arXiv subjects

Klaus Werner

Publications and source records attributed to Klaus Werner.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Mapping Diffuse Emission in Lyman UV band

The CAFE (Census of warm-hot intergalactic medium, Accretion, and Feedback Explorer) and LyRIC (Lyman UV Radiation from Interstellar medium and Circum-galactic medium) have been proposed to the space agencies in China respectively. CAFE was first proposed in 2015 as a joint scientific CAS-ESA small space mission. LyRIC was proposed in 2019 as an independent external payload operating on the Chinese Space Station. Both missions are dedicated to mapping the Lyman UV emission (ionized oxygen (O VI) resonance lines at 103.2 and 103.8 nm, and Lyman series) for the diffuse sources in our Galaxy and the circum-galactic mediums of the nearby galaxies. We present the primary science objectives, mission concepts, the enabling technologies, as well as the current status.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

Pulsating hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs and pre-white dwarfs observed with TESS: I. Asteroseismology of the GW Vir stars RX J2117+3412, HS 2324+3944, NGC 6905, NGC 1501, NGC 2371, and K 1-16

In this paper, we present a detailed asteroseismological analysis of six GW Vir stars including the observations collected by the TESS mission. We processed and analyzed TESS observations of RX J2117+3412, HS 2324+3944, NGC 6905, NGC 1501, NGC 2371, and K 1-16. We carried out a detailed asteroseismological analysis of these stars on the basis of PG 1159 evolutionary models that take into account the complete evolution of the progenitor stars. In total, we extracted 58 periodicities from the TESS light curves using a standard pre-whitening procedure to derive the potential pulsation frequencies. All the oscillation frequencies that we found are associated with g-mode pulsations with periods spanning from $\sim 817$ s to $\sim 2682$ s. We find constant period spacings for all but one star, which allowed us to infer their stellar masses and constrain the harmonic degree $\ell$ of the modes. We performed period-to-period fit analyses on five of the six analyzed stars. For four stars, we were able to find an asteroseismological model with masses in agreement with the stellar-mass values inferred from the period spacings, and generally compatible with the spectroscopic masses. We estimated the seismological distance and compared it with the precise astrometric distance measured with GAIA. Finally, we find that the period spectrum of K 1-16 exhibits dramatic changes in frequency and amplitude. The high-quality data collected by the TESS space mission, considered simultaneously with ground-based observations, are able to provide a very valuable input to the asteroseismology of GW Vir stars, similar to the case of other classes of pulsating white-dwarf stars. The TESS mission, in conjunction with future space missions and upcoming surveys, will make impressive progress in white-dwarf asteroseismology.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

An extremely hot white dwarf with a rapidly rotating K-type subgiant companion: UCAC2 46706450

UCAC2 46706450 is a late-type star with an ultraviolet (UV) excess. It was considered a candidate to establish a sample of FGK stars with white dwarf (WD) companions that can be used to test binary evolution models. To verify the WD nature of the companion, UV spectroscopy was performed by Parsons et al. (2016). By a detailed model-atmosphere analysis we show that the UV source is an extremely hot WD with effective temperature $T_\mathrm{eff}$ = $105\,000\pm5000$ K, mass $M/M_\odot = 0.54\pm0.02$, radius $R/R_\odot = 0.040^{+0.005}_{-0.004}$, and luminosity $L/L_\odot= 176^{+55}_{-49}$, i.e., the compact object is just about to enter the WD cooling sequence. Investigating spectra of the cool star ($T_\mathrm{eff}$ = $4945\pm250$ K) we found that it is a K-type subgiant with $M/M_\odot = 0.8-2.4$, $R/R_\odot = 5.9^{+0.7}_{-0.5}$, and $L/L_\odot= 19^{+5}_{-5}$, that is rapidly rotating with $v \sin(i)=81$ km s$^{-1}$. Optical light curves reveal a period of two days and an o-band peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.06 mag. We suggest, that it is caused by stellar rotation in connection with star spots. With the radius we infer an extremely high rotational velocity of $v_{\mathrm{rot}}=151^{+18}_{-13}$ km s$^{-1}$, thus marking the star as one of the most rapidly rotating subgiants known. This explains chromospheric activity observed by H$α$ emission and emission-line cores in CaII H and K as well as NUV flux excess. From equal and constant radial velocities of the WD and the K subgiant as well as from a fit to the spectral energy distribution we infer that they form a physical, wide though unresolved binary system. Both components exhibit similar metal abundances and show iron-group elements with slightly oversolar (up to 0.6 dex) abundance, meaning that atomic diffusion in the WD atmosphere is not yet active due to a residual, weak radiation-driven wind. (abridged)

