| 1. |
- Araujo Furlan, S. B., et al.
(författare)
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PROSPECTS FOR DETECTING FAST TRANSIENTS WITH THE RADIO TELESCOPES OF THE ARGENTINE INSTITUTE OF RADIO ASTRONOMY
- 2024
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Ingår i: Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica: Serie de Conferencias. - 1405-2059. ; 56, s. 85-89
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Currently, 6 out of 30 known magnetars had pulsed radio emission detected. In this work, we evaluated the possibility of detecting radio transient events from magnetars with the telescopes of the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (IAR). To this aim, we made daily observations of the magnetar XTE J1810−197 from 02-Sep-22 to 30-Nov-22. We analysed the observations by applying ephemeris folding and single pulse searches. We fitted a timing model to our observations and were able to detect the magnetar on 6 of the 36 observing sessions with signal-to-noise ratios at the limit of detectability, 3.3 ≤ S/N ≤ 4.1. We searched for individual pulses in one of these 6 days and found 7 individual pulses with 8.5 ≤ S/N ≤ 18.8. The dispersion measure changed slightly between pulses within a range of 178 ≤ DM [pc cm−3] ≤ 182. The pulse with S/N = 18.8 has an associated DM of 180 pc cm−3. We confirmed that we can detect pulsed radio emission in the band of 1400 − 1456 MHz from magnetars with a time resolution of 146 µs, being able to detect both integrated pulse profiles and individual pulses.
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| 2. |
- Del Palacio, Santiago, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence for non-thermal X-ray emission from the double Wolf-Rayet colliding-wind binary Apep
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 672
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Massive colliding-wind binaries (CWBs) can be non-thermal sources. The emission produced in their wind-collision region (WCR) encodes information of both the shock properties and the relativistic electrons accelerated in them. The recently discovered system Apep, a unique massive system hosting two Wolf-Rayet stars, is the most powerful synchrotron radio emitter among the known CWBs. It is an exciting candidate in which to investigate the non-thermal processes associated with stellar wind shocks. Aims. We intend to break the degeneracy between the relativistic particle population and the magnetic field strength in the WCR of Apep by probing its hard X-ray spectrum, where inverse-Compton (IC) emission is expected to dominate. Methods. We observed Apep with NuSTAR for 60 ks and combined this with a reanalysis of a deep archival XMM-Newton observation to better constrain the X-ray spectrum. We used a non-thermal emission model to derive physical parameters from the results. Results. We detect hard X-ray emission consistent with a power-law component from Apep. This is compatible with IC emission produced in the WCR for a magnetic field of ≈ 105-190 mG, corresponding to a magnetic-to-thermal pressure ratio in the shocks of ≈ 0.007-0.021, and a fraction of ∼1.5 × 10-4 of the total wind kinetic power being transferred to relativistic electrons. Conclusions. The non-thermal emission from a CWB is detected for the first time in radio and at high energies. This allows us to derive the most robust constraints so far for the particle acceleration efficiency and magnetic field intensity in a CWB, reducing the typical uncertainty of a few orders of magnitude to just within a factor of a few. This constitutes an important step forward in our characterisation of the physical properties of CWBs.
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| 3. |
- Martinez, J. R., et al.
(författare)
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Probing the non-thermal physics of stellar bow shocks using radio observations
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 680
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Massive runaway stars produce bow shocks in the interstellar medium. Recent observations revealed radio emission from a few of these objects, but the origin of this radiation remains poorly understood. Aims. We aim to interpret this radio emission and assess under which conditions it could be either thermal (free-free) or non-thermal (synchrotron), and how to use the observational data to infer physical properties of the bow shocks. Methods. We used an extended non-thermal emission model for stellar bow shocks for which we incorporated a consistent calculation of the thermal emission from the forward shock. We fitted this model to the available radio data (spectral and intensity maps), including largely unexplored data at low frequencies. In addition, we used a simplified one-zone model to estimate the gamma-ray emission from particles escaping the bow shocks. Results. We can only explain the radio data from the best sampled systems (BD +43 degrees 3654 and BD +60 degrees 2522) assuming a hard electron energy distribution below similar to 1 GeV, a high efficiency of conversion of (shocked) wind kinetic power into relativistic electrons (similar to 1 5%), and a relatively high magnetic-to-thermal pressure ratio of eta(B) similar to 0.2. In the other systems, the interpretation of the observed flux density is more ambiguous, although a non-thermal scenario is also favoured. We also show how complementary observations at other frequencies can allow us to place stronger constraints in the model. We also estimated the gamma-ray fluxes from the HII regions around the bow shocks of BD +43 degrees 3654 and BD +60 degrees 2522, and obtained luminosities at GeV energies of similar to 10(33) erg s(-1) and 10(32) erg s(-1), respectively, under reasonable assumptions. Conclusions. Stellar bow shocks can potentially be very e fficient particle accelerators. This work provides multi-wavelength predictions of their emission and demonstrates the key role of low-frequency radio observations in unveiling particle acceleration processes. The prospects of detections with next-generation observatories such as SKA and ngVLA are very promising. Finally, BD +43 degrees 3654 may be detected in GeV in the near future, while bow shocks in general may turn out to be non-negligible sources of (at least leptonic) low-energy cosmic rays.
