Publications (52)
Recent developments in Laue lens manufacturing and their impact on imaging performance
Lisa Ferro, Enrico Virgilli, Natalia Auricchio +9
We report on recent progress in the development of Laue lenses for applications in hard X/soft gamma-ray astronomy. Here we focus on the realization of a sector of such a lens made…
The X/Gamma-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XGIS) on-board THESEUS: design, main characteristics, and concept of operation
Claudio Labanti, Lorenzo Amati, Filippo Frontera +58
THESEUS is one of the three missions selected by ESA as fifth medium class mission (M5) candidates in its Cosmic Vision science program, currently under assessment in a phase A stu…
An upscattering spectral formation model for the prompt emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts
Lev Titarchuk, Ruben Farinelli, Filippo Frontera +1
We propose a model for the spectral formation of Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) prompt emission, where the phenomenological Band's function is usually applied to describe the GRB prompt emi…
Hard X-ray/Soft gamma-ray experiments and missions: overview and prospects
Erica Cavallari, Filippo Frontera
Starting from 1960s, a great number of missions and experiments have been performed for the study of the high--energy sky. This review gives a wide vision of the most important spa…
BeppoSAX confirmation of beamed afterglow emission from GRB990510
Elena Pian, Paolo Soffitta, Alessandro Alessi +8
We compare the prompt X-ray (2-10 keV) emission of GRB990510 measured by the BeppoSAX Wide Field Cameras (WFC) during the burst to the X-ray afterglow detected by the BeppoSAX Narr…
Hard X-ray/Soft gamma-ray Laue Lenses for High Energy Astrophysics
Filippo Frontera
The study of the celestial phenomena in the hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray band(20 keV--1 MeV) is very intriguing but also very difficult to be performed with the needed sensitivity. In…
The TRILL project: increasing the technological readiness of Laue lenses
Lisa Ferro, Enrico Virgilli, Miguel Moita +16
Hard X-/soft Gamma-ray astronomy (> 100 keV) is a crucial field for the study of important astrophysical phenomena such as the 511 keV positron annihilation line in the Galactic ce…
Long gamma-ray burst light curves as the result of a common stochastic pulse-avalanche process
Lorenzo Bazzanini, Lisa Ferro, Cristiano Guidorzi +9
Context. The complexity and variety exhibited by the light curves of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) enclose a wealth of information that still awaits being fully deciphered. Despite…
Expected performance of a Laue lens based on bent crystals
Vineeth Valsan, Filippo Frontera, Enrico Virgilli +1
In the context of the LAUE project devoted to build a long focal length focusing optics for soft gamma-ray astronomy (70/100 keV to 600 keV), we present results of simulation of…
Gamma-ray burst taxonomy: looking for the third class on the spectral peak energy-duration plane in the rest frame
Anastasia Tsvetkova, Lorenzo Amati, Mattia Bulla +8
Two classes of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), corresponding to the short/hard and the long/soft events, with a putative intermediate class, are typically considered in the observer frame…
The Ep-Liso correlation: A new diagnostic tool for kilonova transients
Ruben Farinelli, Fabrizio Cogato, Mattia Bulla +10
The AT2017gfo kilonova transient remains a unique multi-messenger event thanks to its proximity (z=0.00987) and the possibility to investigate time-resolved spectra, providing evid…
Polarisation measurements with a CdTe pixel array detector for Laue hard X-ray focusing telescopes
Ezio Caroli, Rui M. Curado da Silva, Alessandro Pisa +4
Polarimetry is an area of high energy astrophysics which is still relatively unexplored, even though it is recognized that this type of measurement could drastically increase our k…
Insight-HXMT and GECAM-C observations of the brightest-of-all-time GRB 221009A
Zheng-Hua An, S. Antier, Xing-Zi Bi +174
GRB 221009A is the brightest gamma-ray burst ever detected since the discovery of this kind of energetic explosions. However, an accurate measurement of the prompt emission propert…
Spectral state evolution of 4U~1820-30: the stability of the spectral index of Comptonization tail
Lev Titarchuk, Elena Seifina, Filippo Frontera
We analyze the X-ray spectra and their timing properties of the compact X-ray binary 4U~1820-30. We establish a number of spectral transitions in this source seen with BeppoSAX and…
The cosmic X-ray background and the population of the most heavily obscured AGNs
Filippo Frontera, Mauro Orlandini, Raffaella Landi +7
We report on an accurate measurement of the CXB in the 15-50 keV range performed with the Phoswich Detection System (PDS) instrument aboard the BeppoSAX satellite. We establish tha…
X-ray polarimetry on-board HXMT
Paolo Soffitta, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Gianpiero Tagliaferri +15
The development of micropixel gas detectors, capable to image tracks produced in a gas by photoelectrons, makes possible to perform polarimetry of X-ray celestial sources in the fo…
Laue gamma-ray lenses for space astrophysics:status and prospects
Filippo Frontera, Peter Von Ballmoos
We review feasibility studies, technological developments and astrophysical prospects for Laue lenses devoted to hard X-/gamma-ray astronomy observations.
