| 2501. |
- Salmi, Tuomo, et al.
(författare)
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Magnetospheric return-current-heated atmospheres of rotation-powered millisecond pulsars
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP SCIENCES S A. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 641
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We computed accurate atmosphere models of rotation-powered millisecond pulsars in which the polar caps of a neutron star (NS) are externally heated by magnetospheric return currents. The external ram pressure, energy losses, and stopping depth of the penetrating charged particles were computed self-consistently with the atmosphere model, instead of assuming a simplified deep-heated atmosphere in radiative equilibrium. We used exact Compton scattering formalism to model the properties of the emergent X-ray radiation. The deep-heating approximation was found to be valid only if most of the heat originates from ultra-relativistic bombarding particles with Lorentz factors of gamma greater than or similar to 100. In the opposite regime, the atmosphere attains a distinct two-layer structure with an overheated optically thin skin on top of an optically thick cool plasma. The overheated skin strongly modifies the emergent radiation: It produces a Compton-upscattered high-energy tail in the spectrum and alters the radiation beaming pattern from limb darkening to limb brightening for emitted hard X-rays. This kind of drastic change in the emission properties can have a significant impact on the inferred NS pulse profile parameters as performed, for example, by Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR. Finally, the connection between the energy distribution of the return current particles and the atmosphere emission properties offers a new tool to probe the exact physics of pulsar magnetospheres.
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| 2502. |
- Salmi, Tuomo, et al.
(författare)
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Neutron star parameter constraints for accretion-powered millisecond pulsars from the simulated IXPE data
- 2021
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP SCIENCES S A. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 646
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have simulated the X-ray polarization data that can be obtained with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, when observing accretion-powered millisecond pulsars. We estimated the necessary exposure times for SAX J1808.4-3658 in order to obtain different accuracy in the measured time-dependent Stokes profiles integrated over all energy channels. We found that the measured relative errors strongly depend on the relative configuration of the observer and the emitting hotspot. The improvement in the minimum relative error in Stokes Q and U parameters as a function of observing time t scales as 1= p t,, and it spans the range from 30-90% with a 200 ks exposure time to 20-60% with a 500 ks exposure time (in the case of data binned in 19 phase bins). The simulated data were also used to predict how accurate measurements of the geometrical parameters of the neutron star can be made when modelling only Q and U parameters, but not the flux. We found that the observer inclination and the hotspot co-latitude could be determined with better than 10 degrees accuracy for most of the cases we considered. In addition, we show that the position of a secondary hotspot can also be constrained when the spot is not obscured by an accretion disc. These measurements can be used to further constrain the neutron star mass and radius when combined with modelling of the X-ray pulse profile.
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| 2503. |
- Salvatore, S., et al.
(författare)
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Possible jet contribution to the γ-ray luminosity in NGC 1068
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 687
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- NGC 1068 is a nearby, widely studied Seyfert II galaxy presenting radio, infrared, X-ray, and γ-ray emission, along with strong evidence for high-energy neutrino emission. Recently, the evidence for neutrino emission was explained in a multimessenger model, whereby the neutrinos originate from the corona of the active galactic nucleus. In this environment, γ-rays are strongly absorbed, so that an additional contribution is necessary, for instance, from the circumnuclear starburst ring. In this work, we discuss whether the radio jet can be an alternative source of the γ-rays between about 0.1 and 100 GeV, as observed by Fermi-LAT. In particular, we include both leptonic and hadronic processes, namely, accounting for inverse Compton emission and signatures from pp as well as pγ interactions. In order to constrain our calculations, we used VLBA and ALMA observations of the radio knot structures, which are spatially resolved at different distances from the supermassive black hole. Our results show that the best leptonic scenario for the prediction of the Fermi-LAT data is provided by the radio knot closest to the central engine. For that to be the case, a magnetic field strength of ∼mG is needed as well as a strong spectral softening of the relativistic electron distribution at (1a∼10)aγ GeV. However, we show that neither such a weak magnetic field strength, nor such a strong softening is expected for that knot. A possible explanation for the ≥14;10 GeV γ-rays could potentially be provided by hadronic pion production in case of a gas density a104a cm3. Nonetheless, this process is not found to contribute significantly to the low-energy end of the Fermi-LAT range. We conclude that the emission sites in the jet are not sufficient to explain the γ-rays across the whole Fermi-LAT energy band.