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

Observational appearance of rapidly rotating neutron stars: X-ray bursts, cooling tail method, and radius determination

Neutron stars (NSs) in low-mass X-ray binaries rotate at frequencies high enough to significantly deviate from sphericity ($ν_* \sim$ 200--600 Hz). We investigate the effects of rapid rotation on the observational appearance of a NS. We propose analytical formulae relating gravitational mass and equatorial radius of the rapidly rotating NS to the mass $M$ and radius $R$ of a non-rotating NS of the same baryonic mass using accurate fully relativistic computations. We compute spectra from an oblate rotating NS observed at different inclination angles using the modified oblate Schwarzschild (MOS) approximation, where light bending is computed in Schwarzschild metric, but frame dragging and quadrupole moment of a NS are approximately accounted for in the photon redshift calculations. We generalize the cooling tail method to the case of a rapidly rotating NS to obtain the most probable values of $M$ and $R$ of the corresponding non-rotating NS with the same baryonic mass. We approximate the local spectra from the NS surface by a diluted blackbody using previously computed NS atmosphere models. We show that the NS radius could be overestimated by 3--3.5 km for face-on stars of $R\approx 11$ km rotating at $ν_* =$ 700 Hz if the version of the cooling tail method for a non-rotating NS is used. We apply the method to an X-ray burst observed from the NS rotating at $ν_* \approx$ 532 Hz in SAX J1810.8$-$2609. The resulting radius of the non-rotating NS (assuming $M=1.5 M_\odot$) becomes $11.8\pm0.5$ km if it is viewed at inclination i=60 deg and $R=11.2\pm0.5$ km for a face-on view, which are smaller by 0.6 and 1.2 km than the radius obtained using standard cooling tail method ignoring rotation. The corresponding equatorial radii of these rapidly rotating NSs are 12.3$\pm 0.6$ km (for i=60 deg) and 11.6$\pm 0.6$\,km (for i=0 deg).

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Core-corona effect in hadron collisions and muon production in air showers

It is very well known that the fraction of energy in a hadron collision going into electromagnetic particles (electrons and photons, including those from decays) has a large impact on the number of muons produced in air shower cascades. Recent measurements at the LHC confirm features that can be linked to a mixture of different underlying particle production mechanisms such as a collective statistical hadronization (core) in addition to the expected string fragmentation (corona). Since the two mechanisms have a different electromagnetic energy fraction, we present a possible connection between statistical hadronization in hadron collisions and muon production in air showers. Using a novel approach, we demonstrate that the core-corona effect as observed at the LHC could be part of the solution for the lack of muon production in simulations of high energy cosmic rays. To probe this hypothesis, we study hadronization in high energy hadron collisions using calorimetric information over a large range of pseudorapidity in combination with the multiplicity of central tracks. As an experimental observable, we propose the production of energy in electromagnetic particles versus hadrons, as a function of pseudorapidity and central charged particle multiplicity.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Jet overlap in heavy ion collisions at LHC energies and its consequences on jet shape

