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1.
The fast-spinning Crab pulsar (∼30 turn s−1), which powers the massive expansion and synchrotron emission of the entire Crab nebula, is surrounded by quasi-stationary features such as fibrous arc-like wisps and bright polar knots in the radial range of 2×1016≲ r ≲2×1017 cm, as revealed by high-resolution (∼0.1 arcsec) images from the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on board the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ). The spin-down energy flux (∼5×1038 erg s−1) from the pulsar to the luminous outer nebula, which occupies the radial range 0.1≲ r ≲2 pc, is generally believed to be transported by a magnetized relativistic outflow of an electron–positron e± pair plasma. It is then puzzling that mysterious structures like wisps and knots, although intrinsically dynamic in synchrotron emission, remain quasi-stationary on time-scales of a few days to a week in the relativistic pulsar wind. Here we demonstrate that, as a result of slightly inhomogeneous wind streams emanating from the rotating pulsar, fast magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) shock waves are expected to appear in the pulsar wind at relevant radial distances in the forms of wisps and knots. While forward fast MHD shocks move outward with a speed close to the speed of light c , reverse fast MHD shocks may appear quasi-stationary in space under appropriate conditions. In addition, Alfvénic fluctuations in the shocked magnetized pulsar wind can effectively scatter synchrotron beams from gyrating relativistic electrons and positrons.  相似文献   

2.
A principal-component analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements is used to investigate degeneracies among cosmological parameters. The results show that a degeneracy with tensor modes – the 'tensor degeneracy'– dominates uncertainties in estimates of the baryon and cold dark matter densities,   ω b=Ωb  h 2  ,   ω c=Ωc  h 2  , 1 from an analysis of CMB anisotropies alone. The principal-component analysis agrees well with a maximum-likelihood analysis of the observations, identifying the main degeneracy directions and providing an impression of the effective dimensionality of the parameter space.  相似文献   

3.
We show that the relativistic wind of the Crab pulsar, which is commonly thought to be invisible in the region upstream of the termination shock at r r S∼0.1 pc, in fact could be directly observed through its inverse Compton (IC) γ -ray emission. This radiation is caused by illumination of the wind by low-frequency photons emitted by the pulsar, and consists of two, pulsed and unpulsed , components associated with the non-thermal (pulsed) and thermal (unpulsed) low-energy radiation of the pulsar, respectively. These two components of γ -radiation have distinct spectral characteristics, which depend essentially on the site of formation of the kinetic-energy-dominated wind, as well as on the Lorentz factor and the geometry of propagation of the wind. Thus, the search for such specific radiation components in the spectrum of the Crab Nebula can provide unique information about the unshocked pulsar wind that is not accessible at other wavelengths. In particular, we show that the comparison of the calculated flux of the unpulsed IC emission with the measured γ -ray flux of the Crab Nebula excludes the possibility of formation of a kinetic-energy-dominated wind within 5 light-cylinder radii of the pulsar, R w5 R L. The analysis of the pulsed IC emission, calculated under reasonable assumptions concerning the production site and angular distribution of the optical pulsed radiation, yields even tighter restrictions, namely R w30 R L.  相似文献   

4.
The pulsar PSR B1259–63 is in a highly eccentric 3.4-yr orbit with the Be star SS 2883. Timing observations of this pulsar, made over a 7-yr period using the Parkes 64-m radio telescope, cover two periastron passages, in 1990 August and 1994 January. The timing data cannot be fitted by the normal pulsar and Keplerian binary parameters. A timing solution including a (non-precessing) Keplerian orbit and timing noise (represented as a polynomial of fifth order in time) provides a satisfactory fit to the data. However, because the Be star probably has a significant quadrupole moment, we prefer to interpret the data by a combination of timing noise, dominated by a cubic phase term, and ω. and x . terms. We show that the ω. and x . terms are likely to be a result of a precessing orbit caused by the quadrupole moment of the tilted companion star. We further rule out a number of possible physical effects which could contribute to the timing data of PSR B1259–63 on a measurable level.  相似文献   

