Formation Flying for a Fresnel Lens Observatory Mission

The employment of a large area Phase Fresnel Lens (PFL) in a gamma-ray telescope offers the potential to image astrophysical phenomena with micro-arcsecond (μ^′′) angular resolution [1]. In order to assess the feasibility of this concept, two detailed studies have been conducted of formation flying missions in which a Fresnel lens capable of focussing gamma-rays and the associated detector are carried on two spacecraft separated by up to 10⁶ km. These studies were performed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Integrated Mission Design Center (IMDC) which developed spacecraft, orbital dynamics, and mission profiles. The results of the studies indicated that the missions are challenging but could be accomplished with technologies available currently or in the near term. The findings of the original studies have been updated taking account of recent advances in ion thruster propulsion technology.     

Electron-positron annihilation lines and decaying sterile neutrinos

If massive sterile neutrinos exist, their decays into photons and/or electron-positron pairs may give rise to observable consequences. We consider the possibility that MeV sterile neutrino decays lead to the diffuse positron annihilation line in the Milky Way center, and we thus obtain bounds on the sterile neutrino decay rate Γ _e ≥10⁻²⁸ s⁻¹ from relevant astrophysical/cosmological data. Also, we expect a soft gamma flux of 1.2×10⁻⁴–9.7×10⁻⁴ ph cm⁻² s⁻¹ from the Milky Way center which shows up as a small MeV bump in the background photon spectrum. Furthermore, we estimate the flux of active neutrinos produced by sterile neutrino decays to be 0.02–0.1 cm⁻² s⁻¹ passing through the earth.     

High Temporal and Spectral Resolution Interferometric Observations of Unusual Solar Radio Bursts

We report very high temporal and spectral resolution interferometric observations of some unusual solar radio bursts near 1420 MHz. These bursts were observed on 13 September 2005, 22 minutes after the peak of a GOES class X flare from the NOAA region 10808. Our observations show 11 episodes of narrow-band intermittent emission within a span of ≈ 8 s. Each episode shows a heavily frequency-modulated band of emission with a spectral slope of about −245.5 MHz s⁻¹, comprising up to 8 individual blobs of emission and lasts for 10 – 15 ms. The blobs themselves have a spectral slope of ≈ 0 MHz s⁻¹, are ≈ 200 – 250 kHz wide, appear every ≈ 400 kHz and last for ≈ 4 – 5 ms. These bursts show brightness temperatures in the range 10¹² K, which suggests a coherent emission mechanism. We believe these are the first high temporal and spectral resolution interferometric observations of such rapid and narrow-bandwidth solar bursts close to 1420 MHz and present an analysis of their temporal and spectral characteristics.     

Energy-Dependent Timing of Thermal Emission in Solar Flares

We report solar flare plasma to be multi-thermal in nature based on the theoretical model and study of the energy-dependent timing of thermal emission in ten M-class flares. We employ high-resolution X-ray spectra observed by the Si detector of the “Solar X-ray Spectrometer” (SOXS). The SOXS onboard the Indian GSAT-2 spacecraft was launched by the GSLV-D2 rocket on 8 May 2003. Firstly we model the spectral evolution of the X-ray line and continuum emission flux F(ε) from the flare by integrating a series of isothermal plasma flux. We find that the multi-temperature integrated flux F(ε) is a power-law function of ε with a spectral index (γ)≈−4.65. Next, based on spectral-temporal evolution of the flares we find that the emission in the energy range E=4 – 15 keV is dominated by temperatures of T=12 – 50 MK, while the multi-thermal power-law DEM index (δ) varies in the range of −4.4 and −5.7. The temporal evolution of the X-ray flux F(ε,t) assuming a multi-temperature plasma governed by thermal conduction cooling reveals that the temperature-dependent cooling time varies between 296 and 4640 s and the electron density (n _e) varies in the range of n _e=(1.77 – 29.3)×10¹⁰ cm⁻³. Employing temporal evolution technique in the current study as an alternative method for separating thermal from nonthermal components in the energy spectra, we measure the break-energy point, ranging between 14 and 21±1.0 keV.     

Search for ultrahigh-energy cosmic gamma-ray bursts on the Baksan underground scintillation telescope

Based on data from the Baksan underground scintillation telescope (BUST) for the period 2001–2004, we searched for cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at primary photon energies of 0.5 TeV or higher. We obtained constraints on the rate of bursts with durations of 1–10 s for fluences within the range 4.6 × 10⁻³-1.8 × 10⁻² erg cm⁻² in the declination band 30° ≤ δ ≤ 80°. We searched for ultrahigh-energy gamma rays from GRBs detected on spacecraft during and within ±2 h of the burst. No statistically significant excesses above the background of random coincidences were found. The derived constraints on the ultrahigh-energy gamma-ray fluence during GRBs lie within the range 4.6 × 10⁻³-3.7 × 10⁻² erg cm⁻².     

