The study of Galactic diffuse $γ$ radiation combined with the knowledge of the distribution of the molecular hydrogen in the Galaxy offers a unique tool to probe the cosmic ray flux in the Galaxy. A methodology to study the level of the cosmic ray "sea" and to unveil target-accelerator systems in the Galaxy, which makes use of the data from the high resolution survey of the Galactic molecular clouds performed with the NANTEN telescope and of the data from gamma-ray instruments, has been developed. Some predictions concerning the level of the cosmic ray "sea" and the $γ$-ray emission close to cosmic ray sources for instruments such as Fermi and Cherenkov Telescope Array are presented.
Improving our understanding of the initial conditions and earliest stages of protostellar collapse is crucial to gain insight into the origin of stellar masses, multiple systems, and protoplanetary disks. Observationally, there are two complementary approaches to this problem: (1) studying the structure and kinematics of prestellar cores observed prior to protostar formation, and (2) studying the structure of young (e.g. Class 0) accreting protostars observed soon after point mass formation. We discuss recent advances made in this area thanks to (sub)millimeter mapping observations with large …
The question "How did we get here and what will the future bring?" captures the human imagination and the attention of the National Academy of Science's Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Commitee (AASC). Fulfillment of this "fundamental goal" requires astronomers to have sensitive, high angular and spectral resolution observations in the far-infrared/submillimeter (far-IR/sub-mm) spectral region. With half the luminosity of the universe and vital information about galaxy, star and planet formation, observations in this spectral region require capabilities similar to those currently available o…
The Submillimeter Array has opened a new window to study the innermost warm and dense regions of the envelopes and disks around deeply embedded protostars. This paper presents high-angular resolution (< 2'') submillimeter observations of the class 0 young stellar object NGC1333-IRAS2A. Dust continuum emission and lines of complex organic molecules such as CH3OCH3 and CH3OCHO, high excitation CH3OH transitions, deuterated methanol CH3OD as well as lines of CO, HCN, H13CN, SO and SO2 are detected on < 200 AU scales. The observations are interpreted using detailed radiative transfer models of the…
We present the first comprehensive search for submillimeter and radio emission from the host galaxies of twenty well-localized gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). With the exception of a single source, all observations were undertaken months to years after the GRB explosions to ensure negligible contamination from the afterglows. We detect the host galaxy of GRB 000418 in both the sub-mm and radio, and the host galaxy of GRB 000210 only in the sub-mm. These observations, in conjunction with the previous detections of the host galaxies of GRB 980703 and GRB 010222, indicate that about 20% of GRB host gala…
Context: Submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) are distant, dusty galaxies undergoing star formation at prodigious rates. Recently there has been major progress in understanding the nature of the bright SMGs (i.e. S(850um)>5mJy). The samples for the fainter SMGs are small and are currently in a phase of being built up through identification studies. Aims: We study the molecular gas content in two SMGs, SMMJ163555 and SMMJ163541, at z=1.034 and z=3.187 with unlensed submm fluxes of 0.4mJy and 6.0mJy. Both SMGs are gravitationally lensed by the foreground cluster A2218. Methods: IRAM Plateau de Bure Int…
Cosmological implications of clusters of galaxies are discussed with particular attention to their importance in probing the cosmological parameters. More specifically we compute the number counts of clusters of galaxies, Log $N$ -- Log $S$ relation, in X-ray and submm bands on the basis of the Press--Schechter theory. As an important step toward breaking the degeneracy among the viable cosmological models, we observed the most luminous X-ray cluster RXJ1347-1145 in three bands (21 and 43 GHz in the Nobeyama Radio Observatory, Japan, and 350 GHz in the J. C. Maxwell telescope at Mauna Kea, Haw…
We examine the cosmic ray proton (CRp) population within the giant elliptical galaxy M 87 using the TeV gamma-ray detection of the HEGRA collaboration. In our scenario, the gamma-rays are produced by decaying pions which result from hadronic CRp interactions with thermal gas of the interstellar medium of M 87. By comparing the gamma-ray emission to upper limits of EGRET, we constrain the spectral index of the CRp population to alpha(GeV,TeV) < 2.275 within our scenario. Both the expected radial gamma-ray profile and the required amount of CRp support this hadronic scenario. The accompanying ra…
