Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “SWiFT”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 631 records · Page 35

Multiwavelength Observations of the Blazar PKS 0735+178 in Spatial and Temporal Coincidence with an Astrophysical Neutrino Candidate IceCube-211208A

We report on multiwavelength target-of-opportunity observations of the blazar PKS 0735+178, located 2.°2 away from the best-fit position of the IceCube neutrino event IceCube-211208A detected on 2021 December 8. The source was in a high-flux state in the optical, ultraviolet, X-ray, and GeV γ -ray bands around the time of the neutrino event, exhibiting daily variability in the soft X-ray flux. The X-ray data from Swift-XRT and NuSTAR characterize the transition between the low-energy and high-energy components of the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED), and the γ -ray data from Fermi-LAT, VERITAS, and H.E.S.S. require a spectral cutoff near 100 GeV. Both the X-ray and γ -ray measurements provide strong constraints on the leptonic and hadronic models. We analytically explore a synchrotron self-Compton model, an external Compton model, and a lepto-hadronic model. Models that are entirely based on internal photon fields face serious difficulties in matching the observed SED. The existence of an external photon field in the source would instead explain the observed γ -ray spectral cutoff in both the leptonic and lepto-hadronic models and allow a proton jet power that marginally agrees with the Eddington limit in the lepto-hadronic model. We show a numerical lepto-hadronic model with external target photons that reproduces the observed SED and is reasonably consistent with the neutrino event despite requiring a high jet power.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Expected Gamma-Ray Burst Detection Rates and Redshift Distributions for the BlackCAT CubeSat Mission

We report the results of an extensive set of simulations exploring the sensitivity of the BlackCAT CubeSat to long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BlackCAT is a NASA APRA-funded CubeSat mission for the detection and real-time subarcminute localization of high-redshift (z ≳ 3.5) GRBs. Thanks to their luminous and long-lived afterglow emissions, GRBs are uniquely valuable probes of high-redshift star-forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium. In addition, each detected GRB with a known redshift serves to localize a region of high-redshift star formation in three dimensions, enabling deep follow-on searches for host galaxies and associated local and large-scale structures. We explore two distinct models for the GRB redshift distribution and luminosity function, both consistent with Swift observations. We find that, for either model, BlackCAT is expected to detect a mean of 42 bursts per year on orbit, with 6.7% to 10% of these at z > 3.5. BlackCAT bursts will be localized to an r 90 ≲ 55'' precision and reported to the community within seconds. Due to the mission orbit and pointing scheme, bursts will be located in the night sky and well placed for deep multiwavelength follow-up observations. BlackCAT is on schedule to achieve launch readiness in 2025.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Periodic Gamma-Ray Modulation of the Blazar PG 1553+113 Confirmed by Fermi-LAT and Multiwavelength Observations

A 2.1 yr periodic oscillation of the gamma-ray flux from the blazar PG 1553+113 has previously been tentatively identified in ∼7 yr of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. After 15 yr of Fermi sky-survey observations, doubling the total time range, we report >7 cycle gamma-ray modulation with an estimated significance of 4σ against stochastic red noise. Independent determinations of oscillation period and phase in the earlier and the new data are in close agreement (chance probability <0.01). Pulse timing over the full light curve is also consistent with a coherent periodicity. Multiwavelength new data from Swift X-Ray Telescope, Burst Alert Telescope, and UVOT, and from KAIT, Catalina Sky Survey, All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, and Owens Valley Radio Observatory ground-based observatories as well as archival Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite-All Sky Monitor data, published optical data of Tuorla, and optical historical Harvard plates data are included in our work. Optical and radio light curves show clear correlations with the gamma-ray modulation, possibly with a nonconstant time lag for the radio flux. We interpret the gamma-ray periodicity as possibly arising from a pulsational accretion flow in a sub-parsec binary supermassive black hole system of elevated mass ratio, with orbital modulation of the supplied material and energy in the jet. Other astrophysical scenarios introduced include instabilities, disk and jet precession, rotation or nutation, and perturbations by massive stars or intermediate-mass black holes in polar orbit.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Analysis of Two Models for the Angular Structure of the Outflows Producing the Swift/XRT “Larger-angle Emission” of Gamma-Ray Bursts

