Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

The Debut of the Section-Inner Elevation. Restitution Hypothesis of an Image of the XV Century BC

On one hand, it seems hypothesized that the conventions of technical drawing are characteristics of the disciplinary development associated with the great Hellenistic treaties and writers. On the other hand, we know that the complexity and maturity of constructions, even in ancient Egypt, required, as witnessed by some papyruses, the ability to communicate technical information. Therefore, seems appropriate to analyse the translation of rules and conventions in the drawing that represents them. We focus on the fresco of an Egyptian palace from the 2nd millennium BC found inside the tomb of Djenhutinefer, in Thebes. This drawing is of particular importance as it has a great level of detail and precision, given that sections, in contrast to the very detailed elevations and constructive plans in the history of drawing, have generally played a secondary role and almost exclusively for the indication of heights. The three-dimensional reconstruction and virtualization of the model will be based on iconographic and documentary sources, which are useful for methodologically motivating the critical interpretation. The resulting cultural importance will make the virtual use of the model a useful experience for the dissemination and knowledge of the inherited heritage

Between Architecture and Writing: Graphical Geometry to Decipher Systems of Signs. Campo Verano in Rome

There are many examples that represent a profound link between architecture and writing. Both “visual languages”, the two systems have historically interacted, reinforcing each other and activating multiple visual relationships related to the different cultures and linguistic areas. In this very broad context, the paper develops a particular reflection on the relationship between architecture and writing through a particular case study: some of the many small funerary buildings constructed between the second half of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s in the Campo Verano cemetery in Rome. This is a readily circumscribed area referring to the relationship between architecture and writing in Western culture and the use of the Latin alphabet, mostly with capital letters, for the necessary specifics that such a study entails. The area is limited, but is functional for investigating the relationship between architecture and writing. Through the means of graphical/geometrical analysis, it has allowed a useful method of investigation to be developed to understand this architectural heritage, which is extremely interesting but particularly complex to decipher

Reflections in the Space of Luca Cambiaso and Franco Albini

The monographic exhibition which Genoa dedicated to Luca Cambiaso in 2007 opened with the famous Self-portrait with the portrait of his Father Gio-vanni (ca. 1570), where the figure in natural size of Luca can be seen in a room in penumbra, in front of the painting he is making. The personages depicted present gestures, positions and attitudes which may refer not only to other epi-sodes of Luca\u2019s work and to the echo they may have had on his later pictorial experience, but also to various hypotheses concerning conception and dating. In 2004, the painting found its place in the Gallery of Palazzo Bianco in Gen-oa. Now that it has become part of the museographic setting designed by Fran-co Albini according to the cultural project of Caterina Marcenaro (1949), the painting has created in combination with it a dizzying apparatus. The room on the courtyard floor provokes more than one reflection in the onlooker concern-ing the properties of space, codes regulating its use and perception and memory of things. The location of the canvas is decisive in producing an ex-tension into the real environment of the space depicted in it, theatre both of the transmitting capacities of the work and of our possibility for establishing meaningful relations with it