arXiv subjects

Diego F. Torres

Publications and source records attributed to Diego F. Torres.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

An energy-conserving, particle dominated, time-dependent model of 3C58 and its observability at high-energies

We present a time-dependent spectral model of the nebula 3C58 and compare it with available data. The model is for a leptonic nebula, in which particles are subject to synchrotron, inverse Compton, self-synchrotron Compton, adiabatic, and bremsstrahlung processes. We find that 3C58 is compatible with being a particle dominated nebula, with a magnetic field of 35$μ$G. A broken power law injection fits well the multi-frequency data, with a break energy at about 40 GeV. We find that 3C58 is not expected to appear in VERITAS or MAGIC II, unless the local IR background is a factor of \sim20 off Galactic models averages. For cases in which the CMB dominates the inverse Compton contribution, we find that 3C58 will not be visible either for the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

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arXiv2012

Unveiling the super-orbital modulation of LSI +61 303 in X-rays

We found evidence for the super-orbital modulation in the X-ray emission of LS I +61 303 from the longest monitoring date by the RXTE. The time evolution of the modulated fraction in the orbital light curves can be well fitted with a sinusoidal function having a super-orbital period of 1667 days. However, we have found a 281.8+/-44.6 day shift between the super-orbital variability found at radio frequencies and our X-ray data. We also find a super-orbital modulation in the maximum count rate of the orbital light curves, compatible with the former results, including the shift.

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arXiv2012

INTEGRAL and Swift observations of the Be X-ray binary 4U 1036-56 (RX J1037.5-5647) and its possible relation with gamma-ray transients

We present timing, spectral, and long-term temporal analysis of the high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) 4U 1036-56 using INTEGRAL and Swift observations. We show that it is a weak hard X-ray source spending a major fraction of the time in quiescence, and only occasionally characterized by X-ray outbursts. The outburst activity we report here lasts several days, with a dynamic range spanned by the luminosity in quiescence and in outburst as high as ~30. We report the detection of pulse period at 854.75+/-4.39 s during an outburst, which is consistent with previous measurements. Finally, we analyze the possibility of 4U 1036--56's association with the unidentified transient gamma-ray sources AGL J1037--5708 & GRO J1036--55, as prompted by its positional correlation.

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arXiv2012

Impact of the orbital uncertainties on the timing of pulsars in binary systems

The detection of pulsations from an X-ray binary is an unambiguous signature of the presence of a neutron star in the system. When the pulsations are missed in the radio band, their detection at other wavelengths, like X-ray or gamma-rays, requires orbital demodulation, since the length of the observations are often comparable to, or longer than the system orbital period. The detailed knowledge of the orbital parameters of binary systems plays a crucial role in the detection of the spin period of pulsars, since any uncertainty in their determination translates into a loss in the coherence of the signal during the demodulation process. In this paper, we present an analytical study aimed at unveiling how the uncertainties in the orbital parameters might impact on periodicity searches. We find a correlation between the power of the signal in the demodulated arrival time series and the uncertainty in each of the orbital parameters. This correlation is also a function of the pulsar frequency. We test our analytical results with numerical simulations, finding good agreement between them. Finally, we apply our study to the cases of LS 5039 and LS I +61 303 and consider the current level of uncertainties in the orbital parameters of these systems and their impact on a possible detection of a hosted pulsar. We also discuss the possible appearance of a sideband ambiguity in real data. The latter can occur when, due to the use of uncertain orbital parameters, the power of a putative pulsar is distributed in frequencies lying nearby the pulsar period. Even if the appearance of a sideband is already a signature of a pulsar component, it may introduce an ambiguity in the determination of its period. We present here a method to solve the sideband issue.

