We made a detailed study of the timing and spectral properties of the X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 during the recent giant outburst in 2020 November and December. The flux of the pulsar reached a record value of $\sim$12.5 Crab as observed by Swift/BAT (15--50 keV) and the corresponding mass accretion rate was $\sim6.67\times10^{17}$ g s$^{-1}$ near the peak of the outburst. There was a transition from the subcritical to the supercritical accretion regime which allows exploring different properties of the source in the supercritical regime. A q-like feature was detected in the hardness-intensity diagram during the outburst. We observed high variability and strong energy dependence of pulse profiles during the outburst. Cyclotron Resonant Scattering Feature (CRSF) was detected at $\sim44$ keV from the NuSTAR energy spectrum in the subcritical regime and the corresponding magnetic field was $B\simeq4.9\times10^{12}$ G. The energy of the CRSF was shifted towards lower energy in the supercritical regime. The luminosity dependence of the CRSF was studied and during the supercritical regime, a negative correlation was observed between the line energy and luminosity. The critical luminosity was $\sim6\times10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$ above which a state transition occurred. A reversal of correlation between the photon index and luminosity was observed near the critical luminosity. The NuSTAR spectra can be described by a composite model with two continuum components, a blackbody emission, cut-off power law, and a discrete component to account for the iron emission line at 6.4 keV. An additional cyclotron absorption feature was included in the model.
The flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 underwent an extraordinary 5-day gamma-ray outburst in November 2010 where the daily flux measured with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) at photon energies E>100 MeV reached (66+/-2) x 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1. This is a factor of 3 higher than its previous maximum flux recorded in December 2009 and ~5 times brighter than the Vela pulsar, which is normally the brightest source in the gamma-ray sky. The 3-hr peak flux was (85+/-5) x 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1, corresponding to an apparent isotropic luminosity of 2.1+/-0.2 10^50 erg s^-1, the highest ever recorded…
In December 2015 the black hole binary V404 Cyg underwent a secondary outburst after the main June 2015 event. We monitored this re-brightening with the INTEGRAL and Swift satellites, and in this paper we report the results of the time-resolved spectral analysis of these data. The December outburst shared similar characteristics with the June one. The well sampled INTEGRAL light curve shows up to 10 Crab flares, which are separated by relatively weak non-flaring emission phases when compared to the June outburst. The spectra are well described by absorbed Comptonization models, with hard photo…
AX J0049.4-7323 is a Be/X-ray binary that shows an unusual and poorly understood optical variability that consists of periodic and bright optical outbursts, simultaneous with X-ray outbursts, characterised by a highly asymmetric profile. The periodicity of the outbursts is thought to correspond to the orbital period of the neutron star. To understand the behaviour shown by this source, we performed the first multi-wavelength monitoring campaign during the periastron passage of December 2017. The monitoring lasted for ~37 days and consisted of X-ray, near-ultraviolet, and optical data from the …
The blazar 3C 279 exhibited a giant $γ$-ray outburst in 2013 December and 2014 April. Apart from the very fast $γ$-ray flux variability, the spectral nature of the flares were also found to vary significantly between these two flaring events. A prominent curvature in the $γ$-ray spectrum was noticed in 2014 April flare, on the other hand, the 2013 December displayed an extreme hardening of the spectrum. These observations, thus, put strong constraints on our understanding of the underlying particle acceleration mechanisms.
After more than 26 years in quiescence, the black hole transient V404 Cyg went into a luminous outburst in June 2015, and additional activity was detected in late December of the same year. Here, we present an optical spectroscopic follow-up of the December mini-outburst, together with X-ray, optical and radio monitoring that spanned more than a month. Strong flares with gradually increasing intensity are detected in the three spectral ranges during the ~10 days following the Swift trigger. Our optical spectra reveal the presence of a fast outflowing wind, as implied by the detection of a P-Cy…
Context. 3C 454.3 is a very active flat spectrum radio quasar (blazar) that has undergone a recent outburst in all observed bands, including the optical. Aims. In this work we explore the short-term optical variability of 3C 454.3 during its outburst by searching for time delays between different optical bands. Finding one would be important for understanding the evolution of the spectrum of the relativistic electrons, which generate the synchrotron jet emission. Methods. We performed photometric monitoring of the object by repeating exposures in different optical bands (BVRI). Occasionally, d…
We report on the firm detection of a cyclotron resonance scattering feature (CRSF) in the X-ray spectrum of the Be X-ray binary pulsar, GRO J1008-57, achieved by the Suzaku Hard X-ray Detector during a giant outburst which was detected by the MAXI Gas Slit Camera in 2012 November. The Suzaku observation was carried out on 2012 November 20, outburst maximum when the X-ray flux reached $\sim 0.45$ Crab in 4-10 keV, which corresponds to a luminosity of $1.1 \times 10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in 0.5--100 keV at 5.8 kpc. The obtained broadband X-ray spectrum from 0.5 keV to 118 keV revealed a significant…
We present multiwavelength data of the blazar 3C 454.3 obtained during an extremely bright outburst from November 2010 through January 2011. These include flux density measurements with the Herschel Space Observatory at five submillimeter-wave and far-infrared bands, the Fermi Large Area Telescope at gamma-ray energies