The quasi-instantaneous emission from a relativistic surface endowed with a Lorentz factor that decreases away from the outflow symmetry axis can naturally explain the three phases observed by Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT) in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows (GRB tail, afterglow plateau, and postplateau) based only on the angular change of the relativistic Doppler boost across the outflow surface. We develop further the analytical formalism of the “larger-angle emission” model for the case of “n-exponential” outflows (where the Lorentz factor Γ dependence of the angular location θ is Γ ~ exp{-(θ/θ c ) n }), and compare its ability to account for the X-ray emission of XRT afterglows relative to that of “power-law” outflows (Γ ∼ θ −g ). Power-law outflows yield longer afterglow plateaus, followed by slower postplateau flux decays than n-exponential outflows, features which may be used in identifying which type of angular structure is at work in a given afterglow. Identifying the Γ(θ) angular structure that accommodates XRT light curves is slightly complicated by the fact that the afterglow X-ray light curve is also determined by how two characteristics of the comoving-frame emission spectrum (peak energy $E'_p$ and peak intensity $i'_p$) change with the angular location or, equivalently, with the Lorentz factor. Here, we assume power-law Γ dependences of those spectral characteristics and find that, unlike power-law outflows, n-exponential outflows cannot account for plateaus with a temporal dynamical range larger than 100 (2 dex in logarithmic space). To capture all the information contained in XRT afterglow measurements (0.3–10 keV unabsorbed flux and effective spectral slope), we calculate 0.3 and 10 keV light curves using a broken-power-law emission spectrum of peak energy and low- and high-energy slopes that are derived from the effective slope measured by XRT. This economical peak energy determination is found to be consistent with the results of more expensive spectral fits. The angular distributions of the Lorentz factor, comoving frame peak energy, and peak intensity (Γ(θ), $E'_p$(θ), $i'_p$(θ)) constrain the (yet-to-be determined) convolution of various features of the production of relativistic jets by solar-mass black holes and of their propagation through the progenitor/circumburst medium, while the $E'_p$(Γ) and $i'_p$(Γ) dependences may constrain the GRB dissipation mechanism and the GRB emission process.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

IceCube Search for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray Bright Seyfert Galaxies

The recent IceCube detection of TeV neutrino emission from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068 suggests that active galactic nuclei (AGNs) could make a sizable contribution to the diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos. The absence of TeV γ-rays from NGC 1068 indicates neutrino production in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole, where the high radiation density leads to γ-ray attenuation. Therefore, any potential neutrino emission from similar sources is not expected to correlate with high-energy γ-rays. Disk-corona models predict neutrino emission from Seyfert galaxies to correlate with keV X-rays because they are tracers of coronal activity. Using through-going track events from the Northern Sky recorded by IceCube between 2011 and 2021, we report results from a search for individual and aggregated neutrino signals from 27 additional Seyfert galaxies that are contained in the Swift's Burst Alert Telescope AGN Spectroscopic Survey. Besides the generic single power law, we evaluate the spectra predicted by the disk-corona model assuming stochastic acceleration parameters that match the measured flux from NGC 1068. Assuming all sources to be intrinsically similar to NGC 1068, our findings constrain the collective neutrino emission from X-ray bright Seyfert galaxies in the northern sky, but, at the same time, show excesses of neutrinos that could be associated with the objects NGC 4151 and CGCG 420-015. These excesses result in a 2.7σ significance with respect to background expectations.

Abbasi, R. [Loyola University, Chicago, IL (United↗

VERITAS Observations Contemporaneous with the LHAASO Detection of NGC 4278

Significant gamma-ray emission between 1 TeV and 20 TeV from a point source, 1LHAASO J1219+2915, consistent with the location of the LINER/LLAGN galaxy NGC 4278 was recently reported by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) collaboration. These data were later split into active and quasi-quiet states, with most of the LHAASO significance coming from the active state (MJD 59449-59589). Subsequent analysis of Fermi-LAT and Swift-XRT observations have been used to explore the double-peaked broadband emission. Models of the spectral energy distribution (SED) are currently unconstrained due to the lack of contemporaneous multiwavelength data at either peak. Here, we report serendipitous observations of NGC 4278 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), made possible by the contemporaneous observations of the nearby blazars 1ES 1218+304, 1ES 1215+303, and W Comae, each of which are located within 2° of NGC 4278. VERITAS did not detect any gamma-ray emission, and a flux upper limit was calculated. The flux upper limits constrain the photon spectrum of the quasi-quiet period, and together with Fermi-LAT, indicate a peak in the SED between 100 GeV and 2 TeV. We present an interpretation of the broadband SED that is based on acceleration of protons in the corona of the active galactic nuclei, followed by p–γ interactions and optically thin γ-ray emission. Within this framework, the implied neutrino signal is slightly below the current sensitivity of IceCube.

