(abridged) This is the second paper presenting the results of two years of monitoring of GRS 1915+105 with \integral and \rxte and the Ryle Telescope. We present the X-ray spectral and temporal ...analysis of four observations which showed strong radio to X-ray correlations. During one observation GRS 1915+105 was in a steady state, while during the three others it showed cycles of X-ray dips and spikes (followed by radio flares). We present the time-resolved spectroscopy of these cyclesand show that in all cases the hard X-ray component (the Comptonized emission from a coronal medium) is suppressed in coincidence with a soft X-ray spike that ends the cycle. We interpret these results as evidence that the soft X-ray spike is the trigger of the ejection, and that the ejected medium is the coronal material. In the steady state observation, the X-ray spectrum is indicative of the hard-intermediate state, with the presence of a relatively strong emission at 15 GHz. The X-ray spectra are the sum of a Comptonized component and an extra power law extending to energies >200 keV without any evidence for a cut-off. We observe a possible correlation of the radio flux with that of the power law component, which may indicate that we see direct emission from the jet at hard X-ray energies. We study the energy dependence of a ~4 Hz QPO during the hard-intermediate state observation. The QPO-''spectrum'' is well modeled by a power law with a cut-off at an energy about 11 keV that clearly differs from the relative contribution of the Comptonized component to the overall flux. This may rule out models of global oscillations of the Compton corona.
(Abridged) We report the results of monitoring observations of the Galactic microquasar GRS 1915+105 performed simultaneously with INTEGRAL and RXTE Ryle . We present the results of the whole ...\integral campaign, report the sources that are detected and their fluxes and identify the classes of variability in which GRS 1915+105 is found. The accretion ejection connections are studied in a model independent manner through the source light curves, hardness ratio, and color color diagrams. During a period of steady ''hard'' X-ray state (the so-called class chi) we observe a steady radio flux. We then turn to 3 particular observations during which we observe several types of soft X-ray dips and spikes cycles, followed by radio flares. During these observations GRS 1915+105 is in the so-called nu, lambda, and beta classes of variability. The observation of ejections during class lambda are the first ever reported. We generalize the fact that a (non-major) discrete ejection always occurs, in GRS 1915+105, as a response to an X-ray sequence composed of a spectrally hard X-ray dip terminated by an X-ray spike marking the disappearance of the hard X-ray emission above 18 keV. We also identify the trigger of the ejection as this X-ray spike. A possible correlation between the amplitude of the radio flare and the duration of the X-ray dip is found in our data. In this case the X-ray dips prior to ejections could be seen as the time during which the source accumulates energy and material that is ejected later.
The stability of the basalt melt lens identified below fast spreading ridges has been tested by a thermal and mass balance model in order to investigate how the generation of the crust by basaltic ...melt can be affected by spreading rate. The mpdel is constrained using field information from the Oman ophiolite, the main piece of evidence dealing with the nature and structure of the root zone of sheeted dikes which acts as a thermal boundary layer between the melt lens below, and the hydrothermally cooled sheeted dike unit above. For a mass balance calculation we first assume that the gabbro unit is entirely created by the melt issued from the lens. We examine how the heat generated by crystallization of this mass can be evacuated through the boundary layer on top of the melt lens. A steady‐state situation is found for a given spreading rate and ratio of the Nusselt number to the field‐deduced thickness of the boundary layer. If, as suggested by geophysical data, the melt lens exists only for spreading rates larger than 6 cm/yr, the boundary layer needs to be essentially conductive. With increasing spreading rates and increasing heat supply the system thermally adjusts itself until it must work in a new mode. Geological evidence suggests that this could be achieved by developing an additional feeding of the gabbro unit by a large number of sills being emplaced below the melt lens into the lower gabbros.
The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) has developed an operational forecasting system for ozone concentrations in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer; this system is called the Danish Atmospheric ...Chemistry FOrecasting System (DACFOS). At specific sites where real-time ozone concentration measurements are available, a statistical after-treatment of DACFOS’ results adjusts the next 48
h ozone forecasts. This post-processing of DACFOS’ forecasts is based on an adaptive linear regression model using an optimal state estimator algorithm. The regression analysis uses different linear combinations of meteorological parameters (such as temperature, wind speed, surface heat flux and atmospheric boundary layer height) supplied by the Numerical Weather Prediction model DMI-HIRLAM. Several regressions have been tested for six monitoring stations in Denmark and in England, and four of the linear combinations have been selected to be employed in an automatic forecasting system. A statistical study comparing observations and forecasts shows that this system yields higher correlation coefficients as well as smaller biases and RMSE values than DACFOS; the present post-processing thus improves DACFOS’ forecasts. This system has been operational since June 1998 at the DMI's monitoring station in the north of Copenhagen, for which a new ozone forecast is presented every 6
h on the DMI's internet public homepage.
We present the results obtained from timing and spectral studies of the newly discovered accreting X-ray binary pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124 using a NuSTAR observation in 2017 October at a flux level of ...~280 mCrab. Pulsations at 9.85423(5) s were detected in the X-ray light curves of the pulsar. Pulse profiles of the pulsar were found to be strongly energy dependent. A broad profile at lower energies was found to evolve into a double peaked profile in \(\ge\)30keV. The 3-79 keV continuum spectrum of the pulsar was well described with a negative and positive exponential cutoff or high energy cutoff power law models modified with a hot blackbody at \(\sim\)3 keV. An iron emission line was also detected at 6.4 keV in the source spectrum. We did not find any signature of cyclotron absorption line in our study. Results obtained from phase-resolved and time-resolved spectroscopy are discussed in the paper.
