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NASA NTRS1991

Unsaturated Comptonization of isotropic photon spectra by relativistic electrons

The multiple scattering approach for evaluating the transformation of an arbitrary soft photon spectrum as a result of unsaturated Compton scatterings in a medium of relativistic electrons is explored. The medium is assumed to be infinite and spatially homogeneous but may be time-dependent, and the photons are isotropic. It is shown that the distortion of a radiation spectrum can be described analytically in a compact form using the Fourier transform of the single-scattering probability. In the nonrelativistic case, the validity of the known analytical results derived from the Kompaneets (1957) equation is extended to arbitrary electron distribution functions and photon spectra. For relativistic electrons, simple expressions are obtained for the total energy that is transferred from the electrons to the photons and for the distortion in the Rayleigh-Jeans regime of a blackbody spectrum. It is demonstrated that the treatment applies to Comptonization in a relativistic jet and that Comptonization of very soft trapped photons by semirelativistic electrons in an expanding medium leads naturally to a log Gaussian spectrum, of the form observed in blazars.

Loeb, Abraham↗
NASA NTRS1994

The detection of pulsed X-ray emission from a nearby radio pulsar

As part of a search for thermal surface radiation from nearby neutron stars, we have carried out a 45,000 s observation of the nearby radio pulsar PSR 1929+10 with the ROSAT PSPC. After background subtraction, a net of 420 +/- 25 photons in the 0.1 to 2.0 keV band were detected at the position of the pulsar, corresponding to a luminosity of 1.2 x 10(exp 30) ergs/sec for a source distance of 250 pc, or approximately 3 x 10(exp -4) of the pulsar's spin-down luminosity. We find coherent pulsations from PSR 1929+10 at the radio period of 0.2265 s. The folded light curve is well fitted by a sinusoidal oscillation with a pulsed fraction of about 30%. The total spectrum is fitted by a blackbody with a temperature T(sub infinity) approximately equals 3.2 x 10(exp 6) K; the implied emitting area has a radius of less than 50 m. The maximum of the X-ray light curve coincides with the radio pulse, suggesting that we are detecting the hot magnetic polar cap of the star. The temperature limit for the remainder of the stellar surface is T(sub infinity) less than 3 x 10(exp 5) K. The spatial distribution of the photons is consistent with the instrument point-spread function. We discuss the implications of these results for the temperature distribution over the surface of the star and use this detection to constrain various heating mechanisms for rotation-powered neutron stars. We also use a simple model of general relativistic light bending near the stellar surface in conjunction with the radio emission geometry and the X-ray pulsed fraction to derive a radius for the neutron star of R = 9 +/- 3 km.

Yancopoulos, S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Anisotropic inverse Compton emission

The angular distribution of the power and spectrum of Compton-scattered radiation in the case of an anisotropic distribution of soft photons is considered. Results obtained show that both the intensity and spectrum of the scattered radiation are a function of the Lorentz factor of the electrons, the geometry of the soft X-ray source and the viewing angle. The intensity of the hard X-rays scattered back into the bowl can be significantly greater (by a factor of up to 5.5) than that scattered toward the observer for an isotropic distribution of relativistic electrons at the center of a hemispherical bowl of soft X-ray emission. This factor is increased as the solid angle of the soft X-ray source subtended at the location of the electrons is reduced. The results obtained here have inmplications for models invoking a further 'reflection' of the resultant hard X-rays from the surface of a disk.

Ghisellini, G.↗
NASA NTRS1969

X-ray line emission from Sco X-1.

X ray line emission from Sco X-1 using Monte Carlo estimates of spectral distribution of scattered photons in terms of Fe line and cosmic abundance

Angel, J. R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Modification of codes NUALGAM and BREMRAD, Volume 1

The NUGAM2 code predicts forward and backward angular energy differential and integrated distributions for gamma photons and fluorescent radiation emerging from finite laminar transport media. It determines buildup and albedo data for scientific research and engineering purposes; it also predicts the emission characteristics of finite radioisotope sources. The results are shown to be in very good agreement with available published data. The code predicts data for many situations in which no published data is available in the energy range up to 5 MeV. The NUGAM3 code predicts the pulse height response of inorganic (NaI and CsI) scintillation detectors to gamma photons. Because it allows the scintillator to be clad and mounted on a photomultiplier as in the experimental or industrial application, it is a more practical and thus useful code than others previously reported. Results are in excellent agreement with published Monte Carlo and experimental data in the energy range up to 4.5 MeV.

