A growing number of previously hidden Galactic X-ray sources are now detected with recent surveys performed by the Integral and Swift satellites. Most of these new sources eluded past surveys due to their large local X-ray extinction and consequent low soft X-ray flux. The Swift-BAT performs daily monitoring of the sky in an energy band (15-150 keV) which is only marginally affected by X-ray extinction, thus allowing for the search of long periodicities in the light curve and identification of the nature of the X-ray sources. We performed a period search using the folding technique in the Swift-BAT light curves of three Integral sources: IGR J05007-7047, IGR J13186-6257 and IGR J17354-3255. Their periodograms show significant peaks at 30.77$\pm$0.01 d, 19.994$\pm$0.01 d and 8.448$\pm$0.002 d, respectively. We estimate the significance of these features from the chi squared distribution of all the trials, finding a probability less than 1.5$\times10^{-4}$ that the detections occurred due to chance. We complement our analysis with the study of their broadband X-ray emission. We identify the periodicities with the orbital periods of the sources. The periods are typical for the wind accretors X-ray binaries and we support this identification showing that also their energy spectra are compatible with an X-ray spectral emission characteristic of high-mass X-ray binaries. The spectrum of IGR J05007-704 that resides in the Large Magellanic Cloud, does not show any intrinsic local absorption, whereas the spectra of the Galactic sources IGR J17354-3255 and IGR J13186-6257 may be affected by a local absorber. The folded light curve for IGR J13186-6257 suggests a possible Be companion star.
We discuss the origin of two triggers of Swift's Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) that occurred in 2011. The triggers were identified with Swift J185003.2-005627, a previously unknown X-ray source, and the known but unclassified X-ray transient Swift J1922.7-1716. We investigate the BAT data and follow-up observations obtained with the X-ray and ultraviolet/optical telescopes to demonstrate that both triggers are consistent with thermonuclear X-ray bursts. This implies that both sources are neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries. The total duration of ~7 minutes and estimated energy output of ~(3-7)E…
Using Gaussian Mixture Model and Expectation Maximization algorithm, we have performed a density estimation in the framework of $T_{90}$ versus hardness ratio for 296 Swift/BAT GRBs with known redshift. Here, Bayesian Information Criterion has been taken to compare different models. Our investigations show that two instead of three or more Gaussian components are favoured in both the observer and rest frames. Our key findings are consistent with some previous results.
We investigate the feasibility of implementing a system called 'Follow the BAT' that will coordinate ground-based robotic optical and near infrared (NIR) telescopes to monitor the Swift BAT field-of-view (FoV). The system will optimize the monitoring locations in the BAT FoV based on individual robotic telescopes' location, FoV, sensitivity and local weather conditions. The aim is to perform coordinated BAT FoV monitoring by professional as well as amateur astronomers around the world. The scientific goal of the proposed system is to facilitate detection of prompt optical and NIR emission from…
We present the catalog of sources detected in 70 months of observations of the BAT hard X-ray detector on the Swift gamma-ray burst observatory. The Swift-BAT 70 month survey has detected 1171 hard X-ray sources (more than twice as many sources as the previous 22 month survey) in the 14-195 keV band down to a significance level of 4.8 sigma, associated with 1210 counterparts. The 70 month Swift-BAT survey is the most sensitive and uniform hard X-ray all-sky survey and reaches a flux level of 1.03e-11 ergs/sec/cm2 over 50% of the sky and 1.34e-11 ergs/sec/cm2 over 90% of the sky. The majority o…
We have analyzed the Swift data relevant to the high mass X-ray binary Swift J1816.7-1613. The timing analysis of the BAT survey data unveiled a modulation at a period of P_0=118.5+/-0.8 days that we interpret as the orbital period of the X-ray binary system. The modulation is due to a sequence of bright flares, lasting ~30 d, separated by long quiescence intervals. This behavior is suggestive of a Be binary system, where periodic or quasi-periodic outbursts are the consequence of an enhancement of the accretion flow from the companion star at the periastron passage. The position of Swift J181…
We report the discovery using data from the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) of superorbital modulation in the wind-accretion supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries 4U 1909+07 (= X 1908+075), IGR J16418-4532, and IGR J16479-4514. Together with already known superorbital periodicities in 2S 0114+650 and IGR J16493-4348, the systems exhibit a monotonic relationship between superorbital and orbital periods. These systems include both supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) and classical supergiant systems, and have a range of inclination angles. This suggests an underlying physical mechanism which…
We study time-resolved spectra of the prompt emission of Swift Gamma-ray bursts (GRB). Our goal is to see if previous BATSE claims of the existence of a large amount of spectra with the low energy photon indices harder than 2/3 are consistent with Swift data. We perform a systematic search of the episodes of the spectral hardening down to the photon indices below 2/3 in the prompt emission spectra of Swift GRBs. We show that the data of the BAT instrument on board of Swift are consistent with BATSE data, if one takes into account differences between the two instruments. Much lower statistics o…
IGR J16493-4348 is a supergiant high mass X-ray binary discovered by INTEGRAL in 2004. The source is detected at a significance level of $\sim21$ standard deviations in the Swift-BAT survey data collected during the first 54 months of the Swift mission. The timing analysis reveals an orbital period of $\sim$6.78 days and the presence of a full eclipse of the compact ob\ ject. The dynamical range (variability up to a factor $\sim$20) observed during the BAT monitoring suggests that IGR J16493-4348 is a wind-fed system. The derived semi-major axis of the binary system is $\sim55 R_{\sun}$ with a…
We present a catalog of hard X-ray sources detected in the first 105 months of observations with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) coded mask imager on board the Swift observatory. The 105 month Swift-BAT survey is a uniform hard X-ray all-sky survey with a sensitivity of $8.40\times 10^{-12}\ {\rm erg\ s^{-1}\ cm^{-2}}$ over 90% of the sky and $7.24\times 10^{-12}\ {\rm erg\ s^{-1}\ cm^{-2}}$ over 50% of the sky in the 14-195 keV band. The Swift-BAT 105 month catalog provides 1632 (422 new detections) hard X-ray sources in the 14-195 keV band above the 4.8σ significance level. Adding to the pre…
Short and long bursts were identified by the BATSE team in the early 90s. A decade ago there were some suggestions about the intermediate duration type of bursts. We are going to summarize recent analyses of the duration distributions of the Beppo-Sax and Swift data. Our conclusion is all the three satellites (CGRO, Swift, Beppo-Sax) can see the third type of the GRBs. The properties of the group members are very similar in the different data sets.
We present the analysis of 2.1 years of Fermi/LAT data on 491 Seyfert galaxies detected by the Swift/BAT survey. Only the two nearest objects, NGC 1068 and NGC 4945, which were identified in the Fermi First-year Catalog, are detected. Using the Swift/BAT and radio 20 cm fluxes, we define a new radio-loudness parameter $R_{X, BAT}$ where radio loud objects have $\log R_{X, BAT} > - 4.7$. Based on this parameter, only radio loud sources are detected by Fermi/LAT. An upper limit to the flux of the undetected sources is derived to be $\sim 2 \times 10^{-11}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, approximate…
We present the newly developed broadband transient monitor using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the MAXI Gas Slit Camera (GSC) data. Our broadband transient monitor monitors high energy transient sources from 2 keV to 200 keV in seven energy bands by combining the BAT (15-200 keV) and the GSC (2-20 keV) data. Currently, the daily and the 90-minute (one orbit) averaged light curves are available for 106 high energy transient sources. Our broadband transient monitor is available to the public through our web server, http://yoshidalab.mydns.jp/bat_gsc_trans_mon/, for a wider use by the…
We have studied X-ray spectral state transitions that can be seen in the long- term monitoring light curves of bright X-ray binaries from the All-Sky Monitor (ASM) on board the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on board Swift during a period of five years from 2005 to 2010. We have applied a program to automatically identify the hard-to-soft (H-S) spectral state transitions in the bright X- ray binaries monitored by the ASM and the BAT. In total we identified 128 hard-to-soft transitions, of which 59 occurred after 2008. We also determined the transition fl…