An X-ray Polarimeter for HXMT Mission
Enrico Costa, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Gianpiero Tagliaferri +17
The development of micropixel gas detectors, capable to image tracks produced in a gas by photoelectrons, makes possible to perform polarimetry of X-ray celestial sources in the fo…
Opening the path to hard X-/soft gamma-ray focussing: the ASTENA-pathfinder mission
Enrico Virgilli, Lorenzo Amati, Natalia Auricchio +10
Hard X-/soft gamma-ray astronomy is a crucial field for transient, nuclear and multimessenger astrophysics. However, the spatial localization, imaging capabilities and sensitivity…
Prospects for multi-messenger extended emission from core-collapse supernovae in the Local Universe
Maurice H. P. M. van Putten, Amir Levinson, Filippo Frontera +3
Multi-messenger emissions from SN1987A and GW170817/GRB170817A suggest a Universe rife with multi-messenger transients associated with black holes and neutron stars. For LIGO-Virgo…
GRI: focusing on the evolving violent Universe
Jürgen Knödlseder, Peter Von Ballmoos, Filippo Frontera +4
The Gamma-Ray Imager (GRI) is a novel mission concept that will provide an unprecedented sensitivity leap in the soft gamma-ray domain by using for the first time a focusing lens b…
Stability of the photon indices in Z-source GX 340+0 for spectral states
Elena Seifina, Lev Titarchuk, Filippo Frontera
We show an analysis of the spectral and timing properties of X-ray radiation from Z-source during its evolutions when the electron temperature of the Transition Layer (TL) kT_e mon…
BeppoSAX Observations of the Power and Energy Spectral Evolution in the Black Hole Candidate XTE J1650-500
Enrico Montanari, Lev Titarchuk, Filippo Frontera
We study the time variability and spectral evolution of the Black Hole Candidate source XTE J1650-500 using the BeppoSax wide energy range (0.12-200 keV) observations performed dur…
X-Ray Observations of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
Filippo Frontera
The discovery by the BeppoSAX satellite of X-ray afterglow emission from the gamma-ray burst which occurred on 28 February 1997 produced a revolution in our knowledge of the gamma-…
A Short History of the First 50 Years: from the GRB Prompt Emission and Afterglow Discoveries to the Multimessenger Era
Filippo Frontera
More than fifty years have been elapsed from the first discovery of a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) with the American Vela satellites, and more than twenty-five years from the discovery wi…
Two-phase X-ray burst from GX 3+1 observed by INTEGRAL
Jerome Chenevez, Maurizio Falanga, Soeren Brandt +6
INTEGRAL detected on August 31, 2004, an unusual thermonuclear X-ray burst from the low-mass X-ray binary GX 3+1. Its duration was 30 min, which is between the normal burst duratio…
The metamorphosis of SN1998bw
Ferdinando Patat, Enrico Cappellaro, John Danziger +23
We present and discuss the photometric and spectroscopic evolution of the peculiar SN1998bw, associated with GRB980425, through an analysis of optical and near IR data collected at…
Cyclotron lines in X-ray pulsars as a probe of relativistic plasmas in superstrong magnetic fields
D. Dal Fiume, Filippo Frontera, Nicola Masetti +7
The systematic search for the presence of cyclotron lines in the spectra of accreting X-ray pulsars is being carried on with the BeppoSAX satellite since the beginning of the missi…
Results of the simulations of the petal/lens as part of the LAUE project
Vineeth Valsan, Filippo Frontera, Enrico Virgilli +3
In the context of the LAUE project for focusing hard X-/gamma rays, a petal of the complete lens is being assembled at the LARIX facility in the Department of Physics and Earth Sci…