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| 4. |
- Saha, Anindya, et al.
(författare)
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Search for particle acceleration in two massive Wolf-Rayet stars using uGMRT observations
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 526:1, s. 750-757
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large wind kinetic power of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars make them ideal targets in low radio frequencies to search for non-thermal emission due to relativistic particle acceleration. In this paper, we present observations of two WR stars, WR 114 and WR 142, in Band 4 (550-950 MHz) and Band 5 (1050-1450 MHz) using the upgraded Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope. Neither star is detected in the observed frequency bands, nor extended emission associated with them. The upper limit to the free-free radio emission from the stellar wind enables us to constrain the mass-loss rate of WR 114 to; this is a factor three smaller than previously estimated using spectroscopic modelling. If we further assume that the WR stars are binaries, the non-detection of synchrotron emission from the putative wind collision region implies that the stars are either in very wide binary systems away from periastron, or that the stars are in close binary systems with an orbital separation <70 AU for WR 114 and <20 AU for WR 142. The non-detection of low-frequency radio emission from these two systems thus provides evidence that narrows their nature, though it does not rule them out as bona fide particle-accelerating colliding-wind binaries.
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| 5. |
- Vincentelli, Federico M., et al.
(författare)
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A shared accretion instability for black holes and neutron stars
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 615:7950, s. 45-49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Accretion disks around compact objects are expected to enter an unstable phase at high luminosity1. One instability may occur when the radiation pressure generated by accretion modifies the disk viscosity, resulting in the cyclic depletion and refilling of the inner disk on short timescales2. Such a scenario, however, has only been quantitatively verified for a single stellar-mass black hole3-5. Although there are hints of these cycles in a few isolated cases6-10, their apparent absence in the variable emission of most bright accreting neutron stars and black holes has been a continuing puzzle11. Here we report the presence of the same multiwavelength instability around an accreting neutron star. Moreover, we show that the variability across the electromagnetic spectrum-from radio to X-ray-of both black holes and neutron stars at high accretion rates can be explained consistently if the accretion disks are unstable, producing relativistic ejections during transitions that deplete or refill the inner disk. Such a new association allows us to identify the main physical components responsible for the fast multiwavelength variability of highly accreting compact objects.
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| 6. |
- Wang, Yanan, et al.
(författare)
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Rapid Dimming Followed by a State Transition: A Study of the Highly Variable Nuclear Transient AT 2019avd over 1000+ Days
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 962:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The tidal disruption of a star around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) offers a unique opportunity to study accretion onto an SMBH on a human timescale. We present results from our 1000+ days monitoring campaign of AT 2019avd, a nuclear transient with tidal-disruption-event-like properties, with NICER, Swift, and Chandra. Our primary finding is that approximately 225 days following the peak of the X-ray emission, there is a rapid drop in luminosity exceeding 2 orders of magnitude. This X-ray dropoff is accompanied by X-ray spectral hardening, followed by a plateau phase of 740 days. During this phase, the spectral index decreases from 6.2 ± 1.1 to 2.3 ± 0.4, while the disk temperature remains constant. Additionally, we detect pronounced X-ray variability, with an average fractional rms amplitude of 47%, manifesting over timescales of a few dozen minutes. We propose that this phenomenon may be attributed to intervening clumpy outflows. The overall properties of AT 2019avd suggest that the accretion disk evolves from a super-Eddington to a sub-Eddington luminosity state, possibly associated with a compact jet. This evolution follows a pattern in the hardness-intensity diagram similar to that observed in stellar-mass BHs, supporting the mass invariance of accretion-ejection processes around BHs
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| 7. |
- Wang, Yanan, et al.