Wind-fed supergiant X-ray binaries are precious laboratories not only to study accretion under extreme gravity and magnetic field conditions, but also to probe still highly debated properties of massive star winds. These includes the so-called clumps, originated from the inherent instability of line driven winds, and larger structures. In this paper, we report on the results of the last (and not yet published) monitoring campaigns that our group has been carrying out since 2007 with both XMM-Newton and the Swift Neil Gehrels observatory. Data collected with the EPIC cameras on-board XMM-Newton…
Using the gamma-ray bursts simultaneously detected by Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM we performed a joint spectral and temporal analysis of the prompt emission data and confirm the rough correlation between the BAT-band photon index Gamma_BAT and the peak spectral energy Epeak. With the redshift known sub-sample, we derived the isotropic gamma-ray energy E_gamma,iso and also confirm the E_gamma,iso - Epeak,rest relation, with a larger scatter than the Amati sample but consistent with GBM team analyses. We also compare the T_90 values derived in the GBM band with those derived in the BAT band and find…
Studies of \textit{BATSE} bursts \citep{kouveliotou:93} have resulted in the widespread adoption of a two-group categorization: long bursts (those with durations $\geq 2$ seconds) and short bursts (those with durations $\leq 2$ seconds). This categorization, one must recall, used the observed $T_{90}$ time durations for bursts (during which 90\% of a burst's fluence is measured). In this work, we have explored two ideas: 1) a statistical search for a possible third, intermediate category of bursts (between the "short" and the "long" ones) among 2041 \textit{BATSE} GRBs and 757 \textit{Swift/BA…
A sample of 286 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Swift satellite and 358 GRBs detected by the RHESSI satellite are studied statistically. Previously published articles, based on the BATSE GRB Catalog, claimed the existence of an intermediate subgroup of GRBs with respect to duration. We use the statistical chi^2 test and the F-test to compare the number of GRB subgroups in our databases with the earlier BATSE results. Similarly to the BATSE database, the short and long subgroups are well detected in the Swift and RHESSI data. However, contrary to the BATSE data, we have not found a stat…
Swift/BAT and RXTE/ASM observations have monitored the X-ray binary system Her X-1 for approximately 14.5 years each, and both were monitoring Her X-1 for a period of ~5.5 years. Here we study the 35-day cycle using these observations. Using a cross-correlation method we find the times of peaks of the 35-day cycles for ~150 cycles observed by Swift/BAT and ~150 cycles observed by RXTE/ASM. These cycles include ~60 observed with both instruments. The noise level of the RXTE/ASM measurements is larger than that of Swift/BAT, resulting in larger uncertainty in peak times. The distribution of 35-d…
The observed durations of prompt gamma-ray emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are often used to infer the progenitors and energetics of the sources. Inaccurate duration measurements will have a significant impact on constraining the processes powering the bursts. The "tip-of-the-iceberg" effect describes how the observed signal is lost into background noise; lower instrument sensitivity leads to higher measurement bias. In this study, we investigate how observing conditions, such as the number of enabled detectors, background level, and incident angle of the source relative to the detector …
In recent years, thanks to the continuous surveys performed by INTEGRAL and Swift satellites, our knowledge of the hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray sky has greatly improved. As a result it is now populated with about 2000 sources, both Galactic and extra-galactic, mainly discovered by IBIS and BAT instruments. Many different follow-up campaigns have been successfully performed by using a multi-wavelength approach, shedding light on the nature of a number of these new hard X-ray sources. However, a fraction are still of a unidentified nature. This is mainly due to the lack of lower energy observations…
We report Swift/BAT survey observations of the Tycho's supernova remnant, performed over a period of 104 months since the mission's launch. The remnant is detected with high significance (>10 sigma) below 50 keV. We detect significant hard X-ray emission in the 60-85 keV band, above the continuum level predicted by a simple synchrotron model. The location of the observed excess is consistent with line emission from radioactive Titanium-44, so far reported only for Type II supernova explosions. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of the galactic supernova rate, and nucle…