Archer, A. [DePauw University, Greencastle, IN (Un↗

Unraveling the Complex Behavior of Mrk 421 with Simultaneous X-Ray and VHE Observations during an Extreme Flaring Activity in 2013 April

Here we report on a multiband variability and correlation study of the TeV blazar Mrk 421 during an exceptional flaring activity observed from 2013 April 11 to 19. The study uses, among others, data from GLAST-AGILE Support Program (GASP) of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT), Swift, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), Fermi Large Area Telescope, Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), and Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC). The large blazar activity and the 43 hr of simultaneous NuSTAR and MAGIC/VERITAS observations permitted variability studies on 15 minute time bins over three X-ray bands (3–7 keV, 7–30 keV, and 30–80 keV) and three very-high-energy (VHE; >0.1 TeV) gamma-ray bands (0.2–0.4 TeV, 0.4–0.8 TeV, and >0.8 TeV). We detected substantial flux variations on multi-hour and sub-hour timescales in all of the X-ray and VHE gamma-ray bands. The characteristics of the sub-hour flux variations are essentially energy independent, while the multi-hour flux variations can have a strong dependence on the energy of the X-rays and the VHE gamma-rays. The three VHE bands and the three X-ray bands are positively correlated with no time lag, but the strength and characteristics of the correlation change substantially over time and across energy bands. Our findings favor multi-zone scenarios for explaining the achromatic/chromatic variability of the fast/slow components of the light curves, as well as the changes in the flux–flux correlation on day-long timescales. We interpret these results within a magnetic reconnection scenario, where the multi-hour flux variations are dominated by the combined emission from various plasmoids of different sizes and velocities, while the sub-hour flux variations are dominated by the emission from a single small plasmoid moving across the magnetic reconnection layer.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Optical Two- and Three-dimensional Fundamental Plane Correlations for Nearly 180 Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows with Swift/UVOT, RATIR, and the Subaru Telescope

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are fascinating events due to their panchromatic nature. We study optical plateaus in GRB afterglows via an extended search into archival data. We comprehensively analyze all published GRBs with known redshifts and optical plateaus observed by many ground-based telescopes (e.g., Subaru Telescope, RATIR) around the world and several space-based observatories such as the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. We fit 500 optical light curves, showing the existence of the plateau in 179 cases. This sample is 75% larger than the previous one, and it is the largest compilation so far of optical plateaus. We discover the 3D fundamental plane relation at optical wavelengths using this sample. This correlation is between the rest-frame time at the end of the plateau emission, ${T}_{\mathrm{opt}}^{* }$, its optical luminosity, L opt , and the peak in the optical prompt emission, L peak,opt , thus resembling the three-dimensional (3D) X-ray fundamental plane (the so-called 3D Dainotti relation). We correct our sample for redshift evolution and selection effects, discovering that this correlation is indeed intrinsic to GRB physics. We investigate the rest-frame end-time distributions in X-rays and optical (${T}_{\mathrm{opt}}^{* }$, ${T}_{{\rm{X}}}^{* }$), and conclude that the plateau is achromatic only when selection biases are not considered. We also investigate if the 3D optical correlation may be a new discriminant between optical GRB classes and find that there is no significant separation between the classes compared to the Gold sample plane after correcting for evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Multiwavelength Bulge–Disk Decomposition for the Galaxy M81 (NGC 3031). I. Morphology

A panchromatic investigation of morphology for the early-type spiral galaxy M81 is presented in this paper. We perform bulge–disk decomposition in M81 images at a total of 20 wave bands from far-UV to near-IR (NIR) obtained with GALEX, Swift, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, WIYN, Two Micron All Sky Survey, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and Spitzer. Morphological parameters such as Sérsic index, effective radius, position angle, and axis ratio for the bulge and the disk are thus derived at all of the wave bands, which enables quantifying the morphological K -correction for M81 and makes it possible to reproduce images for the bulge and the disk in the galaxy at any wave band. The morphology as a function of wavelength appears as a variable-slope trend of the Sérsic index and the effective radius, in which the variations are steep at UV–optical and shallow at optical–NIR bands; the position angle and the axis ratio keep invariable at least at optical–NIR bands. It is worth noting that the Sérsic index for the bulge reaches ~4–5 at optical and NIR bands, but drops to ~1 at UV bands. This difference brings forward a caveat that a classical bulge is likely misidentified for a pseudobulge or no bulge at high redshifts where galaxies are observed through rest-frame UV channels with optical telescopes. The next work of this series is planned to study spatially resolved spectral energy distributions for the bulge and the disk, respectively, and thereby explore stellar population properties and star formation/quenching history for the galaxy composed of the subsystems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

