1,560 research outputs found
The First INTEGRAL AGN Catalog
We present the first INTEGRAL AGN catalog, based on observations performed
from launch of the mission in October 2002 until January 2004. The catalog
includes 42 AGN, of which 10 are Seyfert 1, 17 are Seyfert 2, and 9 are
intermediate Seyfert 1.5. The fraction of blazars is rather small with 5
detected objects, and only one galaxy cluster and no star-burst galaxies have
been detected so far. A complete subset consists of 32 AGN with a significance
limit of 7 sigma in the INTEGRAL/ISGRI 20-40 keV data. Although the sample is
not flux limited, the distribution of sources shows a ratio of obscured to
unobscured AGN of 1.5 - 2.0, consistent with luminosity dependent unified
models for AGN. Only four Compton-thick AGN are found in the sample. Based on
the INTEGRAL data presented here, the Seyfert 2 spectra are slightly harder
(Gamma = 1.95 +- 0.01) than Seyfert 1.5 (Gamma = 2.10 +- 0.02) and Seyfert 1
(Gamma = 2.11 +- 0.05).Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The High Energy Telescope on EXIST
The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a proposed next
generation multi-wavelength survey mission. The primary instrument is a High
Energy telescope (HET) that conducts the deepest survey for Gamma-ray Bursts
(GRBs), obscured-accreting and dormant Supermassive Black Holes and Transients
of all varieties for immediate followup studies by the two secondary
instruments: a Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) and an Optical/Infrared Telescope (IRT).
EXIST will explore the early Universe using high redshift GRBs as cosmic probes
and survey black holes on all scales. The HET is a coded aperture telescope
employing a large array of imaging CZT detectors (4.5 m^2, 0.6 mm pixel) and a
hybrid Tungsten mask. We review the current HET concept which follows an
intensive design revision by the HET imaging working group and the recent
engineering studies in the Instrument and Mission Design Lab at the Goddard
Space Flight Center. The HET will locate GRBs and transients quickly (<10-30
sec) and accurately (< 20") for rapid (< 1-3 min) onboard followup soft X-ray
and optical/IR (0.3-2.2 micron) imaging and spectroscopy. The broad energy band
(5-600 keV) and the wide field of view (~90 deg x 70 deg at 10% coding
fraction) are optimal for capturing GRBs, obscured AGNs and rare transients.
The continuous scan of the entire sky every 3 hours will establish a
finely-sampled long-term history of many X-ray sources, opening up new
possibilities for variability studies.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, SPIE conference proceedings (UV,
X-ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVI, 7435-9
EXIST's Gamma-Ray Burst Sensitivity
We use semi-analytic techniques to evaluate the burst sensitivity of designs
for the EXIST hard X-ray survey mission. Applying these techniques to the
mission design proposed for the Beyond Einstein program, we find that with its
very large field-of-view and faint gamma-ray burst detection threshold, EXIST
will detect and localize approximately two bursts per day, a large fraction of
which may be at high redshift. We estimate that EXIST's maximum sensitivity
will be ~4 times greater than that of Swift's Burst Alert Telescope. Bursts
will be localized to better than 40 arcsec at threshold, with a burst position
as good as a few arcsec for strong bursts. EXIST's combination of three
different detector systems will provide spectra from 3 keV to more than 10 MeV.
Thus, EXIST will enable a major leap in the understanding of bursts, their
evolution, environment, and utility as cosmological probes.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Ap
The Swift Discovery of X-ray Afterglows Accompanying Short Bursts from SGR 1900+14
The discovery of X-ray afterglows accompanying two short bursts from SGR
1900+14 is presented. The afterglow luminosities at the end of each observation
are lower by 30-50% than their initial luminosities, and decay with power law
indices p ~ 0.2-0.4. Their initial bolometric luminosities are L ~ 10^34-10^35
erg s^-1. We discuss analogies and differences between the X-ray afterglows of
SGR short bursts and short gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ
Confirmation of the \eps -- \eiso (Amati) relation from the X-ray flash XRF 050416A observed by Swift/BAT
We report Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) observations of the X-ray Flash
(XRF) XRF 050416A. The fluence ratio between the 15-25 keV and 25-50 keV energy
bands of this event is 1.5, thus making it the softest gamma-ray burst (GRB)
observed by BAT so far. The spectrum is well fitted by the Band function with
E^{\rm obs}_{\rm peak} of 15.0_{-2.7}^{+2.3} keV. Assuming the redshift of the
host galaxy (z = 0.6535), the isotropic-equivalent radiated energy E_{\rm iso}
and the peak energy at the GRB rest frame (E^{\rm src}_{\rm peak}) of XRF
050416A are not only consistent with the correlation found by Amati et al. and
extended to XRFs by Sakamoto et al., but also fill-in the gap of this relation
around the 30 - 80 keV range of E^{\rm src}_{\rm peak}. This result tightens
the validity of the E^{\rm src}_{\rm peak} - E_{\rm iso} relation from XRFs to
GRBs.
