Long-term variability of AGN at hard X-rays

Variability at all observed wavelengths is a distinctive property of AGN. Hard X-rays provide us with a view of the innermost regions of AGN, mostly unbiased by absorption along the line of sight. Swift/BAT offers the unique opportunity to follow, on time scales of days to years and with a regular sampling, the 14-195 keV emission of the largest AGN sample available up to date for this kind of investigation. We study the amplitude of the variations, and their dependence on sub-class and on energy, for a sample of 110 radio quiet and radio loud AGN selected from the BAT 58-month survey. About 80% of the AGN in the sample are found to exhibit significant variability on months to years time scales, radio loud sources being the most variable. The amplitude of the variations and their energy dependence are incompatible with variability being driven at hard X-rays by changes of the absorption column density. In general, the variations in the 14-24 and 35-100 keV bands are well correlated, suggesting a common origin of the variability across the BAT energy band. However, radio quiet AGN display on average 10% larger variations at 14-24 keV than at 35-100 keV and a softer-when-brighter behavior for most of the Seyfert galaxies with detectable spectral variability on month time scale. In addition, sources with harder spectra are found to be more variable than softer ones. These properties are generally consistent with a variable power law continuum, in flux and shape, pivoting at energies >~ 50 keV, to which a constant reflection component is superposed. When the same time scales are considered, the timing properties of AGN at hard X-rays are comparable to those at lower energies, with at least some of the differences possibly ascribable to components contributing differently in the two energy domains (e.g., reflection, absorption).Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&

The 2008 October Swift detection of X-ray bursts/outburst from the transient SGR-like AXP 1E 1547.0-5408

We report on the detailed study of the 2008 October outburst from the anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP) 1E 1547.0-5408 discovered through the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) detection of SGR-like short X-ray bursts on 2008 October 3. The Swift/X-ray Telescope (XRT) started observing the source after less than 100 s since the BAT trigger, when the flux (about 6E-11 erg/cm^2/s in the 2-10 keV range) was >50 times higher than its quiescent level. Swift monitored the outbursting activity of 1E 1547.0-5408 on a daily basis for approximately three weeks. This strategy allowed us to find a phase-coherent solution for the source pulsations after the burst, which, besides period and period derivative, requires a positive Period second derivative term (spin-down increase). The time evolution of the pulse shape is complex and variable, with the pulsed fraction increasing from 20% to 50% within the Swift observational window. The XRT spectra can be fitted well by means of a single component, either a power-law (PL) or a blackbody (BB). During the very initial phases of the outburst the spectrum is hard, with a PL photon index about 2 (or kT about 1.4 keV) which steepens to about 4 (or kT about 0.8 keV) within one day from the BAT trigger, though the two components are likely present simultaneously during the first day spectra. An INTEGRAL observation carried out five days after the trigger provided an upper limit of about 2E-11 erg/cm^2/s to the emission of 1E 1547.0-5408 in the 18-60 keV band.Comment: 10 pages, 2 tables, 6 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA

Evidence for Low Extinction in Actively Star Forming Galaxies at z>>6.5

We present a search for the [CII] 158micron fine structure line (a main cooling line of the interstellar medium) and the underlying far-infrared (FIR) continuum in three high-redshift (6.6<z<8.2) star-forming galaxies using the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer. We targeted two Lyman-Alpha-selected galaxies (Lyman-Alpha-Emitters, LAEs) with moderate UV-based star formation rates (SFR~20 M_sun/yr; Himiko at z=6.6 and IOK-1 at z=7.0) and a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) host galaxy (GRB 090423 at z~8.2). Based on our 3 sigma rest-frame FIR continuum limits, previous (rest-frame) UV continuum measurements and spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, we rule out SED shapes similar to highly obscured galaxies (e.g. Arp220, M82) and less extreme dust-rich nearby spiral galaxies (e.g. M51) for the LAEs. Conservatively assuming a SED shape typical of local spiral galaxies we derive upper limits for the FIR-based star formation rates (SFRs) of ~70 M_sun/yr, ~50 M_sun/yr and ~40 M_sun/yr for Himiko, IOK-1 and GRB 090423, respectively. For the LAEs these limits are only a factor ~3 higher than the published UV-based SFRs (uncorrected for extinction). This indicates that the dust obscuration in the z>6 LAEs studied here is lower by a factor of a few than what has recently been found in some LAEs at lower redshift (2<z<3.5) with similar UV-based SFRs. A low obscuration in our z>6 LAE sample is consistent with recent rest-frame UV studies of z~7 Lyman-Break-Galaxies (LBGs).Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Lag-luminosity relation in gamma-ray burst X-ray flares: a direct link to the prompt emission