We investigate the angular distribution of gamma-ray bursts using the largest catalog of well-localized events that is currently available---combined BATSE/Ulysses burst locations. We present the preliminary spatial analysis of 415 BATSE/Ulysses bursts included in the BATSE 4B catalog. We find that the locations are consistent with large- and small-scale isotropy, with no significant clustering or repetition. We also search for cross-correlation between the BATSE/Ulysses bursts and known extragalactic objects---such as Abell galaxy clusters, radio-quiet QSO, AGN and supernovae---and place limi…
Gamma- and X-rays resulting from radioactive decays provide a potentially powerful tool to investigate the explosion physics of supernovae, since the distribution and the amount of radioactive isotopes are strongly dependent on properties of the explosion. In this paper, expected features of these high energy emissions are presented for bipolar jet-induced explosion models, which are recently favored for very energetic supernovae and even for typical Type Ib/c supernovae. It is shown that combination of various observations, i.e., line-to-continuum ratio, photoelectric absorption cut-off energ…
In Nakar & Piran (2004) we have shown that a large fraction of BATSE bursts cannot satisfy the Amati relation between the isotropic energy - peak energy of GRBs. Our results have been corroborated by a further analysis carried out by Band and Preece (2005). Recently Ghirlanda et al. (2005) claimed that when the exact distribution of the scatter around the Amati relation is taken into account, the BATSE sample is consistent with the Amati relation. We show that the probability that the BATSE sample is consistent with the Amati relation (including the scattering), as found by Ghirlanda et al. (2…
Radio observations of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows provide both complementary and unique diagnostics of the afterglow physics and environment of the burst. Here we concentrate on three unique aspects of GRB energetics and environments afforded by radio and submillimeter observations: the non-relativistic evolution of the fireball, the density profile of the circumburst medium, and the study of obscured star formation in GRB host galaxies.
We probe the existence of the E_peak-E_iso correlation in long GRBs using a sample of 442 BATSE bursts with known E_peak and with redshift estimated through the lag-luminosity correlation. This sample confirms that the rest frame peak energy is correlated with the isotropic equivalent energy. The distribution of the scatter of the points around the best fitting line is similar to that obtained with the 27 bursts with spectroscopic redshifts. We interpret the scatter in the E_peak-E_iso plane as due to the opening angle distribution of GRB jets. By assuming that the collimation corrected energy…
The next generation of gamma-ray telescopes may be able to observe gamma-ray blazars at high redshift, possibly out to the epoch of reionization. The spectrum of such sources should exhibit an absorption edge due to pair-production against UV photons along the line of sight. One expects a sharp drop in the number density of UV photons at the Lyman edge E_{L}. This implies that the universe becomes transparent after gamma-ray photons redshift below E (m_{e}c^2)^{2}/E_{L} 18 GeV. Thus, there is only a limited redshift interval over which GeV photons can pair produce. This implies that any observ…
We investigate the delayed, secondary GeV-TeV emission of gamma-ray bursts and its potential to probe the nature of intergalactic magnetic fields. Geometrical effects are properly taken into account for the time delay between primary high energy photons and secondary inverse Compton photons from electron-positron pairs, which are produced in $γ$-$γ$ interactions with background radiation fields and deflected by intervening magnetic fields. The time-dependent spectra of the delayed emission are evaluated for a wide range of magnetic field strengths and redshifts. The typical flux and delay time…
We show a possible way to measure the column density of free electrons along the light path, the so-called Dispersion Measure (DM), from the early $[\sim 415 (ν/1 {\rm GHz})^{-2} ({\rm DM}/10^{5} {\rm pc} {\rm cm}^{-3}) {\rm s}]$ radio afterglows of the gamma-ray bursts. We find that the proposed Square Kilometer Array can detect bright radio afterglows around the time $\sim 10^{3}(ν/160 {\rm MHz})^{-2}$ s to measure the intergalactic DM ($\simg 6000$ pc cm$^{-3}$ at redshift $z>6$) up to $z\sim 30$, from which we can determine the reionization history of the universe and identify the missing …
In light of the recent finding of the narrow clustering of the geometrically-corrected gamma-ray energies emitted by Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), we investigate the possibility to use these sources as standard candles to probe cosmological parameters such as the matter density Omega_m and the cosmological constant energy density Omega_Lambda. By simulating different samples of gamma-ray bursts, based on recent observational results, we find that Omega_m (with the prior Omega_m + Omega_Lambda = 1) can be determined with accuracy ~7% with data from 300 GRBs, provided a local calibration of the stand…