5.
An analysis is presented of the power spectrum of X-ray variability of the bright Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 766 as observed by XMM–Newton . Over the 0.2–10 keV energy range the power spectral density (PSD) is well-represented by a power-law with a slope of  αlow≈ 1  at low frequencies, breaking to a slope of  αhi= 2.8+0.2−0.4  at a frequency   f br≈ 5 × 10−4 Hz  . As has been noted before, this broken power-law PSD shape is similar to that observed in the Galactic black hole candidate Cygnus X-1. If it is assumed that Mrk 766 shows a power spectrum similar in form to that of Cyg X-1, and that the break time-scale scales linearly with black hole mass, then the mass of the black hole in Mrk 766 is inferred to be  ≲ 5 × 105 M⊙  . This rather low mass would mean Mrk 766 radiates above the Eddington limit. The coherence between different energy bands is significantly below unity implying that variations in the different energy bands are rather poorly correlated. The low coherence can be explained in the framework of standard Comptonization models if the properties of the Comptonizing medium are rapidly variable or if there are several distinct emission sites.  相似文献   

6.
We compute the continuous part of the ideal-magnetohydrodynamic (ideal-MHD) frequency spectrum of a polar mountain produced by magnetic burial on an accreting neutron star. Applying the formalism developed by Hellsten & Spies, extended to include gravity, we solve the singular eigenvalue problem subject to line-tying boundary conditions. This spectrum divides into an Alfvén part and a cusp part. The eigenfunctions are chirped and anharmonic with an exponential envelope, and the eigenfrequencies cover the whole spectrum above a minimum ωlow. For equilibria with accreted mass  1.2 × 10−6≲ M a/M⊙≲ 1.7 × 10−4  and surface magnetic fields  1011≲ B */G ≲ 1013, ωlow  is approximately independent of   B *  , and increases with M a. The results are consistent with the Alfvén spectrum excited in numerical simulations with the zeus-mp solver. The spectrum is modified substantially by the Coriolis force in neutron stars spinning faster than ∼100 Hz. The implications for gravitational-wave searches for low-mass X-ray binaries are considered briefly.  相似文献   

7.
We present millimetre photometry and submillimetre imaging of the central core and two hotspots in the radio lobes of the galaxy Cygnus A. For both hotspots and the central core, the synchrotron spectrum continues smoothly from the radio to a frequency of 677 GHz. The spectral index of the hotspots is constant over our frequency range, with a spectral index of α ≈ −1.0 ( S ν ∝ να), which is steeper than at lower frequencies and represents the emission from an aged population of electrons. The core is significantly flatter, with α = −0.6 ± 0.1, suggestive of an injected spectrum with no ageing, but some evidence for steepening exists at our highest observing frequency. Although IRAS data suggest the presence of dust in Cygnus A, our 450-μm data show no evidence of cold dust, therefore the dust component must have a temperature lying between 85 and 37 K, corresponding to dust masses of 1.4 × 106 and 1.0 × 108 M⊙ respectively.  相似文献   

8.
We show that spatial correlations in a stochastic large-scale velocity field in an otherwise smooth intergalactic medium (homogeneous comoving density) superposed on the general Hubble flow may cause a 'line-like' structure in QSO spectra similar to the population of unsaturated Lyα forest lines which usually are attributed to individual clouds with 1011 ≲ N H i  5 × 1013 cm−2. Therefore there is no clear observational distinction between a diffuse intergalactic medium and discrete intergalactic clouds. It follows that the H  i density in the diffuse intergalactic medium might be substantially underestimated if it is determined from the observed intensity distribution near the apparent continuum in high-resolution spectra of QSOs. Our tentative estimate implies a diffuse neutral hydrogen opacity τGP ∼ 0.3 at z  ∼ 3 and a current baryon density ΩIGM ≃ 0.08, assuming a Hubble constant H 0 = 70 km s−1 Mpc−1.  相似文献   

