| 1. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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The large observatory for x-ray timing
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 9780819496126
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) was studied within ESA M3 Cosmic Vision framework and participated in the final downselection for a launch slot in 2022-2024. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument, LOFT will study the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions, such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions of accretion flows close to black holes and neutron stars, and the supranuclear densities in the interior of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, 10 m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1° collimated field of view) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g. GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the status of the mission at the end of its Phase A study.
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| 2. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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LOFT - The large observatory for x-ray timing
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering. - 9780819491442 ; , s. 84432D-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The LOFT mission concept is one of four candidates selected by ESA for the M3 launch opportunity as Medium Size missions of the Cosmic Vision programme. The launch window is currently planned for between 2022 and 2024. LOFT is designed to exploit the diagnostics of rapid X-ray flux and spectral variability that directly probe the motion of matter down to distances very close to black holes and neutron stars, as well as the physical state of ultradense matter. These primary science goals will be addressed by a payload composed of a Large Area Detector (LAD) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD is a collimated (<1 degree field of view) experiment operating in the energy range 2-50 keV, with a 10 m2 peak effective area and an energy resolution of 260 eV at 6 keV. The WFM will operate in the same energy range as the LAD, enabling simultaneous monitoring of a few-steradian wide field of view, with an angular resolution of <5 arcmin. The LAD and WFM experiments will allow us to investigate variability from submillisecond QPO's to yearlong transient outbursts. In this paper we report the current status of the project.
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| 3. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT)
- 2012
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Ingår i: Experimental Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 34:2, s. 415-444
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, to the equation of state of ultradense matter and to black hole masses and spins. A 10 m(2)-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two of the fundamental questions of the European Space Agency (ESA) Cosmic Vision Theme "Matter under extreme conditions", namely: does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT), selected by ESA as one of the four Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions to undergo an assessment phase, will revolutionise the study of collapsed objects in our galaxy and of the brightest supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. Thanks to an innovative design and the development of large-area monolithic silicon drift detectors, the Large Area Detector (LAD) on board LOFT will achieve an effective area of similar to 12 m(2) (more than an order of magnitude larger than any spaceborne predecessor) in the 2-30 keV range (up to 50 keV in expanded mode), yet still fits a conventional platform and small/medium-class launcher. With this large area and a spectral resolution of < 260 eV, LOFT will yield unprecedented information on strongly curved spacetimes and matter under extreme conditions of pressure and magnetic field strength.
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| 4. |
- De Angelis, A., et al.
(författare)
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Science with e-ASTROGAM A space mission for MeV-GeV gamma-ray astrophysics
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of High Energy Astrophysics. - : Elsevier. - 2214-4048 .- 2214-4056. ; 19, s. 1-106
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- e-ASTROGAM ('enhanced ASTROGAM') is a breakthrough Observatory space mission, with a detector composed by a Silicon tracker, a calorimeter, and an anticoincidence system, dedicated to the study of the non-thermal Universe in the photon energy range from 0.3 MeV to 3 GeV - the lower energy limit can be pushed to energies as low as 150 keV for the tracker, and to 30 keV for calorimetric detection. The mission is based on an advanced space-proven detector technology, with unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolution, combined with polarimetric capability. Thanks to its performance in the MeV-GeV domain, substantially improving its predecessors, e-ASTROGAM will open a new window on the non-thermal Universe, making pioneering observations of the most powerful Galactic and extragalactic sources, elucidating the nature of their relativistic outflows and their effects on the surroundings. With a line sensitivity in the MeV energy range one to two orders of magnitude better than previous generation instruments, e-ASTROGAM will determine the origin of key isotopes fundamental for the understanding of supernova explosion and the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. The mission will provide unique data of significant interest to a broad astronomical community, complementary to powerful observatories such as LIGO-Virgo-GEO600-KAGRA, SKA, ALMA, E-ELT, TMT, LSST, JWST, Athena, CTA, IceCube, KM3NeT, and LISA.
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| 5. |
- Smartt, S. J., et al.