We conducted time-resolved optical spectroscopy and/or time-series photometry of 15 cataclysmic binaries that were discovered in hard X-ray surveys by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), with the goal of measuring their orbital periods and searching for spin periods. Four of the objects in this study are new optical identifications: Swift J0535.2+2830, Swift J2006.4+3645, IGR J21095+4322, and Swift J2116.5+5336. Coherent pulsations are detected from three objects for the first time, Swift J0535.2+2830 (1523 s), 2PBC J1911.4+…
In this work, we measure two important phenomenological parameters of corona (and hot accretion flow) in black hole X-ray binaries: the photon index $Γ$ and the electron temperature $\te$. Thanks to the capability of {\it NuSTAR} in hard X-rays, we measure these two parameters over six orders of magnitude in the 0.1-100 keV X-ray luminosity $\lx$, from $\sim 5\times10^{38} \ergs$ down to as low as $\sim 5\times10^{32} \ergs$. We confirm the existence of a "V"-shaped correlation between $Γ$ and $\lx$. Surprisingly, we observe a "$Λ$"-shaped correlation between $\te$ and $\lx$. The "cooler when …
From a set of thirteen cataclysmic binaries that were discovered in the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey, we conducted time-resolved optical spectroscopy and/or time-series photometry of eleven, with the goal of measuring their orbital periods and searching for spin periods. Seven of the objects in this study are new optical identifications. Orbital periods are found for seven targets, ranging from 81 minutes to 20.4 hours. PBC J0706.7+0327 is an AM Herculis star (polar) based on its emission-line variations and large amplitude photometric modulation on the same period. Swift J2341.0+7…
We present an investigation of long-term modulation in the X-ray light curves of five little-studied candidate high-mass X-ray binaries using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. IGR J14488-5942 and AX J1700.2-4220 show strong modulation at periods of 49.6 and 44 days, respectively, which are interpreted as orbital periods of Be star systems. For IGR J14488-5942, observations with Swift X-ray Telescope show a hint of pulsations at 33.4 s. For AX J1700.2-4220, 54 s pulsations were previously found with XMM. Swift J1816.7-1613 exhibits complicated behavior. The strongest peak in the power spectrum i…
A comprehensive study is given to short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) in the third Swift/BAT GRB Catalog from December 2004 to July 2019. We examine in details the temporal properties of the three components in the prompt gamma-ray emission phase, including precursors, main peaks and extended emissions (EE). We investigate the similarity of the main peaks between one-component and two-component sGRBs. It is found that there is no substantial difference among their main peaks. Importantly, comparisons are made between in the single-peaked sGRBs and the double-peaked sGRBs. It is found that our resul…
We present a re-analysis of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) data around the radio detection of FRB 131104. Possible evidence of a gamma-ray counterpart was presented by DeLaunay et al. However, based on our analysis using all the available BAT data, no significant emission is found in either the temporal or the image domain. We place a 5~sigma fluence upper limit of 3.3 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ and 2.7 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ (15-150 keV) with an integration time of 300 s assuming a simple power-law spectrum with photon index of -1.2 and -2.0, respectively. Our result do…
Compact binary system mergers are expected to generate gravitational radiation detectable by ground-based interferometers. A subset of these, the merger of a neutron star with another neutron star or a black hole, are also the most popular model for the production of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) trigger on short GRBs (SGRBs) at rates that reflect their relative sky exposures, with the BAT detecting 10 per year compared to about 45 for GBM. We examine the SGRB populations detected by Swift BAT and Fermi GBM. We …
Using Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Expectation Maximization Algorithm, we perform an analysis of time duration ($T_{90}$) for \textit{CGRO}/BATSE, \textit{Swift}/BAT and \textit{Fermi}/GBM Gamma-Ray Bursts. The $T_{90}$ distributions of 298 redshift-known \textit{Swift}/BAT GRBs have also been studied in both observer and rest frames. Bayesian Information Criterion has been used to compare between different GMM models. We find that two Gaussian components are better to describe the \textit{CGRO}/BATSE and \textit{Fermi}/GBM GRBs in the observer frame. Also, we caution that two groups are e…