IceCat-1: The IceCube Event Catalog of Alert Tracks

We present a catalog of likely astrophysical neutrino track-like events from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. IceCube began reporting likely astrophysical neutrinos in 2016, and this system was updated in 2019. The catalog presented here includes events that were reported in real time since 2019, as well as events identified in archival data samples starting from 2011. We report 275 neutrino events from two selection channels as the first entries in the catalog, the IceCube Event Catalog of Alert Tracks, which will see ongoing extensions with additional alerts. The Gold and Bronze alert channels respectively provide neutrino candidates with a 50% and 30% probability of being astrophysical, on average assuming an astrophysical neutrino power-law energy spectral index of 2.19. For each neutrino alert, we provide the reconstructed energy, direction, false-alarm rate, probability of being astrophysical in origin, and likelihood contours describing the spatial uncertainty in the alert's reconstructed location. We also investigate a directional correlation of these neutrino events with gamma-ray and X-ray catalogs, including 4FGL, 3HWC, TeVCat, and Swift-BAT.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Inferring the Redshift of More than 150 GRBs with a Machine-learning Ensemble Model

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), due to their high luminosities, are detected up to a redshift of 10, and thus have the potential to be vital cosmological probes of early processes in the Universe. Fulfilling this potential requires a large sample of GRBs with known redshifts, but due to observational limitations, only 11% have known redshifts (z). There have been numerous attempts to estimate redshifts via correlation studies, most of which have led to inaccurate predictions. To overcome this, we estimated GRB redshift via an ensemble-supervised machine-learning (ML) model that uses X-ray afterglows of long-duration GRBs observed by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. The estimated redshifts are strongly correlated (a Pearson coefficient of 0.93) and have an rms error, namely, the square root of the average squared error $\langle$Δz 2 $\rangle$, of 0.46 with the observed redshifts showing the reliability of this method. The addition of GRB afterglow parameters improves the predictions considerably by 63% compared to previous results in peer-reviewed literature. Finally, we use our ML model to infer the redshifts of 154 GRBs, which increase the known redshifts of long GRBs with plateaus by 94%, a significant milestone for enhancing GRB population studies that require large samples with redshift.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Constraints on the Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Neutron-star–Black-hole Merger GW200115

We report the results of our follow-up campaign for the neutron-star—black-hole (NSBH) merger GW200115 detected during the O3 run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. We obtained wide-field observations with the Deca-Degree Optical Transient Imager covering ~20% of the total probability area down to a limiting magnitude of w = 20.5 AB at ~23 hr after the merger. Our search for counterparts returns a single candidate (AT2020aeo), likely not associated with the merger. In total, only 25 sources of interest were identified by the community and later discarded as unrelated to the GW event. We compare our upper limits with the emission predicted by state-of-the-art kilonova simulations and disfavor high-mass ejecta (>0.1 M⊙), indicating that the spin of the system is not particularly high. By combining our optical limits with gamma-ray constraints from Swift and Fermi, we disfavor the presence of a standard short-duration burst for viewing angles ≲15° from the jet axis. Our conclusions are, however, limited by the large localization region of this GW event, and accurate prompt positions remain crucial to improving the efficiency of follow-up efforts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. EHT and Multiwavelength Observations, Data Processing, and Calibration

We present Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) 1.3 mm measurements of the radio source located at the position of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), collected during the 2017 April 5–11 campaign. The observations were carried out with eight facilities at six locations across the globe. Novel calibration methods are employed to account for Sgr A*'s flux variability. The majority of the 1.3 mm emission arises from horizon scales, where intrinsic structural source variability is detected on timescales of minutes to hours. The effects of interstellar scattering on the image and its variability are found to be subdominant to intrinsic source structure. The calibrated visibility amplitudes, particularly the locations of the visibility minima, are broadly consistent with a blurred ring with a diameter of ∼50 μas, as determined in later works in this series. Contemporaneous multiwavelength monitoring of Sgr A* was performed at 22, 43, and 86 GHz and at near-infrared and X-ray wavelengths. Several X-ray flares from Sgr A* are detected by Chandra, one at low significance jointly with Swift on 2017 April 7 and the other at higher significance jointly with NuSTAR on 2017 April 11. The brighter April 11 flare is not observed simultaneously by the EHT but is followed by a significant increase in millimeter flux variability immediately after the X-ray outburst, indicating a likely connection in the emission physics near the event horizon. We compare Sgr A*’s broadband flux during the EHT campaign to its historical spectral energy distribution and find that both the quiescent emission and flare emission are consistent with its long-term behavior.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Bipolar Blobs as Evidence of Hidden AGN Activities in the Low-mass Galaxies