Central lead-lead collisions at the LHC energies may pose a particular challenge for jet identification as multiple jets are produced per each collision event. We simulate the jet evolution in central Pb-Pb events at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ GeV collision energy with EPOS3 initial state, which typically contains multiple hard scatterings in each event. Therefore the partons from different jets have a significant chance to overlap in momentum space. We find that 30% of the jets with $p_\perp > 50$ GeV, identified by the standard anti-$k_\perp$ jet finding algorithm with jet cone size R=0.3, contain `intruder' particles from overlapping generator-level jets. This fraction increases with increasing beam energy and increasing R. The reconstructed momentum of the jet differs from that of the modelled jet by the loss due to jet partons which are outside of the jet cone and by the gain due to intruder partons. The sum of both may be positive or negative. These intruder partons particularly affect the radial jet momentum distribution because they contribute mostly at large angles $Δr$ with respect to the jet centre. The study stresses the importance of the jet overlap effect emerging in central lead-lead collisions at the LHC energies, while being negligible in peripheral PbPb or $p$Pb/$pp$ collisions.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

Jet-fluid interaction in the EPOS3-Jet framework

EPOS3-Jet is an integrated framework for jet modelling in heavy ion collisions, where the initial hard (jet) partons are produced along with soft (medium) partons in the initial state EPOS approach. The jet partons then propagate in the hydrodynamically expanding medium. The energy and momentum lost by the jet partons is added to the hydrodynamic medium via the source terms. The full evolution proceeds in a concurrent mode, without separating hydrodynamic and jet parts. In this report, we examine the medium recoil effects in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV LHC energy in the EPOS3-Jet framework.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2019

First results of EPOS-HQ model for open heavy flavor production in A-A collission at RHIC and LHC

The EPOS-HQ model is a framework designed for predicting heavy-flavor observables both in p-p, p-A and A-A collisions. It results from the integration of the MC$@_s$HQ and EPOS3 codes and should supersede predictions made with each of these two. In this contribution, we briefly present the new ingredients of the EPOS-HQ model as well as some preliminary results. From the comparison with experimental data, we derive some direction of improvement for the near future.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Jet structure in integrated EPOS3-HQ approach

We report on the first results for jet observables from a time-like parton cascade integrated with hydrodynamic evolution within the EPOS3-HQ framework. The hard (jet) partons are produced along with soft partons in the initial state EPOS approach. The soft partons, represented by strings, melt into a thermalized medium which is described by a 3 dimensional event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic approach. The jet partons then propagate in the hydrodynamically expanding medium. The total jet energy gets progressively `degraded' when the partons reaching a thermal energy scale are melted into the hydrodynamic medium via the source terms. The full evolution proceeds in a parallel mode, without separating the thermalized and jet parts. We demonstrate how the transverse expansion of the medium affects the jet structure, and how the medium itself is affected by the jet recoil.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

Cracking the difference of estimating heavy quark transport coefficients in a Quark-Gluon Plasma

Heavy flavor observables provide valuable information on the properties of the hot and dense Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) created in ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. Various microscopic models have successfully described many of the observables associated with its formation. Their transport coefficients differ, however, due to different assumptions about the underlying interaction of the heavy quarks with the plasma constituents, different initial geometries and formation times, different hadronization processes and a different time evolution of the QGP. In this study we present the transport coefficients of all these models and investigate systematically how some of these assumptions influence the heavy quark properties at the end of the QGP expansion. For this purpose we impose on these models the same initial condition and the same model for the QGP expansion and show that both have considerable influence on $R_{AA}$ and $v_2$.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

Event-by-event fluctuations in p+p and central A+A collisions within relativistic transport models

