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Gwinn, C. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Gwinn, C. R..

14 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

PSR B0329+54: STATISTICS OF SUBSTRUCTURE DISCOVERED WITHIN THE SCATTERING DISK ON RADIOASTRON BASELINES OF UP TO 235,000 km

We discovered fine-scale structure within the scattering disk of PSR B0329+54 in observations with the RadioAstron ground–space radio interferometer. Here we describe this phenomenon, characterize it with averages and correlation functions, and interpret it as the result of decorrelation of the impulse-response function of interstellar scattering between the widely separated antennas. This instrument included the 10 m Space Radio Telescope, the 110 m Green Bank Telescope, the 14 × 25 m Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, and the 64 m Kalyazin Radio Telescope. The observations were performed at 324 MHz on baselines of up to 235,000 km in 2012 November and 2014 January. In the delay domain, on long baselines the interferometric visibility consists of many discrete spikes within a limited range of delays. On short baselines it consists of a sharp spike surrounded by lower spikes. The average envelope of correlations of the visibility function shows two exponential scales, with characteristic delays of τ{sub 1}=4.1±0.3 μs and τ{sub 2}=23±3 μs, indicating the presence of two scales of scattering in the interstellar medium. These two scales are present in the pulse-broadening function. The longer scale contains 0.38 times the scattered power of the shorter one. We suggest that the longer tail arises from highly scattered paths, possibly from anisotropic scattering or from substructure at large angles.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

DISCOVERY OF SUBSTRUCTURE IN THE SCATTER-BROADENED IMAGE OF SGR A*

We have detected substructure within the smooth scattering disk of the celebrated Galactic center radio source Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). We observed this structure at 1.3 cm wavelength with the Very Long Baseline Array together with the Green Bank Telescope, on baselines of up to 3000 km, long enough to completely resolve the average scattering disk. Such structure is predicted theoretically as a consequence of refraction by large-scale plasma fluctuations in the interstellar medium. Along with the much-studied θ{sub d}∝λ{sup 2} scaling of angular broadening θ{sub d} with observing wavelength λ, our observations indicate that the spectrum of interstellar turbulence is shallow with an inner scale larger than 300 km. The substructure is consistent with an intrinsic size of about 1 mas at 1.3 cm wavelength, as inferred from deconvolution of the average scattering. Further observations of the substructure can set stronger constraints on the properties of scattering material and on the intrinsic size of Sgr A*. These constraints will guide our understanding of the effects of scatter broadening and the emission physics near the black hole in images with the Event Horizon Telescope at millimeter wavelengths.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Radioastron studies of the nearby, turbulent interstellar plasma with the longest space-ground interferometer baseline

RadioAstron space-ground very long baseline interferometry observations of the pulsar B0950+08, conducted with the 10 m Space Radio Telescope in conjunction with the Arecibo 300 m telescope and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope at a frequency of 324 MHz were analyzed in order to investigate plasma inhomogeneities in the direction of this nearby pulsar. The observations were conducted at a spacecraft distance of 330,000 km, resulting in a projected baseline of 220,000 km, providing the greatest angular resolution ever achieved at meter wavelengths. Our analysis is based on fundamental behavior of structure and coherence functions. We find that the pulsar shows scintillation on two frequency scales, both much less than the observing frequency, but modulation is less than 100%. We infer that the scattering is weak, but a refracting wedge disperses the scintillation pattern. The refraction angle of this 'cosmic prism' is measured as θ{sub 0} = 1.1-4.4 mas, with the refraction direction being approximately perpendicular to the observer velocity. We show that the observed parameters of scintillation effects indicate that two plasma layers lie along the line of sight to the pulsar, at distances of 4.4-16.4 pc and 26-170 pc, and traveling in different directions relative to the line of sight. Spectra of turbulence for the two layers are found to follow a power law with the indices γ{sub 1} = γ{sub 2} = 3.00 ± 0.08, significantly different from the index expected for a Kolmogorov spectrum of turbulence, γ = 11/3.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

