51859702
A CHANDRA view of non-thermal emission in the northwestern region of supernova remnant RCW 86: Particle acceleration and magnetic fields
The shocks of supernova remnants are believed to accelerate particles to cosmic ray (CR) energies. The amplification of the magnetic field due to CRs propagating in the shock region is expected to have an impact on both the emission from the accelerated particle population as well as the acceleration process itself. Using a 95 ks observation with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer on board the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, we map and characterize the synchrotron emitting material in the northwest region of RCW 86. We model spectra from several different regions, both filamentary and diffuse, where emission appears to be dominated by synchrotron radiation. The fine spatial resolution of Chandra allows us to obtain accurate emission profiles across three different non-thermal rims in this region. The narrow width (l ≈ 10''-30'') of these filaments constrains the minimum magnetic field strength at the post-shock region to approximately 80 μG.
13365680
THE ROLE OF STELLAR FEEDBACK IN THE DYNAMICS OF H II REGIONS
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Chandra award Number GO2–13003A))
18182971
Constraining explosion type of young supernova remnants using 24 μm emission morphology
Determination of the explosion type of supernova remnants (SNRs) can be challenging, as SNRs are hundreds to thousands of years old and supernovae are classified based on spectral properties days after explosion. Previous studies of thermal X-ray emission from Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud SNRs have shown that Type Ia and core-collapse (CC) SNRs have statistically different symmetries, and thus these sources can be typed based on their X-ray morphologies. In this Letter, we extend the same technique, a multipole expansion technique using power ratios, to infrared (IR) images of SNRs to test whether they can be typed using the symmetry of their warm dust emission as well. We analyzed archival Spitzer Space Telescope Multiband Imaging Photometer 24 μm observations of the previously used X-ray sample, and we find that the two classes of SNRs separate according to their IR morphologies. The Type Ia SNRs are statistically more circular and mirror symmetric than the CC SNRs, likely due to the different circumstellar environments and explosion geometries of the progenitors. Broadly, our work indicates that the IR emission retains information of the explosive origins of the SNR and offers a new method to type SNRs based on IR morphology.
54855507
THE BURST CLUSTER: DARK MATTER IN A CLUSTER MERGER ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURST, GRB 050509B
We have identified a merging galaxy cluster with evidence of two distinct subclusters. The X-ray and optical data suggest that the subclusters are presently moving away from each other after closest approach. This cluster merger was discovered from observations of the first well-localized short-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB), GRB 050509B. The Swift/Burst Alert Telescope error position of the source is coincident with a cluster of galaxies ZwCl 1234.0+02916, while the subsequent Swift/X-Ray Telescope localization of the X-ray afterglow found the GRB coincident with 2MASX J12361286+2858580, a giant red elliptical galaxy in the cluster. Deep multi-epoch optical images were obtained in this field to constrain the evolution of the GRB afterglow, including a total of 27,480 s exposure in the F814W band with Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys, among the deepest imaging ever obtained toward a known galaxy cluster in a single passband. We perform a weak gravitational lensing analysis based on these data, including mapping of the total mass distribution of the merger system with high spatial resolution. When combined with Chandra X-ray Observatory Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer and Swift/XRT observations, we are able to investigate the dynamical state of the merger to better understand the nature of the dark matter component. Our weak gravitational lensing measurements reveal a separation of the X-ray centroid of the western subcluster from the center of the mass and galaxy light distributions, which is somewhat similar to that of the famous "Bullet cluster," and we conclude that this "Burst cluster" adds another candidate to the previously known merger systems for determining the nature of dark matter, as well as for studying the environment of a short GRB. Finally, we discuss potential connections between the cluster dynamical state and/or matter composition, and compact object mergers, which is currently the leading model for the origin of short GRBs. We also present our results from a weak-lensing survey based on archival Very Large Telescope images in the areas of five other short GRBs, which do not provide any firm detections of mass concentrations representative of rich clusters.
41133138
Identification of a Jet-driven Supernova Remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Possible Evidence for the Enhancement of Bipolar Explosions at Low Metallicity
Recent evidence has suggested that the supernova remnant (SNR) 0104–72.3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) may be the result of a "prompt" Type Ia SN on the basis of enhanced iron abundances and its association with a star-forming region. In this paper, we present evidence that SNR 0104–72.3 arose from a jet-driven bipolar core-collapse (CC) SN. Specifically, we use serendipitous Chandra data of SNR 0104–72.3 taken because of its proximity to the calibration source SNR E0102–72.3. We analyze 56 Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) observations of SNR 0104–72.3 to produce imaging and spectra with an effective exposure of 528.6 ks. We demonstrate that SNR 0104–72.3 is highly elliptical relative to other nearby young SNRs, suggesting a CC SN origin. Furthermore, we compare ejecta abundances derived from spectral fits to nucleosynthetic yields of Type Ia and CC SNe, and we find that the iron, neon, and silicon abundances are consistent with either a spherical CC SN of a 18-20 M ☉ progenitor or an aspherical CC SN of a 25 M ☉ progenitor. We show that the star formation history at the site of SNR 0104–72.3 is also consistent with a CC origin. Given the bipolar morphology of the SNR, we favor the aspherical CC SN scenario. This result may suggest jet-driven SNe occur frequently in the low-metallicity environment of the SMC, consistent with the observational and theoretical work on broad-line Type Ic SNe and long-duration gamma-ray bursts.
14941254
UNRAVELING THE ORIGIN OF OVERIONIZED PLASMA IN THE GALACTIC SUPERNOVA REMNANT W49B
Recent observations have shown several supernova remnants (SNRs) have overionized plasmas, where ions are stripped of more electrons than they would be if in equilibrium with the electron temperature. Rapid electron cooling is necessary to produce this situation, yet the physical origin of that cooling remains uncertain. To assess the cooling scenario responsible for overionization, in this paper we identify and map the overionized plasma in the Galactic SNR W49B based on a 220 ks Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer observation. We performed a spatially resolved spectroscopic analysis, measuring the electron temperature by modeling the continuum and comparing it to the temperature given by the flux ratio of the He-like and H-like lines of sulfur and argon. Using these results, we find that W49B is overionized in the west, with a gradient of overionization increasing from east to west. As the ejecta expansion is impeded by molecular material in the east but not in the west, our overionization maps suggest the dominant cooling mechanism is adiabatic expansion of the hot plasma.
119294526
Leptogenesis and reheating in complex hybrid inflation
We study the transformation into a baryon asymmetry of a charge initially stored in a complex (waterfall) scalar field at the end of a hybrid inflation phase as described by Delepine, Martinez, and Urena-Lopez [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 161302 (2007)]. The waterfall field is coupled to right-handed neutrinos, and is also responsible for their Majorana masses. The charge is finally transferred to the leptons of the standard model through the decay of the right-handed neutrinos without introducing new CP violating interactions. Other needed processes, like the decay of the inflaton field and the reheating of the Universe, are also discussed in detail.
204191754
Scalar phantom energy as a cosmological dynamical system
203126082
Unified description of the dynamics of quintessential scalar fields
116958498
A New Model for Baryogenesis through Hybrid Inflation
We propose a hybrid inflation model with a complex waterfall field which contains an interaction term that breaks the U(1) global symmetry associated to the waterfall field charge. The asymmetric evolution of the real and imaginary parts of the complex field during the phase transition at the end of inflation translates into a charge asymmetry.