arXiv subjects

Santiago del Palacio

Publications and source records attributed to Santiago del Palacio.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Possible correlation between unabsorbed hard X-rays and neutrinos in radio-loud and radio-quiet AGN

The first high-energy neutrino source identified by IceCube was a blazar -- an active galactic nucleus driving a relativistic jet towards Earth. Jets driven by accreting black holes are commonly assumed to be needed for high-energy neutrino production. Recently, IceCube discovered neutrinos from Seyfert galaxies, which appears unrelated to jet activity. Here, we show that the observed luminosity ratios of neutrinos and hard X-rays from blazars TXS 0506+056 and GB6 J1542+6129 are consistent with neutrino production in a $γ$-obscured region near a central supermassive black hole, with the X-ray flux corresponding to reprocessed $γ$-ray emission with flux comparable to that of neutrinos. Similar neutrino - hard X-ray flux ratios are found for four Seyfert galaxies, NGC 1068, NGC 4151, CGCG 420-015 and NGC 3079, raising the possibility of a common neutrino production mechanism that may not involve a strong jet.

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arXiv2024

Unraveling the hybrid origins of the X-ray non-thermal emission from IGR J17091-3624

We present a comprehensive study based on multi-wavelength observations from the NuSTAR, NICER, Swift, Fermi, NEOWISE, and ATCA telescopes during the 2022 outburst of the black hole X-ray binary IGR J17091-3624. Our investigation concentrates on the heartbeat-like variability in the X-ray emission, with the aim of using it as a tool to unravel the origin of the non-thermal emission during the heartbeat state. Through X-ray timing and spectral analysis, we observe that the heartbeat-like variability correlates with changes in the disk temperature, supporting the disk radiation pressure instability scenario. Moreover, in addition to a Comptonization component, our time-averaged and phase-resolved spectroscopy reveal the presence of a power-law component that varies independently from the disk component. Combined with the radio to X-ray spectral energy distribution fitting, our results suggest that the power-law component could originate from synchrotron self-Compton radiation in the jet, which requires a strong magnetic field of about $B = (0.3$-$3.5)\times10^6$ G. Additionally, assuming that IGR J17091-3624 and GRS 1915+105 share the same radio-X-ray correlation coefficient during both the hard and the heartbeat states, we obtain a distance of $13.7\pm2.3$ kpc for IGR J17091-3624.

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arXiv2024

Study of Wolf-Rayet stars using uGMRT

In recent years, systems involving massive stars with large wind kinetic power have been considered as promising sites for investigating relativistic particle acceleration in low radio frequencies. With this aim, we observed two Wolf-Rayet systems, WR 114 and WR 142, using upgraded Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope observations in Band 4 (550-950 MHz) and Band 5 (1050-1450 MHz). None of the targets was detected at these frequencies. Based on the non-detection, we report 3$σ$ upper limits to the radio flux densities at 735 and 1260 MHz (123 and 66 $μ$Jy for WR 114, and 111 and 96 $μ$Jy for WR 142, respectively). The plausible scenarios to interpret this non-detection are presented.

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arXiv2024

Investigating the Role of Pre-supernova Massive Stars in the Acceleration of Galactic Cosmic Rays

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) constitute a significant part of the energy budget of our Galaxy, and the study of their accelerators is of high importance in modern astrophysics. Their main sources are likely supernova remnants (SNRs). These objects are capable to convert a part of their mechanical energy into accelerated charged particles. However, even though the mechanical energy reservoir of SNRs is promising, a conversion rate into particle energy of 10 to 20% is necessary to feed the population of GCRs. Such an efficiency is however not guaranteed. Complementary sources deserve thus to be investigated. This communication aims to address the question of the contribution to the acceleration of GCRs by pre-supernova massive stars in binary or higher multiplicity systems

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arXiv2023

Prospects for Detecting Fast Transients with the Radio Telescopes of the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy

Currently, 6 out of 30 known magnetars had pulsed radio emission detected. In this work, we evaluated the possibility of detecting radio transient events from magnetars with the telescopes of the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (IAR). To this aim, we made daily observations of the magnetar XTE~J1810$-$197 from 02-Sep-22 to 30-Nov-22. We analysed the observations by applying ephemeris folding and single pulse searches. We fitted a timing model to our observations and were able to detect the magnetar on 6 of the 36 observing sessions with signal-to-noise ratios at the limit of detectability, $3.3\leq \mathrm{S/N} \leq4.1$. We searched for individual pulses in one of these 6 days and found 7 individual pulses with $8.5\leq \mathrm{S/N} \leq18.8$. The dispersion measure changed slightly between pulses within a range of $178 \leq \textrm{DM} \,[\mathrm{pc\, cm^{-3}}] \leq 182$. The pulse with $\mathrm{S/N}=18.8$ has an associated $\textrm{DM}$ of $180\,\mathrm{pc\, cm^{-3}}$. We confirmed that we can detect pulsed radio emission in the band of $1400-1456\, \mathrm{MHz}$ from magnetars with a time resolution of $146\,μs$, being able to detect both integrated pulse profiles and individual pulses.

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arXiv2023

Rapid dimming followed by a state transition: a study of the highly variable nuclear transient AT 2019avd over 1000+ days

The tidal disruption of a star around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) offers a unique opportunity to study accretion onto a SMBH on a human-timescale. We present results from our 1000+ days NICER, Swift and Chandra monitoring campaign of AT 2019avd, a nuclear transient with TDE-like properties. Our primary finding is that approximately 225 days following the peak of X-ray emission, there is a rapid drop in luminosity exceeding two orders of magnitude. This X-ray drop-off is accompanied by X-ray spectral hardening, followed by a 740-day plateau phase. During this phase, the spectral index decreases from 6.2+-1.1 to 2.3+-0.4, while the disk temperature remains constant. Additionally, we detect pronounced X-ray variability, with an average fractional root mean squared amplitude of 47%, manifesting over timescales of a few dozen minutes. We propose that this phenomenon may be attributed to intervening clumpy outflows. The overall properties of AT 2019avd suggest that the accretion disk evolves from a super-Eddington to a sub-Eddington luminosity state, possibly associated with a compact jet. This evolution follows a pattern in the hardness-intensity diagram similar to that observed in stellar-mass black holes, supporting the mass invariance of accretion-ejection processes around black holes.

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arXiv2023

Updates on the glitching pulsar monitoring campaign performed from IAR

Pulsars are known for their exceptionally stable rotation. However, this stability can be disrupted by glitches, sudden increases in rotation frequency whose cause is poorly understood. In this study, we present some preliminary results from the pulsar monitoring campaign conducted at the IAR since 2019. We present measurements from timing solution fits of the parameters of five glitches: one glitch in the Vela pulsar, one in PSR J0742-2822, one in PSR J1740-3015, and two mini-glitches in PSR J1048-5832. Finally, we applied the vortex creep model to characterize the inter-glitch period of Vela. However, the preliminary results yielded highly degenerate and loosely constrained parameters.

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arXiv2023

Probing the non-thermal physics of stellar bow shocks using radio observations

We aim to interpret the radio emission of stellar bow shocks and assess under which conditions it could be either thermal or non-thermal, and how to use the observational data to infer their physical properties. We used an extended non-thermal emission model for stellar bow shocks for which we incorporated a consistent calculation of the thermal emission from the forward shock. We fitted this model to the available radio data, including largely unexplored data at low frequencies. In addition, we used a simplified one-zone model to estimate the gamma-ray emission from particles escaping the bow shocks. We can only explain the radio data from (BD+43°3654 and BD+60°2522) assuming a hard electron energy distribution below $\sim$1 GeV, a high efficiency of conversion of (shocked) wind kinetic power into relativistic electrons, and a relatively high magnetic-to-thermal pressure ratio. In the other systems, the interpretation of the observed flux density is ambiguous, although a non-thermal scenario is also favoured. We also show how complementary observations at other frequencies can allow us to place stronger constraints in the model. We also estimated the gamma-ray fluxes from the HII regions around the bow shocks of BD+43°3654 and BD+60°2522, and obtained luminosities at GeV energies of $\sim 10^{33}$~erg\,s$^{-1}$ and $10^{32}$~erg\,s$^{-1}$, respectively. Stellar bow shocks can potentially be very efficient particle accelerators. This work provides multi-wavelength predictions of their emission and demonstrates the key role of low-frequency radio observations in unveiling particle acceleration processes. The prospects of detections with next-generation observatories such as SKA and ngVLA are promising. Finally, BD+43°3654 may be detected in GeV in the near future, while bow shocks in general may turn out to be non-negligible sources of low-energy cosmic rays.

