Engineering topics

Sato, G.

Publications and source records attributed to Sato, G..

16 records

NASA NTRS2012

The Second SWIFT Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray bursts. (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog (hereafter the BAT2 catalog) presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters and time-resolved spectral parameters measured by the BAT. In the correlation study of various observed parameters extracted from the BAT prompt emission data, we distinguish among long-duration GRBs (L-GRBs), short-duration GRBs (S-GRBs), and short-duration GRBs with extended emission (S-GRBs with E.E.) to investigate differences in the prompt emission properties. The fraction of L-GRBs, S-GRBs and S-GRBs with E.E. in the catalog are 89%, 8% and 2% respectively. We compare the BAT prompt emission properties with the BATSE, BeppoSAX and HETE-2 GRB samples.. We also correlate the observed prompt emission properties with the redshifts for the GRBs with known redshift. The BAT T(sub 90) and T(sub 50) durations peak at 70 s and 30 s, respectively. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT S-GRBs are generally harder than those of the L-GRBs.

Sakamoto, T.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Prompt Emission Properties of Swift GRBs

We present the results from the second Swift BAT catalog of 476 gamma-ray bursts, which contains bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2009 December 21. In addition to the spectral and temporal parameters extracted from the first BAT GRB catalog, 3324 time-resolved spectra have been extracted and analyzed. We show and discuss 1) the duration distribution, 2) the hardness of short GRBs, 3) Epeak distribution, 4) the line of death problem and 5) an additional power-law component in the prompt emission spectrum.

Sakamoto, T.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Probing the Nature of Short Swift Bursts via Deep INTEGRAL Monitoring of GRB 050925

We present results from Swift, XMM-Newton, and deep INTEGRAL monitoring in the region of GRB 050925. This short Swift burst is a candidate for a newly discovered soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) with the following observational burst properties: 1) galactic plane (b=-0.1 deg) localization, 2) 150 msec duration, and 3) a blackbody rather than a simple power-law spectral shape (with a significance level of 97%). We found two possible X-ray counterparts of GRB 050925 by comparing the X-ray images from Swift XRT and XMM-Newton. Both X-ray sources show the transient behavior with a power-law decay index shallower than -1. We found no hard X-ray emission nor any additional burst from the location of GRB 050925 in approximately 5 Ms of INTEGRAL data. We discuss about the three BATSE short bursts which might be associated with GRB 050925, based on their location and the duration. Assuming GRB 050925 is associated with the H(sub II), regions (W 58) at the galactic longitude of 1=70 deg, we also discuss the source frame properties of GRB 050925.

Sakamoto, T.↗

NASA NTRS2010

The Second Swift BAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog (hereafter the BAT2 catalog) presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters and time-resolved spectral parametert:; measured by the BAT. In the correlation study of various observed parameters extracted from the BAT prompt emission data, we distinguish among long-duration GRBs (L-GRBs), short-duration GRBs (S-GRBs), and short-duration GRBs with extended emission (S-GRBs with E.E.) to investigate differences in the prompt emission properties. The fraction of L-GRBs, S-GRBs and S-GRBs with E.E. in the catalog are 89%, 8% and 2% respectively. We compare the BAT prompt emission properties with the BATSE, BeppoSAX and HETE-2 GRB samples. We also correlate the observed prompt emission properties with the redshifts for the GRBs with known redshift. The BAT T90 and T50 durations peak at 70 s and 30 s, respectively. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT S-GRBs are generally harder than those of the L-GRBs. The time-averaged spectra of the BAT S GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the L-GRBs. Whereas, the spectra of the initial short spikes of the S-GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the S-GRBs. We show that the BAT GRB samples are significantly softer than the BATSE bright GRBs, and that the time-averaged E obs/peak of the BAT GRBs peaks at 80 keV which is significantly lower energy than those of the BATSE sample which peak at 320 keV. The time-averaged spectral properties of the BAT GRB sample are similar to those of the HETE-2 GRB samples. By time-resolved spectral analysis, we find that 10% of the BAT observed photon indices are outside the allowed region of the synchrotron shock model. The observed durations of the BAT high redshift GRBs are not systematically longer than those of the moderate red shift GRBs. Furthermore, the observed spectra of the BAT high red shift GRBs are similar to or harder than the moderate red shift GRBs. The T90 and T50 distributions measured at the 140-220 keY band in the GRB rest frame form the BAT known redshift GRBs peak at 19 sand 8 s, respectively. We also provide an update on the status of the on-orbit BAT calibrations.

