Chandra High Energy Transmission Gratings Spectra of V3890 Sgr
Marina Orio, Jeremy J. Drake, Jan-Uwe Ness, E. Behar, Gerardo Juan M. Luna, Matt J. Darnley, Jay Gallagher, Robert D. Gehrz, N. Paul M. Kuin, Joanna Mikolajewsk… 展开作者
Marina Orio, Jeremy J. Drake, Jan-Uwe Ness, E. Behar, Gerardo Juan M. Luna, Matt J. Darnley, Jay Gallagher, Robert D. Gehrz, N. Paul M. Kuin, Joanna Mikolajewska, Nataly Ospina, Kim L. Page, Rosa Poggiani, Sumner Starrfield, Robert Williams, Chuck E. Woodward
The recurrent nova (RN) V3890 Sgr was observed during the 7th day after the onset of its most recent outburst, with the Chandra ACIS-S camera and High Energy Transmission Gratings (HETG). A rich emission line spectrum was detected, due to transitions of Fe-L and K-shell ions ranging from neon to iron. The measured absorbed flux is $\approx 10^{-10}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in the 1.4-15 Angstrom range (0.77-8.86 keV). The line profiles are asymmetric, blue-shifted and skewed towards the blue side, as if the ejecta moving towards us are less absorbed than the receding ones. The full width at half maximum of most emission lines is 1000-1200 km s$^{-1}$, with some extended blue wings. The spectrum is thermal and consistent with a plasma in collisional ionization equilibrium with column density 1.3 $\times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ and at least two components at temperatures of about 1 keV and 4 keV, possibly a forward and a reverse shock, or regions with differently mixed ejecta and red giant wind. The spectrum is remarkably similar to the symbiotic RNe V745 Sco and RS Oph, but we cannot distinguish whether the shocks occurred at a distance of few AU from the red giant, or near the giant's photosphere, in a high density medium containing only a small mass. The ratios of the flux in lines of aluminum, magnesium and neon relative to the flux in lines of silicon and iron probably indicate a carbon-oxygen white dwarf (CO WD).
We present a uniform analysis of six examples of embedded wind shock (EWS) O star X-ray sources observed at high resolution with the Chandra grating spectrometers. By modeling both the hot plasma emission and the continuum absorption of the soft X-rays by the cool, partially ionized bulk of the wind we derive the temperature distribution of the shock-heated plasma and the wind mass-loss rate of each star. We find a similar temperature distribution for each star's hot wind plasma, consistent with a power-law differential emission measure, $\frac{d\log EM}{d\log T}$, with a slope a little steepe…
We present Chandra HETGS spectroscopy of the Be/X-ray binary 1A 0535+262 obtained during the 2009/2010 giant outburst. These are the first CCD grating spectra of this type of system during a giant outburst. Our spectra reveal a number of lines including a narrow Fe K_alpha emission line with a FWHM of ~ 5000 km s^-1. For the first time, we detect the presence of a highly ionized outflow in a Be/X-ray binary. Assuming that the line is He-like Fe XXV, fits with a simple Gaussian imply an outflow velocity of ~ 1500 km s^-1. However, self-consistent photoionization modeling with XSTAR suggests tha…
Starting in 2012, we began an unprecedented observational program focused on the supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy, Sgr A*, utilizing the High Energy Transmission Gratings Spectrometer (HETGS) instrument on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These observations will allow us to measure the quiescent X-ray spectra of Sgr A* for the first time at both high spatial and spectral resolution. The X-ray emission of Sgr A*, however, is known to flare roughly daily by factors of a few to ten times over quiescent emission levels, with rarer flares extending to factors of greater than 100 ti…
An unusual object, G2, had its pericenter passage around Sgr A*, the $4\times10^6$ M$_\odot$ supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre, in Summer 2014. Several research teams have reported evidence that following G2's pericenter encounter the rate of Sgr A*'s bright X-ray flares increased significantly. Our analysis carefully treats varying flux contamination from a nearby magnetic neutron star and is free from complications induced by using data from multiple X-ray observatories with different spatial resolutions. We test the scenario of an increased bright X-ray flaring rate using a mas…
Over the last decade, X-ray observations of Sgr A* have revealed a black hole in a deep sleep, punctuated roughly once per day by brief flares. The extreme X-ray faintness of this supermassive black hole has been a long-standing puzzle in black hole accretion. To study the accretion processes in the Galactic Center, Chandra (in concert with numerous ground- and space-based observatories) undertook a 3 Ms campaign on Sgr A* in 2012. With its excellent observing cadence, sensitivity, and spectral resolution, this Chandra X-ray Visionary Project (XVP) provides an unprecedented opportunity to stud…
