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Feng-Rong Zhu

Publications and source records attributed to Feng-Rong Zhu.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Systematic Study of the Simultaneous Events Detected by GECAM

GECAM is a constellation of all-sky monitors in hard X-ray and gamma-ray band primarily aimed at high energy transients such as gamma-ray bursts, soft gamma-ray repeaters, solar flares and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. As GECAM has the highest temporal resolution (0.1~$\mu$s) among instruments of its kind, it can identify the so-called simultaneous events (STE) that deposit signals in multiple detectors nearly at the same time (with a 0.3~$\mu$s window). However, the properties and origin of STE have not yet been explored. In this work, we implemented, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the STE detected by GECAM, including their morphology, energy deposition, and the dependence on the geomagnetic coordinates. We find that these STE probably result from direct interactions between high-energy charged cosmic rays and satellite. These results demonstrate that GECAM can detect, identify, and characterize high-energy cosmic rays, making it a Micro Cosmic-Ray Observatory (MICRO) in low Earth orbit.

astro-ph.HE

The optical spectral features of 27 Fermi blazars

A spectral variation accompanied with flux variability is a commonly-observed phenomenon for blazars. In order to further investigate the optical spectral feature of blazars, we have collected the long-term optical V and R band data of 27 blazars (14 BL Lacs and 13 FSRQs), and calculated their optical spectral indices. The results show that the spectral indices vary with respect to the brightness for all of these blazars. In general, the optical spectrum progressively becomes flatter (or steeper), when the brightness increases. However the spectrum changes more and more slowly, until it tends to be stable. In other words, the source becomes bluer (or redder) and then gradually stabilizes when it brightens, which are briefly named the bluer-stable-when-brighter (BSWB) and redder-stable-when-brighter (RSWB) behaviors, respectively. Thirteen of the 14 BL Lacs show the BSWB behavior, with an exception of AO 0235+164. On the contrary, most of FSRQs (10 out of 13) exhibit the RSWB trend. It is confirmed that blazars follow the two universal optical spectral behaviors, namely, BSWB and RSWB. The model of two constant-spectral-index components can well explain the optical spectral features qualitatively and quantitatively. The results illustrate that the optical emission are mainly composed of two stable-color components, i.e., less variable thermal emission and high variable synchrotron radiation. And in most cases, the thermal component of BL Lacs is redder than that of synchrotron radiation, whereas FSRQs are the opposite.

astro-ph.HE

Constraint on the velocity dependent dark matter annihilation cross section from Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf galaxies

The gamma-ray observation of dwarf spheroidal satellites (dSphs) is an ideal approach for probing the dark matter (DM) annihilation signature. The latest Fermi-LAT dSph searches have set stringent constraints on the velocity independent annihilation cross section in the small DM mass range, which gives very strong constraints on the scenario to explain the the AMS-02 positron excess by DM annihilation. However, the dSph constraints would change in the velocity dependent annihilation scenarios, because the velocity dispersion in the dSphs varies from that in the Milky Way. In this work, we use a likelihood map method to set constraints on the velocity dependent annihilation cross section from the Fermi-LAT observation of six dSphs. We consider three typical forms of the annihilation cross section, i.e. p-wave annihilation, Sommerfeld enhancement, and Breit-Wigner resonance. For the p-wave annihilation and Sommerfeld-enhancement, the dSph limits would become much weaker and stronger compared with those for the velocity independent annihilation, respectively. For the Breit-Wigner annihilation, the dSph limits would vary depending on the model parameters. We show that the scenario to explain the AMS-02 positron excess by DM annihilation is still viable in the velocity dependent cases.

astro-ph.HE

Reconciling the light component and all-particle cosmic ray energy spectra at the knee

The knee phenomenon of the cosmic ray spectrum, which plays an important role in studying the acceleration mechanism of cosmic rays, is still an unsolved mystery. We try to reconcile the knee spectra measured by ARGO-YBJ and Tibet-III. A simple broken power-law model fails to explain the experimental data. Therefore a modified broken power-law model with non-linear acceleration effects is adopted, which can describe the sharp knee structure. This model predicts that heavy elements dominate at the knee.

astro-ph.HE