Formation of hard very high energy gamma-ray spectra of blazars due to internal photon–photon absorption     

Felix A. Aharonian  D. Khangulyan  L. Costamante 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,387(3):1206-1214

The energy spectra of TeV gamma-rays from blazars, after being corrected for intergalatic absorption in the extragalactic background light (EBL), appear unusually hard, a fact that poses challenges to the conventional models of particle acceleration in TeV blazars and/or to the EBL models. In this paper, we show that the internal absorption of gamma-rays caused by interactions with dense narrow-band radiation fields in the vicinity of compact gamma-ray production regions can lead to the formation of gamma-ray spectra of an almost arbitrary hardness. This allows significant relaxation of the current tight constraints on particle acceleration and radiation models, although at the expense of enhanced requirements to the available non-thermal energy budget. The latter, however, is not a critical issue, as long as it can be largely compensated by the Doppler boosting, assuming large (>10) Doppler factors of the relativistically moving gamma-ray production regions. The suggested scenario of formation of hard gamma-ray spectra predicts detectable synchrotron radiation of secondary electron–positron pairs which might require a revision of the current 'standard paradigm' of spectral energy distributions of gamma-ray blazars. If the primary gamma-rays are of hadronic origin related to pp or   p γ  interactions, the 'internal gamma-ray absorption' model predicts neutrino fluxes close to the detection threshold of the next generation high-energy neutrino detectors.  相似文献   

Studying the X-ray hysteresis in GX 339−4: the disc and iron line over one decade     

R. J. H. Dunn  R. P. Fender  E. G. Körding  C. Cabanac  T. Belloni 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,387(2):545-563

We report on a comprehensive and consistent investigation into the X-ray emission from GX 339−4. All public observations in the 11 year RXTE archive were analysed. Three different types of model – single power law, broken power law and a disc + power law – were fitted to investigate the evolution of the disc, along with a fixed Gaussian component at 6.4 keV to investigate any iron line in the spectrum. We show that the relative variation in flux and X-ray colour between the two best sampled outbursts are very similar. The decay of the disc temperature during the outburst is clearly seen in the soft state. The expected decay is   S _Disc∝ T ⁴  ; we measure   T ^4.75±0.23  . This implies that the inner disc radius is approximately constant in the soft state. We also show a significant anticorrelation between the iron line equivalent width (EW) and the X-ray flux in the soft state while in the hard state the EW is independent of the flux. This results in hysteresis in the relation between X-ray flux and both line flux and EW. To compare the X-ray binary outburst to the behaviour seen in active galactic nuclei (AGN), we construct a disc fraction luminosity diagram for GX 339−4, the first for an X-ray binary. The shape qualitatively matches that produced for AGN. Linking this with the radio emission from GX 339−4 the change in radio spectrum between the disc and power-law-dominated states is clearly visible.  相似文献   

Grain alignment in dense interstellar environments: spectropolarimetry of the 4.67-μm CO-ice feature in the field star Elias 16 (Taurus dark cloud)     

J. H. Hough  D. K. Aitken  D. C. B. Whittet  A. J. Adamson  A. Chrysostomou 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,387(2):797-802

We present spectropolarimetry of the solid CO feature at 4.67 μm along the line of sight to Elias 16, a field star background to the Taurus dark cloud. A clear increase in polarization is observed across the feature with the peak of polarization shifted in wavelength relative to the peak of absorption. This shows that dust grains in dense, cold environments (temperatures ∼20 K or less) can align and produce polarization by dichroic absorption. For a grain model, consisting of a core with a single mantle, the polarization feature is best modelled by a thick CO mantle, possibly including 10 per cent water-ice, with the volume ratio of mantle to bare grain of ∼5. Radiative torques could be responsible for the grain alignment provided the grain radius is at least 0.5 μm. This would require the grain cores to have a radius of at least 0.3 μm, much larger than grain sizes in the diffuse interstellar medium. Sizes of this order seem reasonable on the basis of independent evidence for grain growth by coagulation, as well as mantle formation, inside dense clouds.  相似文献   

Current star formation in early-type galaxies and the K+A phenomenon   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

J. F. Helmboldt  R. A. M. Walterbos  T. Goto 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,387(4):1537-1553

  相似文献   

The vertical structure of planet-induced gaps in protoplanetary discs     

Richard G. Edgar  Alice C. Quillen 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,387(1):387-396

Giant planets embedded in circumstellar discs are expected to open gaps in these discs. We examine the vertical structure of the gap edges. We find that the planet excites spiral arms with significant (Mach number of a half) vertical motion of the gas, and discuss the implications of these motions. In particular, the spiral arms will make the edge appear 'puffed up' relative to the bulk of the disc. Infrared observations (sensitive to dust) would be dominated by the light from the thick inner edge of the disc. Submillimetre observations (sensitive to gas velocities) would appear to be hot in 'turbulent' motions (actually the ordered motion caused by the passage of the spiral arms), but cold in chemistry. Resolved submillimetre maps of circumstellar discs might even be able to detect the spiral arms directly.  相似文献   

Properties of vertically self-gravitating accretion discs with a dissipative corona     

Fazeleh Khajenabi  Peter Duffy 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,388(4):1843-1852

  相似文献   

A simple model to interpret the ultraviolet, optical and infrared emission from galaxies     

Elisabete da Cunha  Stéphane Charlot  David Elbaz 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,388(4):1595-1617

  相似文献   

Nekhoroshev stability at L₄ or L₅ in the elliptic-restricted three-body problem – application to Trojan asteroids     

Ch. Lhotka  C. Efthymiopoulos  R. Dvorak 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,384(3):1165-1177

  相似文献   

Limitations of Bayesian Evidence applied to cosmology     

G. Efstathiou 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,388(3):1314-1320

There has been increasing interest by cosmologists in applying Bayesian techniques, such as Bayesian Evidence, for model selection. A typical example is in assessing whether observational data favour a cosmological constant over evolving dark energy. In this paper, the example of dark energy is used to illustrate limitations in the application of Bayesian Evidence associated with subjective judgements concerning the choice of model and priors. An analysis of recent cosmological data shows a statistically insignificant preference for a cosmological constant over simple dynamical models of dark energy. It is argued that for nested problems, as considered here, Bayesian parameter estimation can be more informative than computing Bayesian Evidence for poorly motivated physical models.  相似文献   

Magnetorotational instability in protoplanetary discs: the effect of dust grains     

Raquel Salmeron  Mark Wardle 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2008,388(3):1223-1238

  相似文献