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arXiv2023

Search for particle acceleration in two massive Wolf-Rayet stars using uGMRT observations

Large wind kinetic power of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars make them ideal targets in low radio frequencies to search for non-thermal emission due to relativistic particle acceleration. In this paper, we present observations of two WR stars, WR 114 and WR 142, in Band 4 (550-950 MHz) and Band 5 (1050-1450 MHz) using the upgraded Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (uGMRT). Neither star is detected in the observed frequency bands, nor extended emission associated with them. The upper limit to the free-free radio emission from the stellar wind enables us to constrain the mass-loss rate of WR 114 to $\lesssim \rm 10^{-5}\,M_{ \odot}\,yr^{-1}$; this is a factor three smaller than previously estimated using spectroscopic modelling. If we further assume that the WR stars are binaries, the non-detection of synchrotron emission from the putative wind collision region implies that the stars are either in very wide binary systems away from periastron, or that the stars are in close binary systems with an orbital separation $<70$ AU for WR 114 and $<20$ AU for WR 142. The non-detection of low-frequency radio emission from these two systems thus provides evidence that narrows their nature, though it does not rule them out as bonafide particle-accelerating colliding-wind binaries.

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arXiv2023

The innermost jet in the hidden ultra-luminous X-ray source Cygnus X-3

Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary with a compact object accreting matter from a Wolf-Rayet donor star. Recently, it has been revealed by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) as a hidden Galactic ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) source with a luminosity above the Eddington limit along the direction of a narrow (opening angle <~32 degree) funnel. In between the IXPE observations, we observed Cyg X-3 with the European VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) Network at 22 GHz and the NICER X-ray instrument. To probe possible relations between the X-ray funnel and the potential radio jet from the ULX, we analyzed the simultaneous multi-wavelength data. Our high-resolution VLBI image reveals an elongated structure with a position angle of -3.2+/-0.4 degree, accurately perpendicular to the direction of the linear X-ray polarization. Because Cyg X-3 was in the radio quiescent state on 2022 November 10, we identify the mas-scale structure as the innermost radio jet. The finding indicates that the radio jet propagates along and within the funnel. Moreover, the jet is marginally resolved in the transverse direction. This possibly results from the strong stellar winds and the rapid orbital motion of the binary system.

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arXiv2023

First results of the glitching pulsars monitoring program at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy

We report here on the first results of a systematic monitoring of southern glitching pulsars at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy that started in the year 2019. We detected a major glitch in the Vela pulsar (PSR J0835$-$4510) and two small-glitches in PSR J1048$-$5832. For each glitch, we present the measurement of glitch parameters by fitting timing residuals. We then make an individual pulses study of Vela in observations before and after the glitch. We selected 6 days of observations around the major glitch on 2021 July 22 and study their statistical properties with machine learning techniques. We use Variational AutoEncoder (VAE) reconstruction of the pulses to separate them clearly from the noise. We perform a study with Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) clustering techniques to search for unusual behavior of the clusters during the days around the glitch not finding notable qualitative changes. We have also detected and confirm recent glitches in PSR J0742$-$2822 and PSR J1740$-$3015.

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arXiv2023

The radio detection and accretion properties of the peculiar nuclear transient AT 2019avd

AT 2019avd is a nuclear transient detected from infrared to soft X-rays, though its nature is yet unclear. The source has shown two consecutive flaring episodes in the optical and the infrared bands and its second flare was covered by X-ray monitoring programs. During this flare, the UVOT/Swift photometries revealed two plateaus: one observed after the peak and the other one appeared ~240 days later. Meanwhile, our NICER and XRT/Swift campaigns show two declines in the X-ray emission, one during the first optical plateau and one 70-90 days after the optical/UV decline. The evidence suggests that the optical/UV could not have been primarily originated from X-ray reprocessing. Furthermore, we detected a timelag of ~16-34 days between the optical and UV emission, which indicates the optical likely comes from UV reprocessing by a gas at a distance of 0.01-0.03 pc. We also report the first VLA and VLBA detection of this source at different frequencies and different stages of the second flare. The information obtained in the radio band - namely a steep and a late-time inverted radio spectrum, a high brightness temperature and a radio-loud state at late times - together with the multiwavelength properties of AT 2019avd suggests the launching and evolution of outflows such as disc winds or jets. In conclusion, we propose that after the ignition of black hole activity in the first flare, a super-Eddington flaring accretion disc formed and settled to a sub-Eddington state by the end of the second flare, associated with a compact radio outflow.

