Browsing by Author "Gehrels, Neil"

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    BROADBAND SPECTRAL INVESTIGATIONS OF SGR J1550–5418 BURSTS
    (The American Astronomical Society, 2012) Lin, Lin; Baring, Matthew G.; Granot, Jonathan; Kouveliotou, Chryssa; Kaneko, Yuki; Van Der Horst, Alexander; Gruber, David; Von Kienlin, Andreas; Younes, George; Watts, Anna L.; Gehrels, Neil
    We present the results of our broadband spectral analysis of 42 SGR J1550−5418 bursts simultaneously detected with the Swift/X-ray Telescope (XRT) and the Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), during the 2009 January active episode of the source. The unique spectral and temporal capabilities of the XRT windowed timing mode have allowed us to extend the GBM spectral coverage for these events down to the X-ray domain (0.5–10 keV). Our earlier analysis of the GBM data found that the SGR J1550−5418 burst spectra were described equally well with either a Comptonized model or with two blackbody functions; the two models were statistically indistinguishable. Our new broadband (0.5–200 keV) spectral fits show that, on average, the burst spectra are better described with two blackbody functions than with the Comptonized model. Thus, our joint XRT–GBM analysis clearly shows for the first time that the SGR J1550−5418 burst spectra might naturally be expected to exhibit a more truly thermalized character, such as a two-blackbody or even a multi-blackbody signal. Using the Swift and RXTE timing ephemeris for SGR J1550−5418 we construct the distribution of the XRT burst counts with spin phase and find that it is not correlated with the persistent X-ray emission pulse phase from SGR J1550−5418. These results indicate that the burst emitting sites on the neutron star need not to be co-located with hot spots emitting the bulk of the persistent X-ray emission. Finally, we show that there is a significant pulse phase dependence of the XRT burst counts, likely demonstrating that the surface magnetic field of SGR J1550−5418 is not uniform over the emission zones, since it is anticipated that regions with stronger surface magnetic field could trigger bursts more efficiently.
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    X-Ray and Radio Observations of the Magnetar SGR J1935+2154 during Its 2014, 2015, and 2016 Outbursts
    (The American Astronomical Society, 2017) Younes, George; Kouveliotou, Chryssa; Jaodand, Amruta; Baring, Matthew G.; van der Horst, Alexander J.; Harding, Alice K.; Hessels, Jason W.T.; Gehrels, Neil; Gill, Ramandeep; Huppenkothen, Daniela; Granot, Jonathan; Göğüş Ersin; Lin, Lin
    We analyzed broadband X-ray and radio data of the magnetar SGR J1935+2154 taken in the aftermath of its 2014, 2015, and 2016 outbursts. The source soft X-ray spectrum <10 keV is well described with a blackbody+power-law (BB+PL) or 2BB model during all three outbursts. Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array observations revealed a hard X-ray tail, with a PL photon index Γ = 0.9, extending up to 50 keV, with flux comparable to the one detected <10 keV. Imaging analysis of Chandra data did not reveal small-scale extended emission around the source. Following the outbursts, the total 0.5–10 keV flux from SGR J1935+2154 increased in concordance to its bursting activity, with the flux at activation onset increasing by a factor of ~7 following its strongest 2016 June outburst. A Swift/X-Ray Telescope observation taken 1.5 days prior to the onset of this outburst showed a flux level consistent with quiescence. We show that the flux increase is due to the PL or hot BB component, which increased by a factor of 25 compared to quiescence, while the cold BB component kT = 0.47 keV remained more or less constant. The 2014 and 2015 outbursts decayed quasi-exponentially with timescales of ~40 days, while the stronger 2016 May and June outbursts showed a quick short-term decay with timescales of about four days. Our Arecibo radio observations set the deepest limits on the radio emission from a magnetar, with a maximum flux density limit of 14 μJy for the 4.6 GHz observations and 7 μJy for the 1.4 GHz observations. We discuss these results in the framework of the current magnetar theoretical models.