(Abridged) The results of a Chandra X-ray Observatory High-Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) observation of the nova-like cataclysmic binary AE Aqr are described. First, the X-ray spectrum is that of an optically thin multi-temperature thermal plasma; the X-ray emission lines are broad, with widths that increase with the line energy, from sigma~1 eV for O VIII to sigma~5.5 eV for Si XIV; the X-ray spectrum is reasonably well fit by a plasma model with a Gaussian emission measure distribution that peaks at log T(K)=7.16, has a width sigma=0.48, an Fe abundance equal to 0.44 times solar, and ot…
In quiescence, Sgr A* is surprisingly dim, shining 100,000 times less than expected for its environment. This problem has motivated a host of theoretical models to explain radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAFs). The Chandra Galactic Center (GC) X-ray Visionary Program obtained approximately 3 Ms (one month) of Chandra HETG data, offering the only opportunity to examine the quiescent X-ray emission of Sgr A* with high resolution spectroscopy. Utilizing custom background regions and filters for removing overlapping point sources, this work provides the first ever look at stacked HETG sp…
We present results of a Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) observation of the carbon-rich Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR48a. These are the first high-resolution spectra of this object in X-rays. Blue-shifted centroids of the spectral lines of about -360 km/s and line widths of 1000 - 1500 km/s (FWHM) were deduced from the analysis of the line profiles of strong emission lines. The forbidden line of Si XIII is strong and not suppressed, indicating that the rarefied 10-30 MK plasma forms far from strong sources of far-UV emission, most likely in a wind collision zone. Global spectral model…
We present the first systematic analysis of the X-ray variability of Sgr A* during the Chandra X-ray Observatory's 2012 Sgr A* X-ray Visionary Project (XVP). With 38 High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) observations spaced an average of 7 days apart, this unprecedented campaign enables detailed study of the X-ray emission from this supermassive black hole at high spatial, spectral and timing resolution. In 3 Ms of observations, we detect 39 X-ray flares from Sgr A*, lasting from a few hundred seconds to approximately 8 ks, and ranging in 2-10 keV luminosity from ~1e34 erg/s to…
The efficiencies of the gratings in the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) were updated using in-flight observations of bright continuum sources. The procedure first involved verifying that fluxes obtained from the +1 and -1 orders match, which checks that the contaminant model and the CCD quantum efficiencies agree. Then the fluxes derived using the high energy gratings (HEGs) were compared to those derived from the medium energy gratings (MEGs). The flux ratio was fit to a low order polynomial, which was allocated to the MEGs above 1 keV or the HEGs below 1 keV. The result…
We present a study of the X-ray flaring activity of Sgr A* during all the 150 XMM-Newton and Chandra observations pointed at the Milky Way center over the last 15 years. This includes the latest XMM-Newton and Chandra campaigns devoted to monitoring the closest approach of the very red Br-Gamma emitting object called G2. The entire dataset analysed extends from September 1999 through November 2014. We employed a Bayesian block analysis to investigate any possible variations in the characteristics (frequency, energetics, peak intensity, duration) of the flaring events that Sgr A* has exhibited …
We observed the Galactic black hole X-ray binary V4641 Sgr with the high resolution transmission gratings on Chandra during the source's 2020 outburst. Over two epochs of Chandra gratings observations, we see numerous highly ionized metal lines, superimposed on a hot, disc-dominated X-ray continuum. The measured inner disc temperatures and luminosities imply an unfeasibly small inner disc radius, such that we suggest that the central engine of V4641 Sgr is obscured, and we are viewing scattered X-rays. We find that the emission lines in the Chandra spectra cannot be constrained by a single pho…
