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At least 235 records · Page 13

Late-Time Evolution of Composite Supernova Remnants: Deep Chandra Observations and Hydrodynamical Modeling of a Crushed Pulsar Wind Nebula in SNR G327.1-1.1

In an effort to better understand the evolution of composite supernova remnants (SNRs) and the eventual fate of relativistic particles injected by their pulsars, we present a multifaceted investigation of the interaction between a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) and its host SNR G327.1-1.1. Our 350 ks Chandra X-ray observations of SNR G327.1-1.1 reveal a highly complex morphology; a cometary structure resembling a bow shock, prong-like features extending into large arcs in the SNR interior, and thermal emission from the SNR shell. Spectral analysis of the non-thermal emission offers clues about the origin of the PWN structures, while enhanced abundances in the PWN region provide evidence for mixing of supernova ejecta with PWN material. The overall morphology and spectral properties of the SNR suggest that the PWN has undergone an asymmetric interaction with the SNR reverse shock(RS) that can occur as a result of a density gradient in the ambient medium and or a moving pulsar that displaces the PWN from the center of the remnant. We present hydrodynamical simulations of G327.1-1.1 that show that its morphology and evolution can be described by a approx. 17,000 yr old composite SNR that expanded into a density gradient with an orientation perpendicular to the pulsar's motion. We also show that the RSPWN interaction scenario can reproduce the broadband spectrum of the PWN from radio to gamma-ray wavelengths. The analysis and modeling presented in this work have important implications for our general understanding of the structure and evolution of composite SNRs.

Evolution↗

2D end-to-end modelling of kilonovae from binary neutron star merger remnants

We investigate the kilonova emission resulting from outflows produced in a 3D general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation of a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) remnant. We map the outflows into the flash hydrodynamics code to model their expansion in axisymmetry, and study the effects of employing different r-process heating rates. Except for the highest heating rate prescription, we find no significant differences with respect to overall ejecta dynamics and morphology compared to the simulation without heating. Once homologous expansion is attained, typically after ~2s for these ejecta, we map the outflows to the sedona radiative transfer code and compute the spectral evolution of the kilonova and broad-band light curves in various Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) bands. The kilonova properties depend on the remnant lifetime, with peak luminosities and peak time-scales increasing for longer lived remnants that produce more massive ejecta. For all models, there is a strong dependence of both the bolometric and broad-band light curves on the viewing angle. While the short-lived (12 ms) remnant produces higher luminosities when viewed from angles closer to the pole, longer lived remnants (240 ms and 2.5 s) are more luminous when viewed from angles closer to the equator. Our results highlight the importance of self-consistent, long-term modelling of merger ejecta, and taking viewing-angle dependence into account when interpreting observed kilonova light curves. We find that magnetized outflows from an HMNS – if it survives long enough – could explain blue kilonovae, such as the blue emission seen in AT2017gfo.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Exploiting 20 Ne Isotopes for Precision Characterizations of Collectivity in Small Systems

Whether or not femto-scale droplets of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) are formed in so-called small systems at high-energy colliders is a pressing question in the phenomenology of the strong interaction. For proton-proton or proton-nucleus collisions the answer is inconclusive due to the large theoretical uncertainties plaguing the description of these processes. While upcoming data on collisions of 16 O nuclei may mitigate these uncertainties in the near future, here we demonstrate the unique possibilities offered by complementing 16 O + 16 O data with collisions of 20 Ne ions. We couple both nuclear lattice effective field theory (NLEFT) and projected generator coordinate method (PGCM) ab initio descriptions of the structure of 20 Ne and 16 O to hydrodynamic simulations of 16 O + 16 O and 20 Ne + 20 Ne collisions at high energy. We isolate the imprints of the bowling-pin shape of 20 Ne on the collective flow of hadrons, which can be used to perform quantitative tests of the hydrodynamic QGP paradigm. In particular, we predict that the elliptic flow of 20 Ne + 20 Ne collisions is enhanced by as much as 1.174⁢(8) stat ⁢(31) syst for NLEFT and 1.139⁢(6) stat ⁢(39) syst for PGCM relative to 16 O + 16 O collisions for the 1% most central events. At the same time, theoretical uncertainties largely cancel when studying relative variations of observables between two systems. This demonstrates a method based on experiments with two light-ion species for precision characterizations of the collective dynamics and its emergence in a small system.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Longitudinal dynamics and particle production in relativistic nuclear collisions

