We report on a recent multiband optical photometric and polarimetric observational campaign of the blazar OJ 287 that was carried out during 2016 September-2017 December. We employed nine telescopes ...in Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Japan, Serbia, Spain, and the United States. We collected over 1800 photometric image frames in BVRI bands and over 100 polarimetric measurements over ∼175 nights. In 11 nights with many quasi-simultaneous multiband (V, R, I) observations, we did not detect any genuine intraday variability in flux or color. On longer timescales, multiple flaring events were seen. Large changes in color with respect to time and in a color-magnitude diagram were seen, and while only a weak systematic variability trend was noticed in color with respect to time, the color-magnitude diagram shows a bluer-when-brighter trend. Large changes in the degree of polarization and substantial swings in the polarization angle were detected. The fractional Stokes parameters of the polarization showed a systematic trend with time in the beginning of these observations, followed by chaotic changes and then an apparently systematic variation at the end. These polarization changes coincide with the detection and duration of the source at very high energies as seen by VERITAS. The spectral index shows a systematic variation with time and V-band magnitude. We briefly discuss possible physical mechanisms that could explain the observed flux, color, polarization, and spectral variability.
ABSTRACT We report the results of a multiband observing campaign on the famous blazar 3C 279 conducted during a phase of increased activity from 2013 December to 2014 April, including first ...observations of it with NuSTAR. The γ-ray emission of the source measured by Fermi-LAT showed multiple distinct flares reaching the highest flux level measured in this object since the beginning of the Fermi mission, with of 10−5 photons cm−2 s−1, and with a flux-doubling time scale as short as 2 hr. The γ-ray spectrum during one of the flares was very hard, with an index of , which is rarely seen in flat-spectrum radio quasars. The lack of concurrent optical variability implies a very high Compton dominance parameter . Two 1 day NuSTAR observations with accompanying Swift pointings were separated by 2 weeks, probing different levels of source activity. While the 0.5−70 keV X-ray spectrum obtained during the first pointing, and fitted jointly with Swift-XRT is well-described by a simple power law, the second joint observation showed an unusual spectral structure: the spectrum softens by at ∼4 keV. Modeling the broadband spectral energy distribution during this flare with the standard synchrotron plus inverse-Compton model requires: (1) the location of the γ-ray emitting region is comparable with the broad-line region radius, (2) a very hard electron energy distribution index , (3) total jet power significantly exceeding the accretion-disk luminosity , and (4) extremely low jet magnetization with . We also find that single-zone models that match the observed γ-ray and optical spectra cannot satisfactorily explain the production of X-ray emission.
ABSTRACT
Here we report on the results of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope photo-polarimetric campaign targeting the blazar S5 0716+71, organized in 2014 March to monitor the source simultaneously in
...BVRI
and near-IR filters. The campaign resulted in an unprecedented data set spanning ∼110 hr of nearly continuous, multiband observations, including two sets of densely sampled polarimetric data mainly in the
R
filter. During the campaign, the source displayed pronounced variability with peak-to-peak variations of about 30% and “bluer-when-brighter” spectral evolution, consisting of a day-timescale modulation with superimposed hour-long microflares characterized by ∼0.1 mag flux changes. We performed an in-depth search for quasi-periodicities in the source light curve; hints for the presence of oscillations on timescales of ∼3 and ∼5 hr do not represent highly significant departures from a pure red-noise power spectrum. We observed that, at a certain configuration of the optical polarization angle (PA) relative to the PA of the innermost radio jet in the source, changes in the polarization degree (PD) led the total flux variability by about 2 hr; meanwhile, when the relative configuration of the polarization and jet angles altered, no such lag could be noted. The microflaring events, when analyzed as separate pulse emission components, were found to be characterized by a very high PD (>30%) and PAs that differed substantially from the PA of the underlying background component, or from the radio jet positional angle. We discuss the results in the general context of blazar emission and energy dissipation models.
Six influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses were detected in Sapporo, Japan, between November and December 2013. All six viruses possessed an H275Y substitution in the neuraminidase protein, which confers ...cross-resistance to oseltamivir and peramivir. No epidemiological link among the six cases could be identified; none of them had received neuraminidase inhibitors before specimen collection. The haemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of the six viruses were closely related to one another, suggesting clonal spread of a single resistant virus.
We report that the optical polarization in the afterglow of GRB 091208B is measured at t = 149-706 s after the burst trigger, and the polarization degree is P = 10.4% + or - 2.5%. The optical light ...curve at this time shows a power-law decay with index -0.75 + or - 0.02, which is interpreted as the forward shock synchrotron emission, and thus this is the first detection of the early-time optical polarization in the forward shock (rather than that in the reverse shock reported by Steele et al.). This detection disfavors the afterglow model in which the magnetic fields in the emission region are random on the plasma skin depth scales, such as those amplified by the plasma instabilities, e.g., Weibel instability. We suggest that the fields are amplified by the magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, which would be tested by future observations of the temporal changes of the polarization degrees and angles for other bursts.