SGR~0501+4516 was discovered with the Swift satellite on 2008 August 22, after it emitted a series of very energetic bursts. Since then, the source was extensively monitored with Swift, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and observed with Chandra and XMM-Newton, providing a wealth of information about its outburst behavior and burst induced changes of its persistent X-ray emission. Here we report the most accurate location of SGR~0501+4516 (with an accuracy of 0.11'') derived with Chandra. Using the combined RXTE, Swift/X-ray Telescope, Chandra and XMM-Newton observations we construct a ph…
The Demographics of Sagittarius A* X-ray Flares over 25 Years with Chandra
McGill University（麦吉尔大学）；Trottier Space Institute（特罗蒂尔太空研究所）；Villanova University（维拉诺瓦大学）；Washington University in St. Louis（圣路易斯华盛顿大学）；University of Maryland（马里兰大学）
We report on 3.5 years of Chandra monitoring of the Galactic Centre magnetar SGR J1745-2900 since its outburst onset in April 2013. The magnetar spin-down has shown at least two episodes of period derivative increases so far, and it has slowed down regularly in the past year or so. We observed a slightly increasing trend in the time evolution of the pulsed fraction, up to about 55 per cent in the most recent observations. SGR J1745-2900 has not reached the quiescent level yet, and so far the overall outburst evolution can be interpreted in terms of a cooling hot region on the star surface. We …
We report on an observation of SGR 1627-41 made with the Chandra X-ray Observatory on 2011 June 16. Approximately three years after its outburst activity in 2008, the source's flux has been declining, as it approaches its quiescent state. For an assumed power-law spectrum, we find that the absorbed 2--10 keV flux for the source is $1.0^{+0.3}_{-0.2} \times 10^{-13} erg cm^{-2} s^{-1}$ with a photon index of $2.9 \pm 0.8$ ($N_H=1.0\times10^{23}$ cm^{-2}). This flux is approximately consistent with that measured at the same time after the source's outburst in 1998. With measurements spanning 3 y…
The Galactic Center black hole Sgr A* shows significant variability and flares in the submillimeter, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths. Owing to its exquisite resolution in the IR bands, the GRAVITY experiment for the first time spatially resolved the locations of three flares and showed that a bright region moves in ellipse-like trajectories close to but offset from the black hole over the course of each event. We present a model for plasmoids that form during reconnection events and orbit in the coronal region around a black hole to explain these observations. We utilize general-relativistic r…
We present a study of the narrow Fe K$α$ line in seven bright, nearby AGN that have been observed extensively with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG). The HETG data reveal a wider Fe K$α$ line in the first order spectrum than in the second and third order spectra, which we interpret as the result of spatially extended Fe K$α$ emission. We utilize these differences in narrow Fe K$α$ line widths in the multi-order Chandra HETG spectra to determine the spatial extent and intrinsic velocity width of the emitting material in each object. We find that there is modest evidence for sp…
The routinely flaring events from \sgras\ trace dynamic, high-energy processes in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole. We statistically study temporal and spectral properties, as well as fluence and duration distributions, of the flares detected by the \chandra\ X-ray Observatory from 1999 to 2012. The detection incompleteness and bias are carefully accounted for in determining these distributions. We find that the fluence distribution can be well characterized by a power-law with a slope of $1.73^{+0.20}_{-0.19}$, while the durations ($τ$ in seconds) by a log-normal function…
Daily X-ray flaring represents an enigmatic phenomenon of Sgr A$^{\star}$ --- the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy. We report initial results from a systematic X-ray study of this phenomenon, based on extensive {\it Chandra} observations obtained from 1999 to 2012, totaling about 4.5 Ms. We detect flares, using a combination of the maximum likelihood and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, which allow for a direct accounting for the pile-up effect in the modeling of the flare lightcurves and an optimal use of the data, as well as the measurements of flare parameters, including…
X-ray grating spectra have opened a new window on the nova physics. High signal-to-noise spectra have been obtained for 12 novae after the outburst in the last 13 years with the Chandra and XMM-Newton gratings. They offer the only way to probe the temperature, effective gravity and chemical composition of the hydrogen burning white dwarf before it turns off. These spectra also allow an analysis of the ejecta, which can be photoionized by the hot white dwarf, but more often seem to undergo collisional ionization. The long observations required for the gratings have revealed semi-regular and irr…
Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) are predicted by several Beyond the Standard Model theories, in particular, string theory. In the presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of propagation, ALPs can couple to photons. Therefore, if an X-ray source is viewed through a magnetised plasma, such as a luminous quasar in a galaxy cluster, we may expect spectral distortions that are well described by photon-ALP oscillations. We present a $571 \ \mathrm{ks}$ combined High and Low Energy Transmission Grating (HETG/LETG) Chandra observation of the powerful radio-quiet quasar H1821+6…
We present a detailed X-ray spectral study of the quasar PG 1211+143 based on Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) observations collected in a multi-wavelength campaign with UV data using the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (HST-COS) and radio bands using the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). We constructed a multi-wavelength ionizing spectral energy distribution using these observations and archival infrared data to create XSTAR photoionization models specific to the PG 1211+143 flux behavior during the epoch of our observations. Our analysis of the Ch…
We present results of pointed X-ray observations of the accreting jet-driving T Tauri star RY Tau using Chandra and XMM-Newton. We obtained high-resolution grating spectra and excellent-quality CCD spectra and light curves with the objective of identifying the physical mechanisms underlying RY Tau's bright X-ray emission. Grating spectra reveal numerous emission lines spanning a broad range of temperature superimposed on a hot continuum. The X-ray emission measure distribution is dominated by very hot plasma at T_hot ~ 50 MK but higher temperatures were present during flares. A weaker cool pla…
We present a statistical analysis of the X-ray flux distribution of Sgr A* from the Chandra X-ray Observatory's 3 Ms Sgr A* X-ray Visionary Project (XVP) in 2012. Our analysis indicates that the observed X-ray flux distribution can be decomposed into a steady quiescent component, represented by a Poisson process with rate $Q=(5.24\pm0.08)\times10^{-3}$ cts s$^{-1},$ and a variable component, represented by a power law process ($dN/dF\propto F^{-ξ},$ $ξ=1.92_{-0.02}^{+0.03}$). This slope matches our recently-reported distribution of flare luminosities. The variability may also be described by a…
We present a detailed analysis of the soft X-ray emission of 3C445 using an archival Chandra HETG spectrum. Highly-ionized H- and He-like Mg, Si and S lines, as well as a resolved low-ionized Si K$α$ line, are detected in the high resolution spectrum. The He-like triplets of Mg and Si are resolved into individual lines, and the calculated R ratios indicate a high density for the emitter. The low values of the G ratios indicate the lines originate from collisionally ionized plasmas. However, the detection of a resolved narrow Ne X RRC feature in the spectrum seems to prefer to a photoionized en…
We analyze the two brightest Chandra X-ray flares detected from Sagittarius A*, with peak luminosities more than 600 x and 245 x greater than the quiescent X-ray emission. The brightest flare has a distinctive double-peaked morphology --- it lasts 5.7 ksec ($\sim 2$ hours), with a rapid rise time of 1500 sec and a decay time of 2500 sec. The second flare lasts 3.4 ksec, with rise and decay times of 1700 sec and 1400 sec. These luminous flares are significantly harder than quiescence: the first has a power law spectral index $Γ= 2.06\pm 0.14$ and the second has $Γ= 2.03\pm 0.27$, compared to $Γ…
We have investigated the linear X-ray filament, G359.944-0.052, previously identified as a likely X-ray counterpart of a parsec-scale jet from the Galactic Center super-massive black hole (SMBH), Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), using a total of ~5.6 Ms ultra-deep Chandra observations taken from September 1999 to July 2017. This unprecedented dataset enables us to examine flux and spectral variations that might be related to intrinsic properties of the weakly accreting SMBH. We find no flux or spectral variation in G359.944-0.052 after the G2 periapsis passage around early 2014, however, a moderate fl…
The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is located at the dynamical center of the Milky Way. In a recent study of the X-ray flaring activity from Sgr A* using Chandra, XMM-Newton and Swift data from 1999 to 2015, it has been argued that the bright flaring rate has increased from 2014 Aug. 31 while the faint flaring rate decreased from around 2013 Aug. We tested the persistence of these changes in the flaring rates with new X-ray data of Sgr A* obtained in 2016-2018 (total exposure of 1.4Ms). We detected 9 flares in the Chandra data and 5 flares in the Swift data that we added to th…
