arXiv subjects

Peter F. Michelson

Publications and source records attributed to Peter F. Michelson.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Incremental Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog

We present an incremental version (4FGL-DR3, for Data Release 3) of the fourth Fermi-LAT catalog of gamma-ray sources. Based on the first twelve years of science data in the energy range from 50 MeV to 1 TeV, it contains 6658 sources. The analysis improves on that used for the 4FGL catalog over eight years of data: more sources are fit with curved spectra, we introduce a more robust spectral parameterization for pulsars, and we extend the spectral points to 1 TeV. The spectral parameters, spectral energy distributions, and associations are updated for all sources. Light curves are rebuilt for all sources with 1 yr intervals (not 2 month intervals). Among the 5064 original 4FGL sources, 16 were deleted, 112 are formally below the detection threshold over 12 yr (but are kept in the list), while 74 are newly associated, 10 have an improved association, and seven associations were withdrawn. Pulsars are split explicitly between young and millisecond pulsars. Pulsars and binaries newly detected in LAT sources, as well as more than 100 newly classified blazars, are reported. We add three extended sources and 1607 new point sources, mostly just above the detection threshold, among which eight are considered identified, and 699 have a plausible counterpart at other wavelengths. We discuss degree-scale residuals to the global sky model and clusters of soft unassociated point sources close to the Galactic plane, which are possibly related to limitations of the interstellar emission model and missing extended sources.

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arXiv2021

FAST discovery of an extremely radio-faint millisecond pulsar from the Fermi-LAT unassociated source 3FGL J0318.1+0252

High sensitivity radio searches of unassociated $γ$-ray sources have proven to be an effective way of finding new pulsars. Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) during its commissioning phase, we have carried out a number of targeted deep searches of \textit{Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT) $γ$-ray sources. On Feb. 27$^{th}$, 2018 we discovered an isolated millisecond pulsar (MSP), PSR J0318+0253, coincident with the unassociated $γ$-ray source 3FGL J0318.1+0252. PSR J0318+0253 has a spin period of $5.19$ milliseconds, a dispersion measure (DM) of $26$ pc cm$^{-3}$ corresponding to a DM distance of about $1.3$ kpc, and a period-averaged flux density of $\sim$11 $\pm$ 2 $μ$Jy at L-band (1.05-1.45 GHz). Among all high energy MSPs, PSR J0318+0253 is the faintest ever detected in radio bands, by a factor of at least $\sim$4 in terms of L-band fluxes. With the aid of the radio ephemeris, an analysis of 9.6 years of \textit{Fermi}-LAT data revealed that PSR J0318+0253 also displays strong $γ$-ray pulsations. Follow-up observations carried out by both Arecibo and FAST suggest a likely spectral turn-over around 350 MHz. This is the first result from the collaboration between FAST and the \textit{Fermi}-LAT teams as well as the first confirmed new MSP discovery by FAST, raising hopes for the detection of many more MSPs. Such discoveries will make a significant contribution to our understanding of the neutron star zoo while potentially contributing to the future detection of gravitational waves, via pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments.

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arXiv2019

MFB: A Mid-Frequency-Band Space Gravitational Wave Observer for the 2020 Decade

We make the case for the early development of a Mid-Frequency-Band (MFB) gravitational wave (GW) observatory in geosynchronous orbit (73,000 km arm), optimized for the frequency band 10 mHz to 1 Hz. MFB bridges the science acquisition frequencies between the ground observatories LIGO/VIRGO (4/3 km arm - as well as future planned ones 10/40 km arm), and the milli-hertz band of LISA (2.5 Gm arm)- with usable sensitivity extending to 10 Hz. We argue that this band will enable the timely development of this game-changing field of astrophysics, with observations of medium mass Binary Black Holes (BBH) and Binary Neutron Stars (BNS) sources prior to their mergers in the LIGO frequency range as well as Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals (EMRI)s and mergers of supermassive BBH within the main detection band. MFB is better placed than LISA to access this exciting frequency region.