We present the results obtained from detailed spectral and timing studies of extra-galactic black hole X-ray binaries LMC~X--1 and LMC~X--3, using simultaneous observations with {\it Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR)} and {\it Neil Gehrels Swift} observatories. The combined spectra in the $0.5-30$~keV energy range, obtained between 2014 and 2019, are investigated for both sources. We do not find any noticeable variability in $0.5-30$~keV light curves, with $0.1-10$~Hz fractional rms estimated to be $<2$\%. No evidence of quasi-periodic oscillations is found in the power density sp…
Resonant absorption cyclotron features are a key diagnostic tool to directly measure the strength of the magnetic field of accreting neutron stars. However, typical values for cyclotron features lie in the high-energy part of the spectrum between 20 keV and 50 keV, where detection is often damped by the low statistics from single pointed observations. We show that long-term monitoring campaign performed with Swift-BAT of persistently, but faint, accreting high-mass X-ray binaries is able to reveal in their spectra the presence of cyclotron features. We extracted the average Swift-BAT 15-150 ke…
Context: Monitoring of pulse period variations in accreting binary pulsars is an important tool to study the interaction between the magnetosphere of the neutron star and the accretion disk. While the X-ray flux of the brightest X-ray pulsars have been successfully monitored over many years (e.g. with RXTE/ASM, CGRO/BATSE, Swift/BAT), the possibility to monitor their pulse timing properties continuously has so far been very limited. Aims: In our work we show that the Swift/BAT observations can be used to monitor coherent pulsations of bright X-ray sources and use the Swift archival data to stu…
We study the luminosity function of long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) using the peak flux obtained from three LGRB samples with known redshifts: (a) a sample of 251 LGRBs from the \textit{Swift/BAT} satellite/instrument; (b) a sample of 37 LGRBs from the \textit{Fermi/GBM} telescope; (c) a sample of 152 GRBs from the \textit{Konus-Wind} instrument. For the \textit{Swift/BAT} and \textit{Fermi/GBM} samples, we use data available on the Swift Burst Analyser websites (\url{http://www.swift.ac.uk/burst_analyser}; \citep{Evans:2010}) and (\url{http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/grb/table/}) and on the …
We present the results of our study of the variability time scales of a sample of 27 long Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) with known redshifts. The variability time scale can help our understanding of fundamental GRB parameters such as the initial bulk Lorentz factor and the characteristic size associated with the emission region. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) techniques were used to extract a noise threshold crossing frequency, which we associate with a variability time scale. The threshold frequency appears to show a correlation with the peak isotropic luminosity of GRBs.
We select 52 long gamma-ray bursts(GRBs) having the precursor activity in the third Swift-BAT catalog. Each episode shown in both the precursors and the main bursts is fitted by the Norris function. We systematically analyze the temporal properties for both the precursors and the main bursts. We do not find any significant difference between the temporal profile of the precursor and that of the main burst. The photon count of the precursor is related to that of the main burst. It is indicated that the precursor and the main burst might have the same physical origin, as the precursor and the ma…
Monitoring of pulse period variations in accreting binary pulsars is an important tool to study the interaction between the magnetosphere of the neutron star and the accretion disk. While the X-ray flux of the brightest X-ray pulsars have been successfully monitored over many years (e.g. with RXTE/ASM, CGRO/BATSE, Swift/BAT), the possibility to monitor their pulse timing properties continuously has so far been very limited. In our work we use Swift/BAT observations to study one of the most enigmatic X-ray pulsars, Hercules X-1. For the first time, a quasi-continuous monitoring of the pulse per…
The durations of 388 gamma-ray bursts, detected by the Swift satellite, are studied statistically in order to search for their subgroups. Then the results are compared with the results obtained earlier from the BATSE database. The standard chi^2 test is used. Similarly to the BATSE database, the short and long subgroups are well detected also in the Swift data. Also the intermediate subgroup is seen in the Swift database. The whole sample of 388 GRBs gives a support for three subgroups.