We present detailed analyses of oxygen K absorption in the interstellar medium (ISM) using four high-resolution Chandra spectra towards the X-ray low-mass binary XTE J1817-330. The 11-25 A broadband is described with a simple absorption model that takes into account the pileup effect and results in an estimate of the hydrogen column density. The oxygen K-edge region (21-25 A) is fitted with the physical warmabs model, which is based on a photoionization model grid generated with the xstar code with the most up-to-date atomic database. This approach allows a benchmark of the atomic data which i…
The magnetar SGR J1745-2900 discovered at parsecs distance from the Milky Way central black hole, Sagittarius A*, represents the closest pulsar to a supermassive black hole ever detected. Furthermore, its intriguing radio emission has been used to study the environment of the black hole, as well as to derive a precise position and proper motion for this object. The discovery of SGR J1745-2900 has opened interesting debates about the number, age and nature of pulsars expected in the Galactic center region. In this work, we present extensive X-ray monitoring of the outburst of SGR J1745-2900 usi…
The relatively rapid spatial and temporal variability of the X-ray radiation from some molecular clouds near the Galactic center shows that this emission component is due to the reflection of X-rays generated by a source that was luminous in the past, most likely the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. Studying the evolution of the molecular cloud reflection features is therefore a key element to reconstruct Sgr A*'s past activity. The aim of the present work is to study this emission on small angular scales in order to characterize the source outburst on short time scales. We use…
We present a study of the core of the Fe Ka emission line at ~6.4 keV in a sample of type II Seyfert galaxies observed by the Chandra High Energy Grating (HEG). The sample consists of 29 observations of 10 unique sources. We present measurements of the Fe Ka line parameters with the highest spectral resolution currently available. In particular, we derive the most robust intrinsic line widths for some of the sources in the sample to date. We obtained a weighted mean FWHM of 2000 \pm 160 km/s for 8 out of 10 sources (the remaining sources had insufficient signal-to-noise). From a comparison wit…
We extend the study of the core of the Fe K$α$ emission line at \sim 6.4 keV in Seyfert galaxies reported in Yaqoob & Padmanabhan (2004) using a larger sample observed by the Chandra High Energy Grating (HEG). Whilst heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are excluded from the sample, these data offer some of the highest precision measurements of the peak energy of the Fe K$α$ line, and the highest spectral resolution measurements of the width of the core of the line in unobscured and moderately obscured ($N_{H}<10^{23} \ \rm cm^{-2}$) Seyfert galaxies to date. The Fe K$α$ line is dete…
We present unambiguous evidence for a parsec scale wind in the Broad-Line Radio Galaxy (BLRG) 3C 382, the first radio-loud AGN, with $R_{\rm L} = \log_{10}(f_{\rm 5GHz}/f_{4400})>1$, whereby an outflow has been measured with X-ray grating spectroscopy. A 118 ks Chandra grating (HETG) observation of 3C 382 has revealed the presence of several high ionization absorption lines in the soft X-ray band, from Fe, Ne, Mg and Si. The absorption lines are blue-shifted with respect to the systemic velocity of 3C 382 by -840\pm60 km/s and are resolved by Chandra with a velocity width of 340\pm70 km/s. The…
Axions/axion-like particles (ALPs) are a well motivated extension of the Standard Model and are generic within String Theory. The X-ray transparency of the intracluster medium (ICM) in galaxy clusters is a powerful probe of light ALPs (with mass $<10^{-11}\,{\rm eV}$); as X-ray photons from an embedded or background source propagate through the magnetized ICM, they may undergo energy-dependent quantum mechanical conversion into ALPs (and vice versa), imprinting distortions on the X-ray spectrum. We present Chandra data for the active galactic nucleus NGC1275 at the center of the Perseus cluste…
