514 research outputs found
The measurement errors in the Swift-UVOT and XMM-OM
The probability of photon measurement in some photon counting
instrumentation, such as the Optical Monitor on the XMM-Newton satellite, and
the UVOT on the Swift satellite, does not follow a Poisson distribution due to
the detector characteristics, but a Binomial distribution. For a single-pixel
approximation, an expression was derived for the incident countrate as a
function of the measured count rate by Fordham, Moorhead and Galbraith (2000).
We show that the measured countrate error is binomial, and extend their
formalism to derive the error in the incident count rate. The error on the
incident count rate at large count rates is larger than the Poisson-error of
the incident count rate.Comment: 4 pages, 2 postscript figures, submitted to MNRA
GRB Flares: UV/Optical Flaring (Paper I)
We present a new algorithm for the detection of flares in gamma-ray burst
(GRB) light curves and use this algorithm to detect flares in the UV/optical.
The algorithm makes use of the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) to analyze
the residuals of the fitted light curve, removing all major features, and to
determine the statistically best fit to the data by iteratively adding
additional `breaks' to the light curve. These additional breaks represent the
individual components of the detected flares: T_start, T_stop, and T_peak. We
present the detection of 119 unique flaring periods detected by applying this
algorithm to light curves taken from the Second Swift Ultraviolet/Optical
Telescope (UVOT) GRB Afterglow Catalog. We analyzed 201 UVOT GRB light curves
and found episodes of flaring in 68 of the light curves. For those light curves
with flares, we find an average number of ~2 flares per GRB. Flaring is
generally restricted to the first 1000 seconds of the afterglow, but can be
observed and detected beyond 10^5 seconds. More than 80% of the flares detected
are short in duration with Delta t/t of < 0.5. Flares were observed with flux
ratios relative to the underlying light curve of between 0.04 to 55.42. Many of
the strongest flares were also seen at greater than 1000 seconds after the
burst.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. 20 pages (including 8 figures and 1 table
An Updated Ultraviolet Calibration for the Swift/UVOT
We present an updated calibration of the Swift/UVOT broadband ultraviolet
(uvw1, uvm2, and uvw2) filters. The new calibration accounts for the ~1% per
year decline in the UVOT sensitivity observed in all filters, and makes use of
additional calibration sources with a wider range of colours and with HST
spectrophotometry. In this paper we present the new effective area curves and
instrumental photometric zeropoints and compare with the previous calibration.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Presented at GRB 2010 symposium,
Annapolis, November 2010 to be published in American Institute of Physics
Conference Serie
Multi-wavelength Observations of the Type IIb Supernova 2009mg
We present Swift UVOT and XRT observations, and visual wavelength
spectroscopy of the Type IIb supernova (SN) 2009mg, discovered in the Sb galaxy
ESO 121-G26. The observational properties of SN 2009mg are compared to the
prototype Type IIb SNe 1993J and 2008ax, with which we find many similarities.
However, minor differences are discernible including SN 2009mg not exhibiting
an initial fast decline or u-band upturn as observed in the comparison objects,
and its rise to maximum is somewhat slower leading to slightly broader light
curves. The late-time temporal index of SN 2009mg, determined from 40 days
post-explosion, is consistent with the decay rate of SN 1993J, but inconsistent
with the decay of 56Co. This suggests leakage of gamma-rays out of the ejecta
and a stellar mass on the small side of the mass distribution. Our XRT
non-detection provides an upper limit on the mass-loss rate of the progenitor
of <1.5x10^-5 Msun per yr. Modelling of the SN light curve indicates a kinetic
energy of 0.15 (+0.02,-0.13) x10^51 erg, an ejecta mass of 0.56(+0.10,-0.26)
Msun and a 56Ni mass of 0.10\pm0.01 Msun.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
GRB 081203A: Swift UVOT captures the earliest ultraviolet spectrum of a gamma-ray burst
We present the earliest ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) as observed with the Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT). The GRB 081203A spectrum was observed for 50 s with the UV-grism starting 251 s after the Swift-Burst-Alert-Telescope (BAT) trigger. During this time, the GRB was ≈13.4 mag (u filter) and was still rising to its peak optical brightness. In the UV-grism spectrum, we find a damped Lyα line, Lyβ and the Lyman continuum break at a redshift z= 2.05 ± 0.01. A model fit to the Lyman absorption implies a gas column density of log NH i= 22.0 ± 0.1 cm−2, which is typical of GRB host galaxies with damped Lyα absorbers. This observation of GRB 081203A demonstrates that for brighter GRBs (v≈ 14 mag) with moderate redshift (0.5 < z < 3.5) the UVOT is able to provide redshifts, and probe for damped Lyα absorbers within 4–6 min from the time of the Swift-BAT trigger
Early optical observations of GRBs by the TAROT telescopes: period 2001-2008
The TAROT telescopes (Telescopes a Action Rapide pour les Objets
Transitoires) are two robotic observatories designed to observe the prompt
optical emission counterpart and the early afterglow of gamma ray bursts
(GRBs). We present data acquired between 2001 and 2008 and discuss the
properties of the optical emission of GRBs, noting various interesting results.
