Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “AFTERGLOW”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

The Quest for New Correlations in the Realm of the Gamma-Ray Burst—Supernova Connection

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are very energetic cosmological transients. Long GRBs are usually associated with Type Ib/c supernovae (SNe), and we refer to them as GRB-SNe. Since the associated SN for a given GRB is observed only at low redshift, a possible selection effect exists when we consider intrinsically faint sources that cannot be observed at high redshift. Thus, it is important to explore the possible relationships between GRB and SN parameters after these have been corrected for astrophysical biases due to the instrumental selection effects and redshift evolution of the variables involved. So far, only GRB prompt emission properties have been checked against the SN Ib/c properties without considering the afterglow (AG). This work investigates the existence of relationships among GRBs’ prompt and AG and associated SN properties. We investigate 91 bidimensional correlations among the SN and GRB observables before and after their correction for selection biases and evolutionary effects. As a result of this investigation, we find hints of a new correlation with a Pearson correlation coefficient >0.50 and a probability of being drawn by chance <0.05. This correlation is between the luminosity at the end of the GRB optical plateau emission and the rest-frame peak time of the SN. According to this relation, the brightest optical plateaus are accompanied by the largest peak times. This correlation is corrected for selection biases and redshift evolution and may provide new constraints for the astrophysical models associated with the GRB-SN connection.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Expected Gamma-Ray Burst Detection Rates and Redshift Distributions for the BlackCAT CubeSat Mission

We report the results of an extensive set of simulations exploring the sensitivity of the BlackCAT CubeSat to long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BlackCAT is a NASA APRA-funded CubeSat mission for the detection and real-time subarcminute localization of high-redshift (z ≳ 3.5) GRBs. Thanks to their luminous and long-lived afterglow emissions, GRBs are uniquely valuable probes of high-redshift star-forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium. In addition, each detected GRB with a known redshift serves to localize a region of high-redshift star formation in three dimensions, enabling deep follow-on searches for host galaxies and associated local and large-scale structures. We explore two distinct models for the GRB redshift distribution and luminosity function, both consistent with Swift observations. We find that, for either model, BlackCAT is expected to detect a mean of 42 bursts per year on orbit, with 6.7% to 10% of these at z > 3.5. BlackCAT bursts will be localized to an r 90 ≲ 55'' precision and reported to the community within seconds. Due to the mission orbit and pointing scheme, bursts will be located in the night sky and well placed for deep multiwavelength follow-up observations. BlackCAT is on schedule to achieve launch readiness in 2025.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Gravity Collective: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Electromagnetic Search for the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW190425

We present an ultraviolet to infrared search for the electromagnetic (EM) counterpart to GW190425, the second ever binary neutron star merger discovered by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. GW190425 was more distant and had a larger localization area than GW170817, so we use a new tool, Teglon, to redistribute the GW190425 localization probability in the context of galaxy catalogs within the final localization volume. We derive a 90th percentile area of 6688 deg 2 , a ∼1.5× improvement relative to the LIGO/Virgo map, and show how Teglon provides an order-of-magnitude boost to the search efficiency of small (≤1 deg 2 ) field-of-view instruments. We combine our data with a large, publicly reported imaging data set, covering 9078.59 deg 2 of unique area and 48.13% of the LIGO/Virgo-assigned localization probability, to calculate the most comprehensive kilonova (KN), short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) afterglow, and model-independent constraints on the EM emission from a hypothetical counterpart to GW190425 to date under the assumption that no counterpart was found in these data. If the counterpart were similar to AT 2017gfo, there would be a 28.4% chance of it being detected in the combined data set. We are relatively insensitive to an on-axis sGRB, and rule out a generic transient with a similar peak luminosity and decline rate as AT 2017gfo to 30% confidence. Finally, across our new imaging and publicly reported data, we find 28 candidate optical counterparts that we cannot rule out as being associated with GW190425, finding that four such counterparts discovered within the localization volume and within 5 days of merger exhibit luminosities consistent with a KN.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

On the Existence of the Plateau Emission in High-energy Gamma-Ray Burst Light Curves Observed by Fermi-LAT

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) shows long-lasting high-energy emission in many gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), similar to X-ray afterglows observed by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift). Some LAT light curves (LCs) show a late-time flattening reminiscent of X-ray plateaus. We explore the presence of plateaus in LAT temporally extended emission analyzing GRBs from the second Fermi-LAT GRB Catalog from 2008 to 2016 May with known redshifts, and check whether they follow closure relations corresponding to four distinct astrophysical environments predicted by the external forward shock model. We find that three LCs can be fit by the same phenomenological model used to fit X-ray plateaus and show tentative evidence for the existence of plateaus in their high-energy extended emission. The most favorable scenario is a slow-cooling regime, whereas the preferred density profile for each GRBs varies from a constant-density interstellar medium to an r –2 wind environment. We also compare the end time of the plateaus in γ-rays and X-rays using a statistical comparison with 222 Swift GRBs with plateaus and known redshifts from 2005 January to 2019 August. Within this comparison, the case of GRB 090510 shows an indication of chromaticity at the end time of the plateau. Finally, we update the 3D fundamental plane relation among the rest-frame end time of the plateau, its correspondent luminosity, and the peak prompt luminosity for 222 GRBs observed by Swift. We find that these three LAT GRBs follow this relation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