9.
We present ROSAT [High Resolution Imager (HRI) and Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC)] and ASCA observations of the two luminous ( L x ∼ 1041−42 erg s−1) star-forming galaxies NGC 3310 and 3690. The HRI shows clearly that the sources are extended with the X-ray emission in NGC 3690 coming from at least three regions. The combined 0.1–10 keV spectrum of NGC 3310 can be described by two components, a Raymond–Smith plasma with temperature kT  = 0.81+0.09−0.12 keV and a hard power law, Γ = 1.44−0.20−0.11 (or alternatively a harder Raymond–Smith plasma with kT  ∼ 15 keV), while there is no substantial excess absorption above the Galactic column value. The soft component emission is probably a super wind while the nature of the hard emission is more uncertain with the likely origins being X-ray binaries, inverse Compton scattering of infrared photons, an active galactic nucleus or a very hot gas component (∼108 K). The spectrum of NGC 3690 is similar, with kT  = 0.83+0.02−0.04 keV and Γ = 1.56+0.11−0.11. We also employ more complicated models such as a multi-temperature thermal plasma, a non-equilibrium ionization code or the addition of a third softer component, which improve the fit but not at a statistically significant level (2σ). These results are similar to recent results on the archetypal star-forming galaxies M82 and NGC 253.  相似文献   

10.
We present an X-ray spectroscopic study of the prototype far-infrared galaxy NGC 6240 from ASCA . The soft X-ray spectrum (below 2 keV) shows clear signatures of thermal emission well described by a multitemperature optically thin plasma, which probably originates in a powerful starburst. Strong hard X-ray emission is also detected with ASCA and its spectrum above 3 keV is extremely flat with a prominent iron K line complex, very similar to that seen in the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 but about an order of magnitude more luminous ( L 3−10keV ≈ 1.4 × 1042 erg s−1). The hard X-ray spectrum indicates that only reflected X-rays of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) buried in a heavy obscuration ( N H > 2 × 1024 cm−2) are visible. This is evidence for an AGN in NGC 6240, emitting possibly at a quasar luminosity (∼ 1045 erg s−1), and suggests its significant contribution to the far-infrared luminosity.  相似文献   

11.
RX J0720.4–3125 has recently been identified as a pulsating soft X-ray source in the ROSAT all-sky survey with a period of 8.391 s. Its spectrum is well characterized by a blackbody with a temperature of 8 × 105 K. We propose that the radiation from this object is thermal emission from a cooling neutron star. For this blackbody temperature we can obtain a robust estimate of the object's age of ∼ 3 × 105 yr, yielding a polar field ∼ 1014 G for magnetic dipole spin-down and a value of P compatible with current observations.  相似文献   

12.
We report results of an 18-ks exposure with the ACIS instrument on Chandra of the powerful z =0.62 radio galaxy 3C 220.1. The X-ray emission separates into cluster gas of emission-weighted kT ∼5 keV , 0.7–12 keV luminosity (to a radius of 45 arcsec) of 5.6×1044 erg s−1 and unresolved emission (coincident with the radio core). While the extended X-ray emission is clearly thermal in nature, a straightforward cooling-flow model, even in conjunction with a point-source component, is a poor fit to the radial profile of the X-ray emission. This is despite the fact that the measured properties of the gas suggest a massive cooling flow of ∼130 M⊙ yr−1, and the data show weak evidence for a temperature gradient. The central unresolved X-ray emission has a power-law spectral energy index α ∼0.7 and 0.7–12 keV luminosity of 1045 erg s−1, and any intrinsic absorption is relatively small. The two-point spectrum of the core emission between radio and X-ray energies has α rx=0.75 . Since this is a flatter spectrum than seen in other sources where the X-ray emission is presumed to be radio-related, regions close to the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in this source may dominate the central X-ray output, as is believed to be the case for lobe-dominated quasars. Simple unification models would be challenged if this were found to be the case for a large fraction of high-power radio galaxies.  相似文献   

