• Title/Summary/Keyword: Cosmic rays

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NONTHERMAL RADIATION FROM RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS ACCELERATED AT SPHERICALLY EXPANDING SHOCKS

  • Kang, Hyesung
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.48 no.1
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    • pp.9-20
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    • 2015
  • We study the evolution of the energy spectrum of cosmic-ray electrons accelerated at spherically expanding shocks with low Mach numbers and the ensuing spectral signatures imprinted in radio synchrotron emission. Time-dependent simulations of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) of electrons in the test-particle limit have been performed for spherical shocks with parameters relevant for typical shocks in the intracluster medium. The electron and radiation spectra at the shock location can be described properly by the test-particle DSA predictions with instantaneous shock parameters. However, the volume integrated spectra of both electrons and radiation deviate significantly from the test-particle power-laws, because the shock compression ratio and the flux of injected electrons at the shock gradually decrease as the shock slows down in time. So one needs to be cautious about interpreting observed radio spectra of evolving shocks based on simple DSA models in the test-particle regime.

Diffusive Shock Acceleration with Self-Consistent Injection

  • KANG HYESUNG
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.34 no.4
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    • pp.293-295
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    • 2001
  • A numerical scheme that incorporates a self-consistent cosmic-ray (CR, hereafter) injection model into the combined gas dynamics and CR diffusion-convection code has been developed. The hydro/CR code can follow in a very cos-effective way the evolution of CR modified shocks by adopting subzone shock-tracking and multi-level Adaptive Mesh Refinement techniques. The injection model is based on interactions of the suprathermal particles with self-generated MHD waves in quasi-parallel shocks. The particle injection is followed numerically by filtering the diffusive flux of suprathermal particles across the shock to upstream region according to a velocity-dependent transparency function, which represents the fraction of leaking suprathermal particles. In the strong shock limit of Mach numbers $\ge$20, significant physical processes such as the injection and acceleration seem to become independent of M, while they are sensitively dependent on M for M < 10. Although some particles injected early in the evolution continue to be accelerated to higher energies, the postshock CR pressure reaches a time asymptotic value due to balance between acceleration and diffusion of the CR particles.

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GALAXY CLUSTERS IN GAMMA-RAYS: AN ASSESSMENT FROM OBSERVATIONS

  • REIMER OLAF
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.37 no.5
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    • pp.307-313
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    • 2004
  • Clusters of galaxies are believed to constitute a population of astrophysical objects potentially able to emit electromagnetic radiation up to gamma-ray energies. Evidence of the existence of non-thermal radiation processes in galaxy clusters is indicated from observations of diffuse radio halos, hard X-ray and EUV excess emission. The presence of cosmic ray acceleration processes and its confinement on cosmological timescales nearly inevitably yields in predicting energetic gamma-ray emission, either directly deduceably from a cluster's multifreqency emission characteristics or indirectly during large-scale cosmological structure formation processes. This theoretical reasoning suggests several scenarios to actually detect galaxy clusters at gamma-ray wavelengths: Either resolved as individual sources of point-like or extended gamma-ray emission, by investigating spatial-statistical correlations with unidentified gamma-ray sources or, if unresolved, through their contribution to the extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray background. In the following I review the situation concerning the proposed relation between galaxy clusters and high-energy gamma-ray observations from an observational point-of-view.

Ice Surface Chemistry: Implication for Molecular Evolution in Space

  • Gang, Heon
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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    • 2013.08a
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    • pp.65.1-65.1
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    • 2013
  • Icy dust particles in interstellar clouds are considered to play a catalytic role in molecular evolution in space. Atoms and simple molecules constituting the ice mantles of dust particles may be transformed into more complex molecules under the irradiation of UV and cosmic rays. This seminar will present our recent study results for chemistry of ice surfaces, with the emphases on the mechanistic features of elementary reactions and the implications for interstellar molecular evolution. The types of reactions studied include molecule diffusion in ice, proton and hydroxide transfers, and some UV-induced reactions wih astrobiological relevance.

