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy 4 Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, 07778 Tautenburg, Germany 5 INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, 00040 Monteporzio Catone (Roma), Italy 6 INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy 7 European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching, Germany 8 Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, CB3 0HA Cambridge, UK 9 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0978, USA Received 1 July 2010 / Accepted 2 October 2010 ABSTRACT Aims. The quick and precise localization of GRBs by the Swift telescope allows the early evolution of the afterglow light curve to be captured by ground-based telescopes. With GROND measurements we can investigate the optical/near-infrared light curve of the afterglow of gamma-ray burst 080413B in the context of late rebrightening. Methods. Multi-wavelength follow-up observations were performed on the afterglow of GRB 080413B. -
Astronomy 2009 Index
Astronomy Magazine 2009 Index Subject Index 1RXS J160929.1-210524 (star), 1:24 4C 60.07 (galaxy pair), 2:24 6dFGS (Six Degree Field Galaxy Survey), 8:18 21-centimeter (neutral hydrogen) tomography, 12:10 93 Minerva (asteroid), 12:18 2008 TC3 (asteroid), 1:24 2009 FH (asteroid), 7:19 A Abell 21 (Medusa Nebula), 3:70 Abell 1656 (Coma galaxy cluster), 3:8–9, 6:16 Allen Telescope Array (ATA) radio telescope, 12:10 ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array), 4:21, 9:19 Alpha (α) Canis Majoris (Sirius) (star), 2:68, 10:77 Alpha (α) Orionis (star). See Betelgeuse (Alpha [α] Orionis) (star) Alpha Centauri (star), 2:78 amateur astronomy, 10:18, 11:48–53, 12:19, 56 Andromeda Galaxy (M31) merging with Milky Way, 3:51 midpoint between Milky Way Galaxy and, 1:62–63 ultraviolet images of, 12:22 Antarctic Neumayer Station III, 6:19 Anthe (moon of Saturn), 1:21 Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), 4:24 APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) radio telescope, 3:19 Apollo missions, 8:19 AR11005 (sunspot group), 11:79 Arches Cluster, 10:22 Ares launch system, 1:37, 3:19, 9:19 Ariane 5 rocket, 4:21 Arianespace SA, 4:21 Armstrong, Neil A., 2:20 Arp 147 (galaxy pair), 2:20 Arp 194 (galaxy group), 8:21 art, cosmology-inspired, 5:10 ASPERA (Astroparticle European Research Area), 1:26 asteroids. See also names of specific asteroids binary, 1:32–33 close approach to Earth, 6:22, 7:19 collision with Jupiter, 11:20 collisions with Earth, 1:24 composition of, 10:55 discovery of, 5:21 effect of environment on surface of, 8:22 measuring distant, 6:23 moons orbiting, -
Analytic Models Are Consistent with These Lower Limits and with the Gamma-Ray Upper Limit Constraints
Radiation Fields in the Universe: Extragalactic Background Light and Gamma-ray Attenuation Joel Primack University of California, Santa Cruz Friday, July 15, 2011 Preview Data from (non-)attenuation of gamma rays from AGN and GRBs gives upper limits on the EBL from UV to mid-IR that are ~2x lower limits from observed galaxies. These upper limits now rule out some EBL models and purported observations, with improved data likely to provide even stronger constraints. EBL calculations based on careful extrapolation from observations and on semi-analytic models are consistent with these lower limits and with the gamma-ray upper limit constraints. Such comparisons “close the loop” on cosmological galaxy formation models, since they account for all the light, including that from galaxies too faint to see. Catching a few GRBs with ground-based ACT arrays or HAWC could provide important new constraints on star formation history. See the written version of my invited talk at the Texas 2010 meeting for a brief summary with refs: http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.2566 Friday, July 15, 2011 The EBL is very difficult to observe directly because of foregrounds, especially the zodiacal light. Reliable lower limits are obtained by integrating the light from observed galaxies. The best upper limits come from (non-) attenuation of gamma rays from distant blazars, but these are uncertain because of the unknown emitted spectrum of these blazars. This talk concerns both (1) the optical-IR EBL relevant to attenuation of TeV gamma rays, and also (2) the UV EBL relevant to attenuation of multi- GeV gamma rays from very distant GRBs & blazars observed by Fermi and low-threshold ground-based ACTs, including future arrays (e.g., CTA). -
