Astrophysics

It is generally accepted that the pulsar magnetic field converts most of its rotational energy losses into radiation. In this paper, we propose an alternative emission mechanism, in which neither the pulsar rotational energy nor its magnetic field is involved. The emission mechanism proposed here is based on the hypothesis that the pulsar matter is stable only when moving with respect to the ambient medium at a velocity exceeding some threshold value. A decrease in velocity below this threshold value leads to the decay of matter with the emission of electromagnetic radiation. It is shown that decay regions on the pulsar surface in which the velocities of pulsar particles drops to arbitrarily small values are formed under simple driving condition. It is also shown that for the majority of pulsars having measured transverse velocities, such a condition is quite possible. Thus, the pulsar radiation carries away not the pulsar rotational energy, but its mass, while the magnitude of the rotational energy does not play any role. At the end of the paper, we consider the reason for the possible short-period precession of the pulsar.

Energetic electrons in the cocoons of radio galaxies make them potential sources for not only radio and X-rays but also Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) distortions in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Previous works have discussed the energetics of radio galaxy cocoons, but assuming thermal SZ effect, coming from the non-thermal electron population. We use an improved evolutionary model for radio galaxy cocoons to estimate the observed parameters such as the radio luminosities and intensity of SZ-distortions at the redshifts of observation. We, further, quantify the the effects of various relevant physical parameters of the radio galaxies, such as the jet power, the time scale over which the jet is active, the evolutionary time scale for the cocoon, etc on the observed parameters. For current SZ observations towards galaxy clusters, we find that the non-thermal SZ distortions from radio cocoons embedded in galaxy clusters can be non-negligible compared to the amount of thermal SZ distortion from the intra-cluster medium and, hence, can not be neglected. We show that small and young (and preferably residing in a cluster environment) radio galaxies offer better prospects for the detection of the non-thermal SZ signal from these sources. We further discuss the limits on different physical parameters for some sources for which SZ effect has been either detected or upper limits are available. The evolutionary models enable us to obtain limits, previously unavailable, on the low energy cut-off of electron spectrum ( p min ∼1--2 ) in order to explain the recent non-thermal SZ detection \citep{MDCMSNW2017}. Finally, we discuss how future CMB experiments, which would cover higher frequency bands ( > 400 GHz), may provide clear signatures for non-thermal SZ effect.

A signification fraction of Galactic massive stars (> 8Mo) are ejected from their parent cluster and supersonically sail away through the interstellar medium (ISM). The winds of these fast-moving stars blow asymmetric bubbles thus creating a circumstellar environment in which stars eventually die with a supernova explosion. The morphology of the resulting remnant is largely governed by the circumstellar medium of the defunct progenitor star. In this paper, we present 2D magneto-hydrodynamical simulations investigating the effect of the ISM magnetic field on the shape of the supernova remnants of a 35Mo star evolving through a Wolf-Rayet phase and running with velocity 20 and 40 km/s, respectively. A 7 microG ambient magnetic field is sufficient to modify the properties of the expanding supernova shock front and in particular to prevent the formation of filamentary structures. Prior to the supernova explosion, the compressed magnetic field in the circumstellar medium stabilises the wind/ISM contact discontinuity in the tail of the wind bubble. A consequence is a reduced mixing efficiency of ejecta and wind materials in the inner region of the remnant, where the supernova shock wave propagates. Radiative transfer calculations for synchrotron emission reveal that the non-thermal radio emission has characteristic features reflecting the asymmetry of exiled core-collapse supernova remnants from Wolf-Rayet progenitors. Our models are qualitatively consistent with the radio appearance of several remnants of high-mass progenitors, namely the bilateral G296.5+10.0 and the shell-type remnants CTB109 and Kes 17, respectively.

Context. Many low-redshift active galactic nuclei harbor a supermassive black hole accreting matter at low or medium rates. At such rates, the accretion flow usually consists of a cold optically thick disk, plus a hot, low density, collisionless corona. In the latter component, charged particles can be accelerated to high energies by various mechanisms. Aims. We aim to investigate, in detail, nonthermal processes in hot accretion flows onto supermassive black holes, covering a wide range of accretion rates and luminosities. Methods. We developed a model consisting of a thin Shakura-Sunyaev disk plus an inner hot accretion flow or corona, modeled as a radiatively inefficient accretion flow, where nonthermal processes take place. We solved the transport equations for relativistic particles and estimated the spectral energy distributions resulting from nonthermal interactions between the various particle species and the fields in the source. Results. We covered a variety of scenarios, from low accretion rates up to 10% of the Eddington limit, and identified the relevant cooling mechanisms in each case. The presence of hadrons in the hot flow is decisive for the spectral shape, giving rise to secondary particles and gamma-ray cascades. We applied our model to the source IC 4329A, confirming earlier results that showed evidence of nonthermal particles in the corona.

Low-energy cosmic rays (LECRs) contribute substantially to the energy balance of the interstellar medium. They play also significant role in the heating and chemistry of gas, and, consequently, on the star formation process. Because of the slow propagation coupled with enhanced energy losses of subrelativistic particles, LECRs are concentrated around their acceleration sites. LECRs effectively interact with the ambient gas through nuclear reactions. Although these processes are energetically less effective compared to heating and ionization, they are extremely important from the point of view of nuclear de-excitation lines, which carry unique information about LECRs. We present results on production of de-excitation lines combining the numerical treatment of nuclear reactions using the code TALYS, with the propagation and energy losses of LECRs.

