Engineering Papers⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Bhat, P. N.

Publications and source records attributed to Bhat, P. N..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Searching the Gamma-Ray Sky for Counterparts to Gravitational Wave Sources Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope Observations of LVT151012 and GW151226

We present the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of the LIGO binary black hole merger event GW151226 and candidate LVT151012. At the time of the LIGO triggers on LVT151012 and GW151226, GBM was observing 68% and 83% of the localization regions, and LAT was observing 47% and 32%, respectively. No candidate electromagnetic counterparts were detected by either the GBM or LAT. We present a detailed analysis of the GBM and LAT data over a range of timescales from seconds to years, using automated pipelines and new techniques for characterizing the flux upper bounds across large areas of the sky. Due to the partial GBM and LAT coverage of the large LIGO localization regions at the trigger times for both events, differences in source distances and masses, as well as the uncertain degree to which emission from these sources could be beamed, these non-detections cannot be used to constrain the variety of theoretical models recently applied to explain the candidate GBM counterpart to GW150914.

gamma rays: general – gravitational waves – me↗
NASA NTRS2014

When a Standard Candle Flickers: Hard X-Ray Variations in the Crab Nebula

In the first two years of science operations of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), August 2008 to August 2010, an approximately 7% (70 mcrab) decline was discovered in the overall Crab nebula flux in the 15 - 50 keV band, measured with the Earth occultation technique. This decline was independently confirmed with four other instruments: the RXTE/PCA, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. The pulsed flux measured with RXTE/PCA from 1999-2010 was consistent with the pulsar spin-down, indicating that the observed changes were nebular. From 2001 to 2010, the Crab nebula flux measured with RXTE/PCA was particularly variable, changing by up to approximately 3.5% per year in the 15-50 keV band. These variations were confirmed with INTEGRAL/SPI starting in 2003, Swift/BAT starting in 2005, and Fermi GBM starting in 2008. Before 2001 and since 2010, the Crab nebula flux has appeared more stable, varying by less than 2% per year. At higher energies, above 50 keV, the Crab flux appears to be slowly recovering to its 2008 levels. I will present updated light curves in multiple energy bands for the Crab nebula, including recent data from Fermi GBM, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL, MAXI, and NuSTAR and a 16-year long light curve from RXTE/PCA.

Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

The First FERMI-LAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

In three years of observations since the beginning of nominal science operations in 2008 August, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has observed high-energy great than (20 MeV) gamma-ray emission from 35 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Among these, 28 GRBs have been detected above 100 MeV and 7 GRBs above approximately 20 MeV. The first Fermi-LAT catalog of GRBs is a compilation of these detections and provides a systematic study of high-energy emission from GRBs for the first time. To generate the catalog, we examined 733 GRBs detected by the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on Fermi and processed each of them using the same analysis sequence. Details of the methodology followed by the LAT collaboration for the GRB analysis are provided. We summarize the temporal and spectral properties of the LAT-detected GRBs. We also discuss characteristics of LAT-detected emission such as its delayed onset and longer duration compared with emission detected by the GBM, its power-law temporal decay at late times, and the fact that it is dominated by a power-law spectral component that appears in addition to the usual Band model.

gamma-ray burst: general↗
NASA NTRS2013

The First Pulse of the Extremely Bright GRB 130427A: A Test Lab for Synchrotron Shocks

Gamma-ray burst (GRB) 130427A is one of the most energetic GRBs ever observed. The initial pulse up to 2.5 s is possibly the brightest well-isolated pulse observed to date. A fine time resolution spectral analysis shows power-law decays of the peak energy from the onset of the pulse, consistent with models of internal synchrotron shock pulses. However, a strongly correlated power-law behavior is observed between the luminosity and the spectral peak energy that is inconsistent with curvature effects arising in the relativistic outflow. It is difficult for any of the existing models to account for all of the observed spectral and temporal behaviors simultaneously.