(författare)
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PESSTO : survey description and products from the first data release by the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects
- 2015
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 579
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The Public European Southern Observatory Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects (PESSTO) began as a public spectroscopic survey in April 2012. PESSTO classifies transients from publicly available sources and wide-field surveys, and selects science targets for detailed spectroscopic and photometric follow-up. PESSTO runs for nine months of the year, January - April and August - December inclusive, and typically has allocations of 10 nights per month. Aims. We describe the data reduction strategy and data products that are publicly available through the ESO archive as the Spectroscopic Survey data release 1 (SSDR1). Methods. PESSTO uses the New Technology Telescope with the instruments EFOSC2 and SOFI to provide optical and NIR spectroscopy and imaging. We target supernovae and optical transients brighter than 20.5(m) for classification. Science targets are selected for follow-up based on the PESSTO science goal of extending knowledge of the extremes of the supernova population. We use standard EFOSC2 set-ups providing spectra with resolutions of 13-18 angstrom between 3345-9995 angstrom. A subset of the brighter science targets are selected for SOFI spectroscopy with the blue and red grisms (0.935-2.53 mu m and resolutions 23-33 angstrom) and imaging with broadband JHK(s) filters. Results. This first data release (SSDR1) contains flux calibrated spectra from the first year (April 2012-2013). A total of 221 confirmed supernovae were classified, and we released calibrated optical spectra and classifications publicly within 24 h of the data being taken (via WISeREP). The data in SSDR1 replace those released spectra. They have more reliable and quantifiable flux calibrations, correction for telluric absorption, and are made available in standard ESO Phase 3 formats. We estimate the absolute accuracy of the flux calibrations for EFOSC2 across the whole survey in SSDR1 to be typically similar to 15%, although a number of spectra will have less reliable absolute flux calibration because of weather and slit losses. Acquisition images for each spectrum are available which, in principle, can allow the user to refine the absolute flux calibration. The standard NIR reduction process does not produce high accuracy absolute spectrophotometry but synthetic photometry with accompanying JHK(s) imaging can improve this. Whenever possible, reduced SOFI images are provided to allow this. Conclusions. Future data releases will focus on improving the automated flux calibration of the data products. The rapid turnaround between discovery and classification and access to reliable pipeline processed data products has allowed early science papers in the first few months of the survey.
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| 6. |
- Valenti, S., et al.
(författare)
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PESSTO spectroscopic classification of La Silla-Quest Transients
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- PESSTO is the "Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects" (http://www.pessto.org) using the ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT) at La Silla and the EFOSC2 (optical) and SOFI (near-IR) spectrographs. It is one of two currently running public spectroscopic surveys at ESO. The survey details are as follows: - PESSTO has 90 nights per year on the NTT: 9 lunations (August to April), 10 nights per lunation (we are not observing May-July).
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| 7. |
- Papitto, A., et al.
(författare)
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Pulsating in Unison at Optical and X-Ray Energies : Simultaneous High Time Resolution Observations of the Transitional Millisecond Pulsar PSR J1023+0038
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 882:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PSR J1023+0038 is the first millisecond pulsar discovered to pulsate in the visible band; such a detection took place when the pulsar was surrounded by an accretion disk and also showed X-ray pulsations. We report on the first high time resolution observational campaign of this transitional pulsar in the disk state, using simultaneous observations in the optical (Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, Nordic Optical Telescope, Telescopi Joan Oro), X-ray (XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, NICER), infrared (Gran Telescopio Canarias), and UV (Swift) bands. Optical and X-ray pulsations were detected simultaneously in the X-ray high-intensity mode in which the source spends similar to 70% of the time, and both disappeared in the low mode, indicating a common underlying physical mechanism. In addition, optical and X-ray pulses were emitted within a few kilometers and had similar pulse shapes and distributions of the pulsed flux density compatible with a power-law relation F-nu proportional to nu(-0.7) connecting the optical and the 0.3-45 keV X-ray band. Optical pulses were also detected during flares with a pulsed flux reduced by one-third with respect to the high mode; the lack of a simultaneous detection of X-ray pulses is compatible with the lower photon statistics. We show that magnetically channeled accretion of plasma onto the surface of the neutron star cannot account for the optical pulsed luminosity (similar to 10(31) erg s(-1)). On the other hand, magnetospheric rotation-powered pulsar emission would require an extremely efficient conversion of spin-down power into pulsed optical and X-ray emission. We then propose that optical and X-ray pulses are instead produced by synchrotron emission from the intrabinary shock that forms where a striped pulsar wind meets the accretion disk, within a few light cylinder radii away, similar to 100 km, from the pulsar.
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| 8. |
- Pastorello, A., et al.
(författare)
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SN 2009E : a faint clone of SN 1987A
- 2012
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 537
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. 1987A-like events form a rare sub-group of hydrogen-rich core-collapse supernovae that are thought to originate from the explosion of blue supergiant stars. Although SN 1987A is the best known supernova, very few objects of this group have been discovered and, hence, studied. Aims. In this paper we investigate the properties of SN 2009E, which exploded in a relatively nearby spiral galaxy (NGC 4141) and that is probably the faintest 1987A-like supernova discovered so far. We also attempt to characterize this subgroup of core-collapse supernovae with the help of the literature and present new data for a few additional objects. Methods. The lack of early-time observations from professional telescopes is compensated by frequent follow-up observations performed by a number of amateur astronomers. This allows us to reconstruct a well-sampled light curve for SN 2009E. Spectroscopic observations which started about 2 months after the supernova explosion, highlight significant differences between SN 2009E and the prototypical SN 1987A. Modelling the data of SN 2009E allows us to constrain the explosion parameters and the properties of the progenitor star, and compare the inferred estimates with those available for the similar SNe 1987A and 1998A. Results. The light curve of SN 2009E is less luminous than that of SN 1987A and the other members of this class, and the maximum light curve peak is reached at a slightly later epoch than in SN 1987A. Late-time photometric observations suggest that SN 2009E ejected about 0.04 M-circle dot of Ni-56, which is the smallest Ni-56 mass in our sample of 1987A-like events. Modelling the observations with a radiation hydrodynamics code, we infer for SN 2009E a kinetic plus thermal energy of about 0.6 foe, an initial radius of similar to 7x10(12) cm and an ejected mass of similar to 19 M-circle dot. The photospheric spectra show a number of narrow (v approximate to 1800 km s(-1)) metal lines, with unusually strong Ba II lines. The nebular spectrum displays narrow emission lines of H, Na I, [Ca II] and [O I], with the [O I] feature being relatively strong compared to the [Ca II] doublet. The overall spectroscopic evolution is reminiscent of that of the faint Ni-56-poor type II-plateau supernovae. This suggests that SN 2009E belongs to the low-luminosity, low Ni-56 mass, low-energy tail in the distribution of the 1987A-like objects in the same manner as SN 1997D and similar events represent the faint tail in the distribution of physical properties for normal type II-plateau supernovae.
