11909154
The X‐ray transient 080109 in NGC 2770: an X‐ray flash associated with a normal core‐collapse supernova
Although it is generally thought that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) are associated with core-collapse supernovae (SNe), so far only four pairs of GRBs and SNe with firmly established connection have been found. All the four GRB-SNe belong to special class of Type Ic – called the broad-lined SNe indicative of a large explosion energy, suggesting that only a small fraction of SNe Ibc have GRBs associated with them. This scheme has been refreshed by the discovery of a bright X-ray transient in NGC 2770 on 2008 January 9, which was followed by a rather normal Type Ib SN 2008D. In this paper, I argue that the transient 080109 is an X-ray flash (XRF, the soft version of a GRB) because of the following evidence. (1) The transient cannot be interpreted as a SN shock breakout event. (2) The GRB X-ray flare interpretation is not supported by the high-energy observation. I then show that XRF 080109 satisfies the well-known relation between the isotropic-equivalent energy and the peak spectral energy for LGRBs, which highly strengthens the XRF interpretation. Finally, I point out that the peak spectral energy of XRF 080109 and the maximum bolometric luminosity of SN 2008D agree with the E γ, peak–LSN,max relationship of Li, strengthening the validity of the relationship. I speculate that events like XRF 080109 may occur at a rate comparable to SNe Ibc, and a soft X-ray telescope devoted to surveying for nearby X-ray flares will be very fruitful in discovering them.
13294483
Gamma‐ray burst precursors as the remnant of the thermal radiation initially trapped in the fireball
In the standard fireball model of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the fireball starts with an optically thick phase. As it expands, the fireball becomes optically thin at some stage. The thermal radiation trapped in the originally opaque fireball then leaks out, producing a transient event. The appearance of the event is investigated in the framework of a homogeneous, spherically symmetric and freely expanding fireball produced instantly by an explosive process without continuous injection of mass and energy. We find that, generally, the event has a time duration shorter than that of the main burst, which is presumably produced by the internal shock after the fireball becomes optically thin. The event is separated from the main burst by a quiescent time interval, and is weaker than the main burst at least in a high-energy band. Hence, the event corresponds to a GRB precursor. The precursor event predicted by our model has a smooth and Fast Rise and Exponential Decay (FRED) shaped light curve, and a quasi-thermal spectrum. Typically, the characteristic blackbody photon energy is in the X-ray band. However, if the distortion of the blackbody spectrum by electron scattering is considered, the characteristic photon energy could be boosted to the gamma-ray band. Our model may explain a class of observed GRB precursors - those having smooth and FRED-shaped light curves and quasi-thermal spectra.
10999058
Improved correlation between the variability and peak luminosity of gamma-ray bursts
A new procedure for smoothing a gamma-ray burst (GRB) light curve and calculating its variability is presented. Applying the procedure to a sample of 25 long GRBs, we have obtained a very tight correlation between the variability and the peak luminosity. The only significant outlier in the sample is GRB 030329. With this outlier excluded, the data scatter is reduced by a factor of ∼3 compared to that of Guidorzi et al., measured by the deviation of fit. Possible causes for the outlier are discussed.
39373169
Can the universe create itself
The question of first-cause has troubled philosophers and cosmologists alike. Now that it is apparent that our universe began in a Big Bang explosion, the question of what happened before the Big Bang arises. Inflation seems like a very promising answer, but as Borde and Vilenkin have shown, the inflationary state preceding the Big Bang must have had a beginning also. Ultimately, the difficult question seems to be how to make something out of nothing. This paper explores the idea that this is the wrong question --- that that is not how the Universe got here. Instead, we explore the idea of whether there is anything in the laws of physics that would prevent the Universe from creating itself. Because spacetimes can be curved and multiply connected, general relativity allows for the possibility of closed timelike curves (CTCs). Thus, tracing backwards in time through the original inflationary state we may eventually encounter a region of CTCs giving no first-cause. This region of CTCs, may well be over by now (being bounded toward the future by a Cauchy horizon). We illustrate that such models --- with CTCs --- are not necessarily inconsistent by demonstrating self-consistent vacuums for Misner space and a multiply connected de Sitter space in which the renormalized energy-momentum tensor does not diverge as one approaches the Cauchy horizon and solves Einstein's equations. We show such a Universe can be classically stable and self-consistent if and only if the potentials are retarded, giving a natural explanation of the arrow of time. Some specific scenarios (out of many possible ones) for this type of model are described. For example: an inflationary universe gives rise to baby universes, one of which turns out to be itself. Interestingly, the laws of physics may allow the Universe to be its own mother.