Pulse↗
NASA NTRS2013

Hard X-ray Variations in the Crab Nebula

In the first two years of science operations of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), August 2008 to August 2010, approximately 7% (70 mcrab) decline was discovered in the overall Crab Nebula flux in the 15 - 50 keV band, measured with the Earth occultation technique. This decline was independently confirmed with four other instruments: the RXTE/PCA, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. The pulsed flux measured with RXTE/PCA from 1999-2010 was consistent with the pulsar spin-down, indicating that the observed changes were nebular. From 2001 to 2010, the Crab nebula flux measured with RXTE/PCA was particularly variable, changing by up to approximately 3.5% per year in the 15-50 keV band. These variations were confirmed with INTEGRAL/SPI starting in 2003, Swift/BAT starting in 2005, and Fermi GBM starting in 2008. Before 2001 and since 2010, the Crab nebula flux has appeared more stable, varying by less than 2% per year. I will present updated light curves in multiple energy bands for the Crab nebula, including recent data from Fermi GBM, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL and MAXI, and a 16-year long light curve from RXTE/PCA.

Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Hard X-ray Variations in the Crab Nebula

In the first two years of science operations of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), August 2008 to August 2010, approximately 7% (70 mcrab) decline was discovered in the overall Crab Nebula flux in the 15 - 50 keV band, measured with the Earth occultation technique. This decline was independently confirmed with four other instruments: the RXTE/PCA, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. The pulsed flux measured with RXTE/PCA from 1999-2010 was consistent with the pulsar spin-down, indicating that the observed changes were nebular. From 2001 to 2010, the Crab nebula flux measured with RXTE/ PCA was particularly variable, changing by up to approximately 3.5% per year in the 15-50 keV band. These variations were confirmed with INTEGRAL/SPI starting in 2003, Swift/BAT starting in 2005, and Fermi GBM starting in 2008. Before 2001 and since 2010, the Crab nebula flux has appeared more stable, varying by less than 2% per year. I will present updated light curves in multiple energy bands for the Crab Nebula, including recent data from Fermi GBM, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL and MAXI, and a 16-year long light curve from RXTE/PCA.

Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Hard X-ray Variations in the Crab Nebula

In the first two years of science operations of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), August 2008 to August 2010, a approx.7% (70 mcrab) decline was discovered in the overall Crab Nebula flux in the 15 - 50 keV band, measured with the Earth occultation technique. This decline was independently confirmed with four other instruments: the RXTE/PCA, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. The pulsed flux measured with RXTE/PCA from 1999-2010 was consistent with the pulsar spin-down, indicating that the observed changes were nebular. From 2001 to 2010, the Crab nebula flux measured with RXTE/PCA was particularly variable, changing by up to approx.3.5% per year in the 15-50 keV band. These variations were confirmed with INTEGRAL/SPI starting in 2003, Swift/BAT starting in 2005, and Fermi GBM starting in 2008. Before 2001 and since 2010, the Crab nebula flux has appeared more stable, varying by less than 2% per year. I will present updated light curves in multiple energy bands for the Crab nebula, including recent data from Fermi GBM, Swift/BAT, and MAXI, and a 16-year long light curve from RXTE/PCA.

Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

SGR J1550-5418 Bursts Detected with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor during Its Most Prolific Activity

We have performed detailed temporal and time-integrated spectral analysis of 286 bursts from SGR J1550-5418 detected with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) in 2009 January, resulting in the largest uniform sample of temporal and spectral properties of SGR J1550-5418 bursts. We have used the combination of broadband and high time-resolution data provided with GBM to perform statistical studies for the source properties.We determine the durations, emission times, duty cycles, and rise times for all bursts, and find that they are typical of SGR bursts. We explore various models in our spectral analysis, and conclude that the spectra of SGR J15505418 bursts in the 8-200 keV band are equally well described by optically thin thermal bremsstrahlung (OTTB), a power law (PL) with an exponential cutoff (Comptonized model), and two blackbody (BB) functions (BB+BB). In the spectral fits with the Comptonized model, we find a mean PL index of -0.92, close to the OTTB index of -1. We show that there is an anti-correlation between the Comptonized E(sub peak) and the burst fluence and average flux. For the BB+BBfits, we find that the fluences and emission areas of the two BB functions are correlated. The low-temperature BB has an emission area comparable to the neutron star surface area, independent of the temperature, while the high temperature BB has a much smaller area and shows an anti-correlation between emission area and temperature.We compare the properties of these bursts with bursts observed from other SGR sources during extreme activations, and discuss the implications of our results in the context of magnetar burst models.