Event-by-event multiplicity fluctuations in nucleus-nucleus collisions are studied within the relativistic transport models: EPOS, PHSD, and UrQMD. As measures of particle number fluctuations we consider the scaled variances $ω[X]$ for positive, negative, and all charged hadrons, and the strongly intensive quantities $Δ[K^+,π^+],$ $Σ[K^+,π^+]$ for $K^+$ and $π^+$ yields. At the SPS energy range the fluctuation measures are calculated for proton-proton, Ar+Sc, and Pb+Pb collisions. Comparison with recent NA61/SHINE and older NA49 measurements of the multiplicity fluctuations is done. A validity of the model of independent sources, a role of the experimental acceptance, and the centrality selection procedure are studied.Event-by-event multiplicity fluctuations in nucleus-nucleus collisions are studied within the relativistic transport models: EPOS, PHSD, and UrQMD. As measures of particle number fluctuations we consider the scaled variances $ω[X]$ for positive, negative, and all charged hadrons, and the strongly intensive quantities $Δ[K^+,π^+],$ $Σ[K^+,π^+]$ for $K^+$ and $π^+$ yields. At the SPS energy range the fluctuation measures are calculated for proton-proton, Ar+Sc, and Pb+Pb collisions. Comparison with recent NA61/SHINE and older NA49 measurements of the multiplicity fluctuations is done. A validity of the model of independent sources, a role of the experimental acceptance, and the centrality selection procedure are studied.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

Hard X-ray view on intermediate polars in the Gaia era

The hardness of the X-ray spectra of intermediate polars (IPs) is determined mainly by the white dwarf (WD) compactness (mass-radius ratio, M/R) and, thus, hard X-ray spectra can be used to constrain the WD mass. An accurate mass estimate requires the finite size of the WD magnetosphere R_m to be taken into the account. We suggested to derive it either directly from the observed break frequency in power spectrum of X-ray or optical lightcurves of a polar, or assuming the corotation. Here we apply this method to all IPs observed by NuSTAR (10 objects) and Swift/BAT (35 objects). For the dwarf nova GK Per we also observe a change of the break frequency with flux, which allows to constrain the dependence of the magnetosphere radius on the mass-accretion rate. For our analysis we calculated an additional grid of two-parameter (M and R_m/R) model spectra assuming a fixed, tall height of the accretion column H_sh/R=0.25, which is appropriate to determine WD masses in low mass-accretion IPs like EX\,Hya. Using the Gaia Data Release 2 we obtain for the first time reliable estimates of the mass-accretion rate and the magnetic field strength at the WD surface for a large fraction of objects in our sample. We find that most IPs accrete at rate of ~10^{-9} M_Sun/yr, and have magnetic fields in the range 1--10 MG. The resulting WD mass average of our sample is 0.79 +/- 0.16 M_Sun, which is consistent with earlier estimates.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Heavy-quark dynamics in a hydrodynamically evolving medium

In this talk we will discuss the recent advances in describing heavy-quark dynamics in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), which evolves hydrodynamically. Special emphasis is put on the collective flow of the heavy-quarks with the medium constituents, for which we present our latest results obtained within the MC@sHQ+EPOS2 model at $\sqrt{s}=5$~TeV.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

MCP detector development for UV space missions

We are developing imaging and photon counting UV-MCP detectors, which are sensitive in the wavelength range from far ultraviolet to near ultraviolet. A good quantum efficiency, solar blindness and high spatial resolution is the aim of our development. The sealed detector has a Cs-activated photoactive layer of GaN (or similarly advanced photocathode), which is operated in semitransparent mode on (001)-MgF 2 . The detector comprises a stack of two long-life MCPs and a coplanar cross strip anode with advanced readout electronics. The main challenge is the flawless growth of the GaN photocathode layer as well as the requirements for the sealing of the detector, to prevent a degradation of the photocathode. We present here the detector concept and the experimental setup, examine in detail the status in the production and describe the current status of the readout electronics development.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Basic parameters of the helium accreting X-ray bursting neutron star in 4U 1820-30