EXCESS OPTICAL ENHANCEMENT OBSERVED WITH ARCONS FOR EARLY CRAB GIANT PULSES

We observe an extraordinary link in the Crab pulsar between the enhancement of an optical pulse and the timing of the corresponding giant radio pulse. At optical through infrared wavelengths, our observations use the high time resolution of ARray Camera for Optical to Near-IR Spectrophotometry, a unique superconducting energy-resolving photon-counting array at the Palomar 200 inch telescope. At radio wavelengths, we observe with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope and the Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument backend. We see an 11.3% ± 2.5% increase in peak optical flux for pulses that have an accompanying giant radio pulse arriving near the peak of the optical main pulse, in contrast to a 3.2% ± 0.5% increase when an accompanying giant radio pulse arrives soon after the optical peak. We also observe that the peak of the optical main pulse is 2.8% ± 0.8% enhanced when there is a giant radio pulse accompanying the optical interpulse. We observe no statistically significant spectral differences between optical pulses accompanied by and not accompanied by giant radio pulses. Our results extend previous observations of optical-radio correlation to the time and spectral domains. Our refined temporal correlation suggests that optical and radio emission are indeed causally linked, and the lack of spectral differences suggests that the same mechanism is responsible for all optical emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1998

Interstellar Optics

We discuss the effects of finite source size on the diffraction pattern produced by scattering in a thin screen, particularly as applied to radio-wave scattering, by density fluctuations in the interstellar plasma.

Interstellar Optics Scattering techniques telescop↗
NASA NTRS1996

Constraints on Circumstellar Dust Grain Sizes from High Spatial Resolution Observations in the Thermal Infrared

We describe how high spatial resolution imaging of circumstellar dust at a wavelength of about 10 micron, combined with knowledge of the source spectral energy distribution, can yield useful information about the sizes of the individual dust grains responsible for the infrared emission. Much can be learned even when only upper limits to source size are available. In parallel with high-resolution single-telescope imaging that may resolve the more extended mid-infrared sources, we plan to apply these less direct techniques to interpretation of future observations from two-element optical interferometers, where quite general arguments may be made despite only crude imaging capability. Results to date indicate a tendency for circumstellar grain sizes to be rather large compared to the Mathis-Rumpl-Nordsieck size distribution traditionally thought to characterize dust in the general interstellar medium. This may mean that processing of grains after their initial formation and ejection from circumstellar atmospheres adjusts their size distribution to the ISM curve; further mid-infrared observations of grains in various environments would help to confirm this conjecture.

Bloemhof, E. E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A speckle hologram of the interstellar plasma

Observations of a speckle hologram of scattering material along the line of sight to the Vela pulsar indicate that this material is concentrated in the Vela supernova remnant, deep within the Gum Nebula. The speckle hologram is observed through the amplitude and phase variations of the interferometric cross-power spectrum with time and frequency. These variations describe the density fluctuations of the interstellar plasma, in a holographic fashion. The decorrelation due to the phase variations of the speckles yields the angular size of the scattering disk; comparison with the bandwidth of their amplitude variations yields a characteristic distance from earth to the scattering material of 0.81 +/- 0.03 of the distance from earth to the pulsar. This result is consistent with theories of irregularities associated with particle acceleration in shocks in supernova remnants.

Desai, K. M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The Galactic center radio source shines below the Compton limit

Absence of refractive scintillation of Sgr A*, the Galactic center radio source, at 1.3 and 0.8 mm wavelengths places an observational limit of brightness temperature of below 0.5 x 10 exp 12 K on the source. This is less than the maximum brightness of an incoherently synchrotron-emitting plasma, 10 exp 12 K, known as the Compton limit. The refractive scintillations expected, due to strong broadening of the source by the interstellar plasma, are observed by Zhao et al. at decimeter wavelengths. It has proven to be impossible to observe them at 1.3 and 0.8 mm wavelengths over time spans between 0.1 s and 24 hr. Such scintillations are quenched by source size greater than about 0.1 AU, or, equivalently, less than 0.5 x 10 exp 12 K for Sgr A*, at 0.8 mm wavelength. The scintilations would also require fluctuations with scale sizes of 0.1 AU in the scattering plasma, moving across the line of sight at velocities above about 100 km/s. The plasma that scatters Sgr A* satisfies the latter two conditions, and the absence of scintillations is due to the size of the source. This observation strengthens the identification of Sgr A* as a quiescent galactic nucleus.