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arXiv2013

Spectroscopy of The Largest Ever Gamma-ray Selected BL Lac Sample

We report on spectroscopic observations covering most of the 475 BL Lacs in the 2nd Fermi LAT catalog of AGN. Including archival measurements (correcting several erroneous literature values) we now have spectroscopic redshifts for 44% of the BL Lacs. We establish firm lower redshift limits via intervening absorption systems and statistical lower limits via searches for host galaxies for an additional 51% of the sample leaving only 5% of the BL Lacs unconstrained. The new redshifts raise the median spectroscopic z from 0.23 to 0.33 and include redshifts as large as z=2.471. Spectroscopic redshift minima from intervening absorbers have ~ z= 0.70, showing a substantial fraction at large z and arguing against strong negative evolution. We find that detected BL Lac hosts are bright ellipticals with black hole masses M_\bullet ~ 10^{8.5-9}, substantially larger than the mean of optical AGN and LAT Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar samples. A slow increase in M_\bullet with z may be due to selection bias. We find that the power-law dominance of the optical spectrum extends to extreme values, but this does not strongly correlate with the gamma-ray properties, suggesting that strong beaming is the primary cause of the range in continuum dominance.

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arXiv2012

Spectroscopy of Broad Line Blazars from 1LAC

We report on optical spectroscopy of 165 Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs) in the Fermi 1LAC sample, which have helped allow a nearly complete study of this population. Fermi FSRQ show significant evidence for non-thermal emission even in the optical; the degree depends on the gamma-ray hardness. They also have smaller virial estimates of hole mass than the optical quasar sample. This appears to be largely due to a preferred (axial) view of the gamma-ray FSRQ and non-isotropic (H/R ~ 0.4) distribution of broad-line velocities. Even after correction for this bias, the Fermi FSRQ show higher mean Eddington ratios than the optical population. A comparison of optical spectral properties with Owens Valley Radio Observatory radio flare activity shows no strong correlation.

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arXiv2011

GALPROP WebRun: an internet-based service for calculating galactic cosmic ray propagation and associated photon emissions

GALPROP is a numerical code for calculating the galactic propagation of relativistic charged particles and the diffuse emissions produced during their propagation. The code incorporates as much realistic astrophysical input as possible together with latest theoretical developments and has become a de facto standard in astrophysics of cosmic rays. We present GALPROP WebRun, a service to the scientific community enabling easy use of the freely available GALPROP code via web browsers. In addition, we introduce the latest GALPROP version 54, available through this service.

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arXiv2010

Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: High-Energy Results from the First Year

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) was launched on June 11, 2008 and began its first year sky survey on August 11, 2008. The Large Area Telescope (LAT), a wide field-of-view pair-conversion telescope covering the energy range from 20 MeV to more than 300 GeV, is the primary instrument on Fermi. While this review focuses on results obtained with the LAT, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) complements the LAT in its observations of transient sources and is sensitive to X-rays and gamma-rays with energies between 8 keV and 40 MeV. During the first year in orbit, the Fermi LAT has observed a large number of sources that include active galaxies, pulsars, compact binaries, globular clusters, supernova remnants, as well as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. The GBM and LAT together have uncovered surprising characteristics in the high-energy emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that have been used to set significant new limits on violations of Lorentz invariance. The Fermi LAT has also made important new measurements of the Galactic diffuse radiation and has made precise measurements of the spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons from 20 GeV to 1 TeV.

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arXiv2009

Optical Spectroscopy of Bright Fermi LAT Blazars

We report on HET and Palomar 5 m spectroscopy of recently identified $γ$-ray blazars in the {\it Fermi} LAT Bright Source List. These data provide identifications for 10 newly discovered $γ$-ray flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQ) and six new BL Lacs plus improved spectroscopy for six additional BL Lacs. We substantially improve the identification completeness of the bright LAT blazars and give new redshifts and $z$ constraints, new estimates of the black hole masses and new measurements of the optical SED.

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arXiv2008

A celestial gamma-ray foreground due to the albedo of small solar system bodies and a remote probe of the interstellar cosmic ray spectrum

We calculate the gamma-ray albedo flux from cosmic-ray (CR) interactions with the solid rock and ice in Main Belt asteroids (MBAs), Jovian and Neptunian Trojan asteroids, and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) using the Moon as a template. We show that the gamma-ray albedo for the Main Belt, Trojans, and Kuiper Belt strongly depends on the small-body size distribution of each system. Based on an analysis of the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) data we infer that the diffuse emission from the MBAs, Trojans, and KBOs has an integrated flux of less than ~6x10^{-6} cm^{-2} s^{-1} (100-500 MeV), which corresponds to ~12 times the Lunar albedo, and may be detectable by the forthcoming Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST). If detected by GLAST, it can provide unique direct information about the number of small bodies in each system that is difficult to assess by any other method. Additionally, the KBO albedo flux can be used to probe the spectrum of CR nuclei at close-to-interstellar conditions. The orbits of MBAs, Trojans, and KBOs are distributed near the ecliptic, which passes through the Galactic center and high Galactic latitudes. Therefore, the asteroid gamma-ray albedo has to be taken into account when analyzing weak gamma-ray sources close to the ecliptic, especially near the Galactic center and for signals at high Galactic latitudes, such as the extragalactic gamma-ray emission. The asteroid albedo spectrum also exhibits a 511 keV line due to secondary positrons annihilating in the rock. This may be an important and previously unrecognized celestial foreground for the INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) observations of the Galactic 511 keV line emission including the direction of the Galactic center.