Barthelmy, S. D.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Testing the E(sub peak)-E(sub iso) Relation for GRBs Detected by Swift and Suzaku-WAM

One of the most prominent, yet controversial associations derived from the ensemble of prompt-phase observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is the apparent correlation in the source frame between the peak energy (E(sub peak)) of the nuF(nu) spectrum and the isotropic radiated energy, E(sub iso). Since most gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have E(sub peak) above the energy range (15-150 keV) of the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on Swift, determining accurate E(sub peak) values for large numbers of Swift bursts has been difficult. However, by combining data from Swift/BAT and the Suzaku Wide-band All-Sky Monitor (WAM), which covers the energy range from 50-5000 keV, for bursts which are simultaneously detected ; one can accurately fit E(sub peak) and E(sub iso) and test the relationship between them for the Swift sample. Between the launch of Suzaku in July 2005 and the end of March 2009, there were 45 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which triggered both Swift/BAT and WAM and an additional 47 bursts which triggered Swift and were detected by WAM, but did not trigger. A BAT-WAM team has cross-calibrated the two instruments using GRBs, and we are now able to perform joint fits on these bursts to determine spectral parameters. For those bursts with spectroscopic redshifts.. we can also calculate the isotropic energy. Here we present the results of joint Swift/BAT-Suzaku/WAM spectral fits for 86 of the bursts detected by the two instruments. We show that the distribution of spectral fit parameters is consistent with distributions from earlier missions and confirm that Swift, bursts are consistent with earlier reported relationships between Epeak and isotropic energy. We show through time-resolved spectroscopy that individual burst pulses are also consistent with this relationship.

Krimm, H. A.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Correlative Analysis of GRBs Detected by Swift and Suzaku- WAM

It is now well known that a complete understanding of the energetics of the prompt phase of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) requires full knowledge of the spectrum, extending at least as high as the peak energy (Epeak) of the vF(v) spectrum. Since most gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have Epeak above the energy range (15-150 keV) of the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on Swift, a full understanding of the prompt emission from Swift GRBs requires spectral fits over as broad an energy range as possible. This can be completed for bursts which are simultaneously detected by Swift BAT and the Suzaku Wide-band All-Sky Monitor (WAM), which covers the energy range from 50-5000 keV. Between the launch of Suzaku in July 2005 and the end of 2008, there were 44 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which triggered both Swift and WAM and an additional 41 bursts which triggered Swift and were detected by WAM, but did not trigger. A joint BAT-WAM team has cross-calibrated the two instruments using GRBs, and we are now able to perform joint fits on these bursts to determine spectral parameters including Epeak. The results of broad spectral fits allows us to understand the distribution of Epeak for Swift bursts and to calibrate Epeak estimators when Epeak is within the BAT energy range. For those bursts with spectroscopic redshifts, we can calculate the isotropic energy and study various correlations between Epeak and other global burst parameters. Here we present the results of joint Swift/BAT-Suzaku/WAM spectral fits for 77 of the bursts jointly detected by the two instruments. We show that the distribution of spectral fit parameters is consistent with distributions from earlier missions and confirm that Swift bursts are consistent with earlier reported relationships between Epeak and isotropic energy. We show through time-resolved spectroscopy that individual burst pulses are also consistent with this relationship.

Krimm, H.A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Reviewing Epeak Relations with Swift and Suzaku Data

in recent years several authors have derived correlations between gamma-ray burst (GRB) spectral peak energy (Epeak) and either isotropic-equivalent radiated energy (Eiso) or peak luminosity (Liso) . Since these relationships are controversial, but could provide redshift estimators, it is important to determine whether bursts detected by Swift exhibit the same correlations. Swift has greatly added to the number of GRBs for which redshifts are known and hence Eiso and Lisc could be calculated. However, for most bursts it is not possible to adequately constrain Epeak with Swift data alone since most GRBs have Epeak above the energy range (15-50 keV) of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). Therefore we have analyzed the spectra of 78 bursts (31 with redshift) which were detected by both Swift/BAT and the Suzaku Wide-band All-sky Monitor (WAM), which covers the energy range 50-50C0 keV. For most bursts in this sample we can precisely determine Epeak and for bursts with known redshift we can compare how the Epeak relations for the Swift/Suzaku sample compare to earlier published results.

Krimm, H. A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

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 SGR1900+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 approx. 0.2-0.4. Their initial bolometric luminosities are L approx. 10(exp 34)- 10(exp 35) erg/s. We discuss analogies and differences between the X-ray afterglows of SGR short bursts and short gamma-ray bursts.