We present the Second Palermo Swift-BAT hard X-ray catalogue obtained by analysing data acquired in the first 54 months of the Swift mission. Using our software dedicated to the analysis of data from coded mask telescopes, we analysed the BAT survey data in three energy bands (15-30 keV, 15-70 keV, 15-150 keV), obtaining a list of 1256 detections above a significance threshold of 4.8 standard deviations. The identification of the source counterparts is pursued using two strategies: the analysis of field observations of soft X-ray instruments and cross-correlation of our catalogue with source d…
Although it is generally assumed that there are two dominant classes of gamma-ray bursts (GRB) with different typical durations, it has been difficult to unambiguously classify GRBs as short or long from summary properties such as duration, spectral hardness, and spectral lag. Recent work used t-distributed stochastic neighborhood embedding (t-SNE), a machine learning algorithm for dimensionality reduction, to classify all Swift gamma-ray bursts as short or long. Here, the method is expanded, using two algorithms, t-SNE and UMAP, to produce embeddings that are used to provide a classification …
We present a new X-ray luminosity function of flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) utilizing the latest {\it Swift}/BAT 105-month X-ray source catalog. Contrary to previous studies of FSRQs in the X-ray band, using the luminosity-dependent density evolution model, we find that FSRQs show evolutionary peaks at $z\sim1-2$ depending on luminosities. Our result is rather consistent with the evolution of FSRQs seen in the radio and GeV bands, although the number density is a factor of 5--10 smaller. We further explore the contribution of FSRQs to the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background radiation. We fin…
The hard X-ray survey that Swift-BAT has been performing since late 2004 has provided a considerable database for a large number of sources whose hard X-ray emission was poorly known. We are exploiting the BAT survey archive to improve the temporal and spectral characterization of the Galactic hard-X-ray sources. In this letter we focus on the study of the high mass X-ray binary AX J1820.5-1434. All the data relevant to AX J1820.5-1434 have been extracted from the BAT survey archive and analyzed using a folding technique to search for periodical modulations. A broad-band spectral analysis was …
We report the results of Suzaku broad band X-ray observations of the two narrow-line radio galaxies (NLRGs), 3C 403 and IC 5063. Combined with the Swift/BAT spectra averaged for 58 months, we are able to accurately constrain their spectral properties over the 0.5--200 keV band. The spectra of both nuclei are well represented with an absorbed cut-off power law, an absorbed reflection component from cold matter with an iron-K emission line, and an unabsorbed soft component, which gives a firm upper limit for the scattered emission. The reflection strength normalized to the averaged BAT flux is R…
Since November 2004, the Burst Alert Telescope on board Swift is producing a monitoring of the entire sky in the 15-150 keV band, recording the timing and spectral behavior of the detected sources. Here we study the properties of the HMXB 4U 1036-56 using both the BAT survey data and those from a Swift-XRT observation. A folding analysis performed on the BAT light curve of the first 100 months of survey unveils a periodic modulation with a period of 61.0 days, tied to the presence in the BAT light curve of several intensity enhancements lasting ~1/4 of P_0. We explain this modulation as the or…
To date, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) onboard Swift has detected ~ 1000 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), of which ~ 360 GRBs have redshift measurements, ranging from z = 0.03 to z = 9.38. We present the analyses of the BAT-detected GRBs for the past ~ 11 years up through GRB151027B. We report summaries of both the temporal and spectral analyses of the GRB characteristics using event data (i.e., data for each photon within approximately 250 s before and 950 s after the BAT trigger time), and discuss the instrumental sensitivity and selection effects of GRB detections. We also explore the GRB propert…
The NuSTAR observatory, with its high sensitivity in hard X-rays, has enabled detailed broadband modeling of the X-ray spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), thereby allowing constraints to be placed on the high-energy cutoff of the X-ray coronal continuum. We investigate the spectral properties of a sample of 46 NuSTAR-observed Seyfert 1 AGN selected from the Swift/BAT 70-month hard X-ray survey. Our measurements of the high-energy cutoff of the continuum from modeling the NuSTAR X-ray spectra are used to map out the temperature - compactness ($θ-l$) plane for AGN coronae. We find that most…
Two classes of gamma-ray bursts were identified in the BATSE catalogs characterized by their durations. There were also some indications for the existence of a third type of gamma-ray bursts. Swift satellite detectors have different spectral sensitivity than pre-Swift ones for GRBs. Therefore in this paper we analyze the bursts' duration distribution and also the duration-hardness bivariate distribution, published in The First BAT Catalog. Similarly to the BATSE data, to explain the BAT GRBs' duration distribution three components are needed. Although, the relative frequencies of the groups ar…
It is well accepted that unabsorbed as well as absorbed AGN are needed to explain the nature and the shape of the Cosmic X-ray background, even if the fraction of highly absorbed objects (dubbed Compton-thick sources) substantially still escapes detection. We derive and analyze the absorption distribution using a complete sample of AGN detected by Swift-BAT in the first three years of the survey. The fraction of Compton-thick AGN represents only 4.6% of the total AGN population detected by Swift-BAT. However, we show that once corrected for the bias against the detection of very absorbed sourc…
The Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray transient monitor tracks more than 700 galactic and extragalactic sources on time scales ranging from a single Swift pointing (approximately 20 minutes) to one day. The monitored sources include all objects from the Fermi LAT bright source list which are either identified or which have a 95% error confidence radius of less than eight arc minutes. We report on the detection statistics of these sources in the BAT monitor both before and after the launch of Fermi.
