# A universal relation for the propeller mechanisms in magnetic rotating stars at different scales [HEAP]

Accretion of matter onto a magnetic, rotating object can be strongly affected by the interaction with its magnetic field. This occurs in a variety of astrophysical settings involving young stellar objects, white dwarfs, and neutron stars. As matter is endowed with angular momentum, its inflow toward the star is often mediated by an accretion disc. The pressure of matter and that originating from the stellar magnetic field balance at the magnetospheric radius: at smaller distances the motion of matter is dominated by the magnetic field, and funnelling towards the magnetic poles ensues. However, if the star, and thus its magnetosphere, is fast spinning, most of the inflowing matter will be halted at the magnetospheric radius by centrifugal forces, resulting in a characteristic reduction of the accretion luminosity. The onset of this mechanism, called the propeller, has been widely adopted to interpret a distinctive knee in the decaying phase of the light curve of several transiently accreting X-ray pulsar systems. By comparing the observed luminosity at the knee for different classes of objects with the value predicted by accretion theory on the basis of the independently measured magnetic field, spin-period, mass, and radius of the star, we disclose here a general relation for the onset of the propeller which spans about eight orders of magnitude in spin period and ten in magnetic moment. The parameter-dependence and normalisation constant that we determine are in agreement with basic accretion theory.

S. Campana, L. Stella, S. Mereghetti, et. al.
Thu, 23 Nov 17
43/52

Comments: 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

# Causal propagation of signal in strangeon matter [HEAP]

The state equation of strangeon matter is very stiff due to the non-relativistic nature of and the repulsing interaction between the particles, and pulsar masses as high as $\sim 3M_\odot$ would be expected. However, an adiabatic sound speed, $c_s=\sqrt{\partial P/\partial \rho}$, is usually superluminal for strangeon matter, and dynamic response of strangeon star (e.g., binary merger) could not be tractable in calculation. We examine signal propagation in strangeon matter, and calculate the propagation speed, $c_{\rm signal}$, in reality. It is found that as the causality condition is satisfied, i.e., $c_{\rm signal}<c$, and the signal speed as a function of stellar radius is presented.

J. Lu, E. Zhou, X. Lai, et. al.
Thu, 23 Nov 17
4/52

Comments: Submitted to MNRAS

# High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy: where do we stand, where do we go? [HEAP]

With the identification of a diffuse flux of astrophysical (“cosmic”) neutrinos in the TeV-PeV energy range, IceCube has opened a new window to the Universe. However, the corresponding cosmic landscape is still uncharted: so far, the observed flux does not show any clear association with known source classes. In the present talk, I sketch the way from Baikal-NT200 to IceCube and summarize IceCube’s recent astrophysics results. Finally, I describe the present projects to build even larger detectors: GVD in Lake Baikal, KM3NeT in the Mediterranean Sea and IceCube-Gen2 at the South Pole. These detectors will allow studying the high-energy neutrino sky in much more detail than the present arrays permit.

C. Spiering
Thu, 23 Nov 17
20/52

Comments: Talk given at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Baksan Laboratory

# The SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts II: New FRB discoveries and their follow-up [HEAP]

We report the discovery of four Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) in the ongoing SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts (SUPERB) at the Parkes Radio Telescope: FRBs 150610, 151206, 151230 and 160102. Our real-time discoveries have enabled us to conduct extensive, rapid multi-messenger follow-up at 12 major facilities sensitive to radio, optical, X-ray, gamma-ray photons and neutrinos on time scales ranging from an hour to a few months post-burst. No counterparts to the FRBs were found and we provide upper limits on afterglow luminosities. None of the FRBs were seen to repeat. Formal fits to all FRBs show hints of scattering while their intrinsic widths are unresolved in time. FRB 151206 is at low Galactic latitude, FRB 151230 shows a sharp spectral cutoff, and FRB 160102 has the highest dispersion measure (DM = $2596.1\pm0.3$ pc cm$^{-3}$) detected to date. Three of the FRBs have high dispersion measures (DM >$1500$ pc cm$^{-3}$), favouring a scenario where the DM is dominated by contributions from the Intergalactic Medium. The slope of the Parkes FRB source counts distribution with fluences $>2$ Jyms is $\alpha=-2.2^{+0.6}{-1.2}$ and still consistent with a Euclidean distribution ($\alpha=-3/2$). We also find that the all-sky rate is $1.7^{+1.5}{-0.9}\times10^3$FRBs/($4\pi$ sr)/day above $\sim2$ Jyms and there is currently no strong evidence for a latitude-dependent FRB sky-rate.

