GRB 090423: Marking the death of a massive star at z=8.2

GRB 090423 is the new high-z record holder of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with z～ 8.2. We present a detailed analysis of both the spectral and temporal features of GRB 090423 observed with Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM. We find that the T ₉₀ observed with BAT in the 15–150 keV band is 13.2 s, corresponding to ～ 1.4 s at z=8.2. It once again gives rise to the issue of whether the progenitors of high-z GRBs are massive stars or mergers since the discovery of GRB 080913 at z=6.7. In comparison with the T ₉₀ distribution in the burst frame of the current redshift-known GRB sample, we find that it is marginally grouped into the long group (Type II GRBs). The spectrum observed with both BAT and GBM is well fitted by a power-law with exponential cutoff, which yields an E _p=(50.4±7.0) keV. The event satisfies the Amati-relation well for Type II GRBs within their 3σ uncertainty range. Our results indicate that this event would be produced by the death of a massive star. Based on the Amati-relation, we derive its distance modulus, which follows the Hubble diagram of the concordance cosmology model at a redshift of ～8.2.     

Gamma-ray bursts in the Swift-Fermi era: Confronting data with theory

With the prompt slewing capability of the X-ray and UV-optical telescopes onboard the Swift mission and with the gamma-ray large area telescope onboard the Fermi mission, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are now accessible in a full time window and in all electromagnetic wavelengths for the events. Many observational breakthroughs have been made in recent years. I present here a brief review of some observational breakthroughs with the two missions, focusing on how these breakthroughs have revolutionized our understanding of the nature of this phenomenon and puzzles as well as challenges of confronting the conventional models with data.     

SVOM gamma ray monitor

The space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) mission is dedicated to the detection, localization and broad-band study of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and other high-energy transient phenomena. The gamma ray monitor (GRM) onboard is designed to observe GRBs up to 5 MeV. With this instrument, one of the key GRB parameters, E _peak, can be easily measured in the hard X-ray band. It can achieve a detection rate of 100 GRBs per year which ensures the scientific output of SVOM.     

Studying the effect of biaxial anisotropy on nonlinear magnetization oscillations accompanying the 90° pulsed magnetization process in ferrite–garnet films with easy-plane anisotropy

Time dependences of the azimuthal component of the torque T _φ(t) acting on magnetization are calculated to understand the nature of the delayed magnetization acceleration effect observed during the 90° pulsed magnetization of real ferrite–garnet films, in which biaxial anisotropy exists alongside with in-plane anisotropy. A calculation technique based on analyzing an operating point trajectory is used. Calculations show that if the effective anisotropy field H _K2 is comparable to the magnetizing pulse amplitude H _ma, abruptly ascending regions at characteristic times t* in curves T _φ(t) arise, in the limit of which nonlinear magnetization oscillations formed. The shape of these regions depends weakly on the magnetizing pulse front duration τ_f. This explains the reason of the weak dependence of the nonlinear magnetization oscillations on duration of the magnetizing pulse front. Calculations also show that the main features of the delayed acceleration effect are less clear upon an increase of the pulse amplitude: the behavior of curves T _φ(t) becomes smoother near times t*, and an increase in the pulse front duration is accompanied by a stronger drop in the intensity of magnetization oscillations.     

Spectral properties of Fermi/GBM gamma-ray bursts and the GeV emission detection rate with Fermi/LAT

With a sample of 58 Fermi/GBM GRBs detected before 2009 May, we compare the spectral properties of GBM GRBs with those detected by CGRO/BTASE and HETE-2. Our results show that the spectral index distributions are very consistent with those observed by BATSE. However, the E _p distribution is quite different from that observed with BATSE and HETE-2. The GBM GRBs tend to be softer than the BATSE sample, but harder than the HETE-2 sample. This may be due to the instrumental selection effects and artificial sample effect on the BATSE sample. The distribution of the pseudo redshifts derived from the luminosity indicator based on the Amati-relation shows rough consistency with the spectroscopic redshifts of Swift GRBs. We estimate the detection rate of GBM GRBs with LAT based on the observed spectrum in the GBM band, and the inferred burst ratio of LAT detection with over 5 photons to GBM detection is 6%, yielding a detection rate pf 12 GRBs/yr with over 5 photons in the 1–300 GeV band. This is roughly consistent with the results in the first half year of Fermi operation. The low detection rate compared with theoretical predictions is a key for revealing the radiation mechanisms and particle acceleration of the prompt gamma-rays.     

Relaxation Kinetics of the Microhardness of KDP Crystals after Their Exposure to a Magnetic Field

It has been shown that potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals change their microhardness reversibly after their exposure to a magnetic field of B = 0.8 or 1.2 T for t_m = 7–90 min. It has been found that the magnetic effect can be conveniently characterized by the quantity B²t_m, because the variation of the parameters conserving B²t_m=const does not change the result. At B²t_m < 10 T² min, the effect is almost absent. Above this threshold, the amplitude of changes in the microhardness increases and approaches a constant value of ~10% at B²t_m ≈ 19 T² min. The responses of samples of the same crystal from the faces of the prismatic and pyramidal growth sectors to exposure are different. In the former case, they soften; in the latter case, the hardening stage follows the softening stage. However, in both cases, the microhardness returns to the initial value. At B²t_m values from 19 to 37 T² min, the amplitudes and durations of the effect do not change, but in the narrow range of 37–43 T² min, the lifetime of the modified state increases sharply with transition to a new level: “sharp” peaks with a half-width of ~2 days are transformed to trapezoids with the width of the horizontal side of ~1–2 weeks. A physical scheme of the observed effects has been proposed.     