Nakagawa, Y. E.↗

NASA NTRS2007

GRB070610: A Curious Galactic Transient

GRB 070610 is a typical high-energy event with a duration of 5s.Yet within the burst localization we detect a highly unusual X-ray and optical transient, SwiftJ195509.6+261406. We see high amplitude X-ray and optical variability on very short time scares even at late times. Using near-infrared imaging assisted by a laser guide star and adaptive optics, we identified the counterpart of SwiftJl95509.6+261406. Late-time optical and near-infrared imaging constrain the spectral type of the counterpart to be fainter than a K-dwarf assuming it is of Galactic origin. It is possible that GRB 070610 and Swift J195509.6+261406 are unrelated sources. However, the absence of a typical X-ray afterglow from GRB 070610 in conjunction with the spatial and temporal coincidence of the two motivate us to suggest that the sources are related. The closest (imperfect) analog to Swift J195509.6+261406 is V4641 Sgr, an unusual black hole binary. We suggest that Swift J195509.6+261406 along with V4641 Sgr define a sub-class of stellar black hole binaries -- the fast X-ray novae. We further suggest that fast X-ray novae are associated with bursts of gamma-rays. If so, GRB 070610 defines a new class of celestial gamma-ray bursts and these bursts dominate the long-duration GRB demographics

Kasliwal, M. M.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Global Properties of X-Ray Flashes and X-Ray-Rich GRBs Observed by Swift

We describe and discuss the spectral and temporal characteristics of the prompt emission and X-ray afterglow emission of X-ray flashes (XRFs) detected and observed by Swift between December 2005 and September 2006. We compare these characteristics to a sample of X-ray rich gamma-ray bursts (XRRs) and conventional classical gamma-ray bursts (C-GRBs)observed during the same period. We confirm the correlation between Epeak and fluence noted by others and find further evidence that XRFs and C-GRBs form a continuum. We also confirmed that our known redshift samples are consistent with the correlation between the peak energy (Epeak) and the isotropic radiated energy (Eiso), so called the Epeak-Eiso relation. The spectral properties of X-ray afterglows are similar to those of gamma-ray burst afterglows, but the temporal properties of the two classes are quite different. We found that the light curves of C-GRBs afterglow show a break to steeper indices (shallow-to-steep break) at much earlier times than do XRF afterglows. Moreover, the overall luminosity of X-ray afterglows of XRFs are systematically smaller by a factor of two or more compared with that of C-GRBs. These distinct differences in the X-ray afterglow between XRFs and C-GRBs are key to understanding not only a mysterious shallow-to-steep phase in the X-ray afterglow but also the unique nature of XRFs.

Sakamoto, T.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Evidence of the Exponential Decay Emission in the Swift Gamma-ray Bursts

We present a systematic study of the steep decay emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT). In contrast to the analysis in recent literature, instead of extrapolating the data of Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) down into the XRT energy range, we extrapolated the XRT data up to the BAT energy range, 15-25 keV, to produce the BAT and XRT composite light curve. Based on our composite light curve fitting, we have confirmed the existence of an exponential decay component which smoothly connects the BAT prompt data to the XRT steep decay for several GRBs. We also find that the XRT steep decay for some of the bursts can be well fitted by a combination of a power-law with an exponential decay model. We discuss that this exponential component may be the emission from an external shock and a sign of the deceleration of the outflow during the prompt phase.

Sakamoto, T.↗

NASA NTRS2007

SWIFT Discovery of Gamma-ray Bursts without Jet Break Feature in their X-ray Afterglows

We analyze Swift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and X-ray afterglows for three GRBs with spectroscopic redshift determinations - GRB 050401, XRF 050416a, and GRB 050525a. We find that the relation between spectral peak energy and isotropic energy of prompt emissions (the Amati relation) is consistent with that for the bursts observed in pre-Swift era. However, we find that the X-ray afterglow lightcurves, which extend up to 10 - 70 days, show no sign of the jet break that is expected in the standard framework of collimated outflows. We do so by showing that none of the X-ray afterglow lightcurves in our sample satisfies the relation between the spectral and temporal indices that is predicted for the phase after jet break. The jet break time can be predicted by inverting the tight empirical relation between the peak energy of the spectrum and the collimation-corrected energy of the prompt emission (the Ghirlanda relation). We find that there are no temporal breaks within the predicted time intervals in X-ray band. This requires either that the Ghirlanda relation has a larger scatter than previously thought, that the temporal break in X-rays is masked by some additional source of X-ray emission, or that it does not happen because of some unknown reason.

