ABSTRACT
On 2021 August 8, the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph) erupted again, after an interval of 15.5 yr. Regular monitoring by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory began promptly, on August 9.9 ...(0.37 d after the optical peak), and continued until the source passed behind the Sun at the start of November, 86 d later. Observations then restarted on day 197, once RS Oph emerged from the Sun constraint. This makes RS Oph the first Galactic recurrent nova to have been monitored by Swift throughout two eruptions. Here we investigate the extensive X-ray data sets between 2006 and 2021, as well as the more limited data collected by the European X-ray Observatory Satellite (EXOSAT) in 1985. The hard X-rays arising from shock interactions between the nova ejecta and red giant wind are similar following the last two eruptions. In contrast, the early supersoft source (SSS) in 2021 was both less variable and significantly fainter than in 2006. However, 0.3–1 keV light curves from 2021 reveal a 35 s quasi-periodic oscillation consistent in frequency with the 2006 data. The Swift X-ray spectra from 2021 are featureless, with the soft emission typically being well parametrized by a simple blackbody, while the 2006 spectra showed much stronger evidence for superimposed ionized absorption edges. Considering the data after day 60 following each eruption, during the supersoft phase the 2021 spectra are hotter, with smaller effective radii and lower wind absorption, leading to an apparently reduced bolometric luminosity. We explore possible explanations for the gross differences in observed SSS behaviour between the 2006 and 2021 outbursts.
The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (ALIGO) observatory recently reported the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GW) which triggered ALIGO on 2015 September ...14. We report on observations taken with the Swift satellite two days after the trigger. No new X-ray, optical, UV or hard X-ray sources were detected in our observations, which were focused on nearby galaxies in the GW error region and covered 4.7 deg2 (∼2 per cent of the probability in the rapidly available GW error region; 0.3 per cent of the probability from the final GW error region, which was produced several months after the trigger). We describe the rapid Swift response and automated analysis of the X-ray telescope and UV/Optical telescope data, and note the importance to electromagnetic follow-up of early notification of the progenitor details inferred from GW analysis.
The dynamic range of photon counting micro-channel-plate (MCP) intensified charged-coupled device (CCD) instruments such as the Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) and the XMM-Newton
Optical ...Monitor (XMM-OM) is limited at the bright end by coincidence loss, the superposition of multiple photons in the individual frames recorded by the CCD. Photons which arrive during the brief period in which the image frame is transferred for read out of the CCD are displaced in the transfer direction in the recorded images. For sufficiently bright sources, these displaced counts form read-out streaks. Using UVOT observations of Tycho-2 stars, we investigate the use of these read-out streaks to obtain photometry for sources which are too bright (and hence have too much coincidence loss) for normal aperture photometry to be reliable. For read-out-streak photometry, the bright-source limiting factor is coincidence loss within the MCPs rather than the CCD. We find that photometric measurements can be obtained for stars up to 2.4 mag brighter than the usual full-frame coincidence-loss limit by using the read-out streaks. The resulting bright-limit Vega magnitudes in the UVOT passbands are UVW2 = 8.80, UVM2 = 8.27, UVW1 = 8.86, u = 9.76, b = 10.53, v = 9.31 and White = 11.71; these limits are independent of the windowing mode of the camera. We find that a photometric precision of 0.1 mag can be achieved through read-out streak measurements. A suitable method for the measurement of read-out streaks is described and all necessary calibration factors are given.
ABSTRACT
We present the Living Swift-XRT Point Source (LSXPS) catalogue and real-time transient detector. This system allows us for the first time to carry out low-latency searches for new transient ...X-ray events fainter than those available to the current generation of wide-field imagers, and report their detection in near real time. Previously, such events could only be found in delayed searches, e.g. of archival data; our low-latency analysis now enables rapid and ongoing follow-up of these events, enabling the probing of time-scales previously inaccessible. The LSXPS is, uniquely among X-ray catalogues, updated in near real time, making this the first up-to-date record of the point sources detected by a sensitive X-ray telescope: the SwiftX-ray Telescope. The associated upper limit calculator likewise makes use of all available data allowing contemporary upper limits to be rapidly produced on demand. These facilities, which enable the low-latency transient system, are also fully available to the community, providing a powerful resource for time-domain and multimessenger astrophysics.