Acoustic Events in the Solar Atmosphere from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hinode</Emphasis>/SOT NFI Observations

We investigate the properties of acoustic events (AEs), defined as spatially concentrated and short duration energy flux, in the quiet Sun, using observations of a 2D field of view (FOV) with high spatial and temporal resolution provided by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode. Line profiles of Fe i 557.6 nm were recorded by the Narrow-band Filter Imager (NFI) on a 82″×82″ FOV during 75 min with a time step of 28.75 s and 0.08″ pixel size. Vertical velocities were computed at three atmospheric levels (80, 130, and 180 km) using the bisector technique, allowing the determination of energy flux to be made in the range 3 – 10 mHz using two complementary methods (Hilbert transform and Fourier power spectrum). Horizontal velocities were computed using local correlation tracking (LCT) of continuum intensities providing divergences. We found that the net energy flux is upward. In the range 3 – 10 mHz, a full FOV space and time averaged flux of 2700 W m⁻² (lower layer 80 – 130 km) and 2000 W m⁻² (upper layer 130 – 180 km) is concentrated in less than 1 % of the solar surface in the form of narrow (0.3″) AE. Their total duration (including rise and decay) is of the order of 10³ s. Inside each AE, the mean flux is 1.6×10⁵ W m⁻² (lower layer) and 1.2×10⁵ W m⁻² (upper). Each event carries an average energy (flux integrated over space and time) of 2.5×10¹⁹ J (lower layer) to 1.9×10¹⁹ J (upper). More than 10⁶ events could exist permanently on the Sun, with a birth and decay rate of 3500 s⁻¹. Most events occur in intergranular lanes, downward velocity regions, and areas of converging motions.     

Modeling of EIS Spectrum Drift from Instrumental Temperatures

An empirical model has been developed to reproduce the drift of the spectrum recorded by the EIS on Hinode using instrumental temperatures and relative motion of the spacecraft. The EIS spectrum shows an artificial drift in wavelength dimension in sync with the revolution of the spacecraft, which is caused by temperature variations inside the spectrometer. The drift amounts to 70 km s⁻¹ in Doppler velocity and introduces difficulties in velocity measurements. An artificial neural network is incorporated to establish a relationship between the instrumental temperatures and the spectral drift. This empirical model reproduces observed spectrum shift with an rms error of 4.4 km s⁻¹. This procedure is robust and applicable to any spectrum obtained with EIS, regardless of the observing field. In addition, spectral curvatures and spatial offset in the north – south direction are determined to compensate for instrumental effects.     

ATLAS, and Wide-Angle Tail Galaxies in ATLAS

Using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), ATLAS (Australia Telescope Large Area Survey) is imaging two fields totalling 7 square degrees down to 10 μJy beam^− 1 at 1.4 GHz. We have found 6 wide-angle tail galaxies (WATs), 4 of which have sufficient data to identify associated galaxy overdensities. The largest WAT, at a red-shift of 0.22, appears to be associated with an overdensity of galaxies that is spread over an unusually large extent of 12 Mpc, with a velocity range of 4500 km s^− 1. Here we present the WATs in ATLAS and discuss the implications of these observations for future large-scale radio surveys such as ASKAP-EMU.     

Search for radio flashes caused by collisions of meteoroids with the moon

The authors have developed an observation procedure to determine the nature of detected lunar radio flux variations. The possibility to detect spacecraft SMART-1 impact radio flash is estimated. The upper limit of intensity is assessed for radio flashes produced by collisions of sporadic meteoroids with the moon as 10⁻⁷ Jy J⁻¹ at 3.6 cm.     