RT Cru belongs to the rare class of hard X-ray emitting symbiotics, whose origin is not yet fully understood. In this work, we have conducted a detailed spectroscopic analysis of X-ray emission from RT Cru based on observations taken by the Chandra Observatory using the Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) on the High-Resolution Camera Spectrometer (HRC-S) in 2015 and the High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) on the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer S-array (ACIS-S) in 2005. Our thermal plasma modeling of the time-averaged HRC-S/LETG spectrum suggests a mean temperature of $kT \sim 1.3$ ke…
In a recent paper (Leibowitz 2017) I have shown that the 39 large X-ray flares of Sgr A* that were recorded by Chandra observatory in the year 2012, are concentrated preferably around tick marks of an equi-distance grid on the time axis. The period of this grid as found in L1 is 0.1033 days. In this work I show that the effect can be found among all the large X-ray flares recoded by Chandra and XMM-Newton along 15 years. The midpoints of all the 71 large flares recorded between the years 2000 and 2014 are also tightly grouped around tick marks of a grid with this period, or more likely, 0.1032…
In an intensive observational campaign in the 9 month duration of Chandra X-ray Visionary Project that was conducted in the year 2012, 39 large X-ray flares of Sgr A* were recorded. An analysis of the times of the observed flares reveals that the 39 flares are separated in time by intervals that are grouped around integer numbers times 0.10333 days. This time interval is thus the period of a uniform grid of equally spaced points on the time axis. The grouping of the flares around tic marks of this grid is derived from the data with at least a 3.2 σ level of statistical significance. No signal …
We present an analysis of three archival Chandra observations of the black hole V4641 Sgr, performed during a decline into quiescence. The last two observations in the sequence can be modeled with a simple power-law. The first spectrum, however, is remarkably similar to spectra observed in Seyfert-2 active galactic nuclei, which arise through a combination of obscuration and reflection from distant material. This spectrum of V4641 Sgr can be fit extremely well with a model including partial-covering absorption and distant reflection. This model recovers a Gamma = 2 power-law incident spectrum,…
Diffuse radio emission was detected around the soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 1806-20, after its 2004 powerful giant flare. We study the possible extended X-ray emission at small scales around SGR 1806-20, in two observations by the High Resolution Camera Spectrometer (HRC-S) on board of the Chandra X-ray Observatory: in 2005, 115 days after the giant flare, and in 2013, during quiescence. We compare the radial profiles extracted from data images and PSF simulations, carefully considering various issues related with the uncertain calibration of the HRC PSF at sub-arcsecond scales. We do not see s…
We report broad-band Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the field of soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 0418+5729 with ACS/WFC and WFC3/IR. Observing in two wide filters F606W and F110W, we find no counterpart within the positional error circle derived from Chandra observations, to limiting magnitudes mF606W>28.6, mF110W>27.4 (Vega system), equivalent to reddening-corrected luminosity limits LF606W<5e28, LF110W<6e28 erg s-1 for a distance d=2 kpc, at 3sig confidence. This, in turn, imposes lower limits on the contemporaneous X-ray/optical flux ratio of 1100 and X-ray/near-infra-red flux ratio of 1000.…
We present the X-ray spectral and timing analysis of the transient black hole X-ray binary 4U 1630-47, observed with the AstroSat, Chandra and MAXI space missions during its soft X-ray outburst in 2016. The outburst, from the rising phase until the peak, is neither detected in hard X-rays (15-50 keV) by the Swift/BAT nor in radio. Such non-detection along with the source behavior in the hardness-intensity and color-color diagrams obtained using MAXI data confirm that both Chandra and AstroSat observations were performed during the high soft spectral state. The High Energy Grating (HEG) spectru…
We report on the discovery of a new member of the magnetar class, SGR J1935+2154, and on its timing and spectral properties measured by an extensive observational campaign carried out between July 2014 and March 2015 with Chandra and XMM-Newton (11 pointings). We discovered the spin period of SGR J1935+2154 through the detection of coherent pulsations at a period of about 3.24s. The magnetar is slowing-down at a rate of 1.43(1)x10^{-11} s/s and with a decreasing trend due to a negative second period derivative of -3.5(7)x10^{-19} s/s^2. This implies a surface dipolar magnetic field strength of…
