| 1. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(författare)
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Fermi Observations of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from GRB 080916C
- 2009
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 323:5922, s. 1688-1693
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are highly energetic explosions signaling the death of massive stars in distant galaxies. The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi Observatory together record GRBs over a broad energy range spanning about 7 decades of gamma-ray energy. In September 2008, Fermi observed the exceptionally luminous GRB 080916C, with the largest apparent energy release yet measured. The high-energy gamma rays are observed to start later and persist longer than the lower energy photons. A simple spectral form fits the entire GRB spectrum, providing strong constraints on emission models. The known distance of the burst enables placing lower limits on the bulk Lorentz factor of the outflow and on the quantum gravity mass.
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| 2. |
- Donnarumma, I., et al.
(författare)
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Multiwavelength Observations of 3C 454.3. II. The AGILE 2007 December Campaign
- 2009
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205. ; 707:2, s. 1115-1123
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the second Astrorivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE) multiwavelength campaign of the blazar 3C 454.3 during the first half of 2007 December. This campaign involved AGILE, Spitzer, Swift, Suzaku, the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) consortium, the Rapid Eye Mount (REM), and the Multicolor Imaging Telescopes for Survey and Monstrous Explosions (MITSuME) telescopes, offering a broadband coverage that allowed for a simultaneous sampling of the synchrotron and inverse Compton (IC) emissions. The two-week AGILE monitoring was accompanied by radio to optical monitoring by WEBT and REM, and by sparse observations in mid-infrared and soft/ hard X-ray energy bands performed by means of Target of Opportunity observations by Spitzer, Swift, and Suzaku, respectively. The source was detected with an average flux of similar to 250 x 10(-8) photons cm(-2) s(-1) above 100 MeV, typical of its flaring states. The simultaneous optical and gamma-ray monitoring allowed us to study the time lag associated with the variability in the two energy bands, resulting in a possible <= one-day delay of the gamma-ray emission with respect to the optical one. From the simultaneous optical and gamma-ray fast flare detected on December 12, we can constrain the delay between the gamma-ray and optical emissions within 12 hr. Moreover, we obtain three spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with simultaneous data for 2007 December 5, 13, and 15, characterized by the widest multifrequency coverage. We found that a model with an external Compton on seed photons by a standard disk and reprocessed by the broad-line regions does not describe in a satisfactory way the SEDs of 2007 December 5, 13, and 15. An additional contribution, possibly from the hot corona with T = 10(6) K surrounding the jet, is required to account simultaneously for the softness of the synchrotron and the hardness of the IC emissions during those epochs.
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| 3. |
- Perri, S., et al.
(författare)
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Magnetic turbulence in space plasmas : Scale-dependent effects of anisotropy
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 114, s. A02102-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The presence of a background magnetic field induces anisotropy in magnetic turbulence. Understanding properties of anisotropy is important to characterize turbulence power spectrum. This paper presents a case study of anisotropy by using a minimum variance analysis, in three different regions of the heliosphere, namely in the solar wind, and in the Earth's foreshock and magnetosheath behind a quasiparallel bow shock. A strong anisotropy is found in all cases, with very interesting cross-scale effects at the ion cyclotron frequency. In particular, (1) the eigenvalues of the variance matrix have a strong intermittent behavior, with very high localized fluctuations below the ion cyclotron scale. As a consequence the probability distribution functions are almost Gaussian5 above the ion cyclotron scale and become power laws at smaller scales; (2) the minimum variance direction is almost parallel to the background magnetic field at scales larger than the ion cyclotron scale in the solar wind and in the foreshock, while their probability density functions become broader at smaller scales. In the magnetosheath the minimum variance direction exhibits a tendency to become nearly perpendicular to the large-scale magnetic field below the ion cyclotron scale.
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| 4. |
- Tanvir, N. R., et al.
(författare)
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A γ-ray burst at a redshift of z~8.2
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 461, s. 1254-1257
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the explosions of certain massive stars, and some are bright enough that they should be observable out to redshifts of z>20 using current technology. Hitherto, the highest redshift measured for any object was z = 6.96, for a Lyman-α emitting galaxy. Here we report that GRB090423 lies at a redshift of z~8.2, implying that massive stars were being produced and dying as GRBs ~630Myr after the Big Bang. The burst also pinpoints the location of its host galaxy.
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