This paper reports the characteristics of planar contactless power transfer systems, which are classified into the following types: single-phase primary and single-phase secondary system (SS system), ...three-phase primary and single-phase secondary system (TS system), and three-phase primary and three-phase secondary system (TT system). The SS system is used in conventional contactless power transfer. On the other hand, in the last few years, the TS system has been studied more. As a novel system, the TT system is here proposed. The characteristics of all three systems are measured by using a common experimental prototype made of printed circuit board. The comparison confirms that the TT system has higher efficiency and can output uniform power independent of the secondary position, as compared to the other systems.
We explore physical properties of the shocked external medium (i.e., a shell) in 3C 84 associated with the recurrent radio lobe born around 1960. In the previous work of Ito et al., we investigated a ...dynamical and radiative evolution of such a shell after the central engine stops the jet launching, and we found that a fossil-shell emission overwhelms that of the rapidly fading radio lobe. We apply this model to 3C 84 and find the following. (1) The fossil shell made of shocked diffuse ambient matter with the number density of radiates bright inverse-Compton (IC) emission with the seed photons of the radio emission from the central compact region and the IC emission is above the sensitivity threshold of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). (2) When the fossil shell is produced in a geometrically thick ionized plasma with the number density of , the field strength in the shell may reach about 17 mG in the presence of magnetic fields amplification and the radio emission becomes comparable to the sensitivity of deep imaging VLBI observations. The possible production of ultra high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECRs) in the dense shocked plasma is also argued.
We present optical and near-infrared multi-band linear polarimetry of the highly reddened Type Ia supernova (SN) 2014J that appeared in M82. SN 2014J exhibits large polarization at shorter ...wavelengths, e.g., 4.8% in the B band, which decreases rapidly at longer wavelengths, while the position angle of the polarization remains at approximately 40degrees over the observed wavelength range. These polarimetric properties suggest that the observed polarization is likely predominantly caused by the interstellar dust within M82. Further analysis shows that the polarization peaks at a wavelengths much shorter than those obtained for the Galactic dust. The wavelength dependence of the polarization can be better described by an inverse power law rather than by the Serkowski law for Galactic interstellar polarization. These points suggest that the nature of the dust in M82 may be different from that in our Galaxy, with polarizing dust grains having a mean radius of <0.1 mum.
ABSTRACT We present multi-wavelength monitoring results for the broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120 in the MeV/GeV, sub-millimeter, and 43 GHz bands over 6 yr. Over the past 2 yr, the Fermi-Large Area ...Telescope sporadically detected 3C 120 with high significance and the 230 GHz data also suggest an enhanced activity of the source. After the MeV/GeV detection from 3C 120 in MJD 56240-56300, 43 GHz Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) monitoring revealed a brightening of the radio core, followed by the ejection of a superluminal knot. Since we observed the γ-ray and VLBA phenomena in temporal proximity to each other, it is naturally assumed that they are physically connected. This assumption was further supported by the subsequent observation that the 43 GHz core brightened again after a γ-ray flare occurred around MJD 56560. We can then infer that the MeV/GeV emission took place inside an unresolved 43 GHz core of 3C 120 and that the jet dissipation occurred at sub-parsec distances from the central black hole (BH), if we take the distance of the 43 GHz core from the central BH as ∼0.5 pc, as previously estimated from the time lag between X-ray dips and knot ejections. Based on our constraints on the relative locations of the emission regions and energetic arguments, we conclude that the γ rays are more favorably produced via the synchrotron self-Compton process, rather than inverse Compton scattering of external photons coming from the broad line region or hot dusty torus. We also derived the electron distribution and magnetic field by modeling the simultaneous broadband spectrum.
Belle II is a new-generation B-factory experiment, dedicated to exploring new physics beyond the standard model of elementary particles in the flavor sector. Belle II started data-taking in April ...2018, using a synchronous data acquisition (DAQ) system based on pipelined trigger flow control. The Belle II DAQ system is designed to handle a 30-kHz trigger rate with approximately 1% of dead time, under the assumption of a raw event size of 1 MB. The DAQ system is reliable, and the overall data-taking efficiency reached 84.2% during the run period of January 2020-June 2020. The current readout system cannot be operated in the terms of ten years from the viewpoint of DAQ maintainability; meanwhile, the readout system is obstructing high-speed data transmission. A solution involving a peripheral component interconnect (PCI)-express-based readout module with high data throughput of up to 100 Gb/s was adopted to upgrade the Belle II DAQ system. We particularly focused on the design of firmware and software based on this new generation of readout board, called PCIe40, with an Altera Arria 10 field-programmable gate array chip. The 48-Gb transceiver (GBT) serial links, PCI-express hard IP-based direct memory access (DMA) architecture, interface of timing and trigger distribution system, and slow control system were designed to integrate with the current Belle II DAQ system. This article describes the performances accomplished during the data readout and slow control tests conducted using a test bench and a demonstration performed using on-site front-end electronics, specifically involving Belle II TOP and KLM subdetectors.
PDF