Gamma Ray Burst origin and their afterglow: story of a discovery and more
Enrico Costa, Filippo Frontera
In this paper we review the story of the BeppoSAX discovery of the Gamma Ray Burst afterglow and their cosmological distance, starting from their first detection with Vela satellit…
Phase dependent evolution within large luminosity range of 1A 0535+262 observed by Insight-HXMT during 2020 giant outburst
Ling-Da Kong, Shu Zhang, Long Ji +10
We have performed phase-resolved spectral analysis of the accreting pulsar 1A~0535+262 based on observations of Insight-HXMT during the 2020 Type-II outburst of the source. We focu…
Evidence for a long duration component in the prompt emission of short Gamma-Ray Bursts detected with BeppoSAX
Enrico Montanari, Filippo Frontera, Cristiano Guidorzi +1
A statistical study on the light curves of all the short Gamma-Ray Bursts detected with the Gamma Ray Burst Monitor (GRBM) aboard BeppoSAX is reported. Evidence for a very weak and…
Testing Comptonization as the origin of the continuum in nonmagnetic Cataclysmic Variables. The photon index of X-ray emission
T. Maiolino, L. Titarchuk, F. D'Amico +4
X-ray spectra of nonmagnetic cataclysmic variables (nmCVs) in the ~ 0.315 keV energy band have been described either by one or several optically thin thermal plasma components,…
BeppoSAX Observations of the galactic source GS1826-238 in a hard X-ray high state
Stefano Del Sordo, Filippo Frontera, Elena Pian +7
The BeppoSAX Narrow Field Instruments observed the galactic source GS1826-238 in October 1997, following a hard X-ray outburst with a peak flux of about 100 mCrab detected by BATSE…
Bent crystal selection and assembling for the LAUE project
Vincenzo Liccardo, Enrico Virgilli, Filippo Frontera +3
For the first time, with the Laue project, bent crystals are being used for focusing photons in the 80-300 keV energy range. The advantage is their high reflectivity and better Poi…
Simulation of a Laue lens with bent Ge(111) crystals
Vineeth Valsan, Enrico Virgilli, Filippo Frontera +3
In the context of Laue project for focusing hard X-/ soft gamma-rays, an entire Laue lens, using bent Ge(111) crystal tiles, with 40 meters curvature radius, is simulated with a fo…
Six Years of Gamma Ray Burst Observations with BeppoSAX
Filippo Frontera
I give a summary of the prompt X-/gamma-ray detections of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) with the BeppoSAX satellite and discuss some significant results obtained from the study of the pr…
BeppoSAX observations of the X-ray pulsar MAXI J1409-619 in low state: discovery of cyclotron resonance features
Mauro Orlandini, Filippo Frontera, Nicola Masetti +2
The transient 500 s X-ray pulsar MAXI J1409-619 was discovered by the slit cameras aboard MAXI on October 17, 2010, and soon after accurately localized by Swift. We found that the…
Broad band time-resolved E_{p,i}--L_{iso} correlation in GRBs
Filippo Frontera, Lorenzo Amati, Cristiano Guidorzi +2
We report results of a systematic study of the broad band (2--2000 keV) time resolved prompt emission spectra of a sample of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected with both Wide Field C…
The XGIS imaging system onboard the THESEUS mission
José Luis Gasent-Blesa, VÃctor Reglero, Paul Connell +19
Within the scientific goals of the THESEUS ESA/M5 candidate mission, a critical item is a fast (within a few s) and accurate (<15 arcmin) Gamma-Ray Burst and high-energy transient…
Scientific simulations and optimization of the XGIS instrument on board THESEUS
Sandro Mereghetti, Giancarlo Ghirlanda, Ruben Salvaterra +12