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arXiv2021

Vela Pulsar: Single Pulses Analysis with Machine Learning Techniques

We study individual pulses of Vela (PSR\ B0833-45\,/\,J0835-4510) from daily observations of over three hours (around 120,000 pulses per observation), performed simultaneously with the two radio telescopes at the Argentine Institute of Radioastronomy. We select 4 days of observations in January-March 2021 and study their statistical properties with machine learning techniques. We first use density based DBSCAN clustering techniques, associating pulses mainly by amplitudes, and find a correlation between higher amplitudes and earlier arrival times. We also find a weaker (polarization dependent) correlation with the mean width of the pulses. We identify clusters of the so-called mini-giant pulses, with $\sim10\times$ the average pulse amplitude. We then perform an independent study, with Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) clustering techniques. We use Variational AutoEncoder (VAE) reconstruction of the pulses to separate them clearly from the noise and select one of the days of observation to train VAE and apply it to thre rest of the observations. We use SOM to determine 4 clusters of pulses per day per radio telescope and conclude that our main results are robust and self-consistent. These results support models for emitting regions at different heights (separated each by roughly a hundred km) in the pulsar magnetosphere. We also model the pulses amplitude distribution with interstellar scintillation patterns at the inter-pulses time-scale finding a characterizing exponent $n_{\mathrm{ISS}}\sim7-10$. In the appendices we discuss independent checks of hardware systematics with the simultaneous use of the two radio telescopes in different one-polarization / two-polarizations configurations. We also provide a detailed analysis of the processes of radio-interferences cleaning and individual pulse folding.

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arXiv2021

A model for high-mass microquasar jets under the influence of a strong stellar wind

High-mass microquasars (HMMQs) are systems from which relativistic jets are launched. At the scales of several times the binary system size, the jets are expected to follow a helical path caused by the interaction with a strong stellar wind and orbital motion. Such a trajectory has its influence on the non-thermal emission of the jets, which also depends strongly on the observing angle due to Doppler boosting effects. We explore how the expected non-thermal emission of HMMQ jets at small scales is affected by the impact of the stellar wind and the orbital motion on the jet propagation. We studied the broadband non-thermal emission, from radio to gamma rays, produced in HMMQ jets up to a distance of several orbital separations, taking into account a realistic jet trajectory, different model parameters, and orbital modulation. The jet trajectory is computed by considering momentum transfer with the stellar wind. Electrons are injected at the position where a recollimation shock in the jets is expected due to the wind impact. Their distribution along the jet path is obtained assuming local acceleration at the recollimation shock, and cooling via adiabatic, synchrotron, and inverse Compton processes. The synchrotron and inverse Compton emission is calculated taking into account synchrotron self-absorption within the jet, free-free absorption with the stellar wind, and absorption by stellar photons via pair production. Asymmetric light curves are obtained owing to the helical trajectory of the jets. The presence of helical shaped jets could be inferred from asymmetries in the light curves, which become noticeable only for large jet Lorentz factors and low magnetic fields. Model parameters could be constrained if accurate phase-resolved light curves from GeV to TeV energies were available.

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arXiv2021

High-sensitivity radio study of the non-thermal stellar bow shock EB27

We present a deep radio-polarimetric observation of the stellar bow shock EB27 associated to the massive star BD+43 3654. This is the only stellar bow shock confirmed to have non-thermal radio emission. We used the Jansky Very Large Array in S band (2 - 4GHz) to test whether this synchrotron emission is polarised. The unprecedented sensitivity achieved allowed us to map even the fainter regions of the bow shock, revealing that the more diffuse emission is steeper and the bow shock brighter than previously reported. No linear polarisation is detected in the bow shock above 0.5%, although we detected polarised emission from two southern sources, probably extragalactic in nature. We modeled the intensity and morphology of the radio emission to better constrain the magnetic field and injected power in relativistic electrons. Finally, we derived a set of more precise parameters for the system EB27-BD+43 3654 using Gaia Early Data Release 3, including the spatial velocity. The new trajectory, back in time, intersects the core of the Cyg OB2 association.

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arXiv2019

Investigating Particle Acceleration in the Wolf-Rayet Bubble G2.4+1.4

The supersonic winds produced by massive stars carry a large amount of kinetic power. In numerous scenarios such winds have been proven to produce shocks in which relativistic particles are accelerated emitting non-thermal radiation. Here, we report the first detection of non-thermal emission from a single stellar bubble, G2.4+1.4, associated with a WO star. We observed this source with the uGMRT in Band 4 ($550-850$ MHz) and Band 5 ($1050-1450$ MHz). We present intensity and spectral index maps for this source that are consistent with synchrotron emission (average spectral index, $α= -0.83 \pm 0.10$). The fraction of the available kinetic wind power that is converted into cosmic ray acceleration is estimated to be of the order of a few per cent. This finding constitutes an observational breakthrough and gives new insight on the non-thermal physical processes taking place in the environments of isolated massive stars. In particular, our results show that non-runaway isolated massive stars are capable of accelerating relativistic particles and are therefore confirmed as sources of Galactic cosmic rays.

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arXiv2019

Investigation of the WR 11 field at decimeter wavelengths

The massive binary system WR11 has been recently proposed as the counterpart of a Fermi source. If correct, it would be the second colliding wind binary detected in GeV gamma-rays. However, the reported flux measurements from 1.4 to 8.64GHz fail to establish the presence of non-thermal (synchrotron) emission from this source. Moreover, WR11 is not the only radio source within the Fermi detection box. Other possible counterparts have been identified in archival data, some of which present strong non-thermal radio emission. We conducted "-resolution observations towards WR11 at very low frequencies (150 to 1400~MHz) where the NT emission is expected to dominate, and present a catalog of more than 400 radio-emitters, among which a significant part is detected at more than one frequency, including limited spectral index information. A search for counterparts for this last group pointed at MOST0808-471, a source 2' away from WR11, as a promising candidate for high-energy emission, with resolved structure along 325 - 1390 MHz. For it, we reprocessed archive interferometric data up to 22.3 GHz and obtained a non-thermal radio spectral index of -0.97 +- 0.09. However, multiwavelength observations of this source are required to establish its nature and to assess whether it can produce (part of) the observed gamma-rays. WR11 spectrum follows a spectral index of 0.74 +- 0.03 from 150 to 230 GHz, consistent with thermal emission. We interpret that any putative synchrotron radiation from the colliding-wind region of this relatively short-period system is absorbed in the photospheres of the individual components. Notwithstanding, the new radio data allowed to derive a mass loss rate of 0.000025 Mo/yr, which, according to the latest models for gamma-ray emission in WR 11, would suffice to provide the required kinetic power to feed non-thermal radiation processes.

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arXiv2016

A model for the non-thermal emission of the very massive colliding-wind binary HD 93129A

The binary stellar system HD 93129A is one of the most massive known binaries in our Galaxy. This system presents non-thermal emission in the radio band, which can be used to infer its physical conditions and predict its emission in the high-energy band. We intend to constrain some of the unknown parameters of HD 93129A through modelling the non-thermal emitter, and also to analyse the detectability of this source in hard X-rays and $γ$-rays. We develop a broadband radiative model for the wind-collision region taking into account the evolution of the accelerated particles streaming along the shocked region, the emission by different radiative processes, and the attenuation of the emission propagating through the local matter and radiation fields. From the analysis of the radio emission, we find that the binary HD~93129A is more likely to have a low inclination and a high eccentricity. The minimum energy of the non-thermal electrons seems to be between $\sim 20 - 100$MeV, depending on the intensity of the magnetic field in the wind-collision region. The latter can be in the range $\sim 20 - 1500$ mG. Our model is able to reproduce the observed radio emission, and predicts that the non-thermal radiation from HD~93129A will increase in the near future. With instruments such as \textit{NuSTAR}, \textit{Fermi}, and CTA, it will be possible to constrain the relativistic particle content of the source, and other parameters such as the magnetic field strength in the wind collision zone, which in turn can be used to obtain upper-limits of the magnetic field on the surface of the very massive stars, thereby inferring whether magnetic field amplification is taking place in the particle acceleration region.

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