We present here the extragalactic background light (EBL) predicted by semi-analytic models of galaxy formation, and show how measurements of the absorption of gamma rays of $\sim$ TeV energies via pair production on the EBL can probe cosmology and the formation of galaxies. Semi-analytic models permit a physical treatment of the key processes of galaxy formation -- including gravitational collapse and merging of dark matter halos, gas cooling and dissipation, star formation, supernova feedback and metal production -- and have been shown to reproduce key observations at low and high redshift. U…
A gamma-ray burst (GRB) releases an amount of energy similar to that of a supernova explosion, which combined with its rapid variability suggests an origin related to neutron stars or black holes. Since these compact stellar remnants form from the most massive stars not long after their birth, gamma-ray bursts should trace the star formation rate in the Universe; we show that the GRB flux distribution is consistent with this. Because of the strong evolution of the star formation rate with redshift, it follows that the dimmest known bursts have z ~ 6, much above the value usually quoted and bey…
Brightness distribution of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) is studied in detail under the assumption that GRB rate is related to cosmic star formation rate. The two populations of the long- and short-duration bursts in the 4B BATSE catalog are analyzed separately. Taking account of current uncertainties in the observational estimate of star formation rate (SFR), we have tried various models of the cosmic star formation history and we find that the SFR evolution in $z$ = 0--1 is strongly constrained by the GRB distribution if the standard candle approximation is valid. The strong SFR evolution by a fac…
We have laid down the formalism and techniques necessary for computing the multipole components in a spherical harmonic expansion for bursting sources given any specific power spectrum of density perturbations. Using this formalism we have explicitly computed and tabulated the expected first few multipole components for the GRB distribution using a Cold Dark Matter power spectrum. Unfortunately, our analysis leads us to expect that an anisotropy signal for this model of structure formation will be below the shot noise level for the foreseeable future. Earlier studies by others had claimed that…
We present models of the extragalactic background light (EBL) based on several scenarios of galaxy formation and evolution. We have treated galaxy formation with the Press-Schecter approximation for both cold dark matter (CDM) and cold+hot dark matter (CHDM) models, representing a moderate ($z_f \sim 3$) and a late ($z_f \sim 1$) era of galaxy formation respectively. Galaxy evolution has been treated by considering a variety of stellar types, different initial mass functions and star formation histories, and with an accounting of dust absorption and emission. We find that the dominant factor i…
In main sequence stars the periods of high-order gravity modes are sensitive probes of stellar cores and, in particular, of the chemical composition gradient that develops near the outer edge of the convective core. We present an analytical approximation of high-order g modes that takes into account the effect of the mu gradient near the core. We show that in main-sequence models, similarly to the case of white dwarfs, the periods of high-order gravity modes are accurately described by a uniform period spacing superposed to an oscillatory component. The periodicity and amplitude of such compon…
More than a dozen blazars are known to be emitters of multi-TeV gamma rays, often with strong and rapid flaring activity. By interacting with photons of the cosmic microwave and infrared backgrounds, these gamma rays inevitably produce electron-positron pairs, which in turn radiate secondary inverse Compton gamma rays in the GeV-TeV range with a characteristic time delay that depends on the properties of the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF). For sufficiently weak IGMF, such "pair echo" emission may be detectable by the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), providing valuable informa…
Very high energy, short wavelength, neutrinos may interact with the space-time foam predicted by theories of quantum gravity. They would propagate like light through a crystal lattice and be delayed, with the delay depending on the energy. This will appear to the observer as a violation of Lorenz invariance. Back of the envelope calculations imply that observations of neutrinos produced by gamma ray bursts may reach Planck-scale sensitivity. We revisit the problem considering two essential complications: the imprecise timing of the neutrinos associated with their poorly understood production m…
