Search Publications
Ultraviolet emission from young and middle-aged pulsars: Connecting X-rays with the optical
Kargaltsev, Oleg; Pavlov, George
We present the UV spectroscopy and timing of three nearby pulsars (Vela, B0656+14 and Geminga) recently observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. We also review the optical and X-ray properties of these pulsars and establish their connection with the UV properties. We show that the multiwavelengths properties of neutron stars (NSs) v…
Jets from young stars
Bally, John
Most stars produce spectacular jets during their formation. There are thousands of young stars within 500 pc of the Sun and many power jets. Thus protostellar jets may be the most common type of collimated astrophysical outflow. Shocks powered by outflows excite many emission lines, exhibit a rich variety of structure, and motions with velocities …
X-ray intensity-hardness correlation and deep IR observations of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1RXS J170849-400910
Campana, S.; Stella, L.; Rea, N. +6 more
We report here on X-ray and IR observations of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar (AXP) 1RXS J170849-400910. First, we report on new XMM-Newton, Swift-XRT and Chandra observations of this AXP, which confirm the intensity–hardness correlation observed in the long term X-ray monitoring of this source. These new X-ray observations show that the AXP flux is r…
XMM–Newton observations of soft gamma-ray repeaters
Mereghetti, Sandro; Esposito, Paolo; Tiengo, Andrea
All the confirmed Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters have been observed with the EPIC instrument on the XMM–Newton satellite. We review the results obtained in these observations, providing the most accurate spectra on the persistent X-ray emission in the 1–10 keV range for these objects, and discuss them in the context of the magnetar interpretation.
Our distorted view of magnetars: application of the resonant cyclotron scattering model
Turolla, Roberto; Rea, Nanda; Lyutikov, Maxim +1 more
The X-ray spectra of the magnetar candidates are customarily fitted with an empirical, two component model: an absorbed blackbody and a power-law. However, the physical interpretation of these two spectral components is rarely discussed. It has been recently proposed that the presence of a hot plasma in the magnetosphere of highly magnetized neutr…
Status of identification of VHE γ-ray sources
Funk, Stefan
With the recent advances made by Cherenkov telescopes such as H.E.S.S. the field of very high-energy (VHE) γ-ray astronomy has recently entered a new era in which for the first time populations of Galactic sources such as e.g. Pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) or Supernova remnants (SNRs) can be studied. However, while some of the new sources can be asso…
Studies of neutron stars at optical/IR wavelengths
Motch, C.; Rea, N.; De Luca, A. +7 more
In the last years, optical studies of Isolated Neutron Stars (INSs) have expanded from the more classical rotation-powered ones to other categories, like the Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) and the Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs), which make up the class of the magnetars, the radio-quiet INSs with X-ray thermal emission and, more recently, the enig…
Nucleonic gamma-ray production in pulsar wind nebulae
Santangelo, A.; Aharonian, F.; Horns, D. +1 more
Observations of the inner radian of the Galactic disk at very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays have revealed at least 16 new sources. Besides shell type super-nova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) appear to be a dominant source population in the catalogue of VHE gamma-ray sources. Except for the Crab nebula, the newly discovered PWN are resolved at…
The first multi-wavelength campaign of AXP 4U 0142+61 from radio to hard X-rays
Rea, N.; Stappers, B.; Kuiper, L. +5 more
For the first time a quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength campaign has been performed on an Anomalous X-ray Pulsar from the radio to the hard X-ray band. 4U 0142+61 was an INTEGRAL target for 1 Ms in July 2005. During these observations it was also observed in the X-ray band with Swift and RXTE, in the optical and NIR with Gemini North and in the r…
Quantifying the effect of finite field-of-view size on radiative transfer calculations of Titan's limb spectra measured by Cassini-CIRS
Irwin, P. G. J.; Teanby, N. A.
The Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) on-board the Cassini spacecraft has currently returned around three years worth of data from Saturn's largest moon Titan. One of the unique aspects of CIRS is to take high spatial resolution spectra of the limb of Titan, with sub-scale height (20–40 km) resolutions. This is made possible by the small fiel…