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| 2504. |
- Salvestrini, F., et al.
(författare)
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The molecular gas properties in local Seyfert 2 galaxies
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 663, s. 1DUMM-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. We present a multiwavelength study of the molecular gas properties of a sample of local Seyfert 2 galaxies to assess if, and to what extent, the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) can affect the interstellar medium (ISM) properties in a sample of 33 local Seyfert 2 galaxies. Methods. We compare the molecular gas content (MH2) derived from new and archival low-J CO line measurements of a sample of AGN and a control sample of star-forming galaxies (SFGs). Both the AGN and the control sample are characterized in terms of host-galaxy properties, for example stellar and dust masses (M* and Mdust, respectively) and the star formation rate (SFR). We also investigate the effect of AGN activity on the emission of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules in the mid-infrared (MIR), a waveband where the dust-reprocessed emission from the obscured AGN contributes the most. Result. The AGN hosted in less massive galaxies (i.e., M* < 1010.5 M⊙; Mdust < 107.5 M⊙) show larger molecular gas contents with respect to SFGs that have the same stellar and dust masses. When comparing their depletion times (tdep ≈ MH2/SFR), AGN show tdep ∼ 0.3-1.0 Gyr, similar to the times observed in the control sample of SFGs. Seyfert 2 galaxies show fainter PAH luminosity the larger the dominance of the nuclear activity in the MIR. Conclusions. We find no clear evidence for a systematic reduction in the molecular gas reservoir at galactic scales in Seyfert galaxies with respect to SFGs. This is in agreement with recent studies that show that molecular gas content is only reduced in sub-kiloparsec-sized regions, where emission from the accreting supermassive black hole dominates. Nonetheless, we show that the impact of AGN activity on the ISM is clearly visible as a suppression of the PAH luminosity.
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| 2505. |
- Samland, M., et al.
(författare)
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Spectral and atmospheric characterization of 51 Eridani b using VLT/SPHERE
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 603
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. 51 Eridani b is an exoplanet around a young (20 Myr) nearby (29.4 pc) F0-type star, which was recently discovered by direct imaging. It is one of the closest direct imaging planets in angular and physical separation (similar to 0.5 '', similar to 13 au) and is well suited for spectroscopic analysis using integral field spectrographs. Aims. We aim to refine the atmospheric properties of the known giant planet and to constrain the architecture of the system further by searching for additional companions. Methods. We used the extreme adaptive optics instrument SPHERE at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to obtain simultaneous dual-band imaging with IRDIS and integral field spectra with IFS, extending the spectral coverage of the planet to the complete Y-to H-band range and providing additional photometry in the K12-bands (2.11, 2.25 mu m). The object is compared to other known cool and peculiar dwarfs. The posterior probability distributions for parameters of cloudy and clear atmospheric models are explored using MCMC. We verified our methods by determining atmospheric parameters for the two benchmark brown dwarfs Gl 570D and HD 3651B. We used archival VLT-NACO (L') Sparse Aperture Masking data to probe the innermost region for additional companions. Results. We present the first spectrophotometric measurements in the Y and K bands for the planet and revise its J-band flux to values 40% fainter than previous measurements. Cloudy models with uniform cloud coverage provide a good match to the data. We derive the temperature, radius, surface gravity, metallicity, and cloud sedimentation parameter f(sed). We find that the atmosphere is highly super-solar ([Fe/H] = 1.0 +/- 0.1 dex), and the low f(sed) = 1.26(-0.29)(+0.36) value is indicative of a vertically extended, optically thick cloud cover with small sized particles. The model radius and surface gravity estimates suggest higher planetary masses of M-gravity = 9.1(-3.3)(+4.9) M-J. The evolutionary model only provides a lower mass limit of > 2 M-J (for pure hot-start). The cold-start model cannot explain the luminosity of the planet. The SPHERE and NACO/SAM detection limits probe the 51 Eri system at solar system scales and exclude brown-dwarf companions more massive than 20 M-J beyond separations of similar to 2.5 au and giant planets more massive than 2 M-J beyond 9 au.
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| 2506. |
- Samland, Matthias, et al.