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experiment and its upgrade with the large silicon charge detector

  • Lee, Jik;Nam, Ji-Woo;Park, Il-Hung;Yang, Jong-Man;Lee, Hye-Young;Na, Go-Woon;Jeon, Jin-A;Suh, Jung-Eun;Lim, Sun-In;Lee, Moo-Hyun;Seo, Eun-Suk
    • Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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    • 2011.04a
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    • pp.20.2-20.2
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    • 2011
  • The NASA Antarctica balloon experiment CREAM has successfully collected the data of energetic cosmic rays during flights in past years. We will present the recent analysis results of the CREAM experiment. We will also report on the launch and recovery process of the latest flight. The silicon charge detector of the CREAM has played the key role in the precision measurement of the charge constitution of energetic cosmic rays. We proposed the upgrade of the CREAM experiment with the installment of a new large silicon charge detector on top of the CREAM instrument. The charge measurement of the large silicon detector with no material in front is expected to improve the accuracy of the CREAM charge measurement drastically when combined with the measurement of the existing double layer silicon detector. We will present the fabrication of the large silicon detector and its performance in the radiation source test as well as in the beam test.

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Deflection of Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Rays by the Galactic Magnetic Field

  • Kim, Jihyun;Kim, Hang Bae;Ryu, Dongsu
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.39 no.2
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    • pp.73.1-73.1
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    • 2014
  • We investigate the influence of the galactic magnetic field (GMF) on the arrival direction (AD) of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) by searching the correlation with the large-scale structure (LSS) of the universe. The deflection angle of UHECRs from sources by the GMF is reflected in a source model by introducing the Gaussian smearing angle as a free parameter. Assuming the deflections by the GMF are mainly dependent on the galactic latitude, b, we divide the regions of sky by b and analyze the correlation between the AD of UHECRs and the LSS of the universe in each region varying the smearing angle. We find the deflection is strongly dependent on the galactic latitude by the maximum likelihood estimation. Specifically, the best-fit smearing angles are $9^{\circ}$ and $84^{\circ}$ in the high galactic latitude (HGL), $-90^{\circ}$ < b < $-60^{\circ}$, and in the low galactic latitude (LGL), $-30^{\circ}$ < b < $30^{\circ}$, respectively. The strength of GMF becomes stronger from the HGL to the LGL. From the results, we can estimate the strength of GMF in each region. In the LGL, for example, if we assume UHECRs are protons, we have the order of $100{\mu}G$ GMF, which is much stronger than the expected value of conventional GMF model. However, if the primaries are heavy nuclei, which is consistent with the observational result of mass composition analysis, the order of GMF strength is a few ${\mu}G$. More data from the future experiments make it possible to study the GMF between the source of UHECRs and Earth more accurately.

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Design of Simple Shielding Handkerchief to Protect the Passenger's Thyroid (비행기 이용승객의 갑상선 차폐를 위한 간편한 손수건 고안)

  • Jung, Hongmoon;Jung, Jaeeun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.87-93
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    • 2019
  • Recently, the number of passengers using airplanes is rapidly increasing due to the increase of overseas travelers. Therefore, the probability of exposure to natural radiation due to altitude is increasing due to the increase in flight time. Cosmic-ray penetrates the Earth's magnetic field belt Van Allen, which is located at an altitude of 400 km to 1200 km. Most cosmic rays are blocked at Van Allen belt. However, cosmic-ray could be not completely blocked, and a small amount of cosmic-ray affects the earth. In general, if the altitude was increased by 100m, the natural exposure dose increased by 0.03 mSv on the Earth. In this study, I tried to minimize the exposure to natural radiation in airplanes when boarding airplanes. Especially, I was aimed to minimize radiation exposure by protecting the highly sensitive thyroid gland among human organs. According to the results of the study, the designed shielding handkerchief was able to shield cosmic natural radiation dose by more than 70%. In conclusion, the application of the shielding handkerchief made in this study can be effectively shield natural radiation.