From Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: “What Ionized the Universe?”

From Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

A NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the rapidly fading visible-light fireball from a gamma-ray burst (GRB) in a distant galaxy. A new study used the spectra of 140 GRB afterglows to estimate the amount of ionizing radiation from massive stars that escapes from galaxies to ionize the intergalactic medium, and finds the surprising result that it is very small. Andrew Fruchter (STScI) and NASA/ESA

The sparsely distributed hot gas that exists in the space between galaxies, the intergalactic medium, is ionized. The question is, how? Astronomers know that once the early universe expanded and cooled enough, hydrogen (its main constituent) recombined into neutral atoms. Then, once newly formed massive stars began to shine in the so-called “era of reionization,” their extreme ultraviolet radiation presumably ionized the gas in processes that continue today.

Reionization era and first stars, Caltech

One of the key steps, however, is not well understood, namely the extent to which the stellar ionizing radiation escapes from the galaxies into the IGM. Only if the fraction escaping was high enough during the era of reionization could starlight have done the job, otherwise some other significant source of ionizing radiation is required. That might imply the existence of an important population of more exotic objects like faint quasars, X-ray binary stars, or perhaps even decaying/annihilating particles.

Direct studies of extreme ultraviolet light are difficult because the neutral gas absorbs it very strongly. Because the universe is expanding, the spectrum absorbed covers more and more of the optical range with distance until optical observations of cosmologically remote galaxies are essentially impossible. CfA astronomer Edo Berger joined a large team of colleagues to estimate the amount of absorbing gas by looking at the spectra of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. GRBs are very bright bursts of radiation produced when the core of a massive star collapses. They are bright enough that when their radiation is absorbed in narrow spectral features by gas along the line-of sight, those features can be measured and used to calculate the amount of absorbing atomic hydrogen. That number can then be directly converted into an escape fraction for the ultraviolet light of the associated galaxy. Although a single observation of a GRB in one galaxy does not provide a robust measure, a sample of GRBs is thought to be able to provide a representative measure across all sightlines to massive stars.

The astronomers carefully measured the spectra of 140 GRB afterglows in galaxies ranging as far away as epochs slightly less than one billion years after the big bang. They find a remarkably small escape fraction – less than about 1% of the ionizing photons make it out into the intergalactic medium. The dramatic result finds that stars provide only a small contribution to the ionizing radiation budget in the universe from that early period until today, not even in galaxies actively making new stars. The authors discuss possible reasons why GRBs might not provide an accurate measure of the absorption, although none is particularly convincing. The result needs confirmation and additional measurements, but suggests that a serious reconsideration of the ionizing budget of the intergalactic medium of the universe is needed.

Science paper:
“The Fraction of Ionizing Radiation from Massive Stars That Escapes to the Intergalactic Medium,” N. R. Tanvir et al.
MNRAS

See the full article here .

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The Center for Astrophysics combines the resources and research facilities of the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a single director to pursue studies of those basic physical processes that determine the nature and evolution of the universe. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1890. The Harvard College Observatory (HCO), founded in 1839, is a research institution of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, and provides facilities and substantial other support for teaching activities of the Department of Astronomy.

From Niels Bohr Institute: “Catching a glimpse of the gamma-ray burst engine”

University of Copenhagen

From Niels Bohr Institute

16 January 2019

A gamma-ray burst registered in December of 2017 turns out to be “one of the closets GRBs ever observed”. The discovery is featured in Nature [co-authors are: Jonathan Selsing, Johan Fynbo, Jens Hjorth and Daniele Malesani from the Niels Bohr Institute, Giorgos Leloudas from the Technical University of Denmark and Kasper Heintz from University of Iceland] – and it has yielded valuable information about the formation of the most luminous phenomenon in the universe. Scientists from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen helped carrying out the analysis.

Jonatan Selsing frequently receives text messages from a certain sender regarding events in space. It happens all around the clock, and when his cell phone goes ‘beep’ he knows that yet another gamma-ray burst (GRB) notification has arrived. Which, routinely, raises the question: Does this information – originating from the death of a massive star way back, millions if not billions of years ago – merit further investigation?

The development in a dying star until the gamma ray burst forms. Attribution: National Science Foundation

Gamma ray bursts – bright signals from space

“GRBs represent the brightest phenomenon known to science – the luminous intensity of a single GRB may in fact exceed that of all stars combined! And at the same time GRBs – which typically last just a couple of seconds – represent one of the best sources available, when it comes to gleaning information about the initial stages of our universe”, explains Jonatan Selsing.

