A systematic analysis of X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray burst observed by XMM-Newton

This work is part of a systematic re-analysis program of all the data of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) X-ray afterglows observed so far, in order to constrain the GRB models. We present here a systematic analysis of those afterglows observed by XMM-Newton between January 2000 and March 2004. This dataset includes GRB 011211 and GRB 030329. We have obtained spectra, light curves and colors for these afterglows. In this paper we focus on the continuum spectral and temporal behavior. We compare these values with the theoretical ones expected from the fireball model. We derive constraints about the burst environment (absorption, density profile) and put constraints on their beaming angle.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, COSPAR proceeding accepted for publication in Advances in Space Researc

Clinical ophthalmic ultrasound improvements

The use of digital synthetic aperture techniques to obtain high resolution ultrasound images of eye and orbit was proposed. The parameters of the switched array configuration to reduce data collection time to a few milliseconds to avoid eye motion problems in the eye itself were established. An assessment of the effects of eye motion on the performance of the system was obtained. The principles of synthetic techniques are discussed. Likely applications are considered

A search for x-ray counterparts of gamma-ray bursts with the ROSAT PSPC

We search for faint X-ray bursts with duration 10--300 seconds in the ROSAT PSPC pointed observations with a total exposure of 1.6e7 seconds. We do not detect any events shorter than ~100s, i.e. those that could be related to the classic gamma-ray bursts. At the same time, we detect a number of long flares with durations of several hundred seconds. Most, but not all, of the long flares are associated with stars. If even a small number of those long flares, that cannot identified with stars, are X-ray afterglows of GRB, the number of X-ray afterglows greatly exceeds the number of BATSE GRB. This would imply that the beaming factor of gamma-rays from the burst should be >100. The non-detection of any short bursts in our data constrains the GRB counts at the fluences 1--2.5 orders of magnitude below the BATSE limit. The constrained burst counts are consistent with the extrapolation of the BATSE log N - log S relation. Finally, our results do not confirm a reality of short X-ray flashes found in the Einstein IPC data by Gotthelf, Hamilton and Helfand.Comment: Accepted to ApJ Letters. 4 pages with 3 figures, LaTeX2

Euclidean vs. non-Euclidean Gamma-Ray Bursts

We classify gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) according to their observed durations and physical properties of their spectra. We find that long/hard bursts (of duration T_90 > 2.5 s, and typical photon energy E_p > 0.8 MeV corresponding to BATSE's energy fluence hardness H^e_{32} > 3) show the strongest deviation from the three-dimensional Euclidean brightness distribution. The majority of GRBs, i.e., short bursts (T_90 2.5 s, and H^e_{32} < 3) show little, if any, deviations from the Euclidean distribution. These results contradict the prediction of simple extragalactic GRB models that the most distant bursts should be the most affected by cosmological energy redshift and time-dilation (long/soft GRBs). The strongly non-Euclidean GRB subclass has very hard spectra of typical photon energy above 1 MeV, i.e., outside the ideal energy range for optimal detection by BATSE. We discuss possible explanations of this puzzling feature of GRBs.Comment: 15 pages, LATEX text plus two postscript figures included. Submitted to ApJ Letters on November 24, 1997. Accepted on February 13, 199

Low Mach Number Modeling of Type Ia Supernovae. IV. White Dwarf Convection

We present the first three-dimensional, full-star simulations of convection in a white dwarf preceding a Type Ia supernova, specifically the last few hours before ignition. For these long-time calculations we use our low Mach number hydrodynamics code, MAESTRO, which we have further developed to treat spherical stars centered in a three-dimensional Cartesian geometry. The main change required is a procedure to map the one-dimensional radial base state to and from the Cartesian grid. Our models recover the dipole structure of the flow seen in previous calculations, but our long-time integration shows that the orientation of the dipole changes with time. Furthermore, we show the development of gravity waves in the outer, stable portion of the star. Finally, we evolve several calculations to the point of ignition and discuss the range of ignition radii.Comment: 42 pages, some figures degraded to conserve space. Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal (http://journals.iop.org/

A year in the life of GW170817: the rise and fall of a structured jet from a binary neutron star merger

We present the results of our year-long afterglow monitoring of GW170817, the first binary neutron star (NS) merger detected by advanced LIGO and advanced Virgo. New observations with the Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and the Chandra X-ray Telescope were used to constrain its late-time behavior. The broadband emission, from radio to X-rays, is well-described by a simple power-law spectrum with index ~0.585 at all epochs. After an initial shallow rise ~t^0.9, the afterglow displayed a smooth turn-over, reaching a peak X-ray luminosity of ~5e39 erg/s at 160 d, and has now entered a phase of rapid decline ~t^(-2). The latest temporal trend challenges most models of choked jet/cocoon systems, and is instead consistent with the emergence of a relativistic structured jet seen at an angle of ~22 deg from its axis. Within such model, the properties of the explosion (such as its blastwave energy E_K~2E50 erg, jet width theta_c~4 deg, and ambient density n~3E-3 cm^(-3)) fit well within the range of properties of cosmological short GRBs.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS, in press. Final version, minor changes only relative to original submission dated 21 August 201

Relationship between the gamma-ray burst pulse width and energy due to the Doppler effect of fireballs

We study in details how the pulse width of gamma-ray bursts is related with energy under the assumption that the sources concerned are in the stage of fireballs. Due to the Doppler effect of fireballs, there exists a power law relationship between the two quantities within a limited range of frequency. The power law range and the power law index depend strongly on the observed peak energy $E_p$ as well as the rest frame radiation form, and the upper and lower limits of the power law range can be determined by $E_p$. It is found that, within the same power law range, the ratio of the $FWHM$ of the rising portion to that of the decaying phase of the pulses is also related with energy in the form of power laws. A platform-power-law-platform feature could be observed in the two relationships. In the case of an obvious softening of the rest frame spectrum, the two power law relationships also exist, but the feature would evolve to a peaked one. Predictions on the relationships in the energy range covering both the BATSE and Swift bands for a typical hard burst and a typical soft one are made. A sample of FRED (fast rise and exponential decay) pulse bursts shows that 27 out of the 28 sources belong to either the platform-power-law-platform feature class or the peaked feature group, suggesting that the effect concerned is indeed important for most of the sources of the sample. Among these bursts, many might undergo an obvious softening evolution of the rest frame spectrum.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

On phenomenon of scattering on resonances associated with discretisation of systems with fast rotating phase

Numerical integration of ODEs by standard numerical methods reduces a continuous time problems to discrete time problems. Discrete time problems have intrinsic properties that are absent in continuous time problems. As a result, numerical solution of an ODE may demonstrate dynamical phenomena that are absent in the original ODE. We show that numerical integration of system with one fast rotating phase lead to a situation of such kind: numerical solution demonstrate phenomenon of scattering on resonances that is absent in the original system.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Dynamics of Elastic Excitable Media

The Burridge-Knopoff model of earthquake faults with viscous friction is equivalent to a van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo model for excitable media with elastic coupling. The lubricated creep-slip friction law we use in the Burridge-Knopoff model describes the frictional sliding dynamics of a range of real materials. Low-dimensional structures including synchronized oscillations and propagating fronts are dominant, in agreement with the results of laboratory friction experiments. Here we explore the dynamics of fronts in elastic excitable media.Comment: Int. J. Bifurcation and Chaos, to appear (1999