Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescope was designed to close the energy gap (~ 10–250 GeV) between ground based and satellite gamma detectors. It is situated on the Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands at altitude of 2200 m. The main subjects of the investigations with the telescope are: Gamma Ray Bursts, Supernova Remnants, Plerions, Pulsars, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), unidentied EGRET sources, Dark matter and Quantum gravity. More details about physics with a low threshold gamma ray telescope one can nd in [2]. The telescope hardware installation was nished in October 2003. Since that time the observations of the dierent classes of objects have been carried out but the experiment is still in the commission phase.

We refer on the project of a Lobster Eye (LE) X–ray All Sky Monitor (ASM) and on the related developments of the innovative Lobster Eye X–ray telescopes. The related scientific issues will be also in detail presented and discussed.

The future X–ray astrophysics missions (such as the ESA XEUS) light require-weight but large and precise X-ray mirror shells. We discuss the possible alternative techniques with focus on the technologies and experience available in the Czech Republic.

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), a pair-conversion telescope that provides coverage over the approximate energy range 20 MeV to 300 GeV, is GLAST’s principal instrument. The LAT will provide an unprecedented capability for high-energy astrophysics, superseding the sensitivity of EGRET by more than 40 times. Highlights of the physics and astrophysics opportunities the LAT will provide are summarized.

The digitised astronomical plate archives represent a source of unique data for various scientific projects including analyses of objects such as AGN, blazars, cataclysmic variables, galactic X-ray sources, various transients, and other objects. These data may easily provide very long term monitoring over very extended time intervals (up to more than 100 years) with limiting magnitudes between 12 and 23.

Radio interferometry produces visibility data which can be processed flexibly to achieve higher resolution or better surface brightness sensitivity. These results are now within the reach of any astronomer as radio archives appear on-line and pipelines and other user-friendly data reduction tools become common. All raw VLA data are now available by ftp via a web form offering many search parameters. Images from the MERLIN archive, the NVSS, SUMSS and other surveys and many radio catalogues are already published electronically directly and via CDS. However a typical 1024×1024-pixel image covers less than one percent of the typical potential field of view. The ideal solution is to store calibrated visibility data and produce images or other products on demand to user specifications. Prototypes have been developed to do this via web interfaces (not requiring any specialised radio astronomy knowledge) for the MERLIN and ATCA archives.

The Square-Kilometre-Array (SKA) will be a radio telescope with a collecting area that will exceed that of existing telescopes by a factor of a hundred or so. This contribution summarises one of the key-science projects selected for the SKA.

Recent theories of the fundamental interactions space-time variations of the fundamental constants. In these theories (e.g. superstring and Mtheory), the constants naturally emerge as functions of the scale-lengths of the extra dimensions (e.g., [1,2]). At present, no mechanism has been found for keeping the compactified scale-lengths fixed and so, if extra dimensions exist and their sizes undergo any cosmological evolution, our 3-D coupling constants may vary in time. Several other modern theories also provide strong motivation for an experimental search for variation in the fine structure constant, ≡ /. Interestingly, varying constants can provide alternative solutions to the “cosmological problems”, e.g. flatness, horizon, etc. The most effective and well understood method of measuring variations in a is by observing absorption lines due to gas clouds along the line-of-sight to distant quasars. Recent detailed studies of the relative positions of heavy element optical transitions and comparison with present day (laboratory) wavelengths, may indeed suggest that the a may have evolved with time [3,4], although this consensus is be no means universal [5]. It is therefore clear that an independent check is required, which can refute or confirm the optical results, thus providing a sound experimental test of possible unified theories. The study of redshifted radio absorption lines offers the best test of cosmological changes in the fundamental constants, although presently, the paucity of systems exhibiting Hi 21-cm and molecular absorption severely limits our ability to carry out statistically sound comparisons.

In this paper we discuss the possibility of using Supernovae as tracers of the star formation history of the Universe for the range of stellar masses ~ 3 – 30 M⊙ and possibly beyond. We simulate the observations of 400 SNe, up to ~ 15, made with OWL (100m) telescope.

The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) can deliver new data which will directly address currently unanswered issues concerning the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism. An towards > 10 background sources will provide a dense grid for probing magnetism in the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, distant galaxies, clusters and in protogalaxies. Using these data, we can map out the evolution of magnetised structures from redshifts > 3 to the present, can distinguish between different origins for seed magnetic fields in galaxies, and can develop a detailed model of the magnetic field geometry of the overall Universe.