He is astronomer and postdoc at Cosmic Dawn Center at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. And he is one of roughly 100 astronomers in a global network set up to ensure that all observational resources needed can be instantaneously mobilized when the GRB-alarm goes off.

Quick action must be taken when a gamma ray burst is registered

The alarm sits on board the international Swift-telescope which was launched in 2004 – and has orbited Earth ever since with the mission of registering GRBs.

NASA Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory

Swift is capable of constantly observing one third of the night sky, and when the telescope registers a GRB – which on average happens a couple of times per week – it will immediately text the 100 astronomers. The message will tell where in space the GRB has been observed – whereupon the astronomer on duty must make a here-and-now decision:

Is there reason to assume that this specific GRB is of such importance that we should ask the VLT-telescope in Chile to immediately take a closer look at it?

ESO VLT at Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert, •ANTU (UT1; The Sun ),
•KUEYEN (UT2; The Moon ),
•MELIPAL (UT3; The Southern Cross ), and
•YEPUN (UT4; Venus – as evening star).
elevation 2,635 m (8,645 ft) from above Credit J.L. Dauvergne & G. Hüdepohl atacama photo,

Or should we consider the information from Swift sheer routine, and leave it at that?

On December 5th 2017 – just around 09 o’clock in the morning Copenhagen time – the GRB-alarm went off. Luca Izzo, Italian astronomer, was on duty – and Izzo did not harbor the slightest doubt: He right away alerted VLT – the Very Large Telescope in Chile – which is run by 11 European countries, including Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, Sweden and Denmark.

At that time it was early in the morning in Chile – 05 o’clock – and dawn was rapidly approaching, tells Jonatan Selsing: “For VLT to take a closer look at the GRB, action had to be taken immediately – since the telescope is only capable of working against a background of the night sky. And fortunately this was exactly what happened, when Izzo contacted VLT”.

This is also why Luca Izzo is listed as first author of the scientific article describing this GRB – an article which has just been published in Nature, one of the world’s most influential scientific journals. The article is based on analyses of the VLT-recordings, and the recordings reveal that this GRB in more than one respect can be described as unusual, says Jonatan Selsing:

“Not least because this is one of the closest GRBs ever observed. GRB171205A – which has since become the official name of this gamma-ray burst – originated a mere 500 million years ago, and has ever since traveled through space at the speed of light, i.e. at 300.000 kilometer per second”. Working closely with a number of his colleagues at the Niels Bohr Institute, Jonatan Selsing contributed to the Nature-article with an analysis which – put simply – represents “a glimpse” of the very engine behind a gamma-ray burst.

Gamma ray bursts are the results of violent events in space

When a massive star – rotating at very high speed – dies, its core may collapse, thus creating a so-called black hole.

This computer-simulated image of a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. Credit NASA, ESA, and D. Coe, J. Anderson

A massive star may weigh up to 300 times more than the Sun, and due to combustion the star is transforming light elements to heavier elements. This process, which takes place in the core, is the source of energy not only in massive stars, but in all stars.

Ashes – the by-product of combustion – may over time become such a heavy load that a massive star can no longer carry its own weight, which is why it finally collapses. When that happens, the outer layers will gradually fall towards the core – towards the black hole – at which point a disc is formed.

Due to the star’s rotation, the disc will function as a dynamo creating a gigantic magnetic field – which will emit two jets, both going away from the black hole at a velocity close to the speed of light. During this process, the dying star is also releasing – spewing – matter, which lightens up with extreme intensity.
This light is the very gamma-ray burst – the GRB itself. And the matter which is released from the center of the star is set free in the form of a so-called jet cocoon.

The gamma ray burst confirms our assumptions about the elements stars produce

“One of the unique features of GRB171205A is that it proved possible to determine which elements this gamma-ray burst released via the jet cocoon 500 million years ago. That was measured here at the Niels Bohr Institute, and that is our contribution to the Nature-article. These measurements were carried out via X-shooter – an extremely sensitive piece of equipment mounted on the VLT-telescope”, says Jonatan Selsing.

X-shooter analyzed the VLT-footage of the gamma-ray burst – and this analysis led to the conclusion that the jet cocoon from GRB171205A contained iron, cobalt and nickel which had formed in the center of the star, explains Jonatan Selsing:

“This corresponds with our theoretical expectations – and therefore also corroborates our model for a star-collapse of this magnitude. Being able to establish that it actually did happen in this way is, however, really special. That’s when you get a glimpse of the very engine behind a gamma-ray burst”.