GRB 221009A: The B.O.A.T. Burst that Shines in Gamma Rays

We present a complete analysis of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data of GRB 221009A, the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever detected. The burst emission above 30 MeV detected by the LAT preceded, by 1 s, the low-energy (<10 MeV) pulse that triggered the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM), as has been observed in other GRBs. The prompt phase of GRB 221009A lasted a few hundred seconds. It was so bright that we identify a bad time interval of 64 s caused by the extremely high flux of hard X-rays and soft gamma rays, during which the event reconstruction efficiency was poor and the dead time fraction quite high. The late-time emission decayed as a power law, but the extrapolation of the late-time emission during the first 450 s suggests that the afterglow started during the prompt emission. We also found that high-energy events observed by the LAT are incompatible with synchrotron origin, and, during the prompt emission, are more likely related to an extra component identified as synchrotron self-Compton (SSC). A remarkable 400 GeV photon, detected by the LAT 33 ks after the GBM trigger and directionally consistent with the location of GRB 221009A, is hard to explain as a product of SSC or TeV electromagnetic cascades, and the process responsible for its origin is uncertain. Because of its proximity and energetic nature, GRB 221009A is an extremely rare event.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Origin of Intense Electron Heating in Relativistic Blast Waves

The modeling of gamma-ray burst afterglow emission bears witness to strong electron heating in the precursor of Weibel-mediated, relativistic collisionless shock waves propagating in unmagnetized electron–ion plasmas. In this Letter, we propose a theoretical model, which describes electron heating via a Joule-like process caused by pitch-angle scattering in the decelerating, self-induced microturbulence and the coherent charge-separation field induced by the difference in inertia between electrons and ions. The emergence of this electric field across the precursor of electron–ion shocks is confirmed by large-scale particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Integrating the model using a Monte Carlo-Poisson method, we compare the main observables to the PIC simulations to conclude that the above mechanism can indeed account for the bulk of electron heating.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Long-term Evolution of Relativistic Unmagnetized Collisionless Shocks

Abstract We study a relativistic collisionless electron–positron shock propagating into an unmagnetized ambient medium using 2D particle-in-cell simulations of unprecedented duration and size. The shock generates intermittent magnetic structures of increasingly larger size as the simulation progresses. Toward the end of our simulation, at around 26,000 plasma times, the magnetic coherence scale approaches λ ∼ 100 plasma skin depths, both ahead and behind the shock front. We anticipate a continued growth of λ beyond the time span of our simulation, as long as the shock accelerates particles to increasingly higher energies. The post-shock field is concentrated in localized patches, which maintain a local magnetic energy fraction ε B ∼ 0.1. Particles randomly sampling the downstream fields spend most of their time in low field regions ( ε B ≪ 0.1) but emit a large fraction of the synchrotron power in the localized patches with strong fields ( ε B ∼ 0.1). Our results have important implications for models of gamma-ray burst afterglows.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
NASA NTRS1967

Experiments in low energy plasmas

Electron energy loss in afterglow plasmas, plasma transport and stability and electromagnetic wave propagation through magnetoplasmas

MAGNETOPLASMA↗
NASA NTRS1972

Kinetics and mechanism of the formation of water cluster ions from O2(plus) and H2O in He, Ar, N2, and O2 at 296 K

The reaction sequence leading from O2(+) to H3O(+)-H2O was examined in He, Ar, N2 and O2 carrier gases in a flowing afterglow system. The rate constants for the reactions were measured and the kinetic analysis for their determination is presented. For M = N2, two new steps involving the formation and reaction of O2(+)-N2 were proposed and examined. The rate constants are discussed and compared with other experimental values.

Howard, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Structure of the plasma fireball produced by a CO2 laser.

Study of the space and time resolved structure of a helium plasma produced with a repetitive CO2 laser during the first 15 microsec of the afterglow period. The spectra of several neutral and ionized helium lines are used in the determination of the density and temperature profiles of the luminous fireball. It is found that the plasma is comprised of a dense hot core, which emits primarily ionic lines, and a well-defined tenuous outer shell, which is primarily the source of neutral emission lines. This ?two-component' plasma structure develops at about 0.4 microsec after breakdown, at about the time when the luminous fireball dissipates its expansion energy and comes to a virtual standstill.

George, E. V.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Absolute measurements of light emission from CO2/+/ and CO in the interaction of He/2 super 3 S/ with CO2.

A flowing afterglow has been used to produce metastable He(2 super 3 S). It is shown that when He(2 super 3 S) interacts with a diatomic or triatomic molecule, its electronic excitation energy can be transferred to electronic and vibrational excitation of the molecule. To examine this mechanism, the rates for the production of electronically excited molecules, observed spectroscopically between 190 and 750 nm in the reaction of He(2 super 3 S) with CO2, have been measured. Results are tabulated.

Wauchop, T. S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Measurements of recombination of electrons with HCO(plus) ions

Recombination coefficients of electrons with HCO(+) ions were determined with a microwave afterglow/mass spectrometer apparatus. Afterglow measurements of electron density decays in neon-hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixtures are correlated with the decay of mass-identified ion currents to the wall of the microwave cavity. At the appropriate partial pressures of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the mixture, the ion HCO(+) dominates the ion composition and its wall current approximately tracks the electron density decay curve. From recombination controlled electron density decay curves, the values alpha (HCO(+)) = (3.3 + or - 0.5) and (2.0 + or - 0.3) 0.0000001 cu cm/sec are obtained at 205 and 300 K, respectively. The implications of these results for models of polyatomic molecule formation in dense interstellar clouds are briefly discussed.

Leu, M. T.↗