S. Bhandari, E. Keane, E. Barr, et. al.
Thu, 23 Nov 17
27/52

Comments: 21 pages, 8 figures and accepted for publication in MNRAS

# A universal relation for the propeller mechanisms in magnetic rotating stars at different scales [HEAP]

Accretion of matter onto a magnetic, rotating object can be strongly affected by the interaction with its magnetic field. This occurs in a variety of astrophysical settings involving young stellar objects, white dwarfs, and neutron stars. As matter is endowed with angular momentum, its inflow toward the star is often mediated by an accretion disc. The pressure of matter and that originating from the stellar magnetic field balance at the magnetospheric radius: at smaller distances the motion of matter is dominated by the magnetic field, and funnelling towards the magnetic poles ensues. However, if the star, and thus its magnetosphere, is fast spinning, most of the inflowing matter will be halted at the magnetospheric radius by centrifugal forces, resulting in a characteristic reduction of the accretion luminosity. The onset of this mechanism, called the propeller, has been widely adopted to interpret a distinctive knee in the decaying phase of the light curve of several transiently accreting X-ray pulsar systems. By comparing the observed luminosity at the knee for different classes of objects with the value predicted by accretion theory on the basis of the independently measured magnetic field, spin-period, mass, and radius of the star, we disclose here a general relation for the onset of the propeller which spans about eight orders of magnitude in spin period and ten in magnetic moment. The parameter-dependence and normalisation constant that we determine are in agreement with basic accretion theory.

S. Campana, L. Stella, S. Mereghetti, et. al.
Thu, 23 Nov 17
36/52

Comments: 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

# Photonuclear Reactions in Lightning Discovered from Detection of Positrons and Neutrons [HEAP]

Lightning and thundercloud are the most dramatic natural particle accelerators on the Earth. Relativistic electrons accelerated by electric fields therein emit bremsstrahlung gamma rays, which have been detected at ground observations, by airborne detectors, and as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) from space. The energy of the gamma rays is sufficiently high to potentially invoke atmospheric photonuclear reactions 14N(gamma, n)13N, which would produce neutrons and eventually positrons via beta-plus decay of generated unstable radioactive isotopes, especially 13N. However, no clear observational evidence for the reaction has been reported to date. Here we report the first detection of neutron and positron signals from lightning with a ground observation. During a thunderstorm on 6 February 2017 in Japan, a TGF-like intense flash (within 1 ms) was detected at our monitoring sites 0.5-1.7 km away from the lightning. The subsequent initial burst quickly subsided with an exponential decay constant of 40-60 ms, followed by a prolonged line emission at about 0.511 megaelectronvolt (MeV), lasting for a minute. The observed decay timescale and spectral cutoff at about 10 MeV of the initial emission are well explained with de-excitation gamma rays from the nuclei excited by neutron capture. The centre energy of the prolonged line emission corresponds to the electron-positron annihilation, and hence is the conclusive indication of positrons produced after the lightning. Our detection of neutrons and positrons is unequivocal evidence that natural lightning triggers photonuclear reactions. No other natural event on the Earth is known to trigger photonuclear reactions. This discovery places lightning as only the second known natural channel on the Earth after the atmospheric cosmic-ray interaction, in which isotopes, such as 13C, 14C, and 15N, are produced.

T. Enoto, Y. Wada, Y. Furuta, et. al.
Thu, 23 Nov 17
37/52

Comments: This manuscript was submitted to Nature Letter on July 30, 2017, and the original version that has not undergo the peer review process. See the accepted version at Nature website, published on the issue of November 23, 2017 with the revised title “photonuclear reaction triggered by lightning discharge”

# Reduced Order Modelling in searches for continuous gravitational waves – I. barycentering time delays [HEAP]

The frequencies and phases of emission from extra-solar sources, as measured by Earth-bound observers, are modulated due to the Doppler motions of the observer with respect to the source, and through relativistic effects. These modulations depend critically on the sky-location of the source. Precise knowledge of the modulations is required if wanting to coherently track the phase of a source over long observation times, for example in pulsar timing, or searches for continuous gravitational wave sources. The modulations can be modelled as a sky-location and time dependent time delay that converts arrival times at the observer to the inertial frame of the source. In many cases this inertial frame can be the solar system barycentre (SSB). We study the use of Reduced Order Modelling for speeding up the calculation of the time delay between an observer and the SSB for any sky-location and for coherent observations spanning one year. We find that the time delay model can be decomposed into just four basis vectors, which can be used to reconstruct the time delay for any sky-location to sub-nanosecond accuracy. When compared to the standard routines for time delay calculation used in gravitational wave searches, the use of the reduced basis can lead to a speed-up factor of 30 times. We have also studied the components of equivalent time delays for sources in binary systems. For these, assuming eccentricities less than 0.25, we can reconstruct the delays to within 100s of nanoseconds, with best case speed-ups of a factor of 10, or factors of two when having to interpolate the basis to different orbital periods or time stamps. In long-duration phase-coherent searches for sources with large sky-position uncertainties, or binary parameter uncertainties, these speed-ups could allow enhancements in their scopes without large additional computational burdens.

M. Pitkin, S. Doolan, L. McMenamin, et. al.
Thu, 23 Nov 17
44/52

Comments: 11 pages, 8 figures