U. R. Rao

Possibility of continuous monitoring of celestial X-ray sources through their ionization effects in the nocturnal D-region ionosphere

The electron production rates in the night-time D-region arising from the transit of strong celestial X-ray sources Sco X-1, Tau X-1 and Galactic Center are estimated and compared with the ambient electron production rates resulting from other known stable agencies. Using the experimentally measured values of the night-time electron densities, the number of additional electrons/cc expected from the passage of these sources is computed. For the 164 kHz transmission from Tashkent, received at Ahmedabad, the associated enhancement in the attenuation is calculated using the full wave admittance technique of Barron and Budden. Reasonable agreement is shown to exist between the calculated values of the attenuation and those of direct observations.

Spectrum of the cosmic X- and gamma ray background in the energy range 1 keV-1 MeV

AbstractAvailable satellite, rocket and balloon observations on cosmic X- and gamma ray background are critically examined to understand the spectral characteristics of the radiation. Appropriate corrections have been applied to the balloon observations to account for the multiple Compton scattering of X-rays in the atmosphere. It is shown that within the experimental uncertainties, all the available observations of cosmic X- and gamma ray background in the energy range 1 keV-1 MeV are consistent with a single spectrum of typen

Diffuse X-ray background measurements in the energy range 2–18 keV

{text{d}}N/{text{d}}E = 30 E^{ - 2.0 pm 0.2} {text{photons cm}}^{{text{ - 2}}} {text{s}}^{{text{ - 1}}} {text{sr}}^{{text{ - 1}}} {text{keV}}^{{text{ - 1}}}

Balloon observations of fast intensity fluctuations and flare-like enhancements of X-ray emission from Cygnus X-1

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X-ray Flux from Discrete Sources

The paper presents the results on investigations of the ionospheric effects arising out of the transient celestial events at X-ray and gamma-ray energies such as that from X-ray novae and cosmic gamma-ray bursts. The VLF data recorded at Ahmedabad corresponding to the 164 kHz transmission from Tashkent are examined to see whether there are any observable effects time coincident with the transit of the X-ray novae Cen X-4 and Cet X-2 around their intensity maxima. Besides, the VLF data have also been examined in relation to the cosmic gamma-ray bursts detected by Vela, IMP-6 and OSO-7 satellites.Theoretical computations are carried out for estimating electron density enhancements using the available data on intensities and energy spectra for these events. Further, the observational resutls are explained in terms of these theoretical calculations.

An attempt to detect the effects of cosmic gamma-ray bursts in the lower ionosphere

Rocket measurements, of the diffuse X-ray background in the energy range 2–18 keV, conducted from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), India, are presented. The estimates of the cosmic background are derived by the method which employs the Earth and its atmosphere as a shutter to intercept the celestial X-rays. The results are shown to be consistent with a power law photon spectrum.13.6−3.3+4.3E−1.73±0.15 photons/cm2-sec-keV-ster the spectrum being much flatter than that observed at higher energies.

Observations of Cyg X-1 from Aryabhata

AbstractThe paper presents the intensity and spectral nature of the X-ray emission from Sco X-1 in the energy interval 17–106 keV based on the observations made by a balloon borne scintillation telescope system flown on November 15, 1971 from Hyderabad, India. In the 25–53 keV interval, the spectral distribution is observed to correspond to akT value ofn