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arXiv2012

Time-dependent modeling of pulsar wind nebulae: Study on the impact of the diffusion-loss approximations

In this work, we present a leptonic, time-dependent model of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe). The model seeks a solution for the lepton distribution function considering the full time-energy dependent diffusion-loss equation. The time-dependent lepton population is balanced by injection, energy losses, and escape. We include synchrotron, inverse Compton (IC, with the cosmic-microwave background as well as with IR/optical photon fields), self-synchrotron Compton (SSC), and bremsstrahlung processes, all devoid of any radiative approximations. With this model in place we focus on the Crab nebula as an example and present its time dependent evolution. Afterwards, we analyze the impact of different approximations made at the level of the diffusion-loss equation, as can be found in the literature. Whereas previous models ignored the escape term, e.g., with the diffusion-loss equation becoming advective, others approximated the losses as catastrophic, so that the equation has only time derivatives. Additional approximations are also described and computed. We show which is the impact of these approaches in the determination of the PWN evolution. In particular, we find the time-dependent deviation of the multi-wavelength spectrum and the best-fit parameters obtained with the complete and the approximate models.

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arXiv2012

Possible changes of state and relevant timescales for a neutron star in LS I +61°303

The properties of the short, energetic bursts recently observed from the gamma-ray binary LS I +61°303, are typical of those showed by high magnetic field neutron stars, and thus provide a strong indication in favor of a neutron star being the compact object in the system. Here, we discuss the transitions among the states accessible to a neutron star in a system like LS I +61°303, such as the ejector, propeller and accretor phases, depending on the NS spin period, magnetic field and rate of mass captured. We show how the observed bolometric luminosity (>= few x 1E35 erg/s), and its broad-band spectral distribution, indicate that the compact object is most probably close to the transition between working as an ejector all along its orbit, and being powered by the propeller effect when it is close to the orbit periastron, in a so-called flip-flop state. By assessing the torques acting onto the compact object in the various states, we follow the spin evolution of the system, evaluating the time spent by the system in each of them. Even taking into account the constraint set by the observed gamma-ray luminosity, we found that the total age of the system is compatible with being ~5-10 kyr, comparable to the typical spin-down ages of high-field neutron stars. The results obtained are discussed in the context of the various evolutionary stages expected for a neutron star with a high mass companion.

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arXiv2012

Building up the spectrum of cosmic-rays in star-forming regions

The common approach to compute the cosmic-ray distribution in an starburst galaxy or region is equivalent to assume that at any point within that environment, there is an accelerator inputing cosmic rays at a reduced rate. This rate should be compatible with the overall volume-average injection, given by the total number of accelerators that were active during the starburst age. These assumptions seem reasonable, especially under the supposition of an homogeneous and isotropic distribution of accelerators. However, in this approach the temporal evolution of the superposed spectrum is not explicitly derived; rather, it is essentially assumed ab-initio. Here, we test the validity of this approach by following the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of the superposed cosmic-ray spectrum and compare our results with those from theoretical models that treat the starburst region as a single source. In the calorimetric limit (with no cosmic-ray advection), homogeneity is reached (typically within 20%) across most of the starburst region. However, values of center-to-edge intensity ratios can amount to a factor of several. Differences between the common homogeneous assumption for the cosmic-ray distribution and our models are larger in the case of two-zone geometries, such as a central nucleus with a surrounding disc. We have also found that the decay of the cosmic-ray density following the duration of the starburst process is slow, and even approximately 1 Myr after the burst ends (for a gas density of 35 cm-3) it may still be within an order of magnitude of its peak value. Based on our simulations, it seems that the detection of a relatively hard spectrum up to the highest gamma-ray energies from nearby starburst galaxies favors a relatively small diffusion coefficient (i.e., long diffusion time) in the region where most of the emission originates.

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arXiv2012

The fundamental plane for radio magnetars

High magnetic fields are a distinguishing feature of neutron stars and the existence of sources (the soft gamma repeaters and the anomalous X-ray pulsars) hosting an ultra-magnetized neutron star (or magnetar) has been recognized in the past few decades. Magnetars are believed to be powered by magnetic energy and not by rotation, as with normal radio pulsars. Until recently, the radio quietness and magnetic fields typically above the quantum critical value (Bq~4.4x10^{13} G), were among the characterizing properties of magnetars. The recent discovery of radio pulsed emission from a few of them, and of a low dipolar magnetic field soft gamma repeater, weakened further the idea of a clean separation between normal pulsars and magnetars. In this Letter we show that radio emission from magnetars might be powered by rotational energy, similarly to what occurs in normal radio pulsars. The peculiar characteristics of magnetars radio emission should be traced in the complex magnetic geometry of these sources. Furthermore, we propose that magnetar radio activity or inactivity can be predicted from the knowledge of the star's rotational period, its time derivative and the quiescent X-ray luminosity.