This work presents a three-dimensional dynamical initialization model for relativistic heavy-ion collisions, implementing local energy-momentum conservation and baryon charge fluctuations at string junctions. Constraining parameters using experimental data from p + p collisions at various collision energies, the model provides a very good description of the charged hadron and net proton rapidity distributions in Au +Au collisions from 7.7 to 200 GeV and Pb + Pb collisions at 8.77 and 17.3 GeV. Here we demonstrate the importance of fluctuations of baryon densities to string junctions for describing net-proton distributions at collision energies of 62.4 and 200 GeV. Including this improved baryon stopping description along with the requirement of strangeness neutrality also yields a good description of identified particle yields as functions of the collision energy above 7.7 GeV. We further study asymmetric p + Al and (p,d, 3 He) + Au collisions at the top RHIC energy and p + Pb, Xe + Xe, and Pb + Pb collisions at LHC energies. We identify the produced particle rapidity distributions in asymmetric collision systems as particularly useful for constraining models of the early-time longitudinal dynamics.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Jupiter's magnetosphere and radiation belts

Radioastronomy and Pioneer data reveal the Jovian magnetosphere as a rotating magnetized source of relativistic particles and radio emission, comparable to astrophysical cosmic ray and radio sources, such as pulsars. According to Pioneer data, the magnetic field in the outer magnetosphere is radially extended into a highly time variable disk-shaped configuration which differs fundamentally from the earth's magnetosphere. The outer disk region, and the energetic particles confined in it, are modulated by Jupiter's 10 hr rotation period. The entire outer magnetosphere appears to change drastically on time scales of a few days to a week. In addition to its known modulation of the Jovian decametric radio bursts, Io was found to absorb some radiation belt particles and to accelerate others, and most importantly, to be a source of neutral atoms, and by inference, a heavy ion plasma which may significantly affect the hydrodynamic flow in the magnetosphere. Another important Pioneer finding is that the Jovian outer magnetosphere generates, or permits to escape, fluxes of relativistic electrons of such intensities that Jupiter may be regarded as the dominant source of 1 to 30 MeV cosmic ray electrons in the heliosphere.

Kennel, C. F.↗

Heavy flavor quenching and flow: the roles of initial condition, pre-equilibrium evolution, and in-medium interaction

Within an advanced Langevin-hydrodynamics framework coupled to a hybrid fragmentation-coalescence hadronization model, we study heavy flavor quenching and flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We investigate how the initial heavy quark spectrum, the in-medium energy loss and hadronization mechanisms of heavy quarks, the evolution profile of the pre-equilibrium stage, the medium flow, and the temperature dependence of heavy quark diffusion coefficients influence the suppression and elliptic flow of heavy mesons at the RHIC and the LHC. Our results show that the different modeling of initial conditions, pre-equilibrium evolution, and in-medium interactions can individually yield uncertainties of approximately 10-40% in D meson suppression and flow at a low transverse momentum. Furthermore, we also find that proper combinations of collisional versus radiative energy loss, coalescence versus fragmentation in hadronization, and the inclusion of medium flow are the most important factors for describing the suppression and elliptic flow of heavy mesons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

White paper on NIF Discovery Science and frontier regimes of HEDP

Over the past two decades, experimental capabilities at high energy density (HED) facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF), Omega, and Omega EP lasers, and the Z pulsed power facility are able to make precision measurements of fundamental quantities such as equations of state (EOS), material phase, opacities, and ionization levels Z. Flow based quantities are also being studied, such as hydrodynamic instabilities, evolution into turbulence, turbulent dynamo magnetic field amplification, magnetic reconnection; plasma instabilities, plasma wakefield particle acceleration; and relativistic plasma phenomena, such as (e + ,e - ) pair creation. Experimental regimes can be created that reproduce conditions relevant to planetary and exoplanet interiors, stellar interiors, the interiors of brown dwarfs, and the envelope conditions of white dwarf stars. Diagnostic techniques have been developed hand in hand with these new experimental regimes that can be accessed. In this white paper, a brief summary of key experimental achievements from the NIF Discovery Science (basic science) program will be presented; followed by a discussion of current challenges, needs, and potential paths forward.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

