arXiv subjects

W. Bednarek

Publications and source records attributed to W. Bednarek.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Discovery of VHE gamma-ray emission from 1ES1218+30.4

The MAGIC collaboration has studied the high peaked BL-Lac object 1ES1218+30.4 at a redshift z = 0.182, using the MAGIC imaging air Cherenkov telescope located on the Canary island of La Palma. A gamma-ray signal was observed with 6.4sigma significance. The differential energy spectrum for an energy threshold of 120GeV can be fitted by a simple power law yielding F_E(E) = (8.1+-2.1)*10^-7 (E/250GeV)^(-3.0+-0.4) TeV^-1 m^-2 s^-1. During the six days of observation in January 2005 no time variability on time scales of days was found within the statistical errors. The observed integral flux above 350GeV is nearly a factor two below the the upper limit reported by the Whipple Collaboration in 2003.

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arXiv2006

Flux upper limit of gamma-ray emission by GRB050713a from MAGIC Telescope observations

The long-duration GRB050713a was observed by the MAGIC Telescope, 40 seconds after the burst onset, and followed up for 37 minutes, until twilight. The observation, triggered by a SWIFT alert, covered energies above ~175 GeV. Using standard MAGIC analysis, no evidence for a gamma signal was found. As the redshift of the GRB was not measured directly, the flux upper limit, estimated by MAGIC, is still compatible with the assumption of an unbroken power-law spectrum extending from a few hundred keV to our energy range.

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arXiv2006

Propagation of very high energy gamma-rays inside massive binaries LS 5039 and LSI +61 303

It is expected that high energy gamma-rays, if injected relatively close to the massive stars in binary systems LS 5039 and LSI 61 3003, should be strongly absorbed, initiating inverse Compton $e^\pm$ pair cascades in the anisotropic radiation from stellar surfaces. We investigate influence of the propagation effects on the spectral and angular features of the gamma-ray spectra emerging from these two binary systems by applying the Monte Carlo method. Two different hypothesis are considered: isotropic injection of primary gamma-rays with the power law spectrum and electrons. It is concluded that propagation effects of gamma-rays can be responsible for the spectral features observed from LS 5039. The cascade processes occurring inside these binary systems significantly reduce the gamma-ray opacity obtained in other works by simple calculations of the escape of gamma-rays from the radiation fields of the massive stars. Both systems provide very similar conditions for the TeV gamma-ray production at the periastron passage. Any TeV gamma-ray flux at the apastron passage in LSI +61 303 will be relatively stronger with respect to its GeV flux than in LS 5039. If gamma-rays are produced inside these binaries not far from the massive stars, i.e. within a few stellar radii, then clear anticorrelation between the GeV and TeV emission should be observed, provided that primary gamma-rays at GeV and TeV energies are produced in the same process by the same population of relativistic particles. These gamma-ray propagation features can be tested in the near future by the multi-wavelength campaigns engaging the AGILE and GLAST telescopes and the Cherenkov telescopes (e.g. MAGIC, HESS, VERITAS and CANGAROO).

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arXiv2005

TeV Gamma-rays from the Northern Sky Pulsar Wind Nebulae

We estimate the TeV gamma-ray fluxes expected from the population of young pulsars in terms of the self-consistent time dependent hadronic-leptonic model for the high energy processes inside the pulsar wind nebulae. This radiation model bases on the hypothesis of Arons and collaborators who postulate that leptons are accelerated inside the nebulae as a result of resonant scattering on heavy nuclei, which in turn are accelerated in the pulsar wind region or the pulsar inner magnetosphere. Our aim is to find out which nebulae on the nortehrn hemisphere are the best candidates for detection at energies above 60 GeV and 200 GeV by the next generation of low threshold Cherenkov telescopes.

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arXiv2005

GeV gamma-rays and TeV neutrinos from very massive compact binary systems: The case of WR 20a

Massive Wolf-Rayet stars in a compact binary systems are characterised by very strong winds which collide creating a shock wave. If the wind nuclei accelerated at the shock can reach large enough energies, they suffer disintegration in collisions with soft thermal radiation from the massive stars injecting relativistic protons and neutrons. Protons collide with the matter of the wind and a fraction of neutrons colide with the massive stars producing gamma-rays and neutrinos. We calculate the gamma-rays fluxes from the inverse Compton pair cascades, initiated by primary gamma-rays and leptons produced by protons, and the neutrino fluxes produced by protons and neutrons for the example compact massive binary WR 20a. From normalization of the gamma-ray spectra to the fluxes of the EGRET sources, 2EG J1021-5835 and 2EG J1049-5847, we conclude that this massive binary can be detected by the IceCube type neutrino detector with the event rate between a few up to a few tens per km^2 per yr.