2088732
Effect of the Global Rotation of the Universe on the Formation of Galaxies
The effect of the global rotation of the universe on the formation of galaxies is investigated. It is found that the global rotation provides a natural origin for the rotation of galaxies, and the morphology of the objects formed from gravitational instability in a rotating and expanding universe depends on the amplitude of the density fluctuation, different values of the amplitude of the fluctuation lead to the formation of elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies, and walls. The global rotation gives a natural explanation of the empirical relation between the angular momentum and mass of galaxies: J ∝ M5/3. The present angular velocity of the universe is estimated at ∼10-13rad yr-1.
18205314
Shock breakout in Type Ibc supernovae and application to GRB 060218/SN 2006aj
Recently, a soft blackbody component was observed in the early X-ray afterglow of GRB 060218, which was interpreted as shock breakout from the thick wind of the progenitor Wolf-Rayet (WR) star of the underlying Type Ic supernova 2006aj. In this paper, we present a simple model for computing the characteristic quantities (including energy, temperature and time duration) for the transient event from the shock breakout in Type Ibc supernovae produced by the core-collapse of WR stars surrounded by dense winds. In contrast to the case of a star without a strong wind, the shock breakout occurs in the wind region rather than inside the star, caused by the large optical depth in the wind. We find that, for the case of a WR star with a dense wind, the total energy of the radiation generated by the supernova shock breakout is larger than that in the case of the same star without a wind by a factor of > 10. The temperature can be either hotter or colder, depending on the wind parameters. The time duration is larger caused by the increase in the effective radius of the star due to the presence of a thick wind. Then, we apply the model to GRB 060218/SN 2006aj. We show that, to explain both the temperature and the total energy of the blackbody component observed in GRB 060218 by the shock breakout, the progenitor WR star has to have an unrealistically large core radius (the radius at optical depth of 20), larger than 100R ⊙ . In spite of this disappointing result, our model is expected to have important applications to the observations on Type Ibc supernovae in which the detection of shock breakout will provide important clues to the progenitors of Type Ibc supernovae.
119203321
STATISTICAL PROPERTIES OF MULTIPLE OPTICAL EMISSION COMPONENTS IN GAMMA-RAY BURSTS AND IMPLICATIONS
Well-sampled optical lightcurves of 146 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are complied from the literature. Multiple optical emission components are extracted with power-law function fits to these lightcurves. We present a systematical analysis for statistical properties and their relations to prompt gamma-ray emission and X-ray afterglow for each component. We show that peak luminosity in the prompt and late flares are correlated and the evolution of the peak luminosity may signal the evolution of the accretion rate. No tight correlation between the shallow decay phase/plateau and prompt gamma-ray emission is found. Assuming that they are due to a long-lasting wind injected by a compact object, we show that the injected behavior favors the scenarios of a long-lasting wind powered by a Poynting flux from a black hole via the Blandford-Znajek mechanism fed by fall-back mass or by the spin-down energy release of a magnetar after the main burst episode. The peak luminosity of the afterglow onset is tightly correlated ...
