High Energy Astrophysics at Southampton
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
On the smallest scales we are interested in why pulsars seem to favour the low neutral hydrogen environments in the SMC. We are also interested in the products of stellar collisions and near misses in the high density environment of globular clusters, and in studying the compact objects (ie black holes, neutron stars, or white dwarfs) in our Galaxy which are strong emitter of optical light from hydgrogen atoms. Some galactic X-ray binary sources, which consist of black hole of similar mass to our sun together with a more normal star have, as well as accretion discs, through which matter spirals onto the black hole, strong jets. We want to understand the relationship between the emission from jets and from the hot X-ray emitting coronae and to find out how the jet might emerge from the corona. In some cases the disappearance of the inner disc is followed by ejection of material along the jet and we shall determine whether such behaviour is typical in Active Galaxies, ie galaxies whose emission is powered material falling onto (ie being accreted) by a massive black hole. In the 20-100 keV band where absorption of photons by cold gas is unimportant, and so we obtain a very clear view, we are surveying the Galactic Plane with INTEGRAL to determine an unbiased census of compact objects. As time goes on, we will extend that survey to the extragalactic sky. We study the X-ray variability of Active Galaxies to determine how they relate to galactic X-ray binaries sources and whether characteristic timescales reflect only mass or another parameter such as accretion rate. We are interested in the binary populations of nearby galaxies and in the so-called `ultra luminous X-ray sources (ULXs)'. ULXs may be the long sought after black holes with masses intermediate between those of galactic binaries and Active Galaxies and so are very important for testing mass-based scaling relationships. We are interested in how the emission in different wavebands (Gamma-ray, X-ray, optical/IR, radio) in binaries and Active Galaxies is related and what is the dependence on mass. We are interested how the jet emission from Active Galaxies heats clusters of galaxies. On the largest scales, we are interested in whether the different faint source populations which we see in the radio, X-ray and IR bands are just different manifestations of the same underlying phenomenon and how massive black hole growth might be related to growth of the galaxy in which the black hole lives. We are also building detailed theoretical models, using computers, to explain the complicated variability which we see in the sky at high energies.
Organisations
Publications
Galache J
(2008)
A Long Look at the Be/X-Ray Binaries of the Small Magellanic Cloud
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Casares J
(2009)
REFINED ORBITAL SOLUTION AND QUIESCENT VARIABILITY IN THE BLACK HOLE TRANSIENT GS 1354-64 (= BW Cir)
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Bird A
(2007)
The Third IBIS/ISGRI Soft Gamma-Ray Survey Catalog
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Boutloukos S
(2007)
Erratum: "Discovery of Twin kHz QPOs in the Peculiar X-Ray Binary Circinus X-1" (ApJ, 653, 1453 [2006])
in The Astrophysical Journal
Marscher A
(2007)
Search for Electron-Positron Annihilation Radiation from the Jet in 3C 120
in The Astrophysical Journal
Miller-Jones J
(2008)
Coupled Radio and X-Ray Emission and Evidence for Discrete Ejecta in the Jets of SS 433
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jordán A
(2007)
Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries and Globular Clusters in Centaurus A
in The Astrophysical Journal
Heinz S
(2008)
Blazing Trails: Microquasars as Head-Tail Sources and the Seeding of Magnetized Plasma into the ISM
in The Astrophysical Journal
Steeghs D
(2007)
Dynamical Constraints on the Component Masses of the Cataclysmic Variable WZ Sagittae
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shahbaz T
(2008)
The First Polarimetric Signatures of Infrared Jets in X-Ray Binaries
in The Astrophysical Journal
Migliari S
(2006)
Spitzer Reveals Infrared Optically Thin Synchrotron Emission from the Compact Jet of the Neutron Star X-Ray Binary 4U 0614+091
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hynes R
(2006)
Multiwavelength Observations of EXO 0748-676. I. Reprocessing of X-Ray Bursts
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tomsick J
(2008)
Broadband X-Ray Spectra of GX 339-4 and the Geometry of Accreting Black Holes in the Hard State
in The Astrophysical Journal
Knigge C
(2006)
A Blue Straggler Binary with Three Progenitors in the Core of a Globular Cluster?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Capitanio F
(2006)
Spectral States of the X-Ray Binary IGR J17091-3624 Observed by INTEGRAL and RXTE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chatterjee R
(2008)
Correlated Multi-Wave Band Variability in the Blazar 3C 279 from 1996 to 2007
in The Astrophysical Journal
Boutloukos S
(2006)
Discovery of Twin kHz QPOs in the Peculiar X-Ray Binary Circinus X-1
in The Astrophysical Journal
Worrall D
(2008)
Where Centaurus A Gets Its X-Ray Knottiness
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bazzano A
(2006)
INTEGRAL IBIS Census of the Sky Beyond 100 keV
in The Astrophysical Journal
Evans D
(2008)
XMM-Newton Observations of the Nuclei of the Radio Galaxies 3C 305, DA 240, and 4C 73.08
in The Astrophysical Journal