13.
Although radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) constitute ≳ 90 per cent of optically identified quasar samples, their radio properties are only poorly understood. In this paper we present the results of a multi-frequency VLA study of 27 low-redshift RQQs. We detect radio emission from 20 objects, half of which are unresolved (≤ 0.24 arcsec). In cases where significant structure can be resolved, double, triple and linear radio sources on scales of a few kpc are found. The radio emission (typically) has a steep spectrum (α ∼ 0.7, where S  ∝ ν−α), and high brightness temperatures ( T B ≥ 105 K) are measured in some of the radio components. The RQQs form a natural extension to the radio luminosity–absolute magnitude distribution of nearby Seyfert 1s. We conclude that a significant fraction of the radio emission in RQQs originates in a compact nuclear source directly associated with the quasar. There are no significant differences between the radio properties of RQQs with elliptical hosts and those in disc galaxies within the current sample.  相似文献   

14.
The single glitch observed in PSR B1821−24, a millisecond pulsar in M28, is unusual on two counts. First, the magnitude of this glitch is at least an order of magnitude smaller  (Δν/ν∼ 10−11)  than the smallest glitch observed to date. Secondly, all other glitching pulsars have strong magnetic fields with   B ≳ 1011 G  and are young, whereas PSR B1821−24 is an old recycled pulsar with a field strength of  2.25 × 109 G  . We have earlier suggested that some of the recycled pulsars could actually be strange quark stars. In this work, we argue that the crustal properties of such a strange pulsar are just right to give rise to a glitch of this magnitude, explaining the scarcity of larger glitches in millisecond pulsars.  相似文献   

15.
We constrain the distance of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission site from the explosion centre R , by determining the location of the electron's self-absorption frequency in the GRB prompt optical-to-X/γ-ray spectral energy distribution, assuming that the optical and the γ-ray emissions are among the same synchrotron radiation continuum of a group of hot electrons. All possible spectral regimes are considered in our analysis. The method has only two assumed parameters, namely the bulk Lorentz factor of the emitting source Γ and the magnetic field strength B in the emission region (with a weak dependence). We identify a small sample of four bursts that satisfy the following three criteria: (1) they all have simultaneous optical and γ-ray detections in multiple observational time intervals, (2) they all show temporal correlations between the optical and γ-ray light curves and (3) the optical emission is consistent with belonging to the same spectral component as the γ-ray emission. For all the time intervals of these four bursts, it is inferred that   R ≥ 1014  (Γ/300)3/4 ( B /105 G)1/4  cm. For a small fraction of the sample, the constraint can be pinned down to   R ≈ 1014–1015 cm  for  Γ∼ 300  . For a second sample of bursts with prompt optical non-detections, only upper limits on R can be obtained. We find no inconsistency between the R -constraints for this non-detection sample and those for the detection sample.  相似文献   

16.
We report on the discovery of a narrow-emission-line object at z  = 0.672 detected in a deep ASCA survey. The object, AXJ 0341.4–4453, has a flux in the 2–10 keV band of 1.1 ± 0.27 × 10−13 erg s−1 cm−2, corresponding to a luminosity of 1.8 × 1044 erg s−1 ( q 0 = 0.5, H 0 = 50 km s−1 Mpc−1). It is also marginally detected in the ROSAT 0.5–2 keV band with a flux 5.8 × 10−15 erg s−1 cm−2. Both the ASCA data alone and the combined ROSAT/ASCA data show a very hard X-ray spectrum, consistent with either a flat power law (α < 0.1) or photoelectric absorption with a column of n H > 4 × 1022 cm−2 (α = 1). The optical spectrum shows the high-ionization, narrow emission lines typical of a Seyfert 2 galaxy. We suggest that this object may be typical of the hard sources required to explain the remainder of the X-ray background at hard energies.  相似文献   

17.
An algorithm of the ensemble pulsar time based on the optimal Wiener filtration method has been constructed. This algorithm allows the separation of the contributions to the post-fit pulsar timing residuals of the atomic clock and the pulsar itself. Filters were designed using the cross- and auto-covariance functions of the timing residuals. The method has been applied to the timing data of millisecond pulsars PSR B1855+09 and B1937+21 and allowed the filtering out of the atomic-scale component from the pulsar data. Direct comparison of the terrestrial time TT(BIPM06) and the ensemble pulsar time PTens revealed that the fractional instability of TT(BIPM06)−PTens is equal to  σ z = (0.8 ± 1.9) × 10−15  . Based on the  σ z   statistics of TT(BIPM06)−PTens, a new limit of the energy density of the gravitational wave background was calculated to be equal to  Ωg h 2∼ 3 × 10−9  .  相似文献   