ESO X-shooter on VLT on UT2 at Cerro Paranal, Chile

ESO X-shooter on VLT on UT2 at Cerro Paranal, Chile

See the full article here .

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Stem Education Coalition

The Niels Bohr Institute (Danish: Niels Bohr Institutet) is a research institute of the University of Copenhagen. The research of the institute spans astronomy, geophysics, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum mechanics and biophysics.

The Institute was founded in 1921, as the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Copenhagen, by the Danish theoretical physicist Niels Bohr, who had been on the staff of the University of Copenhagen since 1914, and who had been lobbying for its creation since his appointment as professor in 1916. On the 80th anniversary of Niels Bohr’s birth – October 7, 1965 – the Institute officially became The Niels Bohr Institute.[1] Much of its original funding came from the charitable foundation of the Carlsberg brewery, and later from the Rockefeller Foundation.[2]

During the 1920s, and 1930s, the Institute was the center of the developing disciplines of atomic physics and quantum physics. Physicists from across Europe (and sometimes further abroad) often visited the Institute to confer with Bohr on new theories and discoveries. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics is named after work done at the Institute during this time.

On January 1, 1993 the institute was fused with the Astronomic Observatory, the Ørsted Laboratory and the Geophysical Institute. The new resulting institute retained the name Niels Bohr Institute.

The University of Copenhagen (UCPH) (Danish: Københavns Universitet) is the oldest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479 as a studium generale, it is the second oldest institution for higher education in Scandinavia after Uppsala University (1477). The university has 23,473 undergraduate students, 17,398 postgraduate students, 2,968 doctoral students and over 9,000 employees. The university has four campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the headquarters located in central Copenhagen. Most courses are taught in Danish; however, many courses are also offered in English and a few in German. The university has several thousands of foreign students, about half of whom come from Nordic countries.

The university is a member of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), along with University of Cambridge, Yale University, The Australian National University, and UC Berkeley, amongst others. The 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks the University of Copenhagen as the best university in Scandinavia and 30th in the world, the 2016-2017 Times Higher Education World University Rankings as 120th in the world, and the 2016-2017 QS World University Rankings as 68th in the world. The university has had 9 alumni become Nobel laureates and has produced one Turing Award recipient

From Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias – IAC: “The observation of a rare hypernova, complete the story of the death of the most massive stars.

From Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias – IAC

8/1/19
Manu Astrónomus

Contact:
Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC)
Dissemination and Communication Unit
Silbia Lopez de Lacalle – sll@iaa.es – 958230676
https://www.iaa.csic.es
https://divulgacion.iaa.csic.es

[I have done my best to correct the translation.]

Explosion image obtained by the Gran Telescopio Canarias in the period of maximum brightness of the event.

A study led by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) and published in Nature, studied in detail to the life of a star, which produces a gamma – ray burst (GRB) and a hypernovae.

The end of the life of stars holds placid scenarios in the case of low-mass stars like the sun. Not so in the case of very massive stars, which undergo explosive events so intense that they can get to outshine all the galaxy that hosts. An international group of astronomers has studied in detail the end of a massive star that has been a gamma-ray burst (GRB) and hypernovae, which has detected a new component in this type of phenomena. The study, published in the journal Nature [above], provides the link to complete the story that links hypernovae with GRBs.

“In 1998 the first hypernovae was detected, a version of the very energy supernovae, which followed a burst of gamma rays and which was the first evidence of the connection between the two phenomena” says Luca Izzo Institute investigator Andalusia Astrophysics (IAA-CSIC) headed the study.

The proposed scenario to explain the phenomenon involved a star of more than twenty solar masses, to exhaust their fuel undergoes a process of core collapse. To collapse on itself, the core generates a black hole or neutron stars, while two polar jets of matter that cross the outer layers of the star and, emerging into the medium, produce gamma ray bursts occur ( GRBs). Hypernovae finally burst, which can be tens of times more intense than a supernova occurs.

Hypernovae artistic representation. The interaction of the jet
with the outer layers of the star forms a sheath around
the jet head and begins to spread laterally with respect
to the jet direction. The jet is able to completely pierce the
shell of the parent star, issue the issuance of a type of high – energy,
responsible for GRB. Source: Anna Serena Esposito.

