Engineering topics

Fried, P. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Fried, P. M..

3 records

NASA NTRS1982

On the origin of the 1 keV diffuse X-ray background

Soft X-ray sky survey data for high galactic latitudes are used to constrain simple geometric models for the source of the diffuse X-ray background at 1 keV. The intensity maps show two extended and enhanced features, in Eridanus and in the direction of the galactic center, with a relatively uniform sky away from these features and an observed degree of isotropy consistent with a model in which the 0.5-1.2 keV background consists of an isotropic extragalactic component and a thick disk galactic component. A temperature of 2-3 million K and an emission pressure of 0.004 per cm to the 6th pc are derived for the galactic component from an assumed spectrum of 11E to the -1.4 power photons/sq cm s sr keV. While consistent with the data, a local, isotropically distributed source model is shown to pose physical difficulties.

Nousek, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

The soft X-ray diffuse background and the structure of the local interstellar medium

Data from five rocket flights of the Wisconsin soft X-ray sky survey, covering the southern galactic hemisphere with 6.5 deg spatial resolution between 0.1 and 2.0 keV, are presented as intensity maps. Analysis of the data in two energy bands below 0.3 keV is presented here. These low-energy X-rays appear to be emitted from a plasma of about one-million K, the bulk of which is closer to the sun than even the nearest 5 x 10 to the 19th/sq cm of neutral gas. No evidence is found for the presence of nearby small (radius of about 0.6 pc) clouds of cool neutral gas, as has been proposed by McKee and Ostriker (1977). The X-ray measurements are consistent with the small amounts of local neutral material inferred from Lyman-alpha absorption measurements.

Fried, P. M.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Soft diffuse X-rays in the southern galactic hemisphere

A map is presented of the soft X-ray diffuse background flux in the C band (approximately 0.13-0.28 keV) covering almost all of the southern galactic hemisphere. A comparison at constant galactic latitude of both C band and B band (about 0.1-0.18 keV) soft X-ray data with neutral-hydrogen maps shows that the intensity does decrease with increasing neutral-hydrogen column density but in a manner that is inconsistent with photoelectric absorption. It is suggested that the inverse correlation is a displacement effect. X-ray emission regions appear to be where the cool gas is not. Further, the evidence against photoelectric absorption implies that the bulk of the cool gas is beyond the X-ray emitting regions. Fewer than 10 to the 20th power H atoms per sq cm can be between the sun and the X-ray emitting regions. The sun appears to be surrounded by a soft X-ray emission region consisting of gas at a temperature of about 1 million K.

Sanders, W. T.↗