(författare)
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TRAP : a temporal systematics model for improved direct detection of exoplanets at small angular separations
- 2021
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 646
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. High-contrast imaging surveys for exoplanet detection have shown that giant planets at large separations are rare. Thus, it is of paramount importance to push towards detections at smaller separations, which is the part of the parameter space containing the greatest number of planets. The performance of traditional methods for the post-processing of pupil-stabilized observations decreases at smaller separations due to the larger field-rotation required to displace a source on the detector in addition to the intrinsic difficulty of higher stellar contamination.Aims. Our goal is to develop a method of extracting exoplanet signals, which improves performance at small angular separations.Methods. A data-driven model of the temporal behavior of the systematics for each pixel can be created using reference pixels at a different positions, on the condition that the underlying causes of the systematics are shared across multiple pixels, which is mostly true for the speckle pattern in high-contrast imaging. In our causal regression model, we simultaneously fit the model of a planet signal “transiting” over detector pixels and non-local reference light curves describing the shared temporal trends of the speckle pattern to find the best-fitting temporal model describing the signal.Results. With our implementation of a spatially non-local, temporal systematics model, called TRAP, we show that it is possible to gain up to a factor of six in contrast at close separations (<3λ∕D), as compared to a model based on spatial correlations between images displaced in time. We show that the temporal sampling has a large impact on the achievable contrast, with better temporal sampling resulting in significantly better contrasts. At short integration times, (4 s) for β Pic data, we increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the planet by a factor of four compared to the spatial systematics model. Finally, we show that the temporal model can be used on unaligned data that has only been dark- and flat-corrected, without the need for further pre-processing.
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| 2507. |
- Samuelsson, Filip, et al.
(författare)
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Ending the prompt phase in photospheric models of gamma-ray bursts
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 683
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The early steep decay, a rapid decrease in X-ray flux as a function of time following the prompt emission, is a robust feature seen in almost all gamma-ray bursts with early enough X-ray observations. This peculiar phenomenon has often been explained as emission from high latitudes of the last flashing shell. However, in photospheric models of gamma-ray bursts, the timescale of high-latitude emission is generally short compared to the duration of the steep decay phase, and hence an alternative explanation is needed. In this paper we show that the early steep decay can directly result from the final activity of the dying central engine. We find that the corresponding photospheric emission can reproduce both the temporal and spectral evolution observed. This requires a late-time behaviour that should be common to all gamma-ray burst central engines, and we estimate the necessary evolution of the kinetic power and the Lorentz factor. If this interpretation is correct, observation of the early steep decay can give us insights into the last stages of central activity, and provide new constraints on the late evolution of the Lorentz factor and photospheric radius.
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| 2508. |
- Sana, H., et al.
(författare)
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A dearth of short-period massive binaries in the young massive star forming region M17 Evidence for a large orbital separation at birth?
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 599
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. The formation of massive stars remains poorly understood and little is known about their birth multiplicity properties. Here, we aim to quantitatively investigate the strikingly low radial-velocity dispersion measured for a sample of 11 massive pre- and near main-sequence stars (sigma(1D) = 5.6 +/- 0.2 km s(-1)) in the very young massive star forming region M 17, in order to obtain first constraints on the multiplicity properties of young massive stellar objects.Methods. We compute the radial-velocity dispersion of synthetic populations of massive stars for various multiplicity properties and we compare the obtained sigma(1D) distributions to the observed value. We specifically investigate two scenarios: a low binary fraction and a dearth of short-period binary systems.Results. Simulated populations with low binary fractions (f(bin) = 0.12(-0.09)(+0.16)) or with truncated period distributions (P-cutoff > 9 months) are able to reproduce the low sigma(1D) observed within their 68%-confidence intervals. Furthermore, parent populations with f(bin) > 0.42 or P-cutoff < 47 d can be rejected at the 5%-significance level. Both constraints are in stark contrast with the high binary fraction and plethora of short-period systems in few Myr-old, well characterized OB-type populations. To explain the difference in the context of the first scenario would require a variation of the outcome of the massive star formation process. In the context of the second scenario, compact binaries must form later on, and the cut-off period may be related to physical length-scales representative of the bloated pre-main-sequence stellar radii or of their accretion disks.Conclusions. If the obtained constraints for the M 17's massive-star population are representative of the multiplicity properties of massive young stellar objects, our results may provide support to a massive star formation process in which binaries are initially formed at larger separations, then harden or migrate to produce the typical (untruncated) power-law period distribution observed in few Myr-old OB binaries.