bursts↗
NASA NTRS2012

When a Standard Candle Flickers: Crab Nebula Variations in Hard X-rays

RXTE played a crucial role in our surprising discovery that the Crab Nebula is variable in hard X-rays. In the first two years of science operations of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), August 2008-2010, a approx.7% (70 mcrab) decline was discovered in the overall Crab Nebula flux in the 15 - 50 keV band, measured with the Earth occultation technique. This decline was independently confirmed in the ~15-50 keV band with four other instruments: the RXTE/PCA, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. The pulsed flux measured with RXTE/PCA from 1999-2010 was consistent with the pulsar spin-down, indicating that the observed changes were nebular. From 2001 to 2010, the Crab nebula flux measured with RXTE/PCA was particularly variable, changing by up to approx.3.5% per year in the 15-50 keV band. These variations were confirmed with INTEGRAL/SPI starting in 2003 and Swift/BAT starting in 2005. Before 2001 and since 2010, the Crab nebula 15-50 keV flux measured with RXTE/PCA appeared more stable, varying by less than 2% per year. In this talk I will present Crab light curves including RXTE data for the entire 16-year mission in multiple energy bands.

Wilson-Hodge, Collen A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Fermi Detection of Gamma-Ray Emission from the M2 Soft X-Ray Flare on 2010 June 12

The GOES M2-class solar flare, SOL2010-06-12T00:57, was modest in many respects yet exhibited remarkable acceleration of energetic particles. The flare produced an approximately 50 s impulsive burst of hard X- and gamma-ray emission up to at least 400 MeV observed by the Fermi GBM and LAT experiments. The remarkably similar hard X-ray and high-energy gamma-ray time profiles suggest that most of the particles were accelerated to energies greater than or equal to 300 MeV with a delay of approximately 10 s from mildly relativistic electrons, but some reached these energies in as little as approximately 3 s. The gamma-ray line fluence from this flare was about ten times higher than that typically observed from this modest GOES class of X-ray flare. There is no evidence for time-extended greater than 100 MeV emission as has been found for other flares with high-energy gamma rays.

Ackermann, M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Lag-Luminosity Relation in the GRB Source-Frame: An Investigation with Swift BAT Bursts

Spectral lag, which is defined as the difference in time of arrival of high and low energy photons, is a common feature in Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs). Previous investigations have shown a correlation between this lag and the isotropic peak luminosity for long duration bursts. However, most of the previous investigations used lags extracted in the observer-frame only. In this work (based on a sample of 43 Swift long GRBs with known redshifts), we present an analysis of the lag-luminosity relation in the GRB source-frame. Our analysis indicates a higher degree of correlation -0.82+/-0.05 (chance probability of approx 5.5 X 10(exp -5) between the spectral lag and the isotropic peak luminosity, L(sub iso), with a best-fit power-law index of -1.2 +/- 0.2, such that L(sub iso) varies as lag(exp -1.2). In addition, there is an anti-correlation between the source-frame spectral lag and the source-frame peak energy of the burst spectrum, E(sub pk)(1 + z).