We present a new analysis of an archived Chandra HETGS X-ray spectrum of the WR+O colliding wind binary Gamma Velorum. The spectrum is dominated by emission lines from astrophysically abundant elements: Ne, Mg, Si, S and Fe. From a combination of broad-band spectral analysis and an analysis of line flux ratios we infer a wide range of temperatures in the X-ray emitting plasma (~4-40 MK). As in the previously published analysis, we find the X-ray emission lines are essentially unshifted, with a mean FWHM of 1240 +/- 30 km/s. Calculations of line profiles based on hydrodynamical simulations of t…
Recent observations of the Galactic center in high-energy gamma-rays (above 0.1TeV) have opened up new ways to study this region, from understanding the emission source of these high-energy photons to constraining the environment in which they are formed. We present a revised theoretical density model of the inner 5pc surrounding Sgr A* based on the fact that the underlying structure of this region is dominated by the winds from the Wolf-Rayet stars orbiting Sgr A*. An ideal probe and application of this density structure is this high energy gamma-ray emission. We assume a proton-scattering mo…
Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows close to their peak intensity are among the brightest X-ray sources in the sky. Despite their fast power-law like decay, when fluxes are integrated from minutes up to hours after the GRB event, the corresponding number counts (logN-logF relation) far exceeds that of any other high redshift (z>0.5) source, the flux of which is integrated over the same time interval. We discuss how to use X-ray afterglows of GRBs as distant beacons to probe the warm (10^5 K<T<10^7 K) intergalactic matter in filaments and outskirts of clusters of galaxies by means of absorption fe…
We present a comprehensive study of the morphological properties of 42 gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope in the optical band. The purpose of this study is to understand the relation of GRBs to their macro-environments, and to compare the GRB-selected galaxies to other high redshift samples. We perform both qualitative and quantitative analyses by categorizing the galaxies according to their visual properties, and by examining their surface brightness profiles. We find that all of the galaxies have approximately exponential profiles, indicative of galact…
We propose a new method to use gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as an alternative probe of the dark energy. By calibrating luminosity-variability and luminosity-lag time relations at low redshift where distance-redshift relations have been already determined from type Ia supernova (SNIa), GRBs at high redshift can be used as a distance indicator. We investigate the potential impact of future GRB data on determining the current matter density $Ω_{m}$ and the dark energy equation of state $w$ which is assumed to be constant. We show that a combined analysis of a data set expected from the {\it Swift} and…
We discuss the effect of dispersion delay due to intervening ionized media in the radio emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). For high redshift GRBs ($z \ga 3$), the ionized intergalactic medium (IGM) should be the dominant source of dispersion without substantial local or foreground contamination, offering a unique probe of the cosmic reionization epoch through measures of the free electron column density out to different redshifts. The delay times from $z \sim 10$ can be $\sim$ 1 hour at 100 MHz and $\sim$ 10 hours at 30 MHz. On the other hand, dispersion by local ionized material may be impo…
We explore scenarios where the highest energy cosmic rays are produced by new particle physics near the grand unification scale. Using detailed numerical simulations of extragalactic nucleon, gamma-ray, and neutrino propagation, we show the existence of an interesting parameter range for which such scenarios may explain part of the data and are consistent with all observational constraints. A combination of proposed observatories for ultra-high energy cosmic rays, neutrino telescopes of a few kilometer scale, and gamma-ray astrophysics instruments should be able to test these scenarios. In par…
We explore the extinction properties of the dust in the distant universe through the afterglows of high-redshifted GRBs based on the "Drude" model which, unlike previous studies, does not require a prior assumption of template extinction laws. We select GRB070802 at z~2.45 (which shows clear evidence for the 2175Åextinction bump) and GRB050904 at z~6.29, the 2nd most distant GRB observed to date. We fit their afterglow spectra to determine the extinction of their host galaxies. We find that (1) their extinction curves differ substantially from that of the Milky Way, the Small and Large Magella…
We show that the jet structure of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be investigated with the tail emission of the prompt GRB. The tail emission which we consider is identified as a steep-decay component of the early X-ray afterglow observed by the X-ray Telescope onboard Swift. Using a Monte Carlo method, we derive, for the first time, the distribution of the decay index of the GRB tail emission for various jet models. The new definitions of the zero of time and the time interval of a fitting region are proposed. These definitions for fitting the light curve lead us an unique definition of the decay…
