scholarly journals Imaging in Hard X-ray Astronomy

2003 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 70-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Li

The energy range of hard X-rays is a key waveband to the study of high energy processes in celestial objects, but still remains poorly explored. In contrast to direct imaging methods used in the low energy X-ray and high energy gamma-ray bands, currently imaging in the hard X-ray band is mainly achieved through various modulation techniques. A new inversion technique, the direct demodulation method, has been developed since early 90s. with this technique, wide field and high resolution images can be derived from scanning data of a simple collimated detector. The feasibility of this technique has been confirmed by experiment, balloon-borne observation and analyzing simulated and real astronomical data. Based the development of methodology and instrumentation, a high energy astrophysics mission – Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) has been proposed and selected in China for a four-year Phase-A study. The main scientific objectives are a full-sky hard X-ray (20–200 keV) imaging survey and high signal-to-noise ratio timing studies of high energy sources.

2019 ◽  
Vol 492 (3) ◽  
pp. 3728-3741
Author(s):  
Barbara Balmaverde ◽  
A Caccianiga ◽  
R Della Ceca ◽  
A Wolter ◽  
A Belfiore ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The REX (Radio-Emitting X-ray sources) is a catalogue produced by cross-matching X-ray data from the ROSAT-PSPC archive of pointed observations and radio data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey, aimed at the selection of blazars. From the REX catalogue, we select a well-defined and statistically complete sample of high-energy peaked BL Lac (HBL). HBL are expected to be the most numerous class of extragalactic TeV-emitting sources. Specifically, we have considered only the REX sources in the currently planned CTA extragalactic survey area satisfying specific criteria and with an optical spectroscopic confirmation. We obtain 46 HBL candidates that we called Te-REX (TeV-emitting REX). We estimate the very high-energy gamma-ray emission, in the TeV domain, using an empirical approach i.e. using specific statistical relations between gamma-rays (at GeV energies) and radio/X-rays properties observed in bright HBL from the literature. We compare the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with the sensitivities of current and upcoming Cherenkov telescopes and we predict that 14 Te-REX could be detectable with 50 h of observations of CTA and 7 of them also with current Cherenkov facilities in 50 h. By extrapolating these numbers on the total extragalactic sky, we predict that about 800 HBL could be visible in pointed CTA observations and ∼400 with current Cherenkov telescopes in 50 h. Interestingly, our predictions show that a non-negligible fraction (∼30 per cent) of the HBL that will be detectable by CTA is composed of relatively weak objects whose optical nuclear emission is swamped by the host-galaxy light and not (yet) detected by Fermi-LAT.


2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (3) ◽  
pp. 4357-4370
Author(s):  
B Olmi ◽  
D F Torres

ABSTRACT Identification and characterization of a rapidly increasing number of pulsar wind nebulae is, and will continue to be, a challenge of high-energy gamma-ray astrophysics. Given that such systems constitute -by far- the most numerous expected population in the TeV regime, such characterization is important not only to learn about the sources per se from an individual and population perspective, but also to be able to connect them with observations at other frequencies, especially in radio and X-rays. Also, we need to remove the emission from nebulae in highly confused regions of the sky for revealing other underlying emitters. In this paper, we present a new approach for theoretical modelling of pulsar wind nebulae: a hybrid hydrodynamic-radiative model able to reproduce morphological features and spectra of the sources, with relatively limited numerical cost.


1986 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 305-321
Author(s):  
Richard I. Epstein

AbstractThe power per logarithmic bandwidth in gamma-ray burst spectra generally increases rapidly with energy through the x-ray range and does not cut off sharply above a few MeV. This spectral form indicates that a very small fraction of the energy from a gamma-ray burst source is emitted at low energies or is reprocessed into x-rays and that the high-energy gamma rays are not destroyed by photon-photon interactions. The implications are that the emission mechanism for the gamma-ray bursts is not synchrotron radiation from electrons that lose most of their energy before being re-accelerated and that either the regions from which the gamma rays are emitted are large compared to the size of a neutron star or the emission is collimated and beamed away from the stellar surface.