Steyn, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1980

On the physical environment in the nucleus of Centaurus A /NGC 5128/

A model is proposed for the radio and X-ray variability of the nucleus of Centaurus A in which an adiabatically expanding plasma containing a power-law distribution of relativistic electrons produces the radio flux by synchrotron emission, and the X-ray flux by inverse Compton scattering of an ambient distribution of thermal photons. The variability of Centaurus A is shown to be consistent with the expansion of an initially opaque, hot (1000-10,000 K) plasma which eventually becomes optically thin. Radio flares without corresponding X-ray flares are possible in this model because the plasma density decreases during the expansion, allowing radio radiation previously absorbed or suppressed to be observed. Some consequences of the model for the physical environment in galactic nuclei are discussed.

Beall, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Solar hard X-ray bursts

The major results from the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) are presented as they relate to our understanding of the energy release and particle transportation processes that lead to the high-energy X-ray aspects of solar flares. Evidence is reviewed for a 152-158 day periodicity in various aspects of solar activity, including the rate of occurence of hard X-ray and gamma-ray flares. The statistical properties of over 7000 hard X-ray flares detected with the Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer are presented, including the spectrum of peak rates and the distribution of the photon number spectrum. A flare classification scheme introduced by Tanaka is used, and characteristics of the different types (types A, B, and C) are noted. A model based on the association of type C flares and coronal mass ejections is presented to explain many of the characteristics of these gradual flares.

Dennis, B. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

On graphite in primitive meteorites, chondritic interplanetary dust, and interstellar dust

Vapor phase-condensed primary and secondary graphites require prolonged solid-state thermal annealing and are less likely than amorphous graphitizable carbons to occur in the interstellar medium as dust. Some unknown fraction of this amorphous carbon may be converted to secondary graphite by radiative annealing due to UV photons. Grain size distribution may differentiate between primary and secondary graphites; secondary graphite should, moreover, be associated with poorly graphitized carbon. Small, as-yet undetected amounts of small secondary graphite particles may exist in carbon-rich astrophysical environments.

Rietmeijer, Frans J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Laser ranging application to time transfer using geodetic satellite and to other Japanese space programs

Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) has been developing a laser time transfer system using a satellite laser ranging (SLR) system. We propose Japanese geodetic satellite 'AJISAI', launched in 1986 as a target satellite. The surface is covered not only with corner cube reflectors but also with mirrors. The mirrors are originally designed for observation of flushing solar light reflected by the separate mirrors while the satellite is spinning. In the experiment, synchronized laser pulses are transferred via specified mirror from one station to another while the satellite is up on the horizon to both stations. The system is based on the epoch timing ranging system with 40 ps ranging precision, connected together with UTC(CRL). Simulation study indicates that two stations at thousands of km distance from each other can be linked with signal strength of more than 10 photons and the distributed images of laser beam from AJISAI mirrors give many chances for two stations to link each other during a single AJISAI pass. Retro-reflector In Space for Advanced Earth Observation Satellite (ADEOS) and RendDezVous docking mission of Experimental Technology Satellite-7 (ETS-7) are briefly presented.

Kunimori, Hiroo↗
NASA NTRS2001

Possible Evidence for an Event Horizon in Cyg XR-1

The X-ray emitting component in the Cyg XR-1/HDE226868 system is a leading candidate for identification as a stellar-mass sized black hole. The positive identification of a black hole as predicted by general relativity requires the detection of an event horizon surrounding the point singularity. One signature of such an event horizon would be the existence of dying pulse trains emitted by material spiraling into the event horizon from the last stable orbit around the black hole. We observed the Cyg XR-1 system at three different epochs in a 1400 - 3000 A bandpass with 0.1 ms time resolution using the Hubble Space Telescope's High Speed Photometer. Repeated excursions of the detected flux by more than three standard deviations above the mean are present in the UV flux with FWHM 1 - 10 ms. If any of these excursions are pulses of radiation produced in the system (and not just stochastic variability associated with the Poisson distribution of detected photon arrival times), then this short a timescale requires that the pulses originate in the accretion disk around Cyg XR-1. Two series of pulses with characteristics similar to those expected from dying pulse trains were detected in three hours of observation.