(författare)
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The radio detection and accretion properties of the peculiar nuclear transient AT 2019avd
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 520:2, s. 2417-2435
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AT 2019avd is a nuclear transient detected from infrared to soft X-rays, though its nature is yet unclear. The source has shown two consecutive flaring episodes in the optical and the infrared bands, and its second flare was covered by X-ray monitoring programs. During this flare, the UVOT/Swift photometries revealed two plateaus: one observed after the peak and the other one appeared similar to 240 d later. Meanwhile, our NICER and XRT/Swift campaigns show two declines in the X-ray emission, one during the first optical plateau and one 70-90 d after the optical/UV decline. The evidence suggests that the optical/UV could not have been primarily originated from X-ray reprocessing. Furthermore, we detected a timelag of similar to 16-34 d between the optical and UV emission, which indicates the optical likely comes from UV reprocessing by a gas at a distance of 0.01-0.03 pc. We also report the first VLA and VLBA detection of this source at different frequencies and different stages of the second flare. The information obtained in the radio band - namely a steep and a late-time inverted radio spectrum, a high brightness temperature and a radio-loud state at late times - together with the multiwavelength properties of AT 2019avd suggests the launching and evolution of outflows such as disc winds or jets. In conclusion, we propose that after the ignition of black hole activity in the first flare, a super-Eddington flaring accretion disc formed and settled to a sub-Eddington state by the end of the second flare, associated with a compact radio outflow.
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| 8. |
- Yang, Jun, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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The innermost jet in the hidden ultra-luminous X-ray source Cygnus X-3
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. - 1745-3925 .- 1745-3933. ; 526:1, s. L1-L7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary with a compact object accreting matter from a Wolf-Rayet donor star. Recently, it has been revealed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) as a hidden Galactic ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) source with a luminosity above the Eddington limit, along the direction of a narrow (opening angle) funnel. In between the IXPE observations, we observed Cyg X-3 with the European very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) Network at 22 GHz and the NICER X-ray instrument. To probe possible relations between the X-ray funnel and the potential radio jet from the ULX, we analysed the simultaneous multiwavelength data. Our high-resolution VLBI image reveals an elongated structure with a position angle of -3.2 ± 0.4 °, accurately perpendicular to the direction of the linear X-ray polarization. Because Cyg X-3 was in the radio quiescent state on 2022 November 10, we identify the mas-scale structure as the innermost radio jet. The finding indicates that the radio jet propagates along and within the funnel. Moreover, the jet is marginally resolved in the transverse direction. This possibly results from the strong stellar winds and the rapid orbital motion of the binary system.
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| 9. |
- Zubieta, Ezequiel, et al.
(författare)
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First results of the glitching pulsar monitoring programme at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy
- 2023
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 521:3, s. 4504-4521
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report here on the first results of a systematic monitoring of southern glitching pulsars at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy that started in the year 2019. We detected a major glitch in the Vela pulsar (PSR J0835 - 4510) and two small glitches in PSR J1048 - 5832. For each glitch, we present the measurement of glitch parameters by fitting timing residuals. We then make an individual pulse study of Vela in observations before and after the glitch. We selected 6 days of observations around the major glitch on 2021 July 22 and study their statistical properties with machine learning techniques. We use variational autoencoder (VAE) reconstruction of the pulses to separate them clearly from the noise. We perform a study with self-organizing map (SOM) clustering techniques to search for unusual behaviour of the clusters during the days around the glitch not finding notable qualitative changes. We have also detected and confirmed recent glitches in PSR J0742 - 2822 and PSR J1740 - 3015.
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| 10. |
- Zubieta, E., et al.
(författare)
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UPDATES ON THE GLITCHING PULSAR MONITORING CAMPAIGN PERFORMED FROM IAR
- 2024
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Ingår i: Revista Mexicana de Astronomia y Astrofisica: Serie de Conferencias. - 1405-2059. ; 56, s. 161-165
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pulsars are known for their exceptionally stable rotation. However, this stability can be disrupted by glitches, sudden increases in rotation frequency whose cause is poorly understood. In this study, we present some preliminary results from the pulsar monitoring campaign conducted at the IAR since 2019. We present measurements from timing solution fits of the parameters of five glitches: one glitch in the Vela pulsar, one in PSR J0742−2822, one in PSR J1740−3015, and two mini-glitches in PSR J1048−5832. Finally, we applied the vortex creep model to characterize the inter-glitch period of Vela. However, the preliminary results yielded highly degenerate and loosely constrained parameters.
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