The ultracompact low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1820-30 situated in the globular cluster NGC 6624 has an orbital period of only $\approx$11.4 min which likely implies a white dwarf companion. The observed X-ray bursts demonstrate a photospheric radius expansion phase and therefore are believed to reach the Eddington luminosity allowing us to estimate the mass and the radius of the neutron star (NS) in this binary. Here we re-analyse all Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations of the system and confirm that almost all the bursts took place during the hard persistent state of the system. This allows us to use the recently developed direct cooling tail method to estimate the NS mass and radius. However, because of the very short, about a second, duration of the cooling tail phases that can be described by the theoretical atmosphere models, the obtained constraints on the NS radius are not very strict. Assuming a pure helium NS atmosphere we found that the NS radius is in the range 10-12 km, if the NS mass is below 1.7 $M_\odot$, and in a wider range of 8-12 km for a higher 1.7-2.0 $M_\odot$ NS mass. The method also constrains the distance to the system to be 6.5$\pm$0.5 kpc, which is consistent with the distance to the cluster. For the solar composition atmosphere, the NS parameters are in strong contradiction with the generally accepted range of possible NS masses and radii.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Global view on coupled dynamics of heavy and light flavor observables from EPOSHQ

We present an analysis of the comparison between 2nd and 3rd flow harmonics of $π$, protons and D mesons produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. We advocate that such an analysis could turn out to be a good strategy in order to quantify the off-equilibrium dynamics of heavy flavor at lower transverse momentum $p_T$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

The direct cooling tail method for X-ray burst analysis to constrain neutron star masses and radii

Determining neutron star (NS) radii and masses can help to understand the properties of matter at supra-nuclear densities. Thermal emission during thermonuclear X-ray bursts from NSs in low-mass X-ray binaries provides a unique opportunity to study NS parameters, because of the high fluxes, large luminosity variations and the related changes in the spectral properties. The standard cooling tail method uses hot NS atmosphere models to convert the observed spectral evolution during cooling stages of X-ray bursts to the Eddington flux F_Edd and the stellar angular size Ω. These are then translated to the constraints on the NS mass M and radius R. Here we present the improved, direct cooling tail method that generalises the standard approach. First, we adjust the cooling tail method to account for the bolometric correction to the flux. Then, we fit the observed dependence of the blackbody normalization on flux with a theoretical model directly on the M-R plane by interpolating theoretical dependences to a given gravity, hence ensuring only weakly informative priors for M and R instead of F_Edd and Ω. The direct cooling method is demonstrated using a photospheric radius expansion burst from SAX J1810.8--2609, which has happened when the system was in the hard state. Comparing to the standard cooling tail method, the confidence regions are shifted by 1 sigma towards larger radii, giving R=11.5-13.0 km at M=1.3-1.8 M_sun for this NS.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Anisotropic emission of direct photons and thermal dileptons from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$~GeV with EPOS3

Electromagnetic probes such as direct photons and dileptons are crucial to study the properties of a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) created in heavy ion collisions. Based on the (3+1)-dimensional event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic model EPOS 3.102, we calculated the anisotropic emission of thermal photons and dileptons in Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) energy $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$~GeV. Thermal emissions from both QGP phase and hadronic gas phase are considered, with AMY rate for photons and Lattice QCD based rates for dileptons in QGP phase. For emission from hadron gas phase, rates based vector meson dominant model are used for both photons and dileptons. Non-thermal contribution to direct photons is calculated with next to leading order QCD. STAR cocktail data are directly used for non-thermal contribution to dileptons. With the same space-time evolution of the collision systems, the two penetrating probes, photons and dileptonsshow some consistency, ie, the emission of both thermal photons and dileptons are underestimated, compared with the transverse momentum spectra of direct photons measured by PHENIX collaboration and the invariant mass spectra of dileptons measured by STAR collaboration, for all centrality classes. With a good constraint of anisotropy of the plasma via the elliptic flow and triangular flow of charged hadrons, the resulted elliptic flow and triangular flow of direct photons agree with PHENIX measurements reasonably well. Thus we made predictions to the flows of thermal dileptons. The elliptic flow of thermal dileptons is predicted larger than the available results from other models, and comparable to the STAR measurement referring to all dileptons (thermal + cocktail) for minimal bias collisions.

hep-ph↗