We also find that the jet break time estimated using the empirical relation
between E^{\rm src}_{\rm peak} and the collimation corrected energy E_{\gamma}
is inconsistent with the afterglow observation by Swift X-ray Telescope. This
could be due to the extra external shock emission overlaid around the jet break
time or to the non existence of a jet break feature for XRF, which might be a
further challenging for GRB jet emission, models and XRF/GRB unification
scenarios.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ
Swift XRT and UVOT deep observations of the high energy peaked BL Lac object PKS 0548-322 close to its brightest state
We present the results of a spectral analysis of 5 Swift XRT and UVOT
observations of the BL Lac object PKS 0548-322 carried out over the period
April-June 2005. The X-ray flux of this high energy peaked BL Lac (HBL) source
was found to be approximately constant at a level of F(2-10 keV) ~ 4x10^-11 erg
cm^-2 s^-1, a factor of 2 brighter than when observed by BeppoSAX in 1999 and
close to the maximum intensity reported in the Einstein Slew Survey. The very
good statistics obtained in the 0.3-10 keV Swift X-ray spectrum allowed us to
detect highly significant deviations from a simple power law spectral
distribution. A log-parabolic model describes well the X-ray data and gives a
best fit curvature parameter of 0.18 and peak energy in the Spectral Energy
Distribution of about 2 keV. The UV spectral data from Swift UVOT join well
with a power law extrapolation of the soft X-ray data points suggesting that
the same component is responsible for the observed emission in the two bands.
The combination of synchrotron peak in the X-ray band and high intensity state
confirms PKS 0548-322 as a prime target for TeV observations. X-ray monitoring
and coordinated TeV campaigns are highly advisable.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (6 pages, 3 figures
SPI observations of positron annihilation radiation from the 4th galactic quadrant: sky distribution
During its first year in orbit the INTEGRAL observatory performed deep
exposures of the Galactic Center region and scanning observations of the
Galactic plane. We report on the status of our analysis of the positron
annihilation radiation from the 4th Galactic quadrant with the spectrometer
SPI, focusing on the sky distribution of the 511 keV line emission. The
analysis methods are described; current constraints and limits on the Galactic
bulge emission and the bulge-to-disk ratio are presented.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the proceedings of
the 5th INTEGRAL worksho
Detection of Very Low-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the 2015 Outburst of V404 Cygni
In June 2015, the black hole X-ray binary (BHXRB) V404 Cygni went into
outburst for the first time since 1989. Here, we present a comprehensive search
for quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) of V404 Cygni during its recent
outburst, utilizing data from six instruments on board five different X-ray
missions: Swift/XRT, Fermi/GBM, Chandra/ACIS, INTEGRAL's IBIS/ISGRI and JEM-X,
and NuSTAR. We report the detection of a QPO at 18 mHz simultaneously with both
Fermi/GBM and Swift/XRT, another example of a rare but slowly growing new class
of mHz-QPOs in BHXRBs linked to sources with a high orbital inclination.
Additionally, we find a duo of QPOs in a Chandra/ACIS observation at 73 mHz and
1.03 Hz, as well as a QPO at 136 mHz in a single Swift/XRT observation that can
be interpreted as standard Type-C QPOs. Aside from the detected QPOs, there is
significant structure in the broadband power, with a strong feature observable
in the Chandra observations between 0.1 and 1 Hz. We discuss our results in the
context of current models for QPO formation.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, published in Ap
The dust-scattering X-ray rings of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 1547.0-5408
On 2009 January 22 numerous strong bursts were detected from the anomalous
X-ray pulsar 1E 1547.0-5408. Swift/XRT and XMM-Newton/EPIC observations carried
out in the following two weeks led to the discovery of three X-ray rings
centered on this source. The ring radii increased with time following the
expansion law expected for a short impulse of X-rays scattered by three dust
clouds. Assuming different models for the dust composition and grain size
distribution, we fit the intensity decay of each ring as a function of time at
different energies, obtaining tight constrains on the distance of the X-ray
source. Although the distance strongly depends on the adopted dust model, we
find that some models are incompatible with our X-ray data, restricting to 4-8
kpc the range of possible distances for 1E 1547.0-5408. The best-fitting dust
model provides a source distance of 3.91 +/- 0.07 kpc, which is compatible with
the proposed association with the supernova remnant G 327.24-0.13, and implies
distances of 2.2 kpc, 2.6 kpc and 3.4 kpc for the dust clouds, in good
agreement with the dust distribution inferred by CO line observations towards
1E 1547.0-5408. However, dust distances in agreement with CO data are also
obtained for a set of similarly well-fitting models that imply a source
distance of about 5 kpc. A distance of about 4-5 kpc is also favored by the
fact that these dust models are already known to provide good fits to the
dust-scattering halos of bright X-ray binaries.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; 10 pages in
emulate-apj style, 3 tables, 5 color figures. Note: abstract truncated; full
abstract in the pape
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