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arXiv2005

TeV neutrinos from microquasars in compact massive binaries

We consider a compact binary system in which a Wolf-Rayet star supplies matter onto a stellar mass black hole or a neutron star. This matter forms an accretion disk which ejects a jet as observed in Galactic microquasars. A part of the jet kinetic energy, typically 10%, can be transfered to relativistic nuclei. These nuclei lose nucleons as a result of photo-disintegration process in collisions with thermal photons from the accretion disk and the massive star. Due to the head on photon-nucleus collisions most of neutrons released from nuclei move towards the surface of the accretion disk and/or the massive star producing neutrinos in collisions with the matter. We calculate the spectra of muon neutrinos and expected neutrino event rates in a 1 km^2 neutrino detector of the IceCube type from a microquasar inside our Galaxy applying, as an example, the parameters of the Cyg X-3 binary system, provided that nuclei are accelerated to the Lorentz factors above 10^6 with the power law spectrum with an index close to 2.

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arXiv2004

Gamma-rays from cascades in close massive binaries containing energetic pulsars

Some massive binaries should contain energetic pulsars which inject relativistic leptons from their inner magnetospheres and/or pulsar wind regions. If the binary system is compact enough, then these leptons can initiate inverse Compton (IC) $e^\pm$ pair cascades in the anisotropic radiation field of a massive star. $γ$-rays can be produced in the IC cascade during its development in a pulsar wind region and above a shock in a massive star wind region where the propagation of leptons is determined by the structure of a magnetic field around the massive star. For a binary system with specific parametres, we calculate phase dependent spectra and fluxes of $γ$-rays escaping as a function of the inclination angle of the system and for different assumptions on injection conditions of the primary leptons (their initial spectra and location of the shock inside the binary). We conclude that the features of $γ$-ray emission from such massive binaries containing energetic pulsars should allow to obtain important information on the acceleration of particles by the pulsars, and on interactions of a compact object with the massive star wind. Predicted $γ$-ray light curves and spectra in the GeV and TeV energy ranges from such binary systems within our Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds should be observed by future AGILE and GLAST satellites and low threshold Cherenkov telescopes such as MAGIC, HESS, VERITAS or CANGAROO III.

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arXiv2004

Cosmic rays from Galactic pulsars

We calculate energy spectra and mass composition of cosmic rays accelerated by the galactic population of pulsars during their radio and gamma-ray phase. Several models proposed for the distribution of the initial parameters of the galactic pulsar population are considered. The best description of the observed cosmic ray spectrum and mass composition between 10^15 eV and 10^18 eV is obtained for the model B of Lorimer et al. (1993) in which the logs of initial pulsar periods and surface magnetic fields are given by the Gaussian distributions with the average values of log P[ms] = 2.6 and log B[G] = 12.3, respectively.

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arXiv2004

Galactic discrete sources of high energy neutrinos

We review recently developed models of galactic discrete sources of high energy neutrinos. Some of them are based on a simple rescaling of the TeV $γ$-ray fluxes from recently detected galactic sources, such as, shell-type supernova remnants or pulsar wind nebulae. Others present detailed and originally performed modeling of processes occurring close to compact objects, i.e. neutron stars and low mass black holes, which are supposed to accelerate hadrons close to dense matter and radiation fields. Most of the models considered in this review optimistically assume that the energy content in relativistic hadrons is equal to a significant part of the maximum observable power output in specific sources, i.e. typically $\sim 10%$. This may give a large overestimation of the neutrino fluxes. This is the case of models which postulate neutrino production in hadron-photon collisions already at the acceleration place, due to the likely $e^\pm$ pair plasma domination. Models postulating neutrino production in hadron-hadron collisions avoid such problems and therefore seem to be more promising. The neutrino telescopes currently taking data have not detected any excess from discrete sources yet, although some models could already be constrained by the limits they are providing.

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arXiv2003

Gamma-rays and cosmic-rays from a pulsar in Cygnus OB2

We argue that gamma-rays sources observed in the direction of the Cyg OB2 association in the GeV and TeV energy range are due to a pulsar which was created by a supernova a few tens of thousands years ago. The excess of cosmic rays at 10^18 eV can be also related to the appearance of this pulsar.