Abstract We report evidence of a hidden black hole (BH) in a low-mass galaxy, MaNGA 9885-9102, and provide a new method to identify active BHs in low-mass galaxies. This galaxy is originally selected from the MaNGA survey with distinctive bipolar Hαblobs at the minor axis. The bipolar feature can be associated with active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity, while the two blobs are classified as the Hiiregions on the BPT diagram, making the origins confusing. The Swift UV continuum shows that the two blobs do not have UV counterparts, suggesting that the source of ionization is out of the blobs. Consistent with this, the detailed photoionization models prefer AGN rather than the star-forming origin with a significance of 5.8σ. The estimated BH mass isM BH ∼ 7.2 × 10 5 M ⊙ from theM BH –σ * relationship. This work introduces a novel method for detecting the light echo of BHs, potentially extending to intermediate mass, in low-metallicity environments where the traditional BPT diagram fails.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Evidence for Neutrino Emission from X-Ray Bright Seyfert Galaxies in the Southern Hemisphere Using Enhanced Starting Track Events with IceCube

IceCube recently reported the observation of TeV neutrinos from the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068, and the corresponding neutrino flux is significantly higher than the upper limit implied by observations of GeV–TeV gamma rays. This suggests that neutrinos are produced near the supermassive black hole, where the radiation density is high enough to obscure gamma rays. We use a set of muon neutrinos with interaction vertices inside the detector, which have good sensitivity to sources in the southern sky, from IceCube data recorded between 2011 and 2021. We then search for individual and collective neutrino signals from 14 Seyfert galaxies in the southern sky selected from the Swift Burst Alert Telescope AGN Spectroscopic Survey. Using the correlations between keV X-rays and TeV neutrinos predicted by disk–corona models, and assuming production characteristics similar to NGC 1068, a collective neutrino signal search reveals an excess of $6.{7}_{-3.2}^{+4.0}$ events, which is inconsistent with background expectations at the 3σ level of significance. In this Letter, we present new independent evidence that Seyfert galaxies contribute to the extragalactic flux of high-energy neutrinos.

Seyfert galaxies↗

Cosmological Neutron Stars Produce Diffuse Axion X-Ray Signatures

Axion-like particles can be abundantly produced through scattering processes in the cores of neutron stars (NSs). If they are ultralight ($m_a \lesssim 10^{-4}$ eV), then they can efficiently convert to detectable photons in the external NS magnetospheres, and if they are heavy ($m_a \gtrsim 1$ eV), then they can decay into photons before reaching Earth. In this work, we search for the resulting X-ray signatures from both of these channels summing over the $\textit{cosmological}$ NS population. We compare the predicted axion-induced X-ray signal to the cosmic X-ray background today as measured by a number of instruments such as NuSTAR, HEAO, Swift, and INTEGRAL. We model the axion-induced signal using NS cooling simulations and magnetic field evolution models. We find no evidence for axions and derive strong constraints for both ultralight and heavy axion scenarios, covering new parameter space for the axion-photon and axion-nucleon couplings. Our results rule out the axion-explanation of the Magnificent Seven X-ray excess from nearby isolated NSs.

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.C↗

Comets and nongravitational forces. IV.

Orbital elements and nongravitational parameters are derived from observations at every apparition of the periodic comets Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, Faye, Tempel 2, Biela, Brorsen, and Tempel-Swift. For all except the first comet, the observations go back a century and more, although the last three comets have failed to reappear for some considerable time. The circumstances of the splitting of P/Biela are studied, and it is shown that the motion of the primary component was scarcely affected; it is also demonstrated that, if the primary still exists, it may pass only 0.05 AU from the earth in November 1971. An up-to-date list of mass-loss rates from comets is presented. It is found that, while most of the reliable determinations indicate that the cometary nongravitational effects decrease with time, there are a few cases where the effects increase slightly. The former situation is discussed in terms of a nuclear core-mantle model, implying that these comets will eventually evolve into inert, asteroidal objects, while the nuclei of the other comets are interpreted as coreless, eventually to disappear completely (or almost completely).

Marsden, B. G.↗

Computer programs: Operational and mathematical, a compilation

Several computer programs which are available through the NASA Technology Utilization Program are outlined. Presented are: (1) Computer operational programs which can be applied to resolve procedural problems swiftly and accurately. (2) Mathematical applications for the resolution of problems encountered in numerous industries. Although the functions which these programs perform are not new and similar programs are available in many large computer center libraries, this collection may be of use to centers with limited systems libraries and for instructional purposes for new computer operators.

Source record↗