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arXiv2011

Unveiling the super-orbital modulation of LS I +61 303 in X-rays

From the longest monitoring of LS I +61 303 done to date by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) we found evidence for the long-sought, years- long modulation in the X-ray emission of the source. The time evolution of the modulated fraction in the orbital lightcurves can be well fitted with a sinusoidal function having a super-orbital period of 1667 days, the same as the one reported in non-contemporaneous radio measurements. However, we have found a 281.8 \pm 44.6 days shift between the super-orbital variability found at radio frequencies extrapolated to the observation time of our campaign and what we found in the super-orbital modulation of the modulated fraction of our X-ray data. We also find a super-orbital modulation in the maximum count rate of the orbital lightcurves, compatible with the former results, including the shift.

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arXiv2011

A magnetar-like event from LS I +61 303 and its nature as a gamma-ray binary

We report on the Swift-BAT detection of a short burst from the direction of the TeV binary LS I +61 303, resembling those generally labelled as magnetar-like. We show that it is likely that the short burst was indeed originating from LS I +61 303 (although we cannot totally exclude the improbable presence of a far-away line-of-sight magnetar) and that it is a different phenomena with respect to the previously-observed ks-long flares from this system. Accepting as a hypothesis that LS I +61 303 is the first magnetar detected in a binary system, we study which are the implications. We find that a magnetar-composed LS I +61 303-system would most likely be (i.e., for usual magnetar parameters and mass-loss rate) subject to a flip-flop behavior, from a rotational powered regime (in apastron) to a propeller regime (in periastron) along each of the LS I +61 303, eccentric orbital motion. We prove that whereas near apastron an inter-wind shock can lead to the normally observed LS I +61 303behavior, with TeV emission, the periastron propeller is expected to efficiently accelerate particles only to sub-TeV energies. This flip-flop scenario would explain the system's behavior where a recurrent TeV emission was seen appearing near apastron only, the anti-correlation of GeV and TeV emission, and the long-term TeV variability (which seems correlated to LS I +61 303's super-orbital period), including the appearance of a low TeV-state. Finally, we qualitatively put the multi-wavelength phenomenology in context of our proposed model, and make some predictions for further testing.

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arXiv2011

The 2008 outburst of IGR J17473--2721: evidence for a disk corona?

The 2008 outburst of the atoll source IGR J17473--2721 was observed by INTEGRAL, RXTE and Swift. Tens of type-I X-ray bursts were found in this outburst. Joint observations provide sufficient data to look into the behavior of IGR J17473--2721 at the rising part of the outburst. We find that the joint energy spectra can be well fitted with a model composed of a blackbody and a cutoff power-law, with a cutoff energy decreasing from $ \sim$ 150 keV to $\sim$ 40 keV as the source leaves the quiescent state toward the low hard state. This fits into a scenario in which the corona is cooled by the soft X-rays along the outburst evolution, as observed in several other atoll sources. By using the flux measured in the 1.5--30 keV band of the type-I bursts during the outburst, we find that the linear relationship between the burst duration and the flux still holds for those bursts that occur at the decaying part of the low hard state, but with a different slope than the overall one that was estimated with the bursts happening in the whole extent of, and for the rest of the low hard state. The significance of such a dichotomy in the type-I X-ray bursts is $\sim$ 3 $σ$ under an F-test. Similar results are hinted at as well with the broader energy-band that was adopted recently. This dichotomy may be understood in a scenario where part of the accreting material forms a corona on the way of falling onto the surface of the neutron star during the decaying part of the low hard state. Based on the accretion rates of the preceding LHS, estimated from type-I X-ray bursts and from persistent emission, at least for IGR J17473-2721, most of the accretion material may fall on the neutron star (NS) surface in the LHS. Considering the burst behavior in the context of the outburst indicates a corona formed on top of the disk rather than on the NS surface.