Gwinn, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Speckles in interstellar radio-wave scattering

Observations of speckles in the scattering disk of the Vela pulsar are presented and speckle techniques for studying and circumventing scattering of radio waves by the turbulent interstellar plasma are discussed. The speckle pattern contains, in a hologrammatic fashion, complete information on the structure of the radio source as well as the distribution of the scattering material. Speckle observations of interstellar scattering of radio waves are difficult because of their characteristically short timescales and narrow bandwidths. Here, first observations are presented, taken at 13 cm wavelength with elements of the SHEVE VLBI network, of speckles in interstellar scattering.

Desai, K. M.↗
NASA NTRS1990

First images of water vapor masers in the galaxy M33

The first successful VLBI observations of 10 extragalactic H2O masers in the M33 galaxy are reported. A spectral-line VLBI synthesis map is constructed, the first of any extragalactic H2O maser sources. The map has the lowest noise of any K-band spectral line VLBI map yet produced. The maser emission extends over about 300 milliarcseconds and is divided into 14 distinct spatial components, the strongest of which has a correlated flux density of about 0.7 Jy. The relative positions of some of these components are determined accurately enough to provide first-epoch measurements for proper motion studies. The characteristics of the maser are similar to those of the most powerful maser in the Galaxy, W49N. A compact H II region is found close to the maser which is 1 pc in diameter and whose emission measure is about 6 x 10 to the 7th pc/cm exp 6. This region is the compact component of a more extended H II complex that extends over about 100 pc.

Greenhill, L. J.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Geodesy by radio interferometry: Studies of the forced nutations of the earth. I - Data analysis. II - Interpretation

Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of compact extragalactic radio sources collected in North America and Europe between July 1980-December 1984 are analyzed. The nutations derived from VLBI data are compared with the nutations in the Wahr series (1981). Good correlation of the data is observed; however, it is detected that a correction of -1.80 + or - 0.18-i(0.42 + or - 0.18) is required for the amplitude of the retrograde annual nutation in the Wahr series. The change in free core nutation resonance frequency is calculated to explain the derivation in the retrograde annual nutation. It is concluded that VLBI earth nutation measurements have sufficient accuracy to be sensitive to core-mantle boundary properties.

Herring, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Geodesy by radio interferometry - Corrections to the IAU 1980 nutation series

The 1980 data on VLBI were analyzed using two techniques: weighted least squares (WLS) and Kalman filtering (KF), estimating corrections to the 14 terms in the nutation series that have the largest coefficients and that could be separated spectrally using the VLBI data available. The estimates of the coefficients from the two analyses are in good agreement, with the rms difference between the two sets being 0.07 milliarcsec. The largest corrections to the nutation amplitudes found were -(/1.89 + or - 0.17/ + i/0.49 + or 0.17/) milliarcsec (WLS) and -(/2.03 + or - 0.12/ + i/0.38 + or - 0.12/) milliarcsec (KF) for the retrograde annual nutation; for the prograde semiannual nutation, the largest corrections were (/0.45 + or - 0.13/ + i/0.31 + or - 0.13/) milliarcsec (WLS) and (/0.43 + or - 0.10/ + i/0.34 + or 0.10/) milliarcsec (KF). The corrections of the amplitudes for all other terms (both in-phase and out-of-phase) were less than 0.3 milliarcsec.

Herring, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The Parallax of Pulsar 0950+08 and the Local Free Electron Density

A parallax of 7.9 + or - 0.8 mas for PSR 0950+08, corresponding to a distance of 130 + or - 15 pc is reported. The measured pulse dispersion of this pulsar implies an average free electron density of 0.023 + or 0.002/cu cm along the line of sight. This parallax measurement is subject to systematic errors and questions of interpretation which are not yet fully explored.

Gwinn, C. R.↗