The optical emission observed during the prompt GRB phase is rarely very
bright: we estimate that 5% to 20% of GRBs exhibit a bright optical flash
(R<14) during the prompt gamma-ray emission, and that more than 50% of the GRBs
have an optical emission fainter than R=15.5 when the gamma-ray emission is
active. We study the apparent optical brightness distribution of GRBs at 1000 s
showing that our observations confirm the distribution derived by other groups.
The combination of these results with those obtained by other rapid slewing
telescopes allows us to better characterize the early optical emission of GRBs
and to emphasize the importance of very early multi-wavelength GRB studies for
the understanding of the physics of the ejecta.Comment: 13 pages, 2 color figures, 5 b&w figures. Accepted for publication in
Astronomical Journa
Accurate early positions for Swift GRBS: enhancing X-ray positions with UVOT astrometry
Here we describe an autonomous way of producing more accurate prompt XRT
positions for Swift-detected GRBs and their afterglows, based on UVOT
astrometry and a detailed mapping between the XRT and UVOT detectors. The
latter significantly reduces the dominant systematic error -- the star-tracker
solution to the World Coordinate System. This technique, which is limited to
times when there is significant overlap between UVOT and XRT PC-mode data,
provides a factor of 2 improvement in the localisation of XRT refined positions
on timescales of less than a few hours. Furthermore, the accuracy achieved is
superior to astrometrically corrected XRT PC mode images at early times (for up
to 24 hours), for the majority of bursts, and is comparable to the accuracy
achieved by astrometrically corrected X-ray positions based on deep XRT PC-mode
imaging at later times (abridged).Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, submitted to Astronomy and
Astrophysics, August 7th 200
Photometric Calibration of the Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope
We present the photometric calibration of the Swift UltraViolet/Optical
Telescope (UVOT) which includes: optimum photometric and background apertures,
effective area curves, colour transformations, conversion factors for count
rates to flux, and the photometric zero points (which are accurate to better
than 4 per cent) for each of the seven UVOT broadband filters. The calibration
was performed with observations of standard stars and standard star fields that
represent a wide range of spectral star types. The calibration results include
the position dependent uniformity, and instrument response over the 1600-8000A
operational range. Because the UVOT is a photon counting instrument, we also
discuss the effect of coincidence loss on the calibration results. We provide
practical guidelines for using the calibration in UVOT data analysis. The
results presented here supersede previous calibration results.Comment: Minor improvements after referees report. Accepted for publication in
MNRA
Prompt optical observations of GRB050319 with the Swift UVOT
The UVOT telescope on the Swift observatory has detected optical afterglow
emission from GRB 050319. The flux declines with a power law slope of alpha =
-0.57 between the start of observations some 230 seconds after the burst onset
(90s after the burst trigger) until it faded below the sensitivity threshold of
the instrument after ~5 x 10^4s. There is no evidence for the rapidly declining
component in the early light curve that is seen at the same time in the X-ray
band. The afterglow is not detected in UVOT shortward of the B-band, suggesting
a redshift of about 3.5. The optical V-band emission lies on the extension of
the X-ray spectrum, with an optical to X-ray slope of beta = -0.8. The
relatively flat decay rate of the burst suggests that the central engine
continues to inject energy into the fireball for as long as a few x 10^4s after
the burst.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Ap
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