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| 9. |
- Terreran, G., et al.
(författare)
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Hydrogen-rich supernovae beyond the neutrino-driven core-collapse paradigm
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nature Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-3366. ; 1:10, s. 713-720
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Type II supernovae are the final stage of massive stars (above 8 M-circle dot) which retain part of their hydrogen-rich envelope at the moment of explosion. They typically eject up to 15 M-circle dot of material, with peak magnitudes of -17.5 mag and energies in the order of 10(51) erg, which can be explained by neutrino-driven explosions and neutron star formation. Here, we present our study of OGLE-2014-SN-073, one of the brightest type II supernovae ever discovered, with an unusually broad lightcurve combined with high ejecta velocities. From our hydrodynamical modelling, we infer a remarkable ejecta mass of 60(-16)(+42) M-circle dot and a relatively high explosion energy of 12.4(-5.9)(+13.0) x 10(51) erg. We show that this object belongs, along with a very small number of other hydrogen-rich supernovae, to an energy regime that is not explained by standard core-collapse neutrino-driven explosions. We compare the quantities inferred by the hydrodynamical modelling with the expectations of various exploding scenarios and attempt to explain the high energy and luminosity released. We find some qualitative similarities with pair-instability supernovae, although the prompt injection of energy by a magnetar seems to be a viable alternative explanation for such an extreme event.
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| 10. |
- Tomasella, L., et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of progenitor mass estimates for the Type IIP SN 2012A
- 2013
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 434:2, s. 1636-1657
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the one-year long observing campaign of SN 2012A which exploded in the nearby (9.8 Mpc) irregular galaxy NGC 3239. The photometric evolution is that of a normal Type IIP supernova, but the plateau is shorter and the luminosity not as constant as in other supernovae of this type. The absolute maximum magnitude, with M-B = -16.23 +/- 0.16 mag, is close to the average for SN IIP. Thanks also to the strong UV flux in the early phase, SN 2012A reached a peak luminosity of about 2 x 10(42) erg s(-1), which is brighter than those of other SNe with a similar Ni-56 mass. The latter was estimated from the luminosity in the exponential tail of the light curve and found to be M(Ni-56) = 0.011 +/- 0.004 M-circle dot, which is intermediate between standard and faint SN IIP. The spectral evolution of SN 2012A is also typical of SN IIP, from the early spectra dominated by a blue continuum and very broad (similar to 10(4) km s(-1)) Balmer lines, to the late-photospheric spectra characterized by prominent P-Cygni features of metal lines (Fe ii, Sc ii, Ba ii, Ti ii, Ca ii, Na i D). The photospheric velocity is moderately low, similar to 3 x 10(3) km s(-1) at 50 d, for the low optical depth metal lines. The nebular spectrum obtained 394 d after the shock breakout shows the typical features of SNe IIP and the strength of the [O i] doublet suggests a progenitor of intermediate mass, similar to SN 2004et (similar to 15 M-circle dot). A candidate progenitor for SN 2012A has been identified in deep, pre-explosion K-'-band Gemini North Near-InfraRed Imager and Spectrometer images, and found to be consistent with a star with a bolometric magnitude -7.08 +/- 0.36 (log L/L-circle dot = 4.73 +/- 0.14 dex). The magnitude of the recovered progenitor in archival images points towards a moderate-mass 10.5(-2)(+4.5) M-circle dot star as the precursor of SN 2012A. The explosion parameters and progenitor mass were also estimated by means of a hydrodynamical model, fitting the bolometric light curve, the velocity and the temperature evolution. We found a best fit for a kinetic energy of 0.48 foe, an initial radius of 1.8 x 10(13) cm and ejecta mass of 12.5 M-circle dot. Even including the mass for the compact remnant, this appears fully consistent with the direct measurements given above.
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