'Long' γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are commonly accepted to originate in the explosion of particularly massive stars, which give rise to highly relativistic jets. Inhomogeneities in the expanding flow result ...in internal shock waves that are believed to produce the γ-rays we see. As the jet travels further outward into the surrounding circumstellar medium, 'external' shocks create the afterglow emission seen in the X-ray, optical and radio bands. Here we report observations of the early phases of the X-ray emission of five GRBs. Their X-ray light curves are characterised by a surprisingly rapid fall-off for the first few hundred seconds, followed by a less rapid decline lasting several hours. This steep decline, together with detailed spectral properties of two particular bursts, shows that violent shock interactions take place in the early jet outflows.
V745 Sco is a recurrent nova, with the most recent eruption occurring in February 2014. V745 Sco was first observed by Swift a mere 3.7 h after the announcement of the optical discovery, with the ...super-soft X-ray emission being detected around 4 d later and lasting for only ∼2 d, making it both the fastest follow-up of a nova by Swift and the earliest switch-on of super-soft emission yet detected. Such an early switch-on time suggests a combination of a very high velocity outflow and low ejected mass and, together with the high effective temperature reached by the super-soft emission, a high mass white dwarf (>1.3 M⊙). The X-ray spectral evolution was followed from an early epoch where shocked emission was evident, through the entirety of the super-soft phase, showing evolving column density, emission lines, absorption edges, and thermal continuum temperature. UV grism data were also obtained throughout the super-soft interval, with the spectra showing mainly emission lines from lower ionization transitions and the Balmer continuum in emission. V745 Sco is compared with both V2491 Cyg (another nova with a very short super-soft phase) and M31N 2008-12a (the most rapidly recurring nova yet discovered). The longer recurrence time compared to M31N 2008-12a could be due to a lower mass accretion rate, although inclination of the system may also play a part. Nova V745 Sco (2014) revealed the fastest evolving super-soft source phase yet discovered, providing a detailed and informative data set for study.
Abstract
We report on multiwavelength observations of nova Small Magellanic Cloud Nova 2016-10a. The present observational set is one of the most comprehensive for any nova in the Small Magellanic ...Cloud, including low-, medium-, and high-resolution optical spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry from Southern African Large Telescope, Folded Low-Order Yte-Pupil Double-Dispersed Spectrograph, and Southern Astrophysical Research; long-term Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment V- and I-bands photometry dating back to 6 yr before eruption; Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System optical and near-IR photometry from ∼11 d until over 280 d post-eruption; Swift satellite X-ray and ultraviolet observations from ∼6 d until 319 d post-eruption. The progenitor system contains a bright disc and a main sequence or a sub-giant secondary. The nova is very fast with t2 ≃ 4.0 ± 1.0 d and t3 ≃ 7.8 ± 2.0 d in the V band. If the nova is in the SMC, at a distance of ∼61 ± 10 kpc, we derive MV, max ≃ −10.5 ± 0.5, making it the brightest nova ever discovered in the SMC and one of the brightest on record. At day 5 post-eruption the spectral lines show a He/N spectroscopic class and an Full Width at Half Maximum of ∼3500 km s−1, indicating moderately high ejection velocities. The nova entered the nebular phase ∼20 d post-eruption, predicting the imminent super-soft source turn-on in the X-rays, which started ∼28 d post-eruption. The super-soft source properties indicate a white dwarf mass between 1.2 and 1.3 M⊙ in good agreement with the optical conclusions.