General Relativistic Stability and Gravitational Wave Content of Rotating Triaxial Neutron Stars

Triaxial neutron stars can be sources of continuous gravitational radiation detectable by ground-based interferometers. The amplitude of the emitted gravitational wave can be greatly affected by the state of the hydrodynamical fluid flow inside the neutron star. In this work, we examine the most triaxial models along two sequences of constant rest mass, confirming their dynamical stability. We also study the response of a triaxial figure of quasiequilibrium under a variety of perturbations that lead to different fluid flows. Starting from the general relativistic compressible analog of the Newtonian Jacobi ellipsoid, we perform simulations of Dedekind-type flows. We find that in some cases the triaxial neutron star resembles a Riemann-S-type ellipsoid with minor rotation and gravitational wave emission as it evolves towards axisymmetry. The present results highlight the importance of understanding the fluid flow in the interior of a neutron star in terms of its gravitational wave content.

Luo, Yufeng (ORCID:0000000246230683)↗

Radiation from Accelerated Particles in Shocks and Reconnections

Plasma instabilities are responsible not only for the onset and mediation of collisionless shocks but also for the associated acceleration of particles. We have investigated particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic electron-positron jet propagating into an unmagnetized electron-positron plasma. Cold jet electrons are thermalized and slowed while the ambient electrons are swept up to create a partially developed hydrodynamic-like shock structure. In the leading shock, electron density increases by a factor of about 3.5 in the simulation frame. Strong electromagnetic fields are generated in the trailing shock and provide an emission site. These magnetic fields contribute to the electrons transverse deflection and, more generally, relativistic acceleration behind the shock. We have calculated, self-consistently, the radiation from electrons accelerated in the turbulent magnetic fields. We found that the synthetic spectra depend on the Lorentz factor of the jet, its thermal temperature and strength of the generated magnetic fields. We are currently investigating the specific case of a jet colliding with an anti-parallel magnetized ambient medium. The properties of the radiation may be important for understanding the complex time evolution and/or spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets in general, and supernova remnants.

Nishikawa, K.-I.↗

Radiation from Accelerated Particles in Shocks and Reconnections

Plasma instabilities are responsible not only for the onset and mediation of collisionless shocks but also for the associated acceleration of particles. We have investigated particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic electron-positron jet propagating into an unmagnetized electron-positron plasma. Cold jet electrons are thermalized and slowed while the ambient electrons are swept up to create a partially developed hydrodynamic-like shock structure. In the leading shock, electron density increases by a factor of about 3.5 in the simulation frame. Strong electromagnetic fields are generated in the trailing shock and provide an emission site. These magnetic fields contribute to the electrons transverse deflection and, more generally, relativistic acceleration behind the shock. We have calculated, self-consistently, the radiation from electrons accelerated in the turbulent magnetic fields. We found that the synthetic spectra depend on the Lorentz factor of the jet, its thermal temperature and strength of the generated magnetic fields. Our initial results of a jet-ambient interaction with anti-parallelmagnetic fields show pile-up of magnetic fields at the colliding shock, which may lead to reconnection and associated particle acceleration. We will investigate the radiation in a transient stage as a possible generation mechanism of precursors of prompt emission. In our simulations we calculate the radiation from electrons in the shock region. The detailed properties of this radiation are important for understanding the complex time evolution and spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets, and supernova remnants.

Nishikawa, K. I.↗

Sodium tracer measurements of an expanded dense aluminum plasma from e-beam isochoric heating

Spatially and temporally resolved visible absorption spectroscopy is performed on sodium D-lines present as surface contaminants on an expanded dense aluminum plasma plume. An 80-ns FWHM, intense, relativistic electron beam deposits 5.4 J into a 100- μ m-thick Al foil, which isochorically heats and subsequently hydrodynamically expands the material through the warm dense matter state and into a classical-like plasma state, with a coupling parameter of approximately 0.2 and a degeneracy parameter of approximately 270. The Na contamination, carried along with the expanding plume, shows saturated absorption features in the dense Al continuum for λ > 450 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy confirm Na is a surface contaminant with an atomic concentration of ~ 0.1 % when interrogating identical foil samples. Additioanlly, a spectroscopic-quality radiation transport model is used to post-process 2D hydrodynamic simulations to interpret the plasma conditions based on the measured Na 3p-3s doublet line profiles. A sodium number density of 3 × 10 15 cm -3 best matches the experimental spectra, which originate from a dense surface plasma with n e = 3.0 ± 0.8 × 10 18 cm -3 .