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arXiv2011

INTEGRAL observations of the gamma-ray binary 1FGL J1018.6-5856

The Fermi-LAT collaboration has recently reported that one of their detected sources, namely, 1FGL J1018.6-5856, is a new gamma-ray binary similar to LS 5039. This has prompted efforts to study its multi-frequency behavior. In this report, we present the results from 5.78-Ms INTEGRAL IBIS/ISGRI observations on the source 1FGL J1018.6-5856. By combining all the available INTEGRAL data, a detection is made at a significance level of 5.4 sigma in the 18-40 keV band, with an average intensity of 0.074 counts/s . However, we find that, there is non-statistical noise in the image that effectively reduces the significance to about 4 sigma and a significant part of the signal appears to be located in a 0.2-wide phase region, at phases 0.4-0.6 (where even the corrected significance amounts to 90% of the total signal found). Given the scarcity of counts, a variability is hinted at about 3 sigma at the hard X-rays, with an anti-correlation with the Fermi-LAT periodicity. Should this behavior be true, it would be similar to that found in LS 5039, and prompt observations with TeV telescopes at phases anti-correlated with the GeV maximum.

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arXiv2011

Cosmic rays in the surroundings of SNR G35.6-0.4

HESS J1858+020 is a TeV gamma-ray source that was reported not to have any clear cataloged counterpart at any wavelength. However, it has been recently proposed that this source is indirectly associated with the radio source, re-identified as a supernova remnant (SNR), G35.6-0.4. The latter is found to be middle-aged ($\sim 30$ kyr) and to have nearby molecular clouds (MCs). HESS J1858+020 was proposed to be the result of the interaction of protons accelerated in the SNR shell with target ions residing in the clouds. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) First Source Catalog does not list any source coincident with the position of HESS J1858+020, but some lie close. Here, we analyse more than 2 years of data obtained with the Fermi-LAT for the region of interest, and consider whether it is indeed possible that the closest LAT source, 1FGL J1857.1+0212c, is related to HESS J1858+020. We conclude it is not, and we impose upper limits on the GeV emission originating from HESS J1858+020. Using a simplified 3D model for the cosmic-ray propagation out from the shell of the SNR, we consider whether the interaction between SNR G35.6-0.4 and the MCs nearby could give rise to the TeV emission of HESS J1858+020 without producing a GeV counterpart. If so, the pair of SNR/TeV source with no GeV detection would be reminiscent of other similarly-aged SNRs, such as some of the TeV hotspots near W28, for which cosmic-ray diffusion may be used to explain their multi-frequency phenomenology. However, for HESS J1858+020, we found that although the phase space in principle allows for such GeV--TeV non-correlation to appear, usual and/or observationally constrained values of the parameters (e.g., diffusion coefficients and cloud-SNR likely distances) would disfavor it.

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arXiv2011

The TeV binary HESS J0632+057 in the low and high X-ray state

We report on a 40ks Chandra observation of the TeV emitting high mass X-ray binary HESS J0632+057 performed in February 2011 during a high-state of X-ray and TeV activity. We have used the ACIS-S camera in Continuos Clocking mode to search for a possible X-ray pulsar in this system. Furthermore, we compare the emission of the source during this high state, with its X-ray properties during a low state of emission, caught by a 47ks XMM-Newton observation on September 2007. We did not find any periodic or quasi-periodic signal in any of the two observations. We derived an average pulsed fraction 3sigma upper limit for the presence of a periodic signal of ~35% and 25% during the low and high emission state, respectively (although this limit is strongly dependent on the frequency and the energy band). Using the best X-ray spectra derived to date for HESS J0632+057, we found evidence for a significant spectral change between the low and high X-ray emission states, with the absorption value and the photon index varying between Nh ~ 2.1-4.3x10^{21} cm^{-2} and Gamma ~ 1.18-1.61. At variance with what observed in other TeV binaries, it seems that in this source the higher the flux the softer the X-ray spectrum.