But, even after twenty years of studying the relationship between GRBs and hypernovae seems clear, it is not met in the opposite direction, as they have detected several hypernovae not have associated gamma-ray bursts. “This work has allowed us to identify the missing link between these two subtypes hypernovae in the form of a new component: a kind of hot envelope is formed around the jet according propagates through the parent star -apunta Izzo (IAA CSIC) -. The jet transfers a significant part of its energy to the shell and, if it goes through the surface of the star will produce gamma ray emission we identify as GRB “.

However, the jet may spoil within the star and not emerge to medium lacking sufficient energy, a circumstance occurs hypernovae but not a GRB. Thus, the casing detected in this investigation represents the link between the two subtypes hypernovae studied so far, and these “jets damped” (English choked-jets) naturally explain the differences.

EVENT HISTORY

On December 5 the GRB171205A outbreak was detected in a galaxy located just five hundred million light years from Earth, making it the fourth GRB nearest known. “Phenomena of this kind occur on average once every ten years, so immediately began an intense campaign observation with the Gran Telescopio Canarias to observe the emerging hypernovae from the early stages -apunta Christina Thöne, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia ( IAA-CSIC) participating in the hallazgo-. In fact, it is the earliest detection of a hypernovae to date, less than a day after the collapse of the star. ”

And indeed, once the first evidence of the presence of a hypernovae were observed. “This was possible because the luminosity of the jets was much weaker than normal because usually outshine the emission of the supernova He points during the first week Antonio de Ugarte Postigo, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) participating in the hallazgo-. However, a peculiar hypernovae, was already showing very high growth rates and a different chemical abundances to those recorded in similar events “.

This unique chemical composition and velocities associated fit the existence of a jet surrounded by an envelope that cuts on the surface of the star, which had been predicted earlier but had not yet observed. Sheath accompanying the jet during the first days drag material from the interior of the star, and in the case study allowed us to determine its chemical structure. After a few days, this comoponent disappeared and hypernovae evolved similarly to those observed previously.

The total energy emitted by the envelope was higher than the GRB, which implies that the jet deposited much of its energy in it. But also it shows that the energy of GRB depends on the interaction of the jet with stellar material and this new component, the wrapper. And also highlights the need to review the model: “While the standard model supernovae core collapse leads to nearly spherical explosions, evidence of such energy emission produced by a sheath of this type suggests that the jet plays an important role in central collapse supernovae, and we need to take into account the role of the jet explosion models of supernovae, “says Izzo (IAA-CSIC).

This study was coordinated by researchers from the group Phenomena Transients High Energy and Environment (High-Energy Transients and Their Hosts, HETH) of the IAA-CSIC. Christina headed by Thöne, studying the physics of transient astronomical phenomena, the environment in which they occur and the galaxies that host them.

See the full article here.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias(IAC) is an international research centre in Spain which comprises:

The Instituto de Astrofísica, the headquarters, which is in La Laguna (Tenerife).
The Centro de Astrofísica en La Palma (CALP)
The Observatorio del Teide (OT), in Izaña (Tenerife).

These centres, with all the facilities they bring together, make up the European Northern Observatory(ENO).

The IAC is constituted administratively as a Public Consortium, created by statute in 1982, with involvement from the Spanish Government, the Government of the Canary Islands, the University of La Laguna and Spain’s Science Research Council (CSIC).

The International Scientific Committee (CCI) manages participation in the observatories by institutions from other countries. A Time Allocation Committee (CAT) allocates the observing time reserved for Spain at the telescopes in the IAC’s observatories.

The exceptional quality of the sky over the Canaries for astronomical observations is protected by law. The IAC’s Sky Quality Protection Office (OTPC) regulates the application of the law and its Sky Quality Group continuously monitors the parameters that define observing quality at the IAC Observatories.

The IAC’s research programme includes astrophysical research and technological development projects.

The IAC is also involved in researcher training, university teaching and outreachactivities.

The IAC has devoted much energy to developing technology for the design and construction of a large 10.4 metre diameter telescope, the ( Gran Telescopio CANARIAS, GTC), which is sited at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos.

Gran Telescopio Canarias at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, in the Canaries, SpainGran Telescopio CANARIAS, GTC

From AAS NOVA: ” Two Explosions with Similar Quirks”

From AAS NOVA

12 October 2018
Susanna Kohler

Artist’s by now iconic illustration of the merger of two neutron stars, producing a short gamma-ray burst. [NSF/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet]

High-energy radiation released during the merger of two neutron stars last year has left astronomers puzzled. Could a burst of gamma rays from 2015 help us to piece together a coherent picture of both explosions?

A Burst Alone?