Sato, G.↗

NASA NTRS2007

X-Raying the MOJAVE Sample of Compact Extragalactic Radio Jets

The MOJAVE sample is the first large radio-selected, VLBI-monitored AGN sample for which complete X-ray spectral information is being gathered. We report on the status of Swift survey observations which complement the available archival X-ray data at 0.3-10 keV and in the UV with its XRT and UVOT instruments. Many of these 133 radio-brightest AGN in the northern sky are now being observed for the first time at these energies. These and complementary other multiwavelength observations provide a large statistical sample of radio-selected AGN whose spectral energy distributions we measured from radio to gamma-ray wavelengths, available at the beginning of GLAST operations in 2008. Here, we report the X-ray spectral characteristics of 36 of these previously unobserved MOJAVE sources. In addition, the number of MOJAVE sources detected by the BAT instrument in the hard X-ray band is growing: we report the detection of five new blazars with BAT.

Kadler, M.↗

NASA NTRS2007

The First Swift BAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

We present the first Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma ray bursts (GRBs), which contains bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December 19 and 2007 June 16. This catalog (hereafter BAT1 catalog) contains burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, and time averaged spectral parameters for each of 237 GRBs, as measured by the BAT. The BAT-determined position reported here is within 1.75' of the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT)-determined position for 90% of these GRBs. The BAT T(sub 90) and T(sub 50) durations peak at 80 and 20 seconds, respectively. From the fluence-fluence correlation, we conclude that about 60% of the observed peak energies, E(sup obs)(sub peak) of BAT GRBs could be less than 100 keV. We confirm that GRB fluence to hardness and GRB peak flux to hardness are correlated for BAT bursts in analogous ways to previous missions' results. The correlation between the photon index in a simple power-law model and E(sup obs)(sub peak) is also confirmed. We also report the current status for the on-orbit BAT calibrations based on observations of the Crab Nebula.

Sakamoto, T.↗

NASA NTRS2005

GRB 050117: Simultaneous Gamma-ray and X-ray Observations with the Swift Satellite

The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer performed its first autonomous, X-ray follow-up to a newly detected GRB on 2005 January 17, within 193 seconds of the burst trigger by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. While the burst was still in progress, the X-ray Telescope obtained a position and an image for an un-catalogued X-ray source; simultaneous with the gamma-ray observation. The XRT observed flux during the prompt emission was 1.1 x 10(exp -8) ergs/sq cm/s in the 0.5-10 keV energy band. The emission in the X-ray band decreased by three orders of magnitude within 700 seconds, following the prompt emission. This is found to be consistent with the gamma-ray decay when extrapolated into the XRT energy band. During the following 6.3 hours, the XRT observed the afterglow in an automated sequence for an additional 947 seconds, until the burst became fully obscured by the Earth limb. A faint, extremely slowly decaying afterglow, alpha=-0.21, was detected. Finally, a break in the lightcurve occurred and the flux decayed with alpha<-1.2. The X-ray position triggered many follow-up observations: no optical afterglow could be confirmed, although a candidate was identified 3 arcsecs from the XRT position.

Hill, J. E.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Chandra Deep X-ray Observation of a Typical Galactic Plane Region and Near-Infrared Identification

Using the Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer Imaging array (ACIS-I), we have carried out a deep hard X-ray observation of the Galactic plane region at (l,b) approx. (28.5 deg,0.0 deg), where no discrete X-ray source has been reported previously. We have detected 274 new point X-ray sources (4 sigma confidence) as well as strong Galactic diffuse emission within two partidly overlapping ACIS-I fields (approx. 250 sq arcmin in total). The point source sensitivity was approx. 3 x 10(exp -15)ergs/s/sq cm in the hard X-ray band (2-10 keV and approx. 2 x 10(exp -16) ergs/s/sq cm in the soft band (0.5-2 keV). Sum of all the detected point source fluxes account for only approx. 10 % of the total X-ray fluxes in the field of view. In order to explain the total X-ray fluxes by a superposition of fainter point sources, an extremely rapid increase of the source population is required below our sensitivity limit, which is hardly reconciled with any source distribution in the Galactic plane. Therefore, we conclude that X-ray emission from the Galactic plane has truly diffuse origin. Only 26 point sources were detected both in the soft and hard bands, indicating that there are two distinct classes of the X-ray sources distinguished by the spectral hardness ratio. Surface number density of the hard sources is only slightly higher than observed at the high Galactic latitude regions, strongly suggesting that majority of the hard X-ray sources are active galaxies seen through the Galactic plane. Following the Chandra observation, we have performed a near-infrared (NIR) survey with SOFI at ESO/NTT to identify these new X-ray sources. Since the Galactic plane is opaque in NIR, we did not see the background extragalactic sources in NIR. In fact, only 22 % of the hard sources had NIR counterparts which are most likely to be Galactic origin. Composite X-ray energy spectrum of those hard X-ray sources having NIR counterparts exhibits a narrow approx. 6.7 keV iron emission line, which is a signature of Galactic quiescent cataclysmic variables (CVs).

Ebisawa, K.↗