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| 2509. |
- Sanchez Contreras, C., et al.
(författare)
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A rotating fast bipolar wind and disk system around the B[e]-type star MWC 922
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 629
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present interferometric observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) of the free-free continuum and recombination line emission at 1 and 3 mm of the Red Square Nebula surrounding the B[e]-type star MWC 922. The distance to the source, which is unknown, is usually taken to be d= 1.7-3 kpc. The unprecedented angular resolution (up to similar to 0 ''.02) and exquisite sensitivity of these data reveal for the first time the structure and kinematics of the nascent compact ionized region at its center. We imaged the line emission of H30 alpha and H39 alpha, previously detected with single-dish observations, and of H51 epsilon, H55 gamma, and H63 delta, detected for the first time in this work. The line emission is seen over a full velocity range of similar to 180 km s(-1) arising in a region of diameter <0 ''.14 (less than a few hundred au) in the maser line H30 alpha, which is the most intense transition reported here. We resolve the spatio-kinematic structure of a nearly edge-on disk rotating around a central mass of similar to 10 M-circle dot (d= 1.7 kpc) or similar to 18 M-circle dot (d = 3 kpc), assuming Keplerian rotation. Our data also reveal a fast (similar to 100 km s(-1)) bipolar ejection (possibly a jet) orthogonal to the disk. In addition, a slow (<15 km s(-1)) wind may be emanating from the disk. Both, the slow and the fast winds are found to be rotating in a similar manner to the ionized layers of the disk. This represents the first empirical proof of rotation in a bipolar wind expanding at high velocity (similar to 100 km s(-1)). The launching radius of the fast wind is found to be <30-51 au (i.e., smaller than the inner rim of the ionized disk probed by our observations). We believe that the fast wind is actively being launched, probably by a disk-mediated mechanism in a (possibly accretion) disk around a possible compact companion. We have modeled our observations using the radiative transfer code MORELI. This enables us to describe with unparalleled detail the physical conditions and kinematics in the inner layers of MWC 922, which has revealed itself as an ideal laboratory for studying the interplay of disk rotation and jet-launching. Although the nature of MWC 922 remains unclear, we believe it could be a similar to 15 M-circle dot post-main sequence star in a mass-exchanging binary system. If this is the case, a more realistic value of the distance may be d similar to 3 kpc.
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| 2510. |
- Sánchez-Fernández, C., et al.
(författare)
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Burst-induced coronal cooling in GS 1826-24 The clock wagging its tail
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 634
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Type I X-ray bursts in GS 1826-24, and in several other systems, may induce cooling of the hot inner accretion flow that surrounds the bursting neutron star. Given that GS 1826-24 remained persistently in the hard state over the period 2003-2008 and presented regular bursting properties, we stacked the spectra of the X-ray bursts detected by INTEGRAL (JEM-X and ISGRI) and XMM-Newton (RGS) during that period to study the effect of the burst photons on the properties of the Comptonizing medium. The extended energy range provided by these instruments allows the simultaneous observation of the burst and persistent emission spectra. We detect an overall change in the shape of the persistent emission spectrum in response to the burst photon shower. For the first time, we observe simultaneously a drop in the hard X-ray emission, together with a soft X-ray excess with respect to the burst blackbody emission. The hard X-ray drop can be explained by burst-induced coronal cooling, while the bulk of the soft X-ray excess can be described by fitting the burst emission with an atmosphere model, instead of a simple blackbody model. Traditionally, the persistent emission was assumed to be invariant during X-ray bursts, and more recently to change only in normalization but not in spectral shape; the observed change in the persistent emission level during X-ray bursts may thus trigger the revision of existing neutron star mass-radius constraints, as the derived values rely on the assumption that the persistent emission does not change during X-ray bursts. The traditional burst fitting technique leads to up to a 10% overestimation of the bolometric burst flux in GS 1826-24, which significantly hampers the comparisons of the KEPLER and MESA model against this textbook burster.
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