Context. Transient short-period (<100 s) oscillations have been found in the X-ray light curves of three novae during their super-soft source (SSS) phase and in one persistent SSS. Aims. We pursue an ...observational approach to determine possible driving mechanisms and relations to fundamental system parameters such as the white dwarf mass. Methods. We performed a systematic search for short-period oscillations in all available XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray light curves of persistent SSS and novae during their SSS phase. To study time evolution, we divided each light curve into short time-segments and computed power spectra. We then constructed a dynamic power spectrum from which we identified transient periodic signals even when only present for a short time. We base our confidence levels on simulations of false-alarm probability for the chosen oversampling rate of 16, corrected for multiple testing based on the number of time segments. From all time segments of each system, we computed fractions of time when periodic signals were detected. Results. In addition to the previously known systems with short-period oscillations, RS Oph (35 s), KT Eri (35 s), V339 Del (54 s), and Cal 83 (67 s), we found one additional system, LMC 2009a (33 s), and also confirm the 35 s period from Chandra data of KT Eri. The oscillation amplitudes are of about <15% of the respective count rates and vary without any clear dependence on the X-ray count rate. The fractions of the time when the respective periods were detected at 2σ significance (duty cycle) are 11.3%, 38.8%, 16.9%, 49.2%, and 18.7% for LMC 2009a, RS Oph, KT Eri, V339 Del, and Cal 83, respectively. The respective highest duty cycles found in a single observation are 38.1%, 74.5%, 61.4%, 67.8%, and 61.8%. Conclusions. Since fast rotation periods of the white dwarfs as origin of these transient oscillations are speculative, we concentrate on pulsation mechanisms. We present initial considerations predicting the oscillation period to scale linearly with the white dwarf radius (and thus mass), weakly with the pressure at the base, and luminosity. Estimates of the size of the white dwarf could be useful for determining whether these systems are more massive than typical white dwarfs, and thus whether they are growing from accretion over time. Signs of such mass growth may have implications for whether some of these systems are attractive as Type Ia supernova progenitors.
We report on the detection of a bright, short, structured X-ray burst coming from the supernova remnant RCW 103 on 2016 June 22 caught by the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) monitor, and on the ...follow-up campaign made with Swift/X-ray Telescope, Swift/UV/Optical Telescope, and the optical/near-infrared (NIR) Gamma-Ray burst Optical and Near-infrared Detector. The characteristics of this flash, such as duration and spectral shape, are consistent with typical short bursts observed from soft gamma repeaters. The BAT error circle at 68 per cent confidence range encloses the point-like X-ray source at the centre of the nebula, 1E 161348-5055. Its nature has been long debated due to a periodicity of 6.67 h in X-rays, which could indicate either an extremely slow pulsating neutron star, or the orbital period of a very compact X-ray binary system. We found that 20 min before the BAT trigger, the soft X-ray emission of 1E 161348-5055 was a factor of ~100 higher than measured 2 yr earlier, indicating that an outburst had already started. By comparing the spectral and timing characteristics of the source in the 2 yr before the outburst and after the BAT event, we find that, besides a change in luminosity and spectral shape, also the 6.67 h pulsed profile has significantly changed with a clear phase shift with respect to its low-flux profile. The UV/optical/NIR observations did not reveal any counterpart at the position of 1E 161348-5055. Based on these findings, we associate the BAT burst with 1E 161348-5055, we classify it as a magnetar, and pinpoint the 6.67 h periodicity as the magnetar spin period.
CC Sculptoris: A superhumping intermediate polar Woudt, P. A; Warner, B; Gulbis, A ...
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
1 December 2012, Volume:
427, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We present high-speed optical, spectroscopic and Swift X-ray observations made during the dwarf nova superoutburst of CC Scl in 2011 November. An orbital period of 1.383 h and superhump period of ...1.443 h were measured, but the principal new finding is that CC Scl is a previously unrecognized intermediate polar, with a white dwarf spin period of 389.49 s which is seen in both optical and Swift X-ray light curves only during the outburst. In this it closely resembles the old nova GK Per, but unlike the latter has one of the shortest orbital periods among intermediate polars.
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