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arXiv2003

Neutrinos from the pulsar wind nebulae

In the recent paper we calculated the $γ$-ray spectra from pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe), assuming that a significant amount of the pulsar rotational energy is converted into relativistic nuclei. These nuclei accelerate leptons which are responsible for most of the observed electromagnetic emission from PWNe. Small part of nuclei also interact with the matter of the supernova producing $γ$-rays, which can also contribute to the observed spectra of young nebulae. Here we calculate the spectra of neutrinos from the interaction of nuclei inside the nebula and the expected neutrino event rates in the 1 km$^2$ neutrino detector from: the Crab Nebula (PSR 0531+21), the Vela SNR (PSR 0833-45), G 343.1-2.3 (PSR 1706-44), MSH15-52 (PSR 1509-58), 3C58 (PSR J0205+6449), and CTB80 (PSR 1951+32). It is shown that only the Crab Nebula can produce the neutrino event rate above the sensitivity limit of the 1 km$^2$ neutrino detector, provided that nuclei take most of the rotational energy lost by the pulsar. The neutrino event rate expected from the Vela SNR is comparable to that from the Crab Nebula but these neutrinos are less energetic and emitted from a much larger region on the sky. Therefore it may be difficult to subtract the Vela SNR signal from the higher background of the atmospheric neutrinos.

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arXiv2003

Gamma-rays from the pulsar wind nebulae

We investigate the radiation processes inside supernova remnants which are powered by young pulsars. Using recent model for particle acceleration by the pulsar wind nebulae, we obtain the equilibrium spectra of leptons and nuclei inside the nebula as a function of time. We calculate the multiwavelength photon spectra produced by leptons and nuclei and compare them with the observations of the PWNe, i.e. the Crab Nebula, the Vela Supernova Remnant, and the nebula around PSR 1706-44. It is found that the emission from the Crab Nebula can be well fitted by the composition of the gamma-ray emission produced by leptons and nuclei. The model is further tested by successful fitting of the high energy spectrum from the Vela SNR. However, considered model does not give good fitting to the emission from PSR1706-44, for the likely parameters of this source, unless additional target for relativistic leptons is present inside the nebula, e.g. the thermal infrared emission. Based on the knowledge obtained from these fittings, we predict the gamma-ray fluxes in the TeV energy range from other PWNe, i.e. MSH15-52 (PSR 1509-58), 3C58 (PSR J0205+6449), and CTB80 (PSR 1951+32).

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arXiv2002

Images of very high energy cosmic ray sources in the Galaxy: I. A source towards the Galactic Centre

Recent analyses of the anisotropy of cosmic rays at $10^{18}$ eV (the AGASA and SUGAR data) show significant excesses from regions close to the Galactic Centre and Cygnus. Our aim is to check whether such anisotropies can be caused by single sources of charged particles. We investigate propagation of protons in two models of the Galactic regular magnetic field (with the irregular component included) assuming that the particles are injected by a short lived discrete source lying in the direction of the Galactic Centre. We show that apart from a prompt image of the source, the regular magnetic field may cause delayed images at quite large angular distances from the actual source direction. The image is strongly dependent on the time elapsed after ejection of particles and it is also very sensitive to their energy. For the most favourable conditions for particle acceleration by a young pulsar the predicted fluxes are two to four order of magnitudes higher than that observed. The particular numbers depend strongly on the Galactic magnetic field model adopted but it looks that a single pulsar in the Galactic Centre could be responsible for the observed excess.

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arXiv2001

Production of neutrons, neutrinos and gamma-rays by a very fast pulsar in the Galactic Center region

We consider the possibility that the excess of cosmic rays near $\sim 10^{18}$ eV, reported by the AGASA and SUGAR groups from the direction of the Galactic Center, is caused by a young, very fast pulsar in the high density medium. The pulsar accelerates iron nuclei to energies $\sim 10^{20}$ eV, as postulated by the Galactic models for the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays. The iron nuclei, after about 1 yr since pulsar formation, leave the supernova envelope without energy losses and diffuse through the dense central region of the Galaxy. Some of them collide with the background matter creating neutrons (from desintegration of Fe), neutrinos and gamma-rays (in inelastic collisions). Wse suggest that neutrons produced at a specific time after the pulsar formation are responsible for the observed excess of cosmic rays at $\sim 10^{18}$ eV. From normalization of the calculated neutron flux to the one observed in the cosmic ray excess, we predict the neutrino and gamma-ray fluxes. It has been found that the 1 km$^2$ neutrino detector of the IceCube type should detect from a few up to several events per year from the Galactic Center, depending on the parameters of the considered model. Also future systems of Cherenkov telescopes (CANGAROO III, HESS, VERITAS) should be able to observe 1 - 10 TeV $γ$-rays from the Galactic Center if the pulsar was created inside a huge molecular cloud about $3-10\times 10^3$ yrs ago.