Recent Results in High Energy Gamma-Ray Astrophysics
IL NUOVO CIMENTO Vol. 32 C, N. 3-4 Maggio-Agosto 2009 DOI 10.1393/ncc/i2009-10424-6 Colloquia: IFAE 2009 Recent results in High Energy Gamma-ray Astrophysics G. Barbiellini(1)(2)andF. Longo(1)(2) (1) Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit`a di Trieste - Trieste, Italy (2) INFN, Sezione di Trieste - Trieste, Italy (ricevuto il 19 Settembre 2009; pubblicato online il 12 Ottobre 2009) Summary. — Since June 2008 two gamma-ray satellite experiments, AGILE and Fermi -LAT, have been in contemporaneous operation. Their results allow the study of gamma-ray astrophysics from space to enter in a new era. Starting from the heritage of the EGRET experiment, the science objectives of these two experiments are reviewed. The role of the technological improvement in such achievements is also briefly introduced. PACS 95.55.Ka –X-andγ-ray telescopes and instrumentation. 1. – Introduction to High Energy Gamma-ray Astrophysics main questions The study of the sky in the energy band E>10 MeV to E ∼ 100 GeV is commonly called High Energy Gamma-ray Astrophysics. In this energy band, some of the most energetic phenomena of the Universe happen. The processes at play in the high energy sources are characterized by a wide-band non-thermal emission. Observing the sources from radio to gamma-rays helps to clarify their nature and their environments. Moreover fundamental physics questions could be answered using the information provided by distant high energy sources. The two approaches are indeed complementary in the sense the second one needs the first to avoid potential source issues, while the first one needs the second one to address potential implications of the observations. -
The Afterglows of Swift-Era Short and Long Gamma-Ray Bursts
The Afterglows of Swift-era Short and Long Gamma-Ray Bursts Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Dr. rer. nat. vorgelegt dem Rat der Physikalisch-Astronomischen Fakult¨at der Friedrich-Schiller-Universit¨atJena eingereicht von Dipl.-Phys. David Alexander Kann geboren am 15.02.1977 in Trier Gutachter 1. Prof. Dr. Artie Hatzes, Th¨uringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, 07778 Tautenburg 2. Prof. Dr. J¨orn Wilms, Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte, Sternwartstraße 7, 96049 Bamberg 3. PD Dr. Hans-Thomas Janka, Max-Planck-Institut fr Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85748 Garching Tag der letzten Rigorosumspr¨ufung: 13. 07. 2011 Tag der ¨offentlichen Verteidigung: 13. 07. 2011 Zusammenfassung Das Ph¨anomen der Gammastrahlenausbr¨uche (Englisch: Gamma-Ray Bursts, kurz: GRBs) war auch lange nach ihrer Entdeckung vor ¨uber vier Jahrzehnten ein großes R¨atsel. Selbst heute, ¨uber ein Jahrzehnt seit Beginn der “Ara¨ der Nachgl¨uhen” (engl.: Afterglows) sind noch viele Fragen unbeantwortet. Das akzeptierte Bild, welches einen Großteil der Daten erkl¨aren kann ist, dass GRBs erzeugt werden, wenn ein massereicher Himmelsk¨orper (en- tweder ein Stern, der die Hauptreihe verlassen hat, oder miteinander verschmelzende kom- pakte Objekte) in kosmologischer Distanz zu einem schnell rotierenden Objekt kollabiert (ein Schwarzes Loch oder vielleicht ein kurzlebiger Magnetar), welches ultrarelativistische Materieausw¨urfe (sogenannte “Jets”) entlang der Polachse ausschleudert. Die interne Dissi- pation von Energie in dem Jet f¨uhrt zu kollimierter nicht-thermischer Strahlung bei hohen Energien (der eigentliche GRB), w¨ahrend Schockfronten, die bei der Interaktion des Jets mit der interstellaren Materie erzeugt werden, zu einem langlebigen abklingenden Afterglows f¨uhren. Die gesammelten physikalischen Prozesse, die die GRB-Emission beschreiben, werden als das Standard-Feuerballmodell bezeichnet.