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Intrinsic hydrodynamics with applications to space-time fluids

Cartan's methods of exterior differential forms are utilized to derive conformal and absolute conservation equations for various field quantities in relativistic hydromechanics. In particular, Fridman's results for the conservation of vector lines are extended to space time situations. The invariance concepts of Helmholtz and Bernoulli are formulated for arbitrary frames of reference, and the separate conservation concepts of total mass and total number in space time are distinguished and associated with the concept of turbulence.

Kiehn, R. M.↗

Simulating Charm Quarks in IP-Glasma Initial Stage and Quark-Gluon Plasma: A Hybrid Approach for charm quark phenomenology

We present phenomenological findings on charm quark transport while including its energy loss in both pre-equilibrium and hydrodynamic stages of the evolution. We employed the MARTINI event generator for the production and evolution of heavy quarks in the relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The sensitivity of the heavy meson nuclear modification factor and flow coeffcient to the early stage of heavy-ion collisions and bulk medium evolution is analyzed for Pb+Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV. Our study provides insights into the interaction strength of charm quarks during the early phase and within the quark-gluon plasma.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Probing nuclear structure with mean transverse momentum in relativistic isobar collisions

Transverse momentum (p⊥) generation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions is sensitive to the initial geometry and the final-state bulk evolution. We demonstrate with hydrodynamic calculations that the mean p⊥ ratio (R $\langle p⊥ \rangle$ ) between the highly similar isobar $^{96}_{44}$RU + $^{96}_{44}$RU and $^{96}_{44}$Zr + $^{96}_{44}$Zr collisions is insensitive to the bulk evolution and remains sensitive to the small difference in the initial nuclear structure (neutron skin and deformation) between the Ru and Zr nuclei. Here, we further find that nuclear deformation can produce an anticorrelation between R $\langle p⊥ \rangle$ and eccentricity (or elliptic flow) in central collisions. These findings suggest that the R $\langle p⊥ \rangle$ between the isobar systems can be used to measure the neutron skin thickness and deformation parameters, which can, in turn, constrain the nuclear symmetry energy slope parameter.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

A Parametric Study of the SASI Comparing General Relativistic and Nonrelativistic Treatments

We present numerical results from a parameter study of the standing accretion shock instability (SASI), investigating the impact of general relativity (GR) on the dynamics. Using GR hydrodynamics with GR gravity, and nonrelativistic (NR) hydrodynamics with Newtonian gravity, in an idealized model setting, we vary the initial radius of the shock, and by varying its mass and radius in concert, the proto-neutron star compactness. We investigate four compactnesses expected in a post-bounce core-collapse supernova (CCSN). We find that GR leads to a longer SASI oscillation period, with ratios between the GR and NR cases as large as 1.29 for the highest-compactness suite. We also find that GR leads to a slower SASI growth rate, with ratios between the GR and NR cases as low as 0.47 for the highest-compactness suite. We discuss implications of our results for CCSN simulations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Radiation from Shock-Accelerated Particles

Plasma instabilities excited in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle acceleration, generation of magnetic fields , and associated radiation. We have investigated the particle acceleration and shock structure associated with an unmagnetized relativistic jet propagating into an unmagnetized plasma. Cold jet electrons are thermalized and slowed while the ambient electrons are swept up to create a partially developed hydrodynamic-like shock structure. The shock structure depends on the composition of the jet and ambient plasma (electron-positron or electron-ions). Strong electromagnetic fields are generated in the reverse , jet shock and provide an emission site. These magnetic fields contribute to the electron's transverse deflection behind the shock. We have calculated, self-consistently, the radiation from electrons accelerated in the turbulent magnetic fields. We found that the synthetic spectra depend on the Lorentz factor of the jet, its thermal temperature and strength of the generated magnetic fields. The detailed properties of the radiation are important for understanding the complex time evolution and/or spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jet shocks, and supernova remnants

Nishikawa, Ken-ichi↗