17626348
Some Calculations for Cold Fusion Superheavy Elements
The Q value and optimal exciting energy of the hypothetical superheavy nuclei in cold fusion reaction are calculated with relativistic mean field model and semiemperical shell model mass equation(SSME) and the validity of the two models is tested. The fusion barriers are also calculated with two different models and reasonable results are obtained. The calculations can give useful references for the experiments in the superheavy nuclei synthesized in cold fusion reactions. The formation of compound nuclei by cold fusion reaction is one of the outstanding problem of low-energy nuclear reactions. Such processes play a key role in the production of superheavy elements(SHEs)[1–4]. Experiments or intensive preparatory work are in progress at the laboratories such as Dubna, Berkeley, RIKEN and GANIL etc. Theoretical support of these very expensive experiments is vital in the choice of fusing nuclei and their collision energy, and for the estimation of the cross sections and identification of evaporation residues. The quantum mechanical fragmentation theory(QMFT) which was developed by Gupta et al. to describe the synthesis of new and superheavy elements gives us a method for selecting an optimum cold target-projectile combination. Cold compound systems were considered to be formed for all those target+projectile combinations that lie at the bottom of the potential energy minima[5–7]. On the basis of the QMFT, recently, Gupta lists all the possible target+projectile combinations, referring to minima in PES, in particular, the use of radioactive nuclear beams and targets. There are several important physical values such as Q values, the heights of the fusion barrier Bfu and the optimal excitation energies E ∗ for the cold fusion reaction. The aims of this paper are to find some proper methods to predict the ground-state Q values, the heights of the fusion barrier Bfu and the optimal excitation energies E ∗ for the cold fusion reaction. Then, following the work of Gupta et al. in Ref. we calculate Q, Bfu and E ∗ for the possible target+projectile combinations to give some significative references for the future experiments. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (10275037) and Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20010055012) E-mail: zhongxianhui@mail.nankai.edu.cn E-mail: lilei@nankai.edu.cn E-mail: ningpz@nankai.edu.cn
89612925
A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF GAMMA-RAY BURST OPTICAL EMISSION. III. BRIGHTNESS DISTRIBUTIONS AND LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS OF OPTICAL AFTERGLOWS
We continue our systematic statistical study on optical afterglow data of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We present the apparent magnitude distributions of early optical afterglows at different epochs (t = 102 s, 103 s, and 1 hr) for the optical light curves of a sample of 93 GRBs (the global sample) and for sub-samples with an afterglow onset bump or a shallow decay segment. For the onset sample and shallow decay sample we also present the brightness distribution at the peak time t p and break time t b, respectively. All the distributions can be fit with Gaussian functions. We further perform Monte Carlo simulations to infer the luminosity function of GRB optical emission at the rest-frame time 103 s, t p, and t b. Our results show that a single power-law luminosity function is adequate to model the data with indices –1.40 ± 0.10, –1.06 ± 0.16, and –1.54 ± 0.22. Based on the derived rest-frame 103 s luminosity function, we generate the intrinsic distribution of the R-band apparent magnitude M R at the observed time 103 s post-trigger, which peaks at M R = 22.5 mag. The fraction of GRBs whose R-band magnitude is fainter than 22 mag and 25 mag and at the observer time 103 s are ~63% and ~25%, respectively. The detection probabilities of the optical afterglows with ground-based robotic telescopes and the UV-Optical Telescope on board Swift are roughly consistent with that inferred from this intrinsic M R distribution, indicating that the variations of the dark GRB fraction among the samples with different telescopes may be due to the observational selection effect, although the existence of an intrinsically dark GRB population cannot be ruled out.
119862535
Sum rules on quantum hadrodynamics at finite temperature and density
119262973
Holographic entanglement entropy in insulator/superconductor transition
A bstractWe investigate the behaviors of entanglement entropy in the holographical insulator/superconductor phase transition. We calculate the holographic entanglement entropy for two kinds of geometry configurations in a completely back-reacted gravitational background describing the insulator/superconductor phase transition. The non-monotonic behavior of the entanglement entropy is found in this system. In the belt geometry case, there exist four phases characterized by the chemical potential and belt width.