The temporal and spectral analysis of 9 bright X-ray flares out of a sample of 113 flares observed by Swift reveals that the flare phenomenology is strictly analogous to the prompt gamma-ray emission: high energy flare profiles rise faster, decay faster and peak before the low energy emission. However, flares and prompt pulses differ in one crucial aspect: flares evolve with time. As time proceeds flares become wider, with larger peak lag, lower luminosities and softer emission. The flare spectral peak energy E_{p,i} evolves to lower values following an exponential decay which tracks the decay of the flare flux. The two flares with best statistics show higher than expected isotropic energy E_{iso} and peak luminosity L_{p,iso} when compared to the E_{p,i}-E_{iso} and E_{p,i}-L_{iso} prompt correlations. E_{p,i} is found to correlate with L_{iso} within single flares, giving rise to a time resolved E_{p,i}(t)-L_{iso}(t). Like prompt pulses, flares define a lag-luminosity relation: L_{p,iso}^{0.3-10 keV} t_{lag}^{-0.95+/-0.23}. The lag-luminosity is proven to be a fundamental law extending 5 decades in time and 5 in energy. Moreover, this is direct evidence that GRB X-ray flares and prompt gamma-ray pulses are produced by the same mechanism. Finally we establish a flare-afterglow morphology connection: flares are preferentially detected superimposed to one-break or canonical X-ray afterglows.Comment: MNRAS accepte

The Dark Side of ROTSE-III Prompt GRB Observations

We present several cases of optical observations during gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which resulted in prompt limits but no detection of optical emission. These limits constrain the prompt optical flux densities and the optical brightness relative to the gamma-ray emission. The derived constraints fall within the range of properties observed in GRBs with prompt optical detections, though at the faint end of optical/gamma flux ratios. The presently accessible prompt optical limits do not require a different set of intrinsic or environmental GRB properties, relative to the events with prompt optical detections.Comment: ApJ accepted. 20 pages in draft manuscript form, which includes 6 pages of tables and 2 figure

Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy of Antiparallel β-Sheet Secondary Structure

We investigate the sensitivity of femtosecond Fourier transform two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy to protein secondary structure with a study of antiparallel β-sheets. The results show that 2D IR spectroscopy is more sensitive to structural differences between proteins than traditional infrared spectroscopy, providing an observable that allows comparison to quantitative models of protein vibrational spectroscopy. 2D IR correlation spectra of the amide I region of poly-L-lysine, concanavalin A, ribonuclease A, and lysozyme show cross-peaks between the IR-active transitions that are characteristic of amide I couplings for polypeptides in antiparallel hydrogen-bonding registry. For poly-L-lysine, the 2D IR spectrum contains the eight-peak structure expected for two dominant vibrations of an extended, ordered antiparallel β-sheet. In the proteins with antiparallel β-sheets, interference effects between the diagonal and cross-peaks arising from the sheets, combined with diagonally elongated resonances from additional amide transitions, lead to a characteristic “Z”-shaped pattern for the amide I region in the 2D IR spectrum. We discuss in detail how the number of strands in the sheet, the local configurational disorder in the sheet, the delocalization of the vibrational excitation, and the angle between transition dipole moments affect the position, splitting, amplitude, and line shape of the cross-peaks and diagonal peaks.

The Anomalous Early Afterglow of GRB 050801

The ROTSE-IIIc telescope at the H.E.S.S. site, Namibia, obtained the earliest detection of optical emission from a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB), beginning only 21.8 s from the onset of Swift GRB 050801. The optical lightcurve does not fade or brighten significantly over the first ~250 s, after which there is an achromatic break and the lightcurve declines in typical power-law fashion. The Swift/XRT also obtained early observations starting at 69 s after the burst onset. The X-ray lightcurve shows the same features as the optical lightcurve. These correlated variations in the early optical and X-ray emission imply a common origin in space and time. This behavior is difficult to reconcile with the standard models of early afterglow emission.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Status of the ROTSE-III telescope network

ROTSE-III is a homogeneous worldwide array of 4 robotic telescopes. They were designed to provide optical observations of γ-ray burst (GRB) afterglows as close as possible to the start of γ-ray emission. ROTSE-III is fulfilling its potential for GRB science, and provides optical observations for a variety of astrophysical sources in the interim between GRB events

Prompt Optical Detection of GRB 050401 with ROTSE-IIIa

The ROTSE-IIIa telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, detected prompt optical emission from Swift GRB 050401. In this letter, we present observations of the early optical afterglow, first detected by the ROTSE-IIIa telescope 33 s after the start of gamma-ray emission, contemporaneous with the brightest peak of this emission. This GRB was neither exceptionally long nor bright. This is the first prompt optical detection of a GRB of typical duration and luminosity. We find that the early afterglow decay does not deviate significantly from the power-law decay observable at later times, and is uncorrelated with the prompt gamma-ray emission. We compare this detection with the other two GRBs with prompt observations, GRB 990123 and GRB 041219a. All three bursts exhibit quite different behavior at early times.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter