A model for jets of low-mass microquasars

In this work we present a new jet model for the non-thermal broadband emission of low-mass microquasars. We calculate the contribution of relativistic particles, primary electrons and protons as well as secondary muons, charged pions and electron-positron pairs, to the electromagnetic spectrum of the sources. The distribution in energy of all particle species is obtained for an extended, inhomogeneous region. We include detailed analysis of particle energy losses, injection, decay and escape from the acceleration zone. We also calculate absorption effects due to photon-photon annihilation. As an application, we consider the case of XTE J1118+480, a well-known low-mass X-ray binary in the galactic halo, and we present predictions about its high-energy radiationComment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the 25th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics - TEXAS 2010, December 06-10, 2010, Heidelberg, German

Leptonic/hadronic models for electromagnetic emission in microquasars: the case of GX 339-4

We present a general self-consistent lepto/hadronic jet model for the non-thermal electromagnetic emission of microquasars. The model is applied to the low-mass microquasar (LMMQ) GX 339-4 and predicts its high-energy features. We assume that both leptons and hadrons are accelerated up to relativistic energies by diffusive shock acceleration, and calculate their contribution to the electromagnetic spectrum through all main radiative processes. The radiative contribution of secondary particles (pions, muons and electron-positron pairs) is included. We use a set of simultaneous observations in radio and X-rays to constrain the model parameters and find the best fit to the data. We obtain different spectral energy distributions that can explain the observations, and make predictions for the high-energy emission. Observations with gamma-ray instruments like Fermi can be used to test the model and determine the proton content of the jets. Finally, we estimate the positron injection in the surrounding medium. Our findings support the suggested association between LMMQs and the observed distribution of the 511 keV line flux observed by INTEGRAL.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

High-energy signatures of binary systems of supermassive black holes

Context. Binary systems of supermassive black holes are expected to be strong sources of long gravitational waves prior to merging. These systems are good candidates to be observed with forthcoming space-borne detectors. Only a few of these systems, however, have been firmly identified to date. Aims. We aim at providing a criterion for the identification of some supermassive black hole binaries based on the characteristics of the high-energy emission of a putative relativistic jet launched from the most massive of the two black holes. Methods. We study supermassive black hole binaries where the less massive black hole has carved an annular gap in the circumbinary disk, but nevertheless there is a steady mass flow across its orbit. Such a perturbed disk is hotter and more luminous than a standard thin disk in some regions. Assuming that the jet contains relativistic electrons, we calculate its broadband spectral energy distribution focusing on the inverse Compton up-scattering of the disk photons. We also compute the opacity to the gamma rays produced in the jet by photon annihilation with the disk radiation and take into account the effects of the anisotropy of the target photon field as seen from the jet. Results. We find that the excess of low-energy photons radiated by the perturbed disk causes an increment in the external Compton emission from the jet in the X-ray band, and a deep absorption feature at energies of tens of TeVs for some sets of parameters. According to our results, observations with Cherenkov telescopes might help in the identification of supermassive black hole binaries, especially those black hole binaries that host primaries from tens to hundreds of million of solar masses.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The age-metallicity dependence for white dwarfs

We present a theoretical study on the metallicity dependence of the initial$-$to$-$final mass relation and its influence on white dwarf age determinations. We compute a grid of evolutionary sequences from the main sequence to $\sim 3\, 000$ K on the white dwarf cooling curve, passing through all intermediate stages. During the thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch no third dredge-up episodes are considered and thus the photospheric C/O ratio is below unity for sequences with metallicities larger than $Z=0.0001$. We consider initial metallicities from $Z=0.0001$ to $Z=0.04$, accounting for stellar populations in the galactic disk and halo, with initial masses below $\sim 3M_{\odot}$. We found a clear dependence of the shape of the initial$-$to$-$final mass relation with the progenitor metallicity, where metal rich progenitors result in less massive white dwarf remnants, due to an enhancement of the mass loss rates associated to high metallicity values. By comparing our theoretical computations with semi empirical data from globular and old open clusters, we found that the observed intrinsic mass spread can be accounted for by a set of initial$-$to$-$final mass relations characterized by different metallicity values. Also, we confirm that the lifetime spent before the white dwarf stage increases with metallicity. Finally, we estimate the mean mass at the top of the white dwarf cooling curve for three globular clusters NGC 6397, M4 and 47 Tuc, around $0.53 M_{\odot}$, characteristic of old stellar populations. However, we found different values for the progenitor mass, lower for the metal poor cluster, NGC 6397, and larger for the younger and metal rich cluster 47 Tuc, as expected from the metallicity dependence of the initial$-$to$-$final mass relation.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Lepto-hadronic model for the broadband emission of Cygnus X-1

Cygnus X-1 is a well observed microquasar. Broadband observations at all wavelengths have been collected over the years. The origin of the MeV tail observed with COMPTEL and INTEGRAL is still under debate and it has mostly been attributed to the corona, although its high degree of polarization suggests it is synchrotron radiation from a jet. The origin of the transient emission above $\sim 100$ GeV is also unclear. We aim to disentangle the origin of the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) of Cygnus X-1, focusing particularly on the gamma-ray emission, and to gain information on the physical conditions inside the jets. We develop and apply a lepto-hadronic, inhomogeneous jet model to the non-thermal SED of Cygnus X-1. We calculate the contributions to the SED of both protons and electrons accelerated in an extended region of the jet. We also estimate the radiation of charged secondaries produced in hadronic interactions, through several radiative processes. Absorption effects are considered. We produce synthetic maps of the jets at radio wavelengths. We find two sets of model parameters that lead to good fits of the SED. One of the models fits all the observations, including the MeV tail. This model also predicts hadronic gamma-ray emission slightly below the current upper limits. The flux predicted at 8.4 GHz is in agreement with the observations available in the literature, although the synthetic source is more compact than the imaged radio jet. Our results show that the MeV emission in Cygnus X-1 may be jet synchrotron radiation. This depends mainly on the strength of the jet magnetic field and the location of the injection region of the relativistic particles. Our calculations show that there must be energetic electrons in the jets quite far from the black hole.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics with a Superconducting Quantum Point Contact

We consider a superconducting quantum point contact in a circuit quantum electrodynamics setup. We study three different configurations, attainable with current technology, where a quantum point contact is coupled galvanically to a coplanar waveguide resonator. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the strong and ultrastrong coupling regimes can be achieved with realistic parameters, allowing the coherent exchange between a superconducting quantum point contact and a quantized intracavity field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Updated version, accepted for publication as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review