We evaluate the broadband afterglow emission of very high redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using standard relativistic blastwave models with both forward and reverse shock components. For a broad range of parameters, a generic property for GRBs at redshifts $z \sim$ 5--30 is that the emission peaks in the millimeter to far-infrared bands with milli-Jansky flux levels, first at a few hours after the burst due to the reverse shock, and then again for several days afterwards with somewhat lower flux due to the forward shock. The radio, submillimeter and infrared continuum emission should be readi…
I discuss how measurements of the absorption of $γ$-rays from GeV to TeV energies via pair production on the extragalactic background light (EBL) can probe important issues in galaxy formation. We use semi-analytic models (SAMs) of galaxy formation, based on the flat LCDM hierarchical structure formation scenario with $Ω_m=0.3$ and Hubble parameter $h=0.65$, to obtain predictions of the EBL from 0.1 to 1000$μ$m. SAMs incorporate simplified physical treatments of the key processes of galaxy formation - including gravitational collapse and merging of dark matter halos, gas cooling and dissipatio…
We present models of the extragalactic background light (EBL) based on several scenarios of galaxy formation and evolution. We have treated galaxy formation with the Press-Schecter approximation for both cold dark matter (CDM) and cold+hot dark matter (CHDM) models. Galaxy evolution has been treated by considering a variety of stellar types, different initial mass functions and star formation histories, and with an accounting of dust absorption and emission. We find that the dominant factor influencing the EBL is the epoch of galaxy formation. A recently proposed method for observing the EBL u…
The late-time optical/radio afterglows of $γ$-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to be synchrotron emission of electrons accelerated in relativistic collisionless shocks propagating in the ambient medium of the sources. However, the fraction $f$ of electrons that are coupled to protons and accelerated remains unclear and a large number of thermal electrons that are not coupled to protons may be left behind. If $f<1$, the true explosion energies of GRBs are $f^{-1}$ times larger than those commonly estimated with $f=1$. Thus the value of $f$ gives an important constraint on the nature of the centra…
The last years have seen a revolution in ground-based gamma-ray detectors. We can now detect the spectra of nearby TeV blazars like Mrk 421 and 501 out to approximately 20 TeV, and during the strongest flares, we can now follow fluctuations in these spectra on timescales close to the shortest ones likely in these objects. We point out that this represents a unique opportunity. Using these and future detectors in combination with broadband X-ray satellites like SAX and RXTE, we will be able to simultaneously follow all significant X-ray/gamma-ray variations in a blazar's emission. This will pro…
We estimate gamma-ray fluxes due to the decay of nuclei beyond Bi209 from a supernova or a supernova remnant assuming that the r-process occurs in supernovae. We find that a detector with a sensitivity of about 10**(-7) photons/cm**2/s at energies of 40 keV to 3 MeV may detect fluxes due to the decay of Ra226, Th229, Am241, Am243, Cf249, and Cf251 in the newly discovered supernova remnant near Vela. In addition, such a detector may detect fluxes due to the decay of Ac227 and Ra228 produced in a future supernova at a distance of about 1 kpc. As nuclei with mass numbers A > 209 are produced sole…
Pion decay gamma rays have long been recognized as a unique signature of hadronic cosmic rays and their interactions with the interstellar medium. We present a model-independent way of constraining this signal with observations of the Galactic Plane in diffuse gamma rays. We combine detections by the EGRET instrument at GeV energies and the Milagro Cherenkov detector at TeV energies with upper limits from KASCADE and CASA-MIA ground arrays at PeV energies. Such a long "lever arm", spanning at least six orders of magnitude in energy, reveals a "TeV excess" in the diffuse Galactic Plane gamma-ra…
We argue that in fat brane-world scenarios the light propagating in vacuum will, because of massive ``Kaluza-Klein'' (KK) excitations, experience a refraction. The motion of a photon inside a fat brane can be decomposed in the longitudinal and transverse directions with respect to the surface of the brane. Since the light observable propagation is related only with the longitudinal motion, the observed speed of light depends on the value of the momentum transverse fraction contributing as the massive KK excitations. This is directly connected with the energy of the particles emitting the light…