18.
We present X-ray results on the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp 220 obtained with BeppoSAX . X-ray emission up to 10 keV is detected. No significant signal is detected with the PDS detector in the higher energy band. The 2–10 keV emission has a flat spectrum (Γ∼1.7) , similar to M82, and a luminosity of ∼ 1×1041 erg s−1 . A population of X-ray binaries may be a major source of this X-ray emission. The upper limit of an iron K line equivalent width at 6.4 keV is ≃600 eV. This observation imposes the tightest constraint so far on an active nucleus if present in Arp 220. We find that a column density of X-ray absorption must exceed 1025 cm−2 for an obscured active nucleus to be significant in the energetics, and the covering factor of the absorption should be almost unity. The underluminous soft X-ray starburst emission may need a good explanation, if the bolometric luminosity is primarily powered by a starburst.  相似文献   

19.
We discuss the high-energy afterglow emission (including high-energy photons, neutrinos and cosmic rays) following the 2004 December 27 giant flare from the soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) 1806−20. If the initial outflow is relativistic with a bulk Lorentz factor  Γ0∼  tens, the high-energy tail of the synchrotron emission from electrons in the forward shock region gives rise to a prominent sub-GeV emission, if the electron spectrum is hard enough and if the initial Lorentz factor is high enough. This signal could serve as a diagnosis of the initial Lorentz factor of the giant flare outflow. This component is potentially detectable by the Gamma-Ray Large Area Telescope ( GLAST ) if a similar giant flare occurs in the GLAST era. With the available 10-MeV data, we constrain that  Γ0 < 50  if the electron distribution is a single power law. For a broken power-law distribution of electrons, a higher Γ0 is allowed. At energies higher than 1 GeV, the flux is lower because of a high-energy cut-off of the synchrotron emission component. The synchrotron self-Compton emission component and the inverse Compton scattering component off the photons in the giant flare oscillation tail are also considered, but they are found not significant given a moderate Γ0 (e.g. ≤ 10). The forward shock also accelerates cosmic rays to the maximum energy 1017 eV, and generates neutrinos with a typical energy 1014 eV through photomeson interaction with the X-ray tail photons. However, they are too weak to be detectable.  相似文献   

20.
We present ROSAT High Resolution Imager (HRI) and ASCA observations of the well-known ultraluminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) IRAS 19254−7245 (the 'Superantennae' ). The object is not detected by ROSAT , implying a 3 σ upper limit of X-ray luminosity L X∼8×1041 erg s−1 in the 0.1–2 keV band. However, we obtain a clear detection by ASCA , yielding a luminosity in the 2–10 keV band of 2×1042 erg s−1. The X-ray spectrum of IRAS 19254−7245 is very hard, equivalent to a photon index of Γ=1.0±0.35. We therefore attempt to model the X-ray data using a 'scatterer' model, in which the intrinsic X-ray emission along our line of sight is obscured by an absorbing screen while some fraction, f , is scattered into our line of sight by an ionized medium; this is the standard model for the X-ray emission in obscured (but non Compton-thick) Seyfert galaxies. We obtain an absorbing column density of N H=2×1023 cm−2 for a power-law photon index of Γ=1.9, an order of magnitude above the column estimated on the basis of optical observations; the percentage of the scattered emission is high (∼20 per cent). Alternatively, a model where most of the X-ray emission comes from reflection on a Compton-thick torus ( N H>1024 cm−2) cannot be ruled out. We do not detect an Fe line at 6.4 keV; however, the upper limit (90 per cent) to the equivalent width of the 6.4 keV line is high (∼3 keV). Overall , the results suggest that most of the X-ray emission originates in a highly obscured Seyfert 2 nucleus.  相似文献   

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