After about 18 yr of steadily spinning down, the accretion-powered pulsar 4U 1626-67 experienced a new torque reversal at the beginning of 2008. For the present study, we have used all available ...Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor data since its launch in 2008 June 11 and over 5 yr of hard X-ray Swift/Burst Alert Telescope observations (starting from 2004 October up to the present time). From 2004 up to the end of 2007 the spin-down rate averaged at a mean rate of Hz s-1 until the torque reversal reported here. This second detected torque reversal was centered near MJD 54500 (2008 February 4) and it lasted approximately 150 days. During the reversal, the source also underwent an increase in flux by a fraction of ~2.5. Since then it has been following a steady spin-up at a mean rate of Hz s-1. We present a detailed long-term timing analysis of this source and a long-term spectral hardness ratio study in order to see whether there are spectral changes around this new observed torque reversal.
Aims. In the past four decades, it has been observed that solar flares display quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) from the lowest, i.e. radio, to the highest, i.e. gamma-ray, frequencies in the ...electromagnetic spectrum. It remains unclear which mechanism creates these QPPs. In this paper, we analyze four bright solar flares that display compelling signatures of quasi-periodic behavior and were observed with the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM ) onboard the Fermi satellite. Because GBM covers over three decades in energy (8 keV to 40 MeV), it is regarded as a key instrument in our attempt to understand the physical processes that drive solar flares. Methods. We tested for periodicity in the time series of the solar flares observed by GBM by applying a classical periodogram analysis. However, in contrast to previous authors, we did not detrend the raw light curve before creating the power spectral density (PSD) spectrum. To assess the significance of the frequencies, we used a method that is commonly applied to X-ray binaries and Seyfert galaxies. This technique takes into account the underlying continuum of the PSD, which for all of these sources has a P(f) ~ f−α dependence and is typically labeled red-noise. Results. We checked the reliability of this technique by applying it to observations of a solar flare that had been observed by the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI ). These data contain, besides any potential periodicity from the Sun, a 4 s rotational period caused by the rotation of the spacecraft about its axis. We were unable to identify any intrinsic solar quasi-periodic pulsation but we did manage to reproduce the instrumental periodicity. Moreover, with the method adopted here, we do not detect significant QPPs in the four bright solar flares observed by GBM. We stress that for this kind of analyses it is of utmost importance to account appropriately for the red-noise component in the PSD of these astrophysical sources.
Thermonuclear bursts from slowly accreting neutron stars (NSs) have proven difficult to detect, yet they are potential probes of the thermal properties of the NS interior. During the first year of a ...systematic all-sky search for X-ray bursts using the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope we have detected 15 thermonuclear bursts from the NS low-mass X-ray binary 4U 0614+09 when it was accreting at nearly 1% of the Eddington limit. We measured an average burst recurrence time of 12 + or - 3 days (68% confidence interval) between 2010 March and 2011 March, classified all bursts as normal duration bursts and placed a lower limit on the recurrence time of long/intermediate bursts of 62 days (95% confidence level). We discuss how observations of thermonuclear bursts in the hard X-ray band compare to pointed soft X-ray observations and quantify such bandpass effects on measurements of burst radiated energy and duration. We put our results for 4U 0614+09 in the context of other bursters and briefly discuss the constraints on ignition models. Interestingly, we find that the burst energies in 4U 0614+09 are on average between those of normal duration bursts and those measured in long/intermediate bursts. Such a continuous distribution in burst energy provides a new observational link between normal and long/intermediate bursts. We suggest that the apparent bimodal distribution that defined normal and long/intermediate duration bursts during the last decade could be due to an observational bias toward detecting only the longest and most energetic bursts from slowly accreting NSs.
X-RAY AND OPTICAL OBSERVATIONS OF A 0535+26 Camero-Arranz, A; Finger, M H; Wilson-Hodge, C A ...
The Astrophysical journal,
07/2012, Letnik:
754, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We present recent contemporaneous X-ray and optical observations of the Be/X-ray binary system A 0535+26 with the Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and several ground-based observatories. These new ...observations are put into the context of the rich historical data (since ~1978) and discussed in terms of the neutron-star-Be-disk interaction. The Be circumstellar disk was exceptionally large just before the 2009 December giant outburst, which may explain the origin of the unusual recent X-ray activity of this source. We found a peculiar evolution of the pulse profile during this giant outburst, with the two main components evolving in opposite ways with energy. A hard 30-70 mHz X-ray quasi-periodic oscillation was detected with GBM during this 2009 December giant outburst. It becomes stronger with increasing energy and disappears at energies below 25 keV. In the long term a strong optical/X-ray correlation was found for this system, however in the medium term the H alpha equivalent width and the V-band brightness showed an anti-correlation after ~2002 August. Each giant X-ray outburst occurred during a decline phase of the optical brightness, while the H alpha showed a strong emission. In late 2010 and before the 2011 February outburst, rapid V/R variations are observed in the strength of the two peaks of the H alpha line. These had a period of ~25 days and we suggest the presence of a global one-armed oscillation to explain this scenario. A general pattern might be inferred, where the disk becomes weaker and shows V/R variability beginning ~6 months following a giant outburst.
