arXiv subjects

Vasiliki Pavlidou

Publications and source records attributed to Vasiliki Pavlidou.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

The Guaranteed Gamma-Ray Background

The diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB) above 100 MeV encodes unique information about high-energy processes in the universe. Numerous sources for the EGRB have been proposed, but the two systems which are certain to make some contribution are active galaxies (blazars) as well as normal galaxies. In this paper, we evaluate the contribution to the background from both sources. The active galaxy contribution arises from unresolved blazars. We compute this contribution using the Stecker-Salamon model. For normal galaxies, the emission is due to cosmic-ray interactions with diffuse gas. Our key assumption here is that the cosmic-ray flux in a galaxy is proportional to the supernova rate and thus the massive star formation rate, quantified observationally by the cosmic star formation rate (CSFR). In addition, the existence of stars today requires a considerably higher ISM mass in the past. Using the CSFR to compute both these effects, we find that normal galaxies are responsible for a significant portion (\sim 1/3) of the EGRB near 1 GeV, but make a smaller contribution at other energies. Finally, we present a "minimal" two-component model which includes contributions from both normal galaxies and blazars. We show that the spectrum of the diffuse radiation is a key constraint on this model: while neither the blazar spectra, nor the galactic spectra, are separately optimal fits to the observed spectrum, the combined emission provides an excellent fit. We close by noting key observational tests of this two-component model, which can be probed by future gamma-ray observatories such as GLAST.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Constraining Strong Baryon-Dark Matter Interactions with Primordial Nucleosynthesis and Cosmic Rays

Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) was introduced by Spergel & Steinhardt to address possible discrepancies between collisionless dark matter simulations and observations on scales of less than 1 Mpc. We examine the case in which dark matter particles not only have strong self-interactions but also have strong interactions with baryons. The presence of such interactions will have direct implications for nuclear and particle astrophysics. Among these are a change in the predicted abundances from big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the flux of gamma-rays produced by the decay of neutral pions which originate in collisions between dark matter and Galactic cosmic rays (CR). From these effects we constrain the strength of the baryon--dark matter interactions through the ratio of baryon - dark matter interaction cross section to dark matter mass, $s$. We find that BBN places a weak upper limit to this ratio $< 10^8 cm^2/g$. CR-SIDM interactions, however, limit the possible DM-baryon cross section to $< 5 \times 10^{-3} cm^2/g$; this rules out an energy-independent interaction, but not one which falls with center-of-mass velocity as $s \propto 1/v$ or steeper.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Diffuse Gamma-Rays from Local Group Galaxies

Diffuse gamma-ray radiation in galaxies is produced by cosmic ray interactions with the interstellar medium. With the completion of EGRET observations, the only extragalactic object from which there has been a positive detection of diffuse gamma-ray emission is the Large Magellanic Cloud. We systematically estimate the expected diffuse gamma-ray flux from Local Group galaxies, and determine their detectability by new generation gamma-ray observatories such as GLAST. For each galaxy, the expected gamma-ray flux depends only on its total gas content and its cosmic ray flux. We present a method for calculating cosmic ray flux in these galaxies in terms of the observed rate of supernova explosions, where cosmic ray acceleration is believed to take place. The difficulty in deriving accurate supernova rates from observational data is a dominant uncertainty in our calculations. We estimate the gamma-ray flux for Local Group galaxies and find that our predictions are consistent with the observations for the LMC and with the observational upper limits for the Small Magellanic Cloud and M31. Both the Andromeda galaxy, with a flux of $\sim 1.0 \times 10^{-8}$ photons sec$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ above 100 MeV, and the SMC, with a flux of $\sim 1.7 \times 10^{-8}$ photons sec$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ above 100 MeV, are expected to be observable by GLAST. M33 is at the limit of detectability with a flux of $\sim 0.11 \times 10^{-8}$ sec$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. Other Local Group galaxies are at least two orders of magnitude below GLAST sensitivity.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Radiative Falloff in Neutron Star Spacetimes

We systematically study late-time tails of scalar waves propagating in neutron star spacetimes. We consider uniform density neutron stars, for which the background spacetime is analytic and the compaction of the star can be varied continously between the Newtonian limit 2M/R << 1 and the relativistic Buchdahl limit 2M/R = 8/9. We study the reflection of a finite wave packet off neutron stars of different compactions 2M/R and find that a Newtonian, an intermediate, and a highly relativistic regime can be clearly distinguished. In the highly relativistic regime, the reflected signal is dominated by quasi-periodic peaks, which originate from the wave packet bouncing back and forth between the center of the star and the maximum of the background curvature potential at R ~ 3 M. Between these peaks, the field decays according to a power-law. In the Buchdahl limit 2M/R -> 8/9 the light travel time between the center and the maximum or the curvature potential grows without bound, so that the first peak arrives only at infinitely late time. The modes of neutron stars can therefore no longer be excited in the ultra-relativistic limit, and it is in this sense that the late-time radiative decay from neutron stars looses all its features and gives rise to power-law tails reminiscent of Schwarzschild black holes.

gr-qc↗