Properties of strained TaS<Subscript>3</Subscript> samples in the state of charge density wave and in the normal state

The uniaxial strain of quasi-one-dimensional conductor whiskers of orthorhombic TaS₃ at a strain higher than ε _c ~ 0.8% leads to a sharp increase in the coherence of the properties of a charge density wave (CDW), which manifests itself in its motion in fields higher than threshold field E _t . During uniaxial elongation, TaS₃ is shown to exhibit the following unusual properties even in weak fields: Peierls transition temperature T _P depends nonmonotonically on ε, one-dimensional fluctuations weaken near T _P , and the coherence length of a charge density increases at T < T _P . Investigations in fields higher than E _t show that the ultracoherent properties of CDW exist in a wide temperature range and are retained when temperature increases up to T _P . These properties of CDW make it possible to observe a sharp increase in E _t near T _P and an almost jumplike increase in E _t at T < 90 K. The increase in E _t at T _P is explained by a decrease in the coherence volume of CDW because of a fluctuational suppression of the Peierls gap.     

1<Emphasis Type="Italic">∕</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis></Superscript> noise for scale-invariant processes: how long you wait matters

We study the power spectrum which is estimated from a nonstationary signal. In particular we examine the case when the signal is observed in a measurement time window [t _w , t _w + t _m ], namely the observation started after a waiting time t _w , and t _m is the measurement duration. We introduce a generalized aging Wiener–Khinchin theorem which relates between the spectrum and the time- and ensemble-averaged correlation functions for arbitrary t _m and t _w . Furthermore we provide a general relation between the non-analytical behavior of the scale-invariant correlation function and the aging 1∕f ^β noise. We illustrate our general results with two-state renewal models with sojourn times’ distributions having a broad tail.     

Impurity transport in fractal media in the presence of a degrading diffusion barrier

We have analyzed the transport regimes and the asymptotic forms of the impurity concentration in a randomly inhomogeneous fractal medium in the case when an impurity source is surrounded by a weakly permeable degrading barrier. The systematization of transport regimes depends on the relation between the time t ₀ of emergence of impurity from the barrier and time t _* corresponding to the beginning of degradation. For t ₀ < t _*, degradation processes are immaterial. In the opposite situation, when t ₀ > t _*, the results on time intervals t < t _* can be formally reduced to the problem with a stationary barrier. The characteristics of regimes with t _* < t < t ₀ depend on the scenario of barrier degradation. For an exponentially fast scenario, the interval t _* < t < t ₀ is very narrow, and the transport regime occurring over time intervals t < t _* passes almost jumpwise to the regime of the problem without a barrier. In the slow power-law scenario, the transport over long time interval t _* < t < t ₀ occurs in a new regime, which is faster as compared to the problem with a stationary barrier, but slower than in the problem without a barrier. The asymptotic form of the concentration at large distances from the source over time intervals t < t ₀ has two steps, while for t > t ₀, it has only one step. The more remote step for t < t ₀ and the single step for t > t ₀ coincide with the asymptotic form in the problem without a barrier.     

Measurement of total cross sections for <Emphasis Type="Italic">pp</Emphasis> interactions at colliders by new methods

It is proposed to extract the total cross section for proton-proton (pp) interaction from the results obtained by measuring the analyzing power for elastic pp scattering in the region of Coulomb-nuclear interference. Contributions to the cross section are estimated that affect the accuracy in determining σ _T (pp) and which originate from various sources, including single-spin-flip interactions. The applicability of the factor of merit to extracting σ _T (pp) from experimental data is briefly discussed. It is concluded that, under some conditions, measurement of the analyzing power A _N (t) may be a good approach to determining σ _T (pp).     

Transient bi-fractional diffusion: space-time coupling inducing the coexistence of two fractional diffusions

Anomalous diffusion is researched within the framework of the coupled continuous time random walk model, in which the space-time coupling is considered through the correlated function g(t) ~ t ^γ , 0 ≤ γ< 2, and the probability density function ω(t) of a particle’s transition time t follows a power law for large t: ω(t) ~ t ^{? (1 + α)},1 <α< 2. The bi-fractional generalized master equation is derived analytically which can be applied to describe the transient bi-fractional diffusion phenomenon which is induced by the space-time coupling and the asymptotic behavior of ω(t). Numerical results show that for the transient bi-fractional diffusion, there is a transition from one fractional diffusion to another one in the diffusive process.     