A massive, dusty toroid with large grains in the pre-planetary nebula IRAS22036+5306

Using the Submillimeter Array (SMA), we have obtained high angular-resolution (∼1″) interferometric maps of the submillimeter (0.88 mm) continuum and CO J=3–2 line from IRAS 22036+5306 (I 22036), a bipolar pre-planetary nebula (PPN) with knotty jets discovered in our HST SNAPshot survey of young PPNe. In addition, we have obtained supporting lower-resolution (∼10″) 2.6 mm continuum and CO, ¹³CO J=1–0 observations with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) interferometer. We find an unresolved source of submillimeter (and millimeter-wave) continuum emission in I 22036, implying a very substantial mass (0.02–0.04M _⊙) of large (i.e., radius ≳1 mm), cold (≲50 K) dust grains associated with I 22036’s toroidal waist. The CO J=3–2 observations show the presence of a very fast (∼220 km s⁻¹), highly collimated, massive (0.03M _⊙) bipolar outflow with a very large scalar momentum (about 10³⁹ g cm s⁻¹), and the characteristic spatio-kinematic structure of bow-shocks at the tips of this outflow. The fast outflow in I 22036, as in most PPNe, cannot be driven by radiation pressure. The large mass of the torus suggests that it has most likely resulted from common-envelope evolution in a binary, however it remains to be seen whether or not the time-scales required for the growth of grains to millimeter sizes in the torus are commensurate with such a formation scenario. The presence of the torus should facilitate the formation of the accretion disk needed to launch the jet. We also find that the ¹³C/¹²C ratio in I 22036 is very high (0.16), close to the maximum value achieved in equilibrium CNO-nucleosynthesis (0.33). The combination of the high circumstellar mass (i.e., in the torus and an extended dust shell inferred from ISO far-infrared spectra) and the high ¹³C/¹²C ratio in I 22036 provides strong support for this object having evolved from a massive (≳4M _⊙) progenitor in which hot-bottom-burning has occurred.     

Discovery of a Giant Radio Halo in a Massive Merging Cluster at z?=?0.443

We have discovered a giant radio halo in the massive merging cluster MACSJ0417.5-1154. This cluster, at a redshift of 0.443, is one of the most X-ray luminous galaxy cluster in the MAssive Cluster Survey (MACS) with an X-ray luminosity in the 0.1–2.4 keV band of 2.9×10⁴⁵ erg s^− 1. Recent observations from GMRT at 230 and 610 MHz have revealed a radio halo of ∼ 1.2 × 0.3 Mpc² in extent. This halo is elongated along the North-West, similar to the morphology of the X-ray emission from Chandra. The 1400 MHz radio luminosity (L _r) of the halo is ∼2 × 10²⁵ W Hz^− 1, in good agreement with the value expected from the L _x − L _r correlation for cluster halos.     

Observations of Powerful Type III Bursts in the Frequency Range 10 – 30 MHz

The properties of powerful (flux >10⁻¹⁹ W m⁻² Hz⁻¹) type III bursts observed in July – August 2002 by the radio telescope UTR-2 at frequencies 10 – 30 MHz are analyzed. Most bursts have been registered when the active regions associated to these bursts were located near the central meridian or at 40° – 60° to the East or West from it. All powerful type III bursts drift from high to low frequencies with frequency drift rates 1 – 2.5 MHz s⁻¹. It is important to emphasize that according to our observations the drift rate is linearly increasing with frequency. The duration of the bursts changes mainly from 6 s at frequency 30 MHz up to 12 s at 10 MHz. The instantaneous frequency bandwidth does not depend on the day of observations, i.e. on the disk location of the source active region, and is increasing with frequency.     

Enhancement of Solar Energetic Particles During a Shock – Magnetic Cloud Interacting Complex Structure

The behavior of solar energetic particles (SEPs) in a shock – magnetic cloud interacting complex structure observed by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft on 5 November 2001 is analyzed. A strong shock causing magnetic field strength and solar wind speed increases of about 41 nT and 300 km s⁻¹, respectively, propagated within a preceding magnetic cloud (MC). It is found that an extraordinary SEP enhancement appeared at the high-energy (≥10 MeV) proton intensities and extended over and only over the entire period of the shock – MC structure passing through the spacecraft. Such SEP behavior is much different from the usual picture that the SEPs are depressed in MCs. The comparison of this event with other top SEP events of solar cycle 23 (2000 Bastille Day and 2003 Halloween events) shows that such an enhancement resulted from the effects of the shock – MC complex structure leading to the highest ≥10 MeV proton intensity of solar cycle 23. Our analysis suggests that the relatively isolated magnetic field configuration of MCs combined with an embedded strong shock could significantly enhance the SEP intensity; SEPs are accelerated by the shock and confined into the MC. Further, we find that the SEP enhancement at lower energies happened not only within the shock – MC structure but also after it, probably owing to the presence of a following MC-like structure. This is consistent with the picture that SEP fluxes could be enhanced in the magnetic topology between two MCs, which was proposed based on numerical simulations by Kallenrode and Cliver (Proc. 27th ICRC 8, 3318, 2001b).     