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arXiv2001

Neutrinos from Early-Phase, Pulsar-Driven Supernovae

Neutron stars, just after their formation, are surrounded by expanding, dense, and very hot envelopes which radiate thermal photons. Iron nuclei can be accelerated in the wind zones of such energetic pulsars to very high energies. These nuclei photo-disintegrate and their products lose energy efficiently in collisions with thermal photons and with the matter of the envelope, mainly via pion production. When the temperature of the radiation inside the envelope of the supernova drops below $\sim 3\times 10^6$ K, these pions decay before losing energy and produce high energy neutrinos. We estimate the flux of muon neutrinos emitted during such an early phase of the pulsar - supernova envelope interaction. We find that a 1 km$^2$ neutrino detector should be able to detect neutrinos above 1 TeV within about one year after the explosion from a supernova in our Galaxy. This result holds if these pulsars are able to efficiently accelerate nuclei to energies $\sim 10^{20}$ eV, as postulated recently by some authors for models of Galactic acceleration of the extremely high energy cosmic rays (EHE CRs).

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arXiv2001

Extragalactic neutrino background from very young pulsars surrounded by supernova envelopes

We estimate the extragalactic muon neutrino background which is produced by hadrons injected by very young pulsars at an early phase after supernova explosion. It is assumed that hadrons are accelerated in the pulsar wind zone which is filled with thermal photons captured below the expanding supernova envelope. In collisions with those thermal photons hadrons produce pions which decay into muon neutrinos. At a later time, muon neutrinos are also produced by the hadrons in collisions with matter of the expanding envelope. We show that extragalactic neutrino background predicted by such a model should be detectable by the planned 1 km$^2$ neutrino detector if a significant part of pulsars is born with periods shorter than $\sim 10$ ms. Since such population of pulsars is postulated by the recent models of production of extremely high energy cosmic rays, detection of neutrinos with predicted fluxes can be used as their observational test.

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arXiv2001

Contribution of nuclei accelerated by gamma-ray pulsars to cosmic rays in the Galaxy

We consider the galactic population of gamma-ray pulsars as possible sources of cosmic rays at and just above the ``knee'' in the observed cosmic ray spectrum at $10^{15}$--$10^{16}$ eV. We suggest that iron nuclei may be accelerated in the outer gaps of pulsars, and then suffer partial photo-disintegration in the non-thermal radiation fields of the outer gaps. As a result, protons, neutrons, and surviving heavier nuclei are injected into the expanding supernova remnant. We compute the spectra of nuclei escaping from supernova remnants into the interstellar medium, taking into account the observed population of radio pulsars. Our calculations, which include a realistic model for acceleration and propagation of nuclei in pulsar magnetospheres and supernova remnants, predict that heavy nuclei accelerated directly by gamma-ray pulsars could contribute about 20% of the observed cosmic rays in the knee region. Such a contribution of heavy nuclei to the cosmic ray spectrum at the knee can significantly increase the average value of $<\ln A>$ with increasing energy as is suggested by recent observations.

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arXiv2001

Propagation of gamma-rays in massive binary Cen X-3: Interaction of cascade gamma-rays with the massive star

We consider the propagation of very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays in the radiation field of the massive star of binary system Cen X-3. VHE gamma-rays or electrons, injected by the compact object close to the surface of a massive companion, develop inverse Compton pair (ICS) cascades. Based on the Monte Carlo simulations, we obtain the fraction of secondary cascade photons which collide with the surface of the massive companion in Cen X-3 system. The distribution of photons falling on the surface of the massive star is investigated. These photons interact with the atmosphere of the star and should excite different gamma-ray lines (nuclear, electron-positron annihilation line). We estimate that these gamma-ray lines can be likely detected by the INTEGRAL telescopes.

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