Correlation between the properties of the deuteron and the low-energy triplet parameters of neutron-proton scattering

The correlation between the asymptotic normalization constant for the deuteron, A_S, and the neutron-proton scattering length for the triplet case, a_t, is investigated. It is found that 99.7% of the asymptotic constant A_S is determined by the scattering length a_t. It is shown that the linear correlation between the quantities A _S ^?2 and 1/a_t provides a good test of correctness of various models of nucleon-nucleon interaction. It is revealed that, for the normalization constant A_S and for the root-mean-square deuteron radius r_d, the results obtained with the experimental value recommended at present for the triplet scattering length a_t are exaggerated with respect to their experimental counterparts. By using the latest experimental data obtained for phase shifts by the group headed by Arndt, it proved to be possible to derive, for the low-energy parameters of scattering (a_t, r_t, P_t) and for the properties of the deuteron (A_S, r_d) results that comply well with experimental data.     

Search for strong gravitational lensing effect in the current GRB data of BATSE

Because gamma-ray bursts(GRBs)trace the high-z universe,there is an appreciable probability for a GRB to be gravitational lensed by galaxies in the universe.Herein we consider the gravitational lensing effect of GRBs contributed by the dark matter halos in galaxies.Assuming that all halos have the singular isothermal sphere(SIS)mass profile in the mass range 1010h?1M?M2×1013h?1M?and all GRB samples follow the intrinsic redshift distribution and luminosity function derived from the Swift LGRBs sample,we calculated the gravitational lensing probability in BATSE,Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM GRBs,respectively.With an derived probability result in BATSE GRBs,we searched for lensed GRB pairs in the BATSE5B GRB Spectral catalog.The search did not find any convincing gravitationally lensed events.We discuss our result and future observations for GRB lensing observation.     

Corona effect in <Emphasis Type="Italic">AA</Emphasis> collisions at the LHC

Following our earlier finding based on RHIC data on the dominant jet production from nucleus corona region, we reconsider this effect in nucleus–nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. Our hypothesis was based on experimental data, which raised the idea of a finite formation time for the produced medium. At the RHIC energy and in low-density corona region, this time reaches about 2 fm/c. Following this hypothesis, the nuclear modification factor R _AA at high p _t should be independent on particle momentum, and the azimuthal anisotropy of high p _t particles, v ₂, should be finite. A separate prediction held that, at the LHC energy, the formation time in the corona region should be about 1 fm/c. New LHC data show that R _AA is not flat and is rising with p _t . We add to our original hypothesis an assumption that a fast parton traversing the produced medium loses the fixed portion of its energy. A shift of about 7 GeV from the original power law p ^?6 production cross section in pp explains well all the observed R _AA dependencies. The shift of about 7 GeV is also valid at the RHIC energy. We also show that the observed at the LHC dependence of v ₂ at high p _t and our previous predictions agree.     

Astrophysical <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>-factor of T(<Superscript>4</Superscript>He, γ)<Superscript>7</Superscript>Li reaction at <Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis><Subscript>cm</Subscript> = 15.7 keV

The astrophysical S-factor of the reaction T(⁴He, γ)⁷Li is measured for the first time at the center of mass energy E _cm = 15.7 keV, lower than the energy range of the Standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (SBBN) model. The experiment is performed on a Hall pulsed accelerator (TPU, Tomsk). An acceleration pulse length of 10 μs allows one to suppress the background of cosmic radiation and the ambient medium by five orders of magnitude. A beam intensity of ~ 5 × 10^{14 4}He⁺ ions per pulse allows one to measure an extremely low reaction yield. The yield of γ-quanta with the energies E _γ ⁰ = 2483.7 keV and E _γ ¹ = 2006.1 keV is registered by NaI(Tl) detectors with the efficiency ε = 0.331 ± 0.026. A method for direct measurement of the background from the chain of reactions T(⁴He, ⁴He)T→T(T, 2n)X→(n, γ) and/or (n, n′γ) which ends by neutron activation of materials surrounding the target is proposed and implemented in this study. The value of the astrophysical S-factor of the reaction T(⁴He, γ)⁷Li S _αt (E _cm = 15.7 keV) = 0.091 ± 0.032 keV b provides the choice from the set of experimental data for the astrophysical S _αt -factor in favor of experimental data [4] with S _αt (E _cm = 0) = 0.1067 ± 0.0064 keV b.     

Untersuchung der Niveaustruktur von53Cr und52Cr mit (d,d′) und (d,t)-Reaktionen

Angular distributions of deuterons and tritons from the reactions^52,53Cr(d,d),^52,53Cr(d,d′),^53,54Cr(d, t)^52,53Cr have been measured at E_d=11.8 to 11.9 MeV. The elastic scattering data have been analyzed in terms of the optical model. The (d, d′) and (d, t) data have been compared with DWBA calculations. Deformation parameters and spectroscopic factors have been extracted. The results are qualitatively discussed in terms of different nuclear models.     

On the asymptotical normality of statistical solutions for wave equations coupled to a particle

We consider a linear Hamiltonian system consisting of a classical particle and a scalar field describing by the wave or Klein–Gordon equations with variable coefficients. The initial data of the system are supposed to be a random function which has some mixing properties. We study the distribution μ _t of the random solution at time moments t ∈ R. The main result is the convergence of μ _t to a Gaussian probability measure as t→∞. The application to the case of Gibbs initial measures is given.