Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys

Abstract:

We report on a direct search for elastic photon-photon scattering using x-ray and 𝛾 photons from a laser-plasma based experiment. A 𝛾 photon beam produced by a laser wak­field accelerator provided a broadband 𝛾 spectrum extending to above 𝐸𝛾 = 200 MeV. These were collided with a dense x-ray field produced by the emission from a laser heated germanium foil at 𝐸𝑥 ≈ 1.4 keV, corresponding to an invariant mass of √𝑠 = 1.22 ± 0.22 MeV. In these asymmetric collisions elastic scattering removes one x-ray and one high-energy 𝛾 photon and outputs two lower energy 𝛾 photons. No changes in the 𝛾 photon spectrum were observed as a result of the collisions allowing us to place a 95% upper bound on the cross section of 1.5 × 1015 μb. Although far from the QED prediction, this represents the lowest upper limit obtained so far for √𝑠 ≲ 1 MeV.

Abstract:

Fast X-ray transients (FXTs) are extragalactic bursts of X-rays first identified in archival X-ray data and are now routinely discovered in real time by the Einstein Probe, which is continuously surveying the night sky in the soft (0.5–4 keV) X-ray regime. In this Letter, we report the discovery of the second optical counterpart (AT 2024gsa) to an FXT (EP 240414a). EP 240414a is located at a projected radial separation of 27 kpc from its likely host galaxy at z = 0.4018 ± 0.0010. The optical light curve of AT 2024gsa displays three distinct components. The initial decay from our first observation is followed by a rebrightening episode, displaying a rapid rise in luminosity to an absolute magnitude Mr ∼ −21 after two rest-frame days. While the early optical luminosity and decline rate are similar to those of luminous fast blue optical transients, the color temperature of AT 2024gsa is distinctly red and we show that the peak flux is inconsistent with a thermal origin. The third component peaks at Mi ∼ −19 at ≳16 rest-frame days post-FXT, and is compatible with an emerging supernova. We fit the riz-band data with a series of power laws and find that the decaying components are in agreement with gamma-ray burst afterglow models, and that the rebrightening may originate from refreshed shocks. By considering EP 240414a in context with all previously reported known-redshift FXT events, we propose that Einstein Probe FXT discoveries may predominantly result from (high-redshift) gamma-ray bursts, and thus appear to be distinct from the previously discovered lower-redshift, lower-luminosity population of FXTs.