Over the 3-year active period from 2008 September to 2011 November, the outburst behavior of the Be/X-ray binary A 0535+26 was continuously monitored with the MAXI/GSC and the Swift/BAT. The source exhibited nine outbursts, every binary revolution of 111.1 days, of which two are categorized into the giant (type-II) outbursts. The recurrence period of these outbursts is found to be $\sim115$ days, significantly longer than the orbital period of 111.1 days. With the MAXI/GSC, a low-level active period, or a "precursor", was detected prior to at least four giant outbursts. The precursor recurrenc…
X-ray variabilities with spectral state transitions in bright low mass X-ray binaries containing a neutron star are investigated by using the one-day bin light curves of MAXI/GSC (Gas Slit Camera) and Swift/BAT (Burst Alert Telescope). Four sources (4U 1636$-$536, 4U 1705$-$44, 4U 1608$-$52, and GS 1826$-$238) exhibited small-amplitude X-ray variabilities with spectral state transitions. Such "mini-outbursts" were characterized by smaller amplitudes (several times) and shorter duration (less than several tens of days) than those of "normal outbursts." Theoretical model of disk instability by M…
We analysed the IGR J16465-4507 Burst Alert Teelescope survey data collected during the first 54 months of the Swift mission. The source is in a crowded field and it is revealed through an ad hoc imaging analysis at a significance level of ~14 standard deviations. The 15-50 keV average flux is ~3E-11 erg/cm^2/s. The timing analysis reveals an orbital period of 30.243 +/- 0.035 days. The folded light curve shows the presence of a wide phase interval of minimum intensity, lasting ~20% of the orbital period. This could be explained with a full eclipse of the compact object in an extremely eccentr…
We present the Palermo Swift-BAT hard X-ray catalogue obtained from the analysis of the the data relative to the first 39 months of the Swift mission. We have developed a dedicated software to perform data reduction, mosaicking and source detection on the BAT survey data. We analyzed the BAT dataset in three energy bands (14-150 keV, 14-30 keV, 14-70 keV), obtaining a list of 962 detections above a significance threshold of 4.8 standard deviations. The identification of the source counterparts was pursued using three strategies: cross-correlation with published hard X-ray catalogues, analysis …
We report on the spectral cross-calibration results of the Konus-Wind, the Suzaku/WAM, and the Swift/BAT instruments using simultaneously observed gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). This is the first attempt to use simultaneously observed GRBs as a spectral calibration source to understand systematic problems among the instruments. Based on these joint spectral fits, we find that 1) although a constant factor (a normalization factor) agrees within 20% among the instruments, the BAT constant factor shows a systematically smaller value by 10-20% compared to that of Konus-Wind, 2) there is a systematic tre…
We present a uniform broadband X-ray (0.5-100.0 keV) spectral analysis of 12 Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) selected Compton-thick ($\log N_{\mathrm{H}}/\mathrm{cm}^{-2} \geq 24$) Active Galactic Nuclei (CTAGNs) observed with Suzaku. The Suzaku data of 3 objects are published here for the first time. We fit the Suzaku and Swift spectra with models utilizing an analytic reflection code and those utilizing the Monte Carlo based model from an AGN torus by Ikeda et al. 2009. The main results are as follows. (1) The estimated intrinsic luminosity of a CTAGN strongly depends on the model; applyin…
In this paper we make an attempt to combine the two kinds of data from the Swift-XRT instrument (windowed timing and photon counting modes) and the from BAT. A thorough desription of the applied procedure will be given. We apply various binning techniques to the different data: Bayes blocks, exponential binning and signal-to-noise type of binning. We present a handful of lightcurves and some possible applications.
We present XMM-Newton observations of three AGN taken as part of a hunt to find very heavily obscured Compton-thick AGN. For obscuring columns greater than 10^25 cm^-2, AGN are only visible at energies below 10 keV via reflected/scattered radiation, characterized by a flat power-law. We therefore selected three objects (ESO 417-G006, IRAS 05218-1212, and MCG -01-05-047) from the Swift BAT hard X-ray survey catalog with Swift X-ray Telescope XRT 0.5-10 keV spectra with flat power-law indices as candidate Compton-thick sources for follow-up observations with the more sensitive instruments on XMM…