2014 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 1440008 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Beilicke ◽  
F. Kislat ◽  
A. Zajczyk ◽  
Q. Guo ◽  
R. Endsley ◽  
...  

X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, neutron stars, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and tested a X-ray polarimeter, X-Calibur, to be used in the focal plane of the balloon-borne InFOCμS grazing incidence X-ray telescope. X-Calibur combines a low-Z scatterer with a Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detector assembly to measure the polarization of 20–80 keV X-rays making use of the fact that polarized photons scatter preferentially perpendicular to the electric field orientation. X-Calibur achieves a high detection efficiency of ≃80%. The X-Calibur detector assembly is completed, tested, and fully calibrated. The response to a polarized X-ray beam was measured successfully at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source. This paper describes the design, calibration and performance of the X-Calibur polarimeter. In principle, a similar space-borne scattering polarimeter could operate over the broader 2–100 keV energy band.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S294) ◽  
pp. 459-470
Author(s):  
Hélène Sol ◽  
Andreas Zech ◽  
Catherine Boisson ◽  
Henric Krawczynski ◽  
Lisa Fallon ◽  
...  

AbstractObserving high-energy gamma-rays from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) offers a unique potential to probe extremely tiny values of the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF), a long standing question of astrophysics, astroparticle physics and cosmology. Very high energy (VHE) photons from blazars propagating along the line of sight interact with the extragalactic background light (EBL) and produce e+e− pairs. Through inverse-Compton interaction, mainly on the cosmic microwave background (CMB), these pairs generate secondary GeV-TeV components accompanying the primary VHE signal. Such secondary components would be detected in the gamma-ray range as delayed “pair echos” for very weak IGMF (B < 10−16G), while they should result in a spatially extended gamma-ray emission around the source for higher IGMF values (B > 10−16G). Coordinated observations with space (i.e. Fermi) and ground-based gamma-ray instruments, such as the present Cherenkov experiments H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS, the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Observatory, and the wide-field detectors such as HAWC and LHAASO, should allow to analyze and finally detect such echos, extended emission or pair halos, and to further characterize the IGMF.


2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candy Y.P. Ng ◽  
Eva Y. Kong ◽  
Alisa Kobayashi ◽  
Noriyoshi Suya ◽  
Yukio Uchihori ◽  
...  

Abstract In vivo neutron-induced radioadaptive response (RAR) was studied using zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) embryos. The Neutron exposure Accelerator System for Biological Effect Experiments (NASBEE) facility at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Japan, was employed to provide 2-MeV neutrons. Neutron doses of 0.6, 1, 25, 50 and 100 mGy were chosen as priming doses. An X-ray dose of 2 Gy was chosen as the challenging dose. Zebrafish embryos were dechorionated at 4 h post fertilization (hpf), irradiated with a chosen neutron dose at 5 hpf and the X-ray dose at 10 hpf. The responses of embryos were assessed at 25 hpf through the number of apoptotic signals. None of the neutron doses studied could induce RAR. Non-induction of RAR in embryos having received 0.6- and 1-mGy neutron doses was attributed to neutron-induced hormesis, which maintained the number of damaged cells at below the threshold for RAR induction. On the other hand, non-induction of RAR in embryos having received 25-, 50- and 100-mGy neutron doses was explained by gamma-ray hormesis, which mitigated neutron-induced damages through triggering high-fidelity DNA repair and removal of aberrant cells through apoptosis. Separate experimental results were obtained to verify that high-energy photons could disable RAR. Specifically, 5- or 10-mGy X-rays disabled the RAR induced by a priming dose of 0.88 mGy of alpha particles delivered to 5-hpf zebrafish embryos against a challenging dose of 2 Gy of X-rays delivered to the embryos at 10 hpf.


2001 ◽  
Vol 547 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Halpern ◽  
E. V. Gotthelf ◽  
K. M. Leighly ◽  
D. J. Helfand

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