When two neutron stars collided last August, forming a distinctive gravitational-wave signal and a burst of radiation detected by telescopes around the world, scientists knew that these observations would change our understanding of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).Though we’d previously observed thousands of GRBs, GRB 170817A was the first to have such a broad range of complementary observations — both in gravitational waves and across the electromagnetic spectrum — providing insight into its origin.

Total isotropic-equivalent energies for Fermi-detected gamma-ray bursts with known redshifts. GRB 170817A (pink star) is a factor of ~1,000 dimmer than typical short GRBs (orange points). GRB 170817A and GRB 150101B (green star) are two of the closest detected short GRBs. [Adapted from Burns et al. 2018]

But it quickly became evident that GRB 170817A was not your typical GRB. For starters, this burst was unusually weak, appearing 1,000 times less luminous than a typical short GRB. Additionally, the behavior of this burst was unusual: instead of having only a single component, the ~2-second explosion exhibited two distinct components — first a short, hard (higher-energy) spike, and then a longer, soft (lower-energy) tail.

The peculiarities of GRB 170817A prompted a slew of models explaining its unusual appearance. Ultimately, the question is: can our interpretations of GRB 170817A safely be applied to the general population of gamma-ray bursts? Or must we assume that GRB 170817A is a unique event, not representative of the general population?

New analysis of a GRB from 2015 — presented in a recent study led by Eric Burns (NASA Goddard SFC) — may help to answer this question.

A Matter of Angles

What does a burst from 2015 have to do with the curious case of GRB 170817A? Burns and collaborators have demonstrated that this 2015 burst, GRB 150101B, exhibited the same strange behavior as GRB 170817A: its emission can be broken down into two components consisting of a short, hard spike, followed by a long, soft tail. Unlike GRB 170817A, however, GRB 150101B is not underluminous — and it lasted less than a tenth of the time.

Fermi count rates in different energy ranges showing the short hard spike and the longer soft tail in GRB 150101B. The short hard spike is visible above 50 keV (top and middle panels). The soft tail is visible in the 10–50 keV channel (bottom panel). [Burns et al. 2018]

Intriguingly, these similarities and differences can all be explained by a single model. Burns and collaborators propose that GRB 150101B and GRB 170817A exhibit the exact same two-component behavior, and their differences in luminosity and duration can be explained by quirks of special relativity.

High-speed outflows such as these will have different apparent luminosities and durations depending on whether we view them along their axis or slightly from the side. Burns and collaborators demonstrate that these the two bursts could easily have the same profile — but GRB 150101B was viewed nearly on-axis, whereas GRB 170817A was viewed from an angle.

If this is true, then perhaps more GRBs have hard spikes and soft tails similar to these two; the tails may just be difficult to detect in more distant bursts. While more work remains to be done, the recognition that GRB 170817A may not be unique is an important one for understanding both its behavior and that of other short GRBs.

Citation

“Fermi GBM Observations of GRB 150101B: A Second Nearby Event with a Short Hard Spike and a Soft Tail,” E. Burns et al 2018 ApJL 863 L34.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aad813/meta

VIRGO Gravitational Wave interferometer, near Pisa, Italy

Caltech/MIT Advanced aLigo Hanford, WA, USA installation

Caltech/MIT Advanced aLigo detector installation Livingston, LA, USA

Cornell SXS, the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) project

Gravitational waves. Credit: MPI for Gravitational Physics/W.Benger

ESA/eLISA the future of gravitational wave research

Skymap showing how adding Virgo to LIGO helps in reducing the size of the source-likely region in the sky. (Credit: Giuseppe Greco (Virgo Urbino group)

NASA/Fermi LAT

NASA/Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope

See the full article here .

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

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AAS Mission and Vision Statement

The mission of the American Astronomical Society is to enhance and share humanity’s scientific understanding of the Universe.

The Society, through its publications, disseminates and archives the results of astronomical research. The Society also communicates and explains our understanding of the universe to the public.
The Society facilitates and strengthens the interactions among members through professional meetings and other means. The Society supports member divisions representing specialized research and astronomical interests.
The Society represents the goals of its community of members to the nation and the world. The Society also works with other scientific and educational societies to promote the advancement of science.
The Society, through its members, trains, mentors and supports the next generation of astronomers. The Society supports and promotes increased participation of historically underrepresented groups in astronomy.
The Society assists its members to develop their skills in the fields of education and public outreach at all levels. The Society promotes broad interest in astronomy, which enhances science literacy and leads many to careers in science and engineering.

Adopted June 7, 2009