We present the first observational evidence that light propagating near a rotating black hole is twisted in phase and carries orbital angular momentum (OAM). This physical observable allows a direct measurement of the rotation of the black hole. We e
xtracted the OAM spectra from the radio intensity data collected by the Event Horizon Telescope from around the black hole M87* by using wavefront reconstruction and phase recovery techniques and from the visibility amplitude and phase maps. This method is robust and complementary to black-hole shadow circularity analyses. It shows that the M87* rotates clockwise with an estimated rotation parameter $a=0.90pm0.05$ with $sim 95%$ confidence level (c.l.) and inclination $i=17^circ pm2^circ$, equivalent to a magnetic arrested disk with inclination $i=163^circpm2^circ$. From our analysis we conclude, within a 6 $sigma$ c.l., that the M87* is rotating.
Context. In the context of an in-depth understanding of GRBs and their possible use in cosmology, some important correlations between the parameters that describe their emission have been discovered, among which the Ep,i-Eiso correlation is the most
studied. Because of this, it is fundamental to shed light on the peculiar behaviour of a few events, namely GRB 980425 and GRB 031203, that appear to be important outliers of the Ep,i-Eiso correlation. Aims. In this paper we investigate if the locations of GRB 980425 and GRB 031203, the two (apparent) outliers of the correlation, may be due to an observational bias caused by the lacking detection of the soft X-ray emissions associated with these GRBs, from respectively the BATSE detector on-board the Compton Gamma-Ray Observer and INTEGRAL, that were operating at the epoch of the observations. We analyse the observed emission of other similar sub-energetic bursts (GRBs 060218, 100316D and 161219B) observed by Swift and whose integrated emissions match the Ep,i-Eiso relation. We simulate their integrated and time-resolved emissions as would have been observed by the same detectors that observed GRB 980425 and GRB 031203, aimed at reconstructing the light curve and spectra of these bursts. Results. If observed by old generation instruments, GRB 060218, 100316D and 161219B would appear as outliers of the Ep,i-Eiso relation, while if observed with Swift or WFM GRB 060218 would perfectly match the correlation. We also note that the instrument BAT alone (15-150 keV) actually measured 060218 as an outlier. Conclusions. We suggest that if GRB 980425 and GRB 031203 would have been observed by Swift and by eXTP they may have matched the Ep,i-Eiso relation. This provides strong support to the idea that instrumental biases can make some events in the lower-left corner of the Ep,i-Eiso plane appearing as outliers of the Amati relation.
We discuss the results of the analysis of multi-wavelength data for the afterglows of GRB 081007 and GRB 090424, two bursts detected by Swift. One of them, GRB 081007, also shows a spectroscopically confirmed supernova, SN 2008hw, which resembles SN
1998bw in its absorption features, while the maximum luminosity is only about half as large as that of SN 1998bw. Bright optical flashes have been detected in both events, which allows us to derive solid constraints on the circumburst-matter density profile. This is particularly interesting in the case of GRB 081007, whose afterglow is found to be propagating into a constant-density medium, yielding yet another example of a GRB clearly associated with a massive star progenitor which did not sculpt the surroundings with its stellar wind. There is no supernova component detected in the afterglow of GRB 090424, likely due to the brightness of the host galaxy, comparable to the Milky Way. We show that the afterglow data are consistent with the presence of both forward- and reverse-shock emission powered by relativistic outflows expanding into the interstellar medium. The absence of optical peaks due to the forward shock strongly suggests that the reverse shock regions should be mildly magnetized. The initial Lorentz factor of outflow of GRB 081007 is estimated to be Gamma ~ 200, while for GRB 090424 a lower limit of Gamma > 170 is derived. We also discuss the prompt emission of GRB 081007, which consists of just a single pulse. We argue that neither the external forward-shock model nor the shock-breakout model can account for the prompt emission data and suggest that the single-pulse-like prompt emission may be due to magnetic energy dissipation of a Poynting-flux dominated outflow or to a dissipative photosphere.