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arXiv2011

Long-term X-ray monitoring of LS I +61 303: analysis of spectral variability and flares

We report on the full analysis of a Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) Proportional Counter Array (PCA) monitoring of the γ-ray binary system LS I +61 303. The data set covers 42 contiguous cycles of the system orbital motion. Analyzing this X-ray monitoring dataset, the largest to date for this source, we report on the variability of the orbital profile and the spectral distribution, and provide strong evidence for an anti-correlation between flux and spectral index (the higher the flux, the harder the spectral index). Furthermore, we present the analysis of two newly discovered ks-timescale flares, which present significant variability also on shorter timescales, and tend to occur at orbital phases between 0.6-0.9. However, a detailed timing analysis of the flares does not show any coherent or quasi-coherent (QPO) structure in their power spectra. We also investigated the possible appearance of the radio super-orbital modulation at X-rays energies, but we could not unambiguously detect such modulation in the system flux history, nor in the evolution of its orbital modulation fraction.

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arXiv2011

On hadronic beam models for quasars and microquasars

Most of the hadronic jet models for quasars (QSOs) and microquasars (MQs) found in literature represent beams of particles (e.g. protons). These particles interact with the matter in the stellar wind of the companion star in the system or with crossing clouds, generating gamma-rays via proton-proton processes. Our aim is to derive the particle distribution in the jet as seen by the observer, so that proper computation of the $γ$-ray and neutrino yields can be done. We use relativistic invariants to obtain the transformed expressions in the case of a power-law and power-law with a cutoff particle distribution in the beam. We compare with previous expressions used earlier in the literature. We show that formerly used expressions for the particle distributions in the beam as seen by the observer are in error, differences being strongly dependent on the viewing angle. For example, for $Γ=10$ ($Γ$ is the Lorentz factor of the blob) and angles larger than $\sim 20^o$, the earlier-used calculation entails an over-prediction (order of magnitude or more) of the proton spectra for $E>Γmc^2$, whereas it always over-predicts (two orders of magnitude) the proton spectrum at lower energies, disregarding the viewing angle. All the results for photon and neutrino fluxes in hadronic models in beams that have made use of the earlier calculation are affected. Given that correct gamma-ray fluxes will be in almost any case significantly diminished in comparison with published results, and that the time of observations in Cherenkov facilities grows with the square of the flux-reduction factor in a statistically limited result, the possibility of observing hadronic beams is undermined.

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arXiv2010

Fermi results on gamma-ray binaries

The past decade has presented a revolution in the field of observational high energy gamma-ray astrophysics with the advent of a new generation in ground-based TeV telescopes and subsequent GeV space telescopes. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) was launched in August 2008 and has offered unprecedented sensitivity and survey capabilities in the 30 MeV - 300 GeV energy range. Presented here are the results from the first two years of LAT observations of galactic binary systems including the definitive detections of LSI+61 303, LS 5039 and Cyg X-3. These sources and others are discussed in context with their known TeV and X-ray properties. The LAT data provides new understandings and pose new questions about the nature of these objects. The identification of an exponential cutoff in the spectra of both LSI+61 303 and LS 5039 was unexpected and poses challenges for explaining the emission mechanisms and processes which are in operation within these systems.

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arXiv2010

The 2009 outburst of H~1743-322 as observed by RXTE

We analyze the RXTE observations of the 2009 outburst of H~1743-322, as well as the observations of the previous five outbursts for comparison. The hardness-intensity diagram (HID) shows a complete counter-clockwise q-track for the 2009 outburst and, interestingly, the track falls in} between a huge one in 2003, with a complete transition to high/soft state, and that of} the failed outburst in 2008. It leaves the low/hard state but does not reach the leftmost edge of the overall HID. While the lowest hardness (6--19 keV/3--6 keV) values} in the HID is about 0.3--0.4 for the 2009 outburst, similar to the ``failed state transition" seen in the persistent black hole XRB Cyg X-1, the timing analysis shows that a transition to the high soft state occurred. During the low/hard state of the 2009 outburst, the inner radius of the accretion disk is found to be closer to the central black hole and have an anti-correlation with the disk temperature. These results may be understood as the reprocessing} of the hot corona on the disk's} soft X-rays, which can lead to an underestimation of the inner radius of the accretion disk. In the luminosity diagram of the corona versus the disk, the tracks of the outbursts} in 2003 and 2009 cross the line which represents a roughly equal contribution to the entire emission from the thermal and the non-thermal components;} the track of the 2008 outburst has the turn-over falling} on this line. This may be indicative of an emission balance between the corona and the disk, which prevents the state transition from going further than the low/hard state.

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