We present a systematic analysis of all archival Chandra observations of the soft-gamma repeater SGR 0526-66. Our results show that the X-ray flux of SGR 0526-66 decayed by about 20% between 2000 and 2009. We employ physically motivated X-ray spectral models and determine the effective temperature and the strength of the magnetic field at the surface as kT = 0.354_{-0.024}^{+0.031} keV and B = (3.73^{+0.16}_{-0.08})x10^{14} G, respectively. We find that the effective temperature remains constant within the statistical uncertainties and attribute the decrease in the source flux to a decrease in…
We report on the long-term flux relaxation of the magnetar SGR 1627-41 after its 2008 outburst, and evidence for hard X-ray excess measured with NuSTAR. We use new observations made with Chandra and XMM-Newton, and an archival NuSTAR observation which add flux measurements at ~2000 days into quiescence after the 2008 outburst. We find that the source flux has further declined since the last measurement made in 2011, ~1000 days after the outburst in 2008. This trend is similar to the relaxation after the source's 1998 outburst. We use crustal cooling models to reproduce the flux relaxation; if …
The prolific magnetar SGR 1900+14 showed two outbursts in the last decade and has been closely monitored in the X-rays to track the changes in its radiative properties. We use archival Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of SGR 1900+14 to construct a history of its spectrum and persistent X-ray flux spanning a period of about seven years. We show that the decline of its X-ray flux in these two outburst episodes follows the same trend. The flux begins to decline promptly and rapidly subsequent to the flares, then decreases gradually for about 600 days, at which point it resumes a more rapid dec…
The soft gamma-ray repeater candidate SGR 0755$-$2933 was discovered in 2016 by Swift/BAT, which detected a short ($\sim$30 ms) powerful burst typical of magnetars. To understand the nature of the source, we present here an analysis of follow-up observations of the tentative soft X-ray counterpart of the source obtained with Swift/XRT, NuSTAR and Chandra. From our analysis we conclude that, based on the observed counterpart position and properties, it is actually not a soft gamma ray repeater but rather a new high mass X-ray binary. We suggest to refer to it as 2SXPS J075542.5$-$293353. We con…
We continue to explore the validity of the reflected shock structure (RSS) picture in SNR 1987A that was proposed in our previous analyses of the X-ray emission from this object. We used an improved version of our RSS model in a global analysis of 14 CCD spectra from the monitoring program with Chandra. In the framework of the RSS picture, we are able to match both the expansion velocity curve deduced from the analysis of the X-ray images and light curve. Using a simplified analysis, we also show that the X-rays and the non-thermal radio emission may originate from the same shock structure (th…
The soft gamma repeater SGR 1806-20 is most famous for its giant flare from 2004, which yielded the highest gamma-ray flux ever observed on Earth. The flare emphasized the importance of determining the distance to the SGR, thus revealing the flare's energy output, with implications on SGRs energy budget and giant flare rates. We analyze x-ray scattering echoes observed by Swift/XRT following the 2006 August 6 intermediate burst of SGR 1806-20. Assuming positions and opacities of the molecular clouds along the line-of-sight from previous works, we derive direct constrains on the distance to SGR…
The hot interstellar medium is an important part of the Galactic ecosystem and can be effectively characterized through X-ray absorption line spectroscopy. However, in a study of the hot medium using the accreting neutron star X-ray binary, Cyg X-2, as a background light source, a mystery came about when the putatively strong OVII Kalpha line was not detected in Chandra grating observations, while other normally weaker lines such as OVII Kbeta as well as OVI and OVIII Kalpha are clearly present (Yao et al. 2009). We have investigated the grating spectra of Cyg X-2 from 10 XMM-Newton observatio…
We report the time-resolved spectral analysis of a bright near-infrared and moderate X-ray flare of Sgr A*. We obtained light curves in the $M$-, $K$-, and $H$-bands in the mid- and near-infrared and in the $2-8~\mathrm{keV}$ and $2-70~\mathrm{keV}$ bands in the X-ray. The observed spectral slope in the near-infrared band is $νL_ν\propto ν^{0.5\pm0.2}$; the spectral slope observed in the X-ray band is $νL_ν\propto ν^{-0.7\pm0.5}$. We tested synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenarios. The observed near-infrared brightness and X-ray faintness, together with the observed spectral sl…