Ukwatta, T. N.↗
NASA NTRS2011

An Overview of the Current Understanding of Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Fermi Era

Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the Universe, and their origin as well as mechanism are the focus of intense research and debate. More than three decades since their serendipitous discovery, followed by several breakthroughs from space-borne and ground-based observations, they remain one of the most interesting astrophysical phenomena yet to be completely understood. Since the launch of Fermi with its unprecedented energy band width spanning seven decades, the study of gamma-ray burst research has entered a new phase. Here we review the current theoretical understanding and observational highlights of gamma-ray burst astronomy and point out some of the potential promises of multi-wavelength observations in view of the upcoming ground based observational facilities .

Bhat, P. N.↗
NASA NTRS2011

When a Standard Candle Flickers: Crab Nebula Variations in Hard X-rays

In the first two years of science operations of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) since August 2008, a ~7% (70 mcrab) decline was observed in the overall Crab Nebula flux in the 15 - 50 keV band, measured with the Earth occultation technique. This decline is independently confirmed in the ~15-50 keV band with four other instruments: Swift/BAT, the RXTE/PCA, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. A similar decline is also observed in the ~3-15 keV data from the RXTE/PCA and in the 50-100 keV band with GBM, Swift/BAT, INTEGRAL/IBIS, and INTEGRAL/SPI. The pulsed flux measured with RXTE/PCA since 1999 is consistent with the pulsar spin-down, indicating that the observed changes are nebular. Correlated variations in the Crab Nebula flux on a ~3 year timescale are also seen independently with the PCA, BAT, IBIS, and SPI from 2005 to 2008, with a flux minimum in April 2007. As of April 2011, the Crab nebula flux has stopped declining and may be beginning to increase. We will present updated results on our multi-instrument study of long-term Crab nebula variations.

Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Lag-Luminosity Relation in the GRB Source Frame: An Investigation with Swift BAT Bursts

Spectral lag. which is defined as the difference in time of arrival of high- and low-energy photons. is a common feature in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Previous investigations have shown a correlation between this lag and the isotropic peak luminosity for long duration bursts. However. most of the previous investigations used lags extracted in the observer frame only. In this work (based on a sample of 43 Swift long GRBs with known redshifts). we present an analysis of the lag-luminosity relation in the GRB source frame. Our analysis indicates a higher degree of correlation -0.82 +/- 0.05 (chance probability of approx. 5.5 x 10(exp -5) between the spectral lag and the isotropic peak luminosity, L(sub iso). with a best-fitting power-law index of -1.2 +/- 0.2. In addition, there is an anticorrelation between the source-frame spectral lag and the source-frame peak energy of the burst spectrum.

Ukwatta, T. N.↗
NASA NTRS2011

A Proposal to Localize Fermi GBM GRBs Through Coordinated Scanning of the GBM Error Circle via Optical Telescopes

We investigate the feasibility of implementing a system that will coordinate ground-based optical telescopes to cover the Fermi GBM Error Circle (EC). The aim of the system is to localize GBM detected GRBs and facilitate multi-wavelength follow-up from space and ground. This system will optimize the observing locations in the GBM EC based on individual telescope location, Field of View (FoV) and sensitivity. The proposed system will coordinate GBM EC scanning by professional as well as amateur astronomers around the world. The results of a Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the feasibility of the project are presented.

Ukwatta, T. N.↗
NASA NTRS2010

GBM Observations of Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes

The TGF detection rate of Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) has been increased twice since launch. The most recent improvement is from a new operating mode in which data for individual photons are down-linked for selected portions of the orbit, enabling a more sensitive ground-based search for TGFs. The new search has increased the TGF detection rate and is finding TGFs more than five times fainter than the TGFs of the previous GBM sample. We summarize the properties of the original GBM TGF sample and compare to the less intense TGFs now being detected. In addition to gamma-ray TGFs, GBM is observing distant TGFs from the propagation of charged particles along geomagnetic field lines. Strong 511 keV annihilation lines have been observed, demonstrating that both electrons and positrons are present in the particle beams. Spectral fits to these electron/positron TGFs will be shown.

Briggs, M. S.↗