We report the discovery of millihertz quasi-periodic oscillations (mHz QPOs) from the neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1730--22 using the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). ...After being inactive for almost 50 years, 4U 1730--22 went into outburst twice between June and August 2021, and between February and July 2022. We analyse all the NICER observations of this source, and detect mHz QPOs with a significance > \(4\sigma\) in 35 observations. The QPO frequency of the full data set ranged between ~4.5 and ~8.1 mHz with an average fractional rms amplitude of the order of ~2%. The X-ray colour analysis strongly suggests that 4U 1730--22 was in a soft spectral state during the QPO detections. Our findings are consistent with those reported for other sources where the mHz QPOs have been interpreted as the result of a special mode of He burning on the NS surface called marginally stable nuclear burning (MSNB). We conclude that the mHz QPOs reported in this work are also associated with the MSNB, making 4U 1730--22 the eighth source that shows this phenomenology. We discuss our findings in the context of the heat flux from the NS crust.
Swift J1749.4-2807 is the only known eclipsing accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar. In this paper, we report on 7 thermonuclear (Type-I) X-ray bursts observed by NICER during its 2021 outburst. The ...first 6 bursts show slow rises and long decays, indicative of mixed H/He fuel, whereas the last burst shows fast rise and decay, suggesting He-rich fuel. Time-resolved spectroscopy of the bursts revealed typical phenomenology (i.e., an increase in black body temperature during the burst rise, and steady decrease in the decay), however they required a variable \(N_\mathrm{H}\). We found that the values of \(N_\mathrm{H}\) during the bursts were roughly double those found in the fits of the persistent emission prior to each burst. We interpret this change in absorption as evidence of burst-disc interaction, which we observe due to the high inclination of the system. We searched for burst oscillations during each burst and detected a signal in the first burst at the known spin frequency of the neutron star (517.92 Hz). This is the first time burst oscillations have been detected from Swift J1749.4-2807. We further find that each X-ray burst occurs on top of an elevated persistent count rate. We performed time-resolved spectroscopy on the combined data of the bursts with sufficient statistics (i.e., the clearest examples of this phenomenon) and found that the black body parameters evolve to hotter temperatures closer to the onset of the bursts. We interpret this as a consequence of an unusual marginally stable burning process similar to that seen through mHz QPOs.
We present detailed spectral and timing studies using a NuSTAR observation of GX 1+4 in October 2015 during an intermediate intensity state. The measured spin period of 176.778 s is found to be one ...of the highest values since its discovery. In contrast to a broad sinusoidal-like pulse profile, a peculiar sharp peak is observed in profiles below ~25 keV. The profiles at higher energies are found to be significantly phase-shifted compared to the soft X-ray profiles. Broadband energy spectra of GX 1+4, obtained from NuSTAR and Swift observations, are described with various continuum models. Among these, a two component model consisting of a bremsstrahlung and a blackbody component is found to best-fit the phase-averaged and phase-resolved spectra. Physical models are also used to investigate the emission mechanism in the pulsar, which allows us to estimate the magnetic field strength to be in \(\sim\)(5-10)\(\times\)10\(^{12}\) G range. Phase-resolved spectroscopy of NuSTAR observation shows a strong blackbody emission component in a narrow pulse phase range. This component is interpreted as the origin of the peculiar peak in the pulse profiles below \(\le\)25 keV. The size of emitting region is calculated to be \(\sim\)400 m. The bremsstrahlung component is found to dominate in hard X-rays and explains the nature of simple profiles at high energies.
At the time of defining the science objectives of the INTernational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), such a rapid and spectacular development of multi-messenger astronomy could not have ...been predicted, with new impulsive phenomena becoming accessible through different channels. Neutrino telescopes have routinely detected energetic neutrino events coming from unknown cosmic sources since 2013. Gravitational wave detectors opened a novel window on the sky in 2015 with the detection of the merging of two black holes and in 2017 with the merging of two neutron stars, followed by signals in the full electromagnetic range. Finally, since 2007, radio telescopes detected extremely intense and short burst of radio waves, known as Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) whose origin is for most cases extragalactic, but enigmatic. The exceptionally robust and versatile design of the INTEGRAL mission has allowed researchers to exploit data collected not only with the pointed instruments, but also with the active cosmic-ray shields of the main instruments to detect impulses of gamma-rays in coincidence with unpredictable phenomena. The full-sky coverage, mostly unocculted by the Earth, the large effective area, the stable background, and the high duty cycle (85%) put INTEGRAL in a privileged position to give a major contribution to multi-messenger astronomy. In this review, we describe how INTEGRAL has provided upper limits on the gamma-ray emission from black-hole binary mergers, detected a short gamma-ray burst in coincidence with a binary neutron star merger, contributed to define the spectral energy distribution of a blazar associated with a neutrino event, set upper limits on impulsive and steady gamma-ray emission from cosmological FRBs, and detected a magnetar flare associated with fast radio bursting emission.
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