Aims: In this paper we examine gamma-ray and optical data of GRB 091024, a gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an extremely long duration of T90 $\approx$ 1020 s, as observed with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst ...Monitor (GBM). Methods: We present spectral analysis of all three distinct emission episodes using data from Fermi/GBM. Because of the long nature of this event, many ground-based optical telescopes slewed to its location within a few minutes and thus were able to observe the GRB during its active period. We compare the optical and gamma-ray light curves. Furthermore, we estimate a lower limit on the bulk Lorentz factor from the variability and spectrum of the GBM light curve and compare it with that obtained from the peak time of the forward shock of the optical afterglow. Results: From the spectral analysis we note that, despite its unusually long duration, this burst is similar to other long GRBs, i.e. there is spectral evolution (both the peak energy and the spectral index vary with time) and spectral lags are measured. We find that the optical light curve is highly anti-correlated to the prompt gamma-ray emission, with the optical emission reaching the maximum during an epoch of quiescence in the prompt emission. We interpret this behavior as the reverse shock (optical flash), expected in the internal-external shock model of GRB emission but observed only in a handful of GRBs so far. The lower limit on the initial Lorentz factor deduced from the variability time scale (Γmin = 195_-110+90) is consistent within the error to the one obtained using the peak time of the forward shock (Γ0 = 120) and is also consistent with Lorentz factors of other long GRBs.
Aims. In this paper we study the main spectral and temporal properties of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by Fermi/GBM. We investigate these key properties of GRBs in the rest-frame of the ...progenitor and test for possible intra-parameter correlations to better understand the intrinsic nature of these events. Methods. Our sample comprises 32 GRBs with measured redshift that were observed by GBM until August 2010. 28 of them belong to the long-duration population and 4 events were classified as short/hard bursts. For all of these events we derive, where possible, the intrinsic peak energy in the νFν spectrum (Ep,rest), the duration in the rest-frame, defined as the time in which 90% of the burst fluence was observed (T90,rest) and the isotropic equivalent bolometric energy (Eiso). Results. The distribution of Ep,rest has mean and median values of 1.1 MeV and 750 keV, respectively. A log-normal fit to the sample of long bursts peaks at ~800 keV. No high-Ep population is found but the distribution is biased against low Ep values. We find the lowest possible Ep that GBM can recover to be ≈ 15 keV. The T90,rest distribution of long GRBs peaks at ~10 s. The distribution of Eiso has mean and median values of 8.9 × 1052 erg and 8.2 × 1052 erg, respectively. We confirm the tight correlation between Ep,rest and Eiso (Amati relation) and the one between Ep,rest and the 1-s peak luminosity (Lp) (Yonetoku relation). Additionally, we observe a parameter reconstruction effect, i.e. the low-energy power law index α gets softer when Ep is located at the lower end of the detector energy range. Moreover, we do not find any significant cosmic evolution of neither Ep,rest nor T90,rest.
Aims. The Earth Occultation Technique (EOT) has been applied to Fermi’s Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) to perform all-sky monitoring for a predetermined catalog of hard X-ray/soft γ-ray sources. In ...order to search for sources not in the catalog, thus completing the catalog and reducing a source of systematic error in EOT, an imaging method has been developed – Imaging with a Differential filter using the Earth Occultation Method (IDEOM). Methods. IDEOM is a tomographic imaging method that takes advantage of the orbital precession of the Fermi satellite. Using IDEOM, all-sky reconstructions have been generated for ~4 years of GBM data in the 12–50 keV, 50–100 keV and 100–300 keV energy bands in search of sources otherwise unmodeled by the GBM occultation analysis. Results. IDEOM analysis resulted in the detection of 57 sources in the 12–50 keV energy band, 23 sources in the 50–100 keV energy band, and 7 sources in the 100–300 keV energy band. Seventeen sources were not present in the original GBM-EOT catalog and have now been added. We also present the first joined averaged spectra for four persistent sources detected by GBM using EOT and by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on Fermi: NGC 1275, 3C 273, Cen A, and the Crab.
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