Study of high energy phenomena from near space using low-cost meteorological balloons

Indian Centre for Space Physics has taken a novel strategy to study low energy cosmic rays and astrophysical X-ray sources which involve very light weight payloads up to about five kilograms on board a single or multiple balloons which are used for meteorological purposes. The mission duration could be anywhere from 3-12 hours. Our strategy provides extreme flexibility in mission preparation and its operation using a very economical budget. There are several limitations but our innovative approach has been able to extract significant amount of scientific data out of these missions. So far, over one hundred missions have been completed by us to near space and a wealth of data has been collected. The payloads are recovered and are used again. Scientific data is stored on board computer and the atmospheric data or payload location is sent to ground in real time. Since each mission is different, we present here the general strategy for a typical payload and provide some results we obtained in some of these missions.     

Fast transition between high-soft and low-soft states in GRS 1915 + 105: Evidence for a critically viscous accretion flow

We present the results of a detailed analysis of RXTE observations of classω (Klein-Woltet al. 2002) which show an unusual state transition between high-soft and low-soft states in the Galactic microquasar GRS 1915 + 105. Out of about 600 pointed RXTE observations, the source was found to exhibit such state transition only on 16 occasions. An examination of the RXTE/ASM data in conjunction with the pointed observations reveals that these events appeared as a series of quasi-regular dips in two stretches of long duration (about 20 days during each occasion) when hard X-ray and radio flux were very low. The X-ray light curve and colour-colour diagram of the source during these observations are found to be different from any reported so far. The duration of these dips is found to be of the order of a few tens of seconds with a repetition time of a few hundred seconds. The transition between these dips and non-dips which differ in intensity by a factor of ∼ 3.5, is observed to be very fast (∼ a few seconds). It is observed that the low-frequency narrow QPOs are absent in the power density spectrum (PDS) of the dip and non-dip regions of classω and the PDS is a power law in the 0.1–10 Hz frequency range. There is a remarkable similarity in the spectral and timing properties of the source during the dip and non-dip regions in this set of observations. These properties of the source are distinctly different from those seen in the observations of other classes. This indicates that the basic accretion disk structure during both dip and non-dip regions of classω is similar, but differ only in intensity. To explain these observations, we invoke a model in which the viscosity is very close to critical viscosity and the shock wave is weak or absent.     

Accretion flow behaviour during the evolution of the quasi-periodic oscillation frequency of XTE J1550−564 in 1998 outburst

Low and intermediate frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are thought to be due to oscillations of Comptonizing regions or hot regions embedded in Keplerian discs. Observational evidence of evolutions of QPOs would therefore be very important as they throw lights on the dynamics of the hotter region. Our aim is to find systems in which there is a well-defined correlation among the frequencies of the QPOs over a range of time so as to understand the physical picture. In this paper, we concentrate on the archival data of XTE J1550−564 obtained during 1998 outburst, and study the systematic drifts during the rising phase from the 1998 September 7 to the 1998 September 19, when the QPO frequency increased monotonically from 81 mHz to 13.1 Hz. Immediately after that, QPO frequency started to decrease and on the 1998 September 26, the QPO frequency became 2.62 Hz. After that, its value remained almost constant. This frequency drift can be modelled satisfactorily with a propagatory oscillating shock solution where the post-shock region behaves as the Comptonized region. Comparing with the nature of a more recent 2005 outburst of another black hole candidate GRO 1655−40, where QPOs disappeared at the end of the rising phase, we conjecture that this so-called 'outburst' may not be a full-fledged outburst.     

Neutrino Geophysics Conference Introduction

Long distance detection of electron anti-neutrinos from reactors at distances of order 200 km has been achieved with the 1000 ton liquid scintillator-based KamLAND instrument in Japan. In summer 2005 the KamLAND group reported the first detection of anti-neutrinos from the natural radioactivity of the earth. These measurements are due to uranium and thorium decays dominantly from the nearby crust in Japan, and are expected to have only a small contribution from the earth’s mantle (and core). Several new detectors are under consideration around the world for measurements which when taken together can reveal the location of these heavy elements, which are expected to contribute a major share of the internal earth’s heating via their radioactivity. This heating is of course associated with providing the power to drive the geomagnetic field and plate tectonics. Geologists have only indirect evidence about the deep earth, mostly from seismic wave velocity and inferences from a few meteorites. Anti-neutrino detection, on the other hand, yields direct information about earth’s interior. The location and magnitude of the earth’s uranium and thorium are crucial to understanding the origin and evolution of the earth and present day activity. Lead Article in Proceedings of Neutrino Sciences 2005     

The shape of the interstellar absorption band

Profiles of the 4430 band are calculated for resonant absorbers distributed within graphite particles, silicate particles and solid H₂ grains. The sizes of grains adopted are those which give agreement with the interstellar extinction. Only in the latter two cases can satisfactory agreement be obtained with recent observational data.     

Interaction of accretion shocks with winds

Accretion shocks are known to oscillate in presence of cooling processes in the disk. This oscillation may also cause quasi-periodic oscillations of black holes. In the presence of strong winds, these shocks have oscillations in vertical direction as well. We show examples of shock oscillations under the influence of both the effects. When the shocks are absent and the flow is cooler, the wind becomes weaker and the vertical oscillation becomes negligible.     

Spectral fit of Cygnus X-1 in high energy— a self-consistent study

We fit the spectra of Cyg X-1 using two component advective flows with Keplerian accretion disks on the equatorial plane surrounded by sub-Keplerian disks when standing shocks are present. The soft photons generated by the bremsstrahlung and synchrotron processes in the sub-Keplerian flow, as well as the multi-colour black body emission from the Keplerian disk are Comptonized by the thermal and non-thermal electrons. By varying Keplerian and sub-Keplerian rates we are able to reproduce the observed soft and hard states as far as X-ray region is concerned and ‘low γ-ray intensity’ and ‘high γ-ray intensity’ states as far as the soft γ-ray region is concerned. We also find two pivotal points where the spectra intersect as is observed in Cyg X-1.      

Organic Molecules in Interstellar Dust: A Possible Spectral Signature at λ2200 Å?

The λ2200 Å interstellar absorption band, generally attributed to graphite grains, could equally well arise from π → π^*electronic transitions in conjugated double bonds of organic molecules. These molecules, which should comprise ～ 10% of the total interstellar dust mass, may be lodged within clumps of100 Å-sized refractory grains.     

On extinction by small graphite,silicate and iron particles

The refractive indices of graphite, silicate and iron, which are believed to be candidates for interstellar dust grains, are shown to exhibit large experimental uncertainties. The Mie scattering theory has been used to demonstrate how errors in the refractive indices are manifested in the extinction curves for small spheres in the wavelength range from 0.1 μm to 2 μm. It is found that the transmitted errors in the extinction curves are wavelength dependent: for graphite, significant errors occur in the far ultraviolet part of the extinction curve; for silicates, in the near ultraviolet; while for iron the error is relatively small in the wavelength range considered.