Dolan, Joseph F.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Numerical Solution of the Radiative Transfer Equation: X-Ray Spectral Formation from Cylindrical Accretion onto a Magnetized Neutron Star

Predicting the emerging X-ray spectra in several astrophysical objects is of great importance, in particular when the observational data are compared with theoretical models. This requires developing numerical routines for the solution of the radiative transfer equation according to the expected physical conditions of the systems under study. Aims. We have developed an algorithm solving the radiative transfer equation in the Fokker-Planck approximation when both thermal and bulk Comptonization take place. The algorithm is essentially a relaxation method, where stable solutions are obtained when the system has reached its steady-state equilibrium. Methods. We obtained the solution of the radiative transfer equation in the two-dimensional domain defined by the photon energy E and optical depth of the system pi using finite-differences for the partial derivatives, and imposing specific boundary conditions for the solutions. We treated the case of cylindrical accretion onto a magnetized neutron star. Results. We considered a blackbody seed spectrum of photons with exponential distribution across the accretion column and for an accretion where the velocity reaches its maximum at the stellar surface and at the top of the accretion column, respectively. In both cases higher values of the electron temperature and of the optical depth pi produce flatter and harder spectra. Other parameters contributing to the spectral formation are the steepness of the vertical velocity profile, the albedo at the star surface, and the radius of the accretion column. The latter parameter modifies the emerging spectra in a specular way for the two assumed accretion profiles. Conclusions. The algorithm has been implemented in the XPEC package for X-ray fitting and is specifically dedicated to the physical framework of accretion at the polar cap of a neutron star with a high magnetic field (approx > 10(exp 12) G). This latter case is expected to be of typical accreting systems such as X-ray pulsars and supergiant fast X ray transients.

Fairnelli, R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The hump in the Cerenkov lateral distribution of gamma ray showers

The lateral distribution of atmospheric Cerenkov photons emitted by gamma ray showers of energy 100 GeV is calculated. The lateral distribution shows a characteristic hump at a distance of approx. 135 meter from the core. The hump is shown to be due to electrons of threshold energy 1 GeV, above which the mean scattering angle becomes smaller than the Cerenkov angle.

Sinha, S.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Interpretation of gamma-ray burst source count statistics

Ever since the discovery of gamma-ray bursts, the so-called log N-log S relation has been used for determination of their distances and distribution. This task has not been straightforward because of varying thresholds for the detection of bursts. Most of the current analyses of these data are couched in terms of ambiguous distributions, such as the distribution of Cp/Clim, the ratio of peak to threshold photon count rates, or the distribution of V/Vmax = (Cp/Clim) exp -3/2. It is shown that these distributions are not always a true reflection of the log N-log S relation. Some kind of deconvolution is required for obtaining the true log N-log S. Therefore, care is required in the interpretation of results of such analyses. A new method of analysis of these data is described, whereby the bivariate distribution of Cp and Clim is obtained directly from the data.

Petrosian, Vahe↗
NASA NTRS2009

Combined Modeling of Acceleration, Transport, and Hydrodynamic Response in Solar Flares: The Numerical Model - 1

Acceleration and transport of high-energy particles and fluid dynamics of atmospheric plasma are interrelated aspects of solar flares, but for convenience and simplicity they were artificially separated in the past. We present here self consistently combined Fokker-Planck modeling of particles and hydrodynamic simulation of flare plasma. Energetic electrons are modeled with the Stanford unified code of acceleration, transport, and radiation, while plasma is modeled with the Naval Research Laboratory flux tube code. We calculated the collisional heating rate directly from the particle transport code, which is more accurate than those in previous studies based on approximate analytical solutions. We repeated the simulation of Mariska et al. with an injection of power law, downward-beamed electrons using the new heating rate. For this case, a -10% difference was found from their old result. We also used a more realistic spectrum of injected electrons provided by the stochastic acceleration model, which has a smooth transition from a quasi-thermal background at low energies to a non thermal tail at high energies. The inclusion of low-energy electrons results in relatively more heating in the corona (versus chromosphere) and thus a larger downward heat conduction flux. The interplay of electron heating, conduction, and radiative loss leads to stronger chromospheric evaporation than obtained in previous studies, which had a deficit in low-energy electrons due to an arbitrarily assumed low-energy cutoff. The energy and spatial distributions of energetic electrons and bremsstrahlung photons bear signatures of the changing density distribution caused by chromospheric evaporation. In particular, the density jump at the evaporation front gives rise to enhanced emission, which, in principle, can be imaged by X-ray telescopes. This model can be applied to investigate a variety of high-energy processes in solar, space, and astrophysical plasmas.