Streamer Belt and Chains as the Main Sources of Quasi-Stationary Slow Solar Wind

Synoptic maps of white-light coronal brightness from SOHO/LASCO C2 and distributions of solar wind velocity obtained from interplanetary scintillation are studied. Regions with velocity V≈300 – 450 km s⁻¹ and increased density N>10 cm⁻³, typical of the “slow” solar wind originating from the belt and chains of streamers, are shown to exist at Earth’s orbit, between the fast solar wind flows (with a maximum velocity V _max≈450 – 800 km s⁻¹). The belt and chains of streamers are the main sources of the “slow” solar wind. As the sources of “slow” solar wind, the contribution from the chains of streamers may be comparable to that from the streamer belt.     

Allan Sandage and the cosmic expansion

This is an account of Allan Sandage’s work on (1) The character of the expansion field. For many years he has been the strongest defender of an expanding Universe. He later explained the CMB dipole by a local velocity of 220±50 km s⁻¹ toward the Virgo cluster and by a bulk motion of the Local supercluster (extending out to ∼3500 km s⁻¹) of 450–500 km s⁻¹ toward an apex at l=275, b=12. Allowing for these streaming velocities he found linear expansion to hold down to local scales (∼300 km s⁻¹). (2) The calibration of the Hubble constant. Probing different methods he finally adopted—from Cepheid-calibrated SNe Ia and from independent RR Lyr-calibrated TRGBs—H ₀=62.3±1.3±5.0 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹.     

GRI: focusing on the evolving violent universe

The gamma-ray imager (GRI) is a novel mission concept that will provide an unprecedented sensitivity leap in the soft gamma-ray domain by using for the first time a focusing lens built of Laue diffracting crystals. The lens will cover an energy band from 200–1,300 keV with an effective area reaching 600 cm². It will be complemented by a single reflection multilayer coated mirror, extending the GRI energy band into the hard X-ray regime, down to ∼10 keV. The concentrated photons will be collected by a position sensitive pixelised CZT stack detector. We estimate continuum sensitivities of better than 10^− 7 ph cm^− 2s^− 1keV^− 1 for a 100 ks exposure; the narrow line sensitivity will be better than 3 × 10^− 6 ph cm^− 2s^− 1 for the same integration time. As focusing instrument, GRI will have an angular resolution of better than 30 arcsec within a field of view of roughly 5 arcmin—an unprecedented achievement in the gamma-ray domain. Owing to the large focal length of 100 m of the lens and the mirror, the optics and detector will be placed on two separate spacecrafts flying in formation in a high elliptical orbit. R&D work to enable the lens focusing technology and to develop the required focal plane detector is currently underway, financed by ASI, CNES, ESA, and the Spanish Ministery of Education and Science. The GRI mission has been proposed as class M mission for ESAs Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 program. GRI will allow studies of particle acceleration processes and explosion physics in unprecedented detail, providing essential clues on the innermost nature of the most violent and most energetic processes in the universe. All authors are on behalf of a large international collaboration The GRI mission has been proposed as an international collaboration between (in alphabetical order) Belgium (CSR), China (IHEP, Tsinghua Univ.), Denmark (DNSC, Southern Univ.), France (CESR, APC, ILL, CSNSM, IAP, LAM), Germany (MPE), Ireland (UCD School of Physics), Italy (INAF/IASF Rome, Bologna, Milano, Palermo; INAF/OA Brera, Roma; UNIFE, CNR/IMEM), Poland (NCAC), Portugal (Combra Univ., Evora Univ.), Russia (SINP, MSU, Ioffe Inst.), Spain (IEEC-CSIC-IFAE, CNM-IMB), the Netherlands (SRON, Utrecht Univ.), Turkey (Sabanci Univ.), United Kingdom (Univ. of Southampton, MSSL, RAL, Edinburgh Univ.), and the United States of America (SSL UC Berkeley, Argonne National Lab., MSFC, GSFC, US NRL).     

Differential Rotation of Strong Magnetic Flux During Solar Cycles 21 – 23

In the present investigation we measure the differential rotation of strong magnetic flux during solar cycles 21 – 23 with the method of wavelet transforms. We find that the cycle-averaged synodic rotation rate of strong magnetic flux can be written as ω=13.47−2.58sin ² θ or ω=13.45−2.06sin ² θ−1.37sin ⁴ θ, where θ is the latitude. They agree well with the results derived from sunspots. A north–south asymmetry of the rotation rate is found at high latitudes (28°<θ<40°). The strong flux in the southern hemisphere rotates faster than that in the northern hemisphere by 0.2 deg day⁻¹. The asymmetry continued for cycles 21 – 23 and may be a secular property.     