The XGIS (X and Gamma Imaging Spectrometer) is one of the three instruments onboard the THESEUS mission (ESA M5, currently in Phase-A). Thanks to its wide field of view and good im…
Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Optical Transient Associated with GRB970508
Elena Pian, Andrew S. Fruchter, Louis E. Bergeron +15
We report on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the optical transient (OT) discovered in the error box of the gamma-ray burst GRB970508. The object was imaged on 1997 Jun…
INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton and Rossi-XTE Observations of the State Transition of the X-ray Transient and Black Hole Candidate XTE J1720-318
Marion Cadolle Bel, Andrea Goldwurm, Jerome Rodriguez +14
We report the results of extensive high-energy observations of the X-ray transient and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318 performed with INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton and RXTE. The source,…
A numerical jet model for the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts
Ruben Farinelli, Rupal Basak, Lorenzo Amati +2
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to be highly collimated events, and are mostly detectable when they are seen on-axis or very nearly on-axis. However, GRBs can be seen from off-ax…
Imaging performance above 150 keV of the wide field monitor on board the ASTENA concept mission
Lisa Ferro, Leo Cavazzini, Miguel Moita +10
A new detection system for X-/Gamma-ray broad energy passband detectors for astronomy has been developed. This system is based on Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) coupled with scinti…
The First Insight-HXMT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog: The First Four Years
Xin-Ying Song, Shao-Lin Xiong, Shuang-Nan Zhang +40
The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT), is China's first X-ray astronomy satellite launched on June 15, 2017. The anti-coincidence CsI detectors of the High Energy X-ra…
Comptonization signatures in the prompt emission of Gamma Ray Bursts
Filippo Frontera, Lorenzo Amati, Ruben Farinelli +4
We report results of a systematic study of the broad--band (2--2000 keV) time--resolved prompt emission spectra of a sample of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected with both the Wide F…
Broad band turbulent spectra in gamma-ray burst light curves
Maurice H. P. M. van Putten, Cristiano Guidorzi, Filippo Frontera
Broad band power density spectra offer a window to understanding turbulent behavior in the emission mechanism and, at the highest frequencies, in the putative inner engines powerin…
Recent Results on Gamma-Ray Bursts with the Bepposax Satellite
Filippo Frontera
Recent results on Gamma-Ray Bursts obtained with the X-ray Astronomy satellite BeppoSAX are reviewed. Main emphasis is given to the GRBs simultaneously detected with the Gamma-Ray…
A focal plane detector design for a wide-band Laue-lens telescope
Ezio Caroli, Natalia Auricchio, Lorenzo Amati +8
The energy range above 60 keV is important for the study of many open problems in high energy astrophysics such as the role of Inverse Compton with respect to synchrotron or therma…
The key role of BeppoSAX in the GRB history
Filippo Frontera
Twenty years have already been elapsed from the BeppoSAX discovery of the first afterglow of a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) on February 28, 1997. Thanks to this discovery, it was possible…
HST/STIS Observations of the Optical Counterpart to GRB 970228
Andrew S. Fruchter, Elena Pian, Stephen E. Thorsett +14
We report on observations of the fading optical counterpart of the gamma-ray burst GRB 970228, made on 4~September~1997 using the STIS CCD on the Hubble Space Telescope. The unreso…