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arXiv2007

CGRaBS: An All-Sky Survey of Gamma-Ray Blazar Candidates

We describe a uniform all-sky survey of bright blazars, selected primarily by their flat radio spectra, that is designed to provide a large catalog of likely gamma-ray AGN. The defined sample has 1625 targets with radio and X-ray properties similar to those of the EGRET blazars, spread uniformly across the |b| > 10 deg sky. We also report progress toward optical characterization of the sample; of objects with known R < 23, 85% have been classified and 81% have measured redshifts. One goal of this program is to focus attention on the most interesting (e.g., high redshift, high luminosity, ...) sources for intensive multiwavelength study during the observations by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on GLAST.

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arXiv2005

A Northern Survey of Gamma-Ray Blazar Candidates

In preparation for GLAST, we have compiled a sample of blazar candidates to increase the pool of well studied AGN from which GLAST counterparts will be drawn. Sources were selected with our Figure of Merit (FoM) ranking; thus, they have radio and X-ray properties very similar to the EGRET blazars. Spectroscopic confirmation of these candidates is in progress, and more than 70% of these objects have been identified as flat spectrum radio quasars and BL Lac objects. We present ~250 new optical blazar identifications based on McDonald Observatory spectroscopy, 224 with redshifts. Of these, 167 are in our FoM-selected set. To motivate the Gamma-ray nature of these objects, we analyzed the current release of the EGRET data for possible point sources at their radio positions. We develop two distinct methods to combine multiple EGRET observations of a sky position into a single detection significance. We report a detection of the signal of the set of blazar candidates in the EGRET data at the > 3 sigma level by both techniques. We predict that the majority of these blazar candidates will be found by GLAST due to its increased sensitivity, duty cycle and resolving power.

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arXiv2003

The Gamma-Ray Blazar Content of the Northern Sky

Using survey data, we have re-evaluated the correlation of flat spectrum radio sources with EGRET sources in the Northern sky. A likelihood analysis incorporating the radio and X-ray properties and the Gamma-ray source localization is used to gauge the reliability of associations and to search for counterparts of previously unidentified EGRET sources. Above |b|=10deg, where the classification is complete, we find that 70% of the Northern EGRET sources have counterparts similar to the bright EGRET blazars. For several of these we identify known blazar counterparts more likely than the earlier proposed 3EG association; for ~20 we have new identifications. Spectroscopic confirmation of these candidates is in progress and we have found flat spectrum radio quasars and BL Lac counterparts with redshifts as high as 4. We also find strong evidence for a set of 28 objects with no plausible counterpart like the known EGRET Blazars. These thus represent either a new extragalactic population or a population of Galactic objects with a large scale height. The survey has been extended into the plane, where we find several new blazar candidates; the bulk of the sources are, however, Galactic. Looking ahead to the GLAST era we predict that several of the present 3EG sources are composite and that higher resolution data will break these into multiple Blazar IDs.

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arXiv2001

Phase Dependent Spectral Variability of 4U1907+09

We report on ASCA, RXTE, and archival observations of the high mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U1907+09. Spectral measurements of the absorption and flux were made at all phases of the X-ray pulsar orbit, including the first spectral measurements of an extended period of low flux during two of the ASCA observations. We find that a simple spherical wind model can fit the time averaged light curve as measured by the RXTE ASM, but does not fit the observed changes in the absorption column or account for the existence of the phase-locked secondary flare. An additional model component consisting of a trailing stream can account for the variations in column depth. However, these models favor a high inclination angle for the system, suggesting a companion mass more consistent with an identification as a Be-star. In this case an equatorially enhanced wind and inclined neutron star orbit may be a more appropriate interpretation of the data.

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