Spectral component

Abstract: The quantitative prediction abilities of four multivariate calibration methods for spectral analyses are compared by using extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The calibration methods compared include inverse least-squares (ILS), classical least-squares (CLS), partial least-squares (PLS), and principal component regression (PCR) methods. ILS is a frequency-limited method while the latter three are capable of full-spectrum calibration. The simulations were performed assuming Beer's law holds and that spectral measurement errors and concentration errors associated with the reference method are normally distributed. Eight different factors that could affect the relative performance of the calibration methods were varied in a two-level, eight-factor experimental design in order to evaluate their effect on the prediction abilities of the four methods. It is found that each of the three full-spectrum methods has its range of superior performance. The frequency-limited ILS method was never the best method, although in the presence of relatively large concentration errors it sometimes yields comparable analysis precision to the full-spectrum methods for the major spectral component. The importance of each factor in the absolute and relative performances of the four methods is compared.

Abstract: Observations of GRB 100724B with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor find that the spectrum is dominated by the typical Band functional form, which is usually taken to represent a non-thermal emission component, but also includes a statistically highly significant thermal spectral contribution. The simultaneous observation of the thermal and non-thermal components allows us to confidently identify the two emission components. The fact that these seem to vary independently favors the idea that the thermal component is of photospheric origin while the dominant non-thermal emission occurs at larger radii. Our results imply either a very high efficiency for the non-thermal process or a very small size of the region at the base of the flow, both quite challenging for the standard fireball model. These problems are resolved if the jet is initially highly magnetized and has a substantial Poynting flux.

Abstract: We present the time-averaged characteristics of the Crab pulsar in the 0.75-30 MeV energy window using data from the imaging Compton Telescope COMPTEL aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO) collected over its 9 year mission. Exploiting the exceptionally long COMPTEL exposure on the Crab allowed us to derive significantly improved COMPTEL spectra for the Crab nebula and pulsar emissions, and for the first time to accurately determine at low-energy γ -rays the pulse profile as a function of energy. These timing data, showing the well-known main pulse and second pulse at a phase separation of ~ with strong bridge emission, are studied together with data obtained at soft/hard X-ray energies from the ROSAT HRI, BeppoSAX LECS, MECS and PDS, at soft γ -rays from CGRO BATSE and at high-energy γ -rays from CGRO EGRET in order to obtain a coherent high-energy picture of the Crab pulsar from 0.1 keV up to 10 GeV. The morphology of the pulse profile of the Crab pulsar is continuously changing as a function of energy: the intensities of both the second pulse and the bridge emission increase relative to that of the first pulse for increasing energies up to ~ MeV. Over the COMPTEL energy range above 1 MeV an abrupt morphology change happens: the first pulse becomes again dominant over the second pulse and the bridge emission loses significance such that the pulse profile above 30 MeV is similar to the one observed at optical wavelengths. A pulse-phase-resolved spectral analysis performed in 7 narrow phase slices consistently applied over the 0.1 keV-10 GeV energy interval shows that the pulsed emission can empirically be described with 3 distinct spectral components: i) a power-law emission component (1 keV-5 GeV; photon index ), present in the phase intervals of the two pulses; ii) a curved spectral component required to describe soft ( keV) excess emission present in the same pulse-phase intervals; iii) a broad curved spectral component reflecting the bridge emission from 0.1 keV to ~ MeV. This broad spectral component extends in phase over the full pulse profile in an approximately triangular shape, peaking under the second pulse. Recent model calculations for a three-dimensional pulsar magnetosphere with outer magnetospheric gap acceleration by Cheng et al. (2000) appear at present most successful in explaining the above complex high-energy characteristics of the Crab pulsar.

Abstract: We analyze time-averaged spectra from 86 bright gamma-ray bursts from the first 5 years of the Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory to determine whether the lowest energy data are consistent with a standard spectra form fit to the data at all energies The BATSE Spectroscopy Detectors have the capability to observe photons as low as 5 keV Using the gamma-ray burst locations obtained with the BATSE Large Area Detectors, the Spectroscopy Detectors' low-energy response can be modeled accurately This, together with a postlaunch calibration of the lowest energy Spectroscopy Detector discriminator channel, which can lie in the range 5-20 keV, allows spectral deconvolution over a broad energy range, approx 5 keV to 2 MeV The additional coverage allows us to search for evidence of excess emission, or for a deficit, below 20 keV While no burst has a significant (greater than or equal to 3 sigma) deficit relative to a standard spectra model, we find that 12 bursts have excess low-energy emission, ranging between 12 and 58 times the model flux, that exceeds 5 sigma in significance This is evidence for an additional low-energy spectral component in at least some bursts, or for deviations from the power-law spectral form typically used to model gamma-ray bursts at energies below 100 keV