Astrophysics
We report on the occurrence of negative-phase-velocity (NPV) planewave propagation in the ergosphere of a rotating black hole. By implementing the Kerr metric, it is demonstrated that regions of NPV propagation are concentrated at the…
We discuss the differences and analogies of gravitational clustering in finite and infinite systems. The process of collective, or violent, relaxation leading to the formation of quasi-stationary states is one of the distinguished features…
Some years ago we proposed a new approach to the analysis of galaxy and cluster correlations based on the concepts and methods of modern statistical Physics. This led to the surprising result that galaxy correlations are fractal and not…
Although more than 2,000 astronomical gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been detected, and numerous models proposed to explain their occurrence, they have remained enigmatic owing to the lack of an obvious counterpart at other wavelengths. The…
We report the discovery of burst oscillations at 414.7 Hz during a thermonuclear X-ray burst from the low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 0614+091 with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) onboard SWIFT. In a search of the BAT archive, we found two…
We have generalised the exact solution of the Riemann problem in special relativistic hydrodynamics for arbitrary tangential flow velocities. The solution is obtained by solving the jump conditions across shocks plus an ordinary…
Most of the matter in the universe is not luminous and can be observed directly only through its gravitational effect. An emerging technique called weak gravitational lensing uses background galaxies to reveal the foreground dark matter…
The origin of the hard (2-10 keV) X-ray background has remained mysterious for over 35 years. Most of the soft (0.5-2 keV) X-ray background has been resolved into discrete sources, which are primarily quasars; however, these sources do not…
In many gravitational interactions between galaxies, gas and stars that have been torn from either or both of the precursor galaxies can collect in 'tidal tails'. Star formation begins anew in these regions to produce 'tidal dwarf…
We show numerically that vector antenna arrays can generate radio beams which exhibit spin and orbital angular momentum characteristics similar to those of helical Laguerre-Gauss laser beams in paraxial optics. For low frequencies (< 1…
We analyze the spatial and the luminosity properties of the Perseus-Pisces redshift survey. We find that the two point correlation function (CF) $\Gamma(r)$ is a power law up to the sample effective depth ($\sim 30 h^{-1}Mpc$), showing the…
A distribution of points that satisfies the property of local isotropy is not necessarily homogeneous: homogeneity is implied by the condition of local isotropy together with the assumption of analyticity or regularity. Here we show that…
The unidentified TeV source in Cygnus is now confirmed by follow-up observations from 2002 with the HEGRA stereoscopic system of Cherenkov Telescopes. Using all data (1999 to 2002) we confirm this new source as steady in flux over the four…
SPI, the Spectrometer on board the ESA INTEGRAL satellite, to be launched in October 2002, will study the gamma-ray sky in the 20 keV to 8 MeV energy band with a spectral resolution of 2 keV for photons of 1 MeV, thanks to its 19 germanium…
The discovery that the short-lived radionucleide iron-60 was present in the oldest meteorites suggests that the formation of the Earth closely followed the death of a massive star. I discuss three astrophysical origins: winds from an AGB…
Based on early solar system abundances of short-lived radionuclides (SRs), such as $^{26}$Al (T$_{1/2} = 0.74$ Myr) and $^{60}$Fe (T$_{1/2} = 1.5$ Myr), it is often asserted that the Sun was born in a large stellar cluster, where a massive…
A simple analytical model for describing inner parts of dark matter halo is considered. It is assumed that dark matter density is power-law. The model deals with dark matter distribution function in phase space of adiabatic invariants…
We report on mid-infrared imaging of hot cores performed with SpectroCam-10 and TIMMI2. The observations aimed at the detection of thermal emission presumably associated with the hot cores. Mid-infrared flux measurements are required to…
The Pulsar Machine II (PuMa II) is the new flexible pulsar processing backend system at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), specifically designed to take advantage of the upgraded WSRT. The instrument is based on a computer…
We formulate the Lagrangian perturbation theory to solve the non-linear dynamics of self-gravitating fluid within the framework of the post-Newtonian approximation in general relativity, using the (3+1) formalism. Our formulation coincides…