Some core-collapse supernovae appear to be hyper-energetic, and a subset of these are aspherical and associated with long GRBs. We use observations of electromagnetic emission from core-collapse supernovae and GRBs to impose constraints on their free
energy source as a prior to searches for their gravitational wave emission. We review these events based on a finite efficiency for the conversion of spin energy to magnetic winds powering supernovae. We find that some of the hyper-energetic events cannot be powered by the spindown of rapidly rotating proto-neutron stars by virtue of their limited rotational energy. They can, instead, be produced by the spindown of black holes providing a distinct prospect for gravitational-wave emission of interest to LIGO, Virgo, and the LCGT.
Context: Strings and other alternative theories describing the quantum properties of space-time suggest that space-time could present a foamy structure and also that, in certain cases, quantum gravity (QG) may manifest at energies much below the Plan
ck scale. One of the observable effects could be the degradation of the diffraction images of distant sources. Aims: We searched for this degradation effect, caused by QG fluctuations, in the light of the farthest quasars (QSOs) observed by the Hubble Space Telescope with the aim of setting new limits on the fluctuations of the space-time foam and QG models. Methods: We developed a software that estimates and compares the phase variation in the interference patterns of the high-redshift QSOs, taken from the snapshot survey of HST-SDSS, with those of stars that are expected to not be affected by QG effects. We used a two-parameter function to determine, for each test star and QSO, the maximum of the diffraction pattern and to calculate the Strehl ratio. Results: Our results go far beyond those already present in the literature. By adopting the most conservative approach where the correction terms, that describe the possibility for space-time fluctuations cumulating across long distances and partially compensate for the effects of the phase variations, are taken into account. We exclude the random walk model and most of the holographic models of the space-time foam. Without considering these correction terms, all the main QG scenarios are excluded. Finally, our results show the absence of any directional dependence of QG effects and the validity of the cosmological principle with an independent method; that is, viewed on a large scale, the properties of the Universe are the same for all observers, including the effects of space-time fluctuations.
The only supernovae (SNe) to have shown early gamma-ray or X-ray emission thus far are overenergetic, broad-lined Type Ic SNe (Hypernovae - HNe). Recently, SN 2008D shows several novel features: (i) weak XRF, (ii) an early, narrow optical peak, (iii)
disappearance of the broad lines typical of SNIc HNe, (iv) development of He lines as in SNeIb. Detailed analysis shows that SN 2008D was not a normal SN: its explosion energy (KE ~ 6*10^{51} erg) and ejected mass (~7 Msun) are intermediate between normal SNeIbc and HNe. We derive that SN 2008D was originally a ~30Msun star. When it collapsed a black hole formed and a weak, mildly relativistic jet was produced, which caused the XRF. SN 2008D is probably among the weakest explosions that produce relativistic jets. Inner engine activity appears to be present whenever massive stars collapse to black holes.
We compute theoretical nova rates as well as type Ia SN rates in galaxies of different morphological type (Milky Way, ellipticals and irregulars) by means of detailed chemical evolution models, and compare them with the most recent observations. The
main difference among the different galaxies is the assumed history of star formation. In particular, we predict that the nova rates in giant ellipticals such as M87 are 100-300 nova/yr, about a factor of ten larger than in our Galaxy (25 nova/yr), in agreement with very recent estimates from HST data. The best agreement with the observed rates is obtained if the recurrence time of novae in ellipticals is assumed to be longer than in the Milky Way. This result indicates that the star formation rate in ellipticals, and in particular in M87, must have been very efficient at early cosmic epochs. We predict a nova rate for the LMC of 1.7 nova/yr, again in agreement with observations. We compute also the K- and B-band luminosities for ellipticals of different luminous mass and conclude that there is not a clear trend for the luminosity specific nova rate with luminosity among these galaxies. However, firm conclusions about ellipticals cannot be drawn because of possible observational biases in observing these objects. The comparison between the specific nova rates in the Milky Way and the LMC indicates a trend of increasing nova rate passing from the Galaxy towards late-type spirals and Magellanic irregulars.