STOCHASTIC ACCELERATION MODEL↗
NASA NTRS1974

Angular distributions and polarization fractions of helium resonance radiation /n 1P-1 1S/ in the extreme ultraviolet

Angular intensity distributions of helium resonance photons, experimentally determined for the first time with respect to the exciting electron beam, are presented. The angular intensity distributions were measured at selected electron-impact energies from 25 to 150 eV. The results obtained are slightly higher than theoretical data for electron impact energies from 80 to 150 eV.

Mumma, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Performance Evaluation of Large Aperture 'Polished Panel' Optical Receivers Based on Experimental Data

Recent interest in hybrid RF/Optical communications has led to the development and installation of a "polished-panel" optical receiver evaluation assembly on the 34-meter research antenna at Deep-Space Station 13 (DSS-13) at NASA's Goldstone Communications Complex. The test setup consists of a custom aluminum panel polished to optical smoothness, and a large-sensor CCD camera designed to image the point-spread function (PSF) generated by the polished aluminum panel. Extensive data has been obtained via realtime tracking and imaging of planets and stars at DSS-13. Both "on-source" and "off-source" data were recorded at various elevations, enabling the development of realistic simulations and analytic models to help determine the performance of future deep-space communications systems operating with on-off keying (OOK) or pulse-position-modulated (PPM) signaling formats with photon-counting detection, and compared with the ultimate quantum bound on detection performance for these modulations. Experimentally determined PSFs were scaled to provide realistic signal-distributions across a photon-counting detector array when a pulse is received, and uncoded as well as block-coded performance analyzed and evaluated for a well-known class of block codes.

on-off keying (OOK)↗
NASA NTRS2005

All about Eve: Secret Sharing using Quantum Effects

This document discusses the nature of light (including classical light and photons), encryption, quantum key distribution (QKD), light polarization and beamsplitters and their application to information communication. A quantum of light represents the smallest possible subdivision of radiant energy (light) and is called a photon. The QKD key generation sequence is outlined including the receiver broadcasting the initial signal indicating reception availability, timing pulses from the sender to provide reference for gated detection of photons, the sender generating photons through random polarization while the receiver detects photons with random polarization and communicating via data link to mutually establish random keys. The QKD network vision includes inter-SATCOM, point-to-point Gnd Fiber and SATCOM-fiber nodes. QKD offers an unconditionally secure method of exchanging encryption keys. Ongoing research will focus on how to increase the key generation rate.

no cloning theorem↗
NASA NTRS2013

Properties of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Northwest Photon Dominated Region of NGC 7023. I. PAH Size, Charge, Composition, and Structure Distribution

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph spectral map of the northwest photon dominated region (PDR) in NGC 7023 was analyzed exclusively using PAH spectra from the NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database (www.astrochem.org/pahdb). The 5-15 micron spectrum at each pixel is fitted using a non-negative-least-squares fitting approach. The fits are of good quality, allowing decomposition of the PAH emission into four subclasses: size, charge, composition, and hydrogen adjacency (structure). Maps tracing PAH subclass distributions across the region paint a coherent astrophysical picture. Once past some 20 seconds of arc from HD 200775, the emission is dominated by the more stable, large, symmetric, compact PAH cations with smaller, neutral PAHs taking over along the lines-of-sight toward the more distant molecular cloud. The boundary between the PDR and the denser cloud material shows up as a distinct discontinuity in the breakdown maps. Noteworthy is the requirement for PANH cations to fit the bulk of the 6.2 and 11.0 micron features and the indication of PAH photo-dehydrogenation and fragmentation close to HD 200775. Decomposition of the spectral maps into "principal" subclass template spectra provides additional insight into the behavior of each subclass. However, the general applicability of this computationally more efficient approach is presently undetermined. This is the first time the spectra of individual PAHs are exclusively used to fit the 5-15 micron region and analyze the spatial behavior of the aromatic infrared bands, providing fundamental, new information about astronomical PAH subpopulations including their dependence on, and response to, changes in local conditions.

northwest photon↗