Sharp Changes of Solar Wind Ion Flux and Density Within and Outside Current Sheets

Analysis of the Interball-1 spacecraft data (1995 – 2000) has shown that the solar wind ion flux sometimes increases or decreases abruptly by more than 20% over a time period of several seconds or minutes. Typically, the amplitude of such sharp changes in the solar wind ion flux (SCIFs) is larger than 0.5×10⁸ cm⁻² s⁻¹. These sudden changes of the ion flux were also observed by the Solar Wind Experiment (SWE), on board the Wind spacecraft, as the solar wind density increases and decreases with negligible changes in the solar wind velocity. SCIFs occur irregularly at 1 AU, when plasma flows with specific properties come to the Earth’s orbit. SCIFs are usually observed in slow, turbulent solar wind with increased density and interplanetary magnetic field strength. The number of times SCIFs occur during a day is simulated using the solar wind density, magnetic field, and their standard deviations as input parameters for a period of five years. A correlation coefficient of ∼0.7 is obtained between the modelled and the experimental data. It is found that SCIFs are not associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), corotating interaction regions (CIRs), or interplanetary shocks; however, 85% of the sector boundaries are surrounded by SCIFs. The properties of the solar wind plasma for days with five or more SCIF observations are the same as those of the solar wind plasma at the sector boundaries. One possible explanation for the occurrence of SCIFs (near sector boundaries) is magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet or local current sheets. Other probable causes of SCIFs (inside sectors) are turbulent processes in the slow solar wind and at the crossings of flux tubes.     

Comparison of the Characteristics of Magnetic Clouds and Magnetic Cloud-Like Structures for the Events of 1995 – 2003

Using nine years of solar wind plasma and magnetic field data from the Wind mission, we investigated the characteristics of both magnetic clouds (MCs) and magnetic cloud-like structures (MCLs) during 1995 – 2003. A MCL structure is an event that is identified by an automatic scheme (Lepping, Wu, and Berdichevsky, Ann. Geophys. 23, 2687, 2005) with the same criteria as for a MC, but it is not usually identifiable as a flux rope by using the MC (Burlaga et al., J. Geophys. Res. 86, 6673, 1981) fitting model developed by Lepping, Jones, and Burlaga (Geophys. Res. Lett. 95(11), 957, 1990). The average occurrence rate is 9.5 for MCs and 13.6 for MCLs per year for the overall period of interest, and there were 82 MCs and 122 MCLs identified during this period. The characteristics of MCs and MCL structures are as follows: (1) The average duration, Δt, of MCs is 21.1 h, which is 40% longer than that for MCLs (Δt=15 h); (2) the average (minimum B _z found in MC/MCL measured in geocentric solar ecliptic coordinates) is −10.2 nT for MCs and −6 nT for MCLs; (3) the average Dst_min (minimum Dst caused by MCs/MCLs) is −82 nT for MCs and −37 nT for MCLs; (4) the average solar wind velocity is 453 km s⁻¹ for MCs and 413 km s⁻¹ for MCLs; (5) the average thermal speed is 24.6 km s⁻¹ for MCs and 27.7 km s⁻¹ for MCLs; (6) the average magnetic field intensity is 12.7 nT for MCs and 9.8 nT for MCLs; (7) the average solar wind density is 9.4 cm⁻³ for MCs and 6.3 cm⁻³ for MCLs; and (8) a MC is one of the most important interplanetary structures capable of causing severe geomagnetic storms. The longer duration, more intense magnetic field and higher solar wind speed of MCs, compared to those properties of the MCLs, are very likely the major reasons for MCs generally causing more severe geomagnetic storms than MCLs. But the fact that a MC is an important interplanetary structure with respect to geomagnetic storms is not new (e.g., Zhang and Burlaga, J. Geophys. Res. 93, 2511, 1988; Bothmer, ESA SP-535, 419, 2003).     

Cooling of magnetars with internal layer heating

We model thermal evolution of magnetars with a phenomenological heat source in a spherical internal layer and compare the results with observations of persistent thermal radiation from magnetars. We show that the heat source should be located in the outer magnetar’s crust, at densities ρ≲5×10¹¹ g cm⁻³, and the heating rate should be ∼10²⁰ erg cm⁻³ s⁻¹. Heating deeper layers is extremely inefficient because the thermal energy is mainly radiated away by neutrinos and does not warm up the surface to the magnetar’s level. This deep heating requires too much energy; it is inconsistent with the energy budget of neutron stars.