Gamma Ray Astronomy

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PPARC simulation of the Microquasar LS5039 ENLARGE Image
This image was created using software developed by Dr. Rob Hynes of LSU.

Gamma-rays are produced in extreme cosmic particle accelerators such as supernova explosions and provide a unique view of the high energy processes at work in the Milky Way.

VHE (very high energy) gamma-ray astronomy is still a young field and the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is conducting the first sensitive survey at this energy range, finding previously unknown sources.

The object that is producing the high energy radiation is thought to be a 'microquasar'. These objects consist of two stars in orbit around each other. One star is an ordinary star, but the other has used up all its nuclear fuel, leaving behind a compact corpse. Depending on the mass of the star that produced it, this compact object is either a neutron star or a black hole, but either way its strong gravitational pull draws in matter from its companion star. This matter spirals down towards the neutron star or the black hole, in a similar way to water spiraling down a plughole.

However, sometimes the compact object receives more matter than it can cope with. The material is then squirted away from the system in a jet of matter moving at speeds close to that of light, resulting in a microquasar. Only a few such objects are known to exist in our galaxy and one of them, an object called LS5039, has now been detected by the H.E.S.S. team.
[+/-] click to expand

The companion star to the compact object is a massive star that is losing material from its surface. This matter is then captured by the compact object's strong gravitational field and spirals down towards the surface. Some of this material is then ejected in two jets travelling at 20% of the speed of light. In fact, the real nature of LS5039 is something of a mystery. It is not clear what the compact object is. Some of the characteristics suggest it is a neutron star, some that it is a black hole. Not only that, but the jet isn't much of a jet; although it is moving at about 20% of the speed of light, which might seem a lot, in the context of these objects it's actually quite slow.

Nor is it clear how the gamma rays are being produced. Very high energy gamma rays emitted close to the companion star are more likely to be absorbed, creating a matter/antimatter cascade, than escape from the system.

The results were obtained using the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) telescopes in Namibia, in South-West Africa. This system of four 13 m diameter telescopes is currently the most sensitive detector of VHE gamma-rays - radiation that is a million, million times more energetic than the visible light.

These high energy gamma rays are quite rare even for relatively strong sources; only about one gamma ray per month hits a square metre at the top of the Earth's atmosphere. Also, since they are absorbed in the atmosphere, a direct detection of a significant number of the rare gamma rays would require a satellite of huge size.

The H.E.S.S. telescopes employ a trick - they use the atmosphere as detector medium. When gamma rays are absorbed in the air, they emit short flashes of blue light, named Cherenkov light, lasting a few billionths of a second. This light is collected by the H.E.S.S. telescopes with large mirrors and extremely sensitive cameras and can be used to create images of astronomical objects as they appear in gamma-rays.

More from PPARC PressRelease:
Mystery compact object producing high energy radiation
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Integral Catches a new erupting blackhole
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ESA's gamma-ray observatory, Integral, has spotted a rare kind of gamma-ray outburst.

The vast explosion of energy allowed astronomers to pinpoint a possible black hole in our Galaxy.

The outburst was discovered on 17 September 2006 by staff at the Integral Science Data Centre (ISDC), Versoix, Switzerland.

"The galactic centre is one of the most exciting regions for gamma ray astronomy because there are so many potential gamma-ray sources," says Roland Walter, an astronomer at the ISDC, and lead author of these results.

In this case, the outburst continued to rise in brightness for a few days before beginning a gradual decline that lasted for weeks. The way the brightness of an outburst rises and falls is known to astronomers as a light curve. "It was only after a week that we could see the shape of the light curve and realised what a rare event we had observed," says Walter.

Comparing the shape of the light curve to others on file revealed that this was an eruption thought to come from a binary star system in which one component is a star like our Sun whereas the other is a black hole.

In these systems, the gravity of the black hole is ripping the Sun-like star to pieces. As the doomed star orbits the black hole, it lays down its gas in a disc, know as an accretion disc, surrounding the black hole.

Occasionally, this accretion disc becomes unstable and collapses onto the black hole, causing the kind of outburst that Integral witnessed. Astronomers are still not sure why the accretion disc should collapse like this but one thing is certain: when it does collapse, it releases thousands of times the energy than at other times.

Because such active star–black hole binaries are thought to be rare in the Galaxy, astronomers expect Integral to see such an outbursts only once every few years. That makes each and every one a precious resource for astronomers to study.

INTEGRAL catches a new erupting black hole
Additional Material to ESA's Press Release of 27 Nov. 2006
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