This is the fourth paper of our series of works studying winds from hot accretion flows around black holes. In the first two papers, we have shown the existence of strong winds in hot accretion flows using hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations. In the third paper, by using three dimensional general relativity MHD numerical simulation data of hot accretion flows and adopting a "virtual particle trajectory" data analysis approach, we have calculated the properties of wind, such as its mass flux and velocity. However, that paper focuses only on a non-spinning black hole and SANE (standard and normal accretion). In the present paper, we extend the third paper by including cases of a rapidly rotating black hole and MAD (magnetically arrested disk). We focus on investigating the effect of spin and magnetic field on the properties of wind and jet. It is found that a larger spin and stronger magnetic field usually enhance the wind and jet. The formulae describing the mass flux, poloidal velocity, and fluxes of momentum, kinetic energy, and total energy of wind and jet are presented. One interesting finding, among others, is that even in the case of very rapidly spinning black hole where the jet is supposed to be the strongest, the momentum flux of jet is smaller than that of wind, while the total energy flux of jet is larger than that of wind by at most a factor of 10. This result suggests that wind potentially plays a more important role than jet at least for some problems in active galactic nuclei feedback.

SN 2017ein is a narrow-lined Type Ic SN that was found to share a location with a point-like source in the face on spiral galaxy NGC 3938 in pre-supernova images, making SN 2017ein the first credible detection of a Type Ic progenitor. Results in the literature suggest this point-like source is likely a massive progenitor of 60-80 M ??, depending on if the source is a binary, a single star, or a compact cluster. Using new photometric and spectral data collected for 200 days, including several nebular spectra, we generate a consistent model covering the photospheric and nebular phase using a Monte Carlo radiation transport code. Photospheric phase modelling finds an ejected mass 1.2-2.0 M ??with an E k of ??0.9±0.2)? 10 51 erg, with approximately 1 M ??of material below 5000 km s ?? found from the nebular spectra. Both photospheric and nebular phase modelling suggests a 56 Ni mass of 0.08-0.1 M ??. Modelling the [\OI] emission feature in the nebular spectra suggests the innermost ejecta is asymmetric. The modelling results favour a low mass progenitor of to 16-20 M ??, which is in disagreement with the pre-supernova derived high mass progenitor. This contradiction is likely due to the pre-supernova source not representing the actual progenitor.

eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) instrument onboard the Russian-German `Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma' (SRG) mission observed the Her X-1/HZ Her binary system in multiple scans over the source during the first and second SRG all-sky surveys. Both observations occurred during a low state of the X-ray source when the outer parts of the accretion disk blocked the neutron star from view. The orbital modulation of the X-ray flux was detected during the low states. We argue that the detected X-ray radiation results from scattering of the emission of the central source by three distinct regions: (a) an optically thin hot corona with temperature ??2??)? 10 6 K above the irradiated hemisphere of the optical star; (b) an optically thin hot halo above the accretion disk; and (c) the optically thick cold atmosphere of the optical star. The latter region effectively scatters photons with energies above 5?? keV.

The Galactic black hole transient GRS1915+105 is famous for its markedly variable X-ray and radio behaviour, and for being the archetypal galactic source of relativistic jets. It entered an X-ray outburst in 1992 and has been active ever since. Since 2018 GRS1915+105 has declined into an extended low-flux X-ray plateau, occasionally interrupted by multi-wavelength flares. Here we report the radio and X-ray properties of GRS1915+105 collected in this new phase, and compare the recent data to historic observations. We find that while the X-ray emission remained unprecedentedly low for most of the time following the decline in 2018, the radio emission shows a clear mode change half way through the extended X-ray plateau in 2019 June: from low flux (~3mJy) and limited variability, to marked flaring with fluxes two orders of magnitude larger. GRS1915+105 appears to have entered a low-luminosity canonical hard state, and then transitioned to an unusual accretion phase, characterised by heavy X-ray absorption/obscuration. Hence, we argue that a local absorber hides from the observer the accretion processes feeding the variable jet responsible for the radio flaring. The radio-X-ray correlation suggests that the current low X-ray flux state may be a signature of a super-Eddington state akin to the X-ray binaries SS433 or V404 Cyg.

Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and long gamma ray bursts (LGRBs) have been proposed as progenitors of repeating Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). In this scenario, bursts originate from the interaction between a young magnetar and its surrounding supernova remnant (SNR). Such a model could explain the repeating, apparently non-Poissonian nature of FRB121102, which appears to display quiescent and active phases. This bursting behaviour is better explained with a Weibull distribution, which includes parametrisation for clustering. We observed 10 SLSNe/LGRBs for 63 hours, looking for repeating FRBs with the Effelsberg-100 m radio telescope, but have not detected any bursts. We scale the burst rate of FRB121102 to an FRB121102-like source inhabiting each of our observed targets, and compare this rate to our upper burst rate limit on a source by source basis. By adopting a fiducial beaming fraction of 0.6, we obtain 99.99\% and 83.4\% probabilities that at least one, and at least half of our observed sources are beamed towards us respectively. One of our SLSN targets, PTF10hgi, is coincident with a persistent radio source, making it a possible analogue to FRB121102. We performed further observations on this source using the Effelsberg-100~m and Parkes-64~m radio telescopes. Assuming that PTF10hgi contains an FRB121102-like source, the probabilities of not detecting any bursts from a Weibull distribution during our observations are 14\% and 16\% for Effelsberg and Parkes respectively. We conclude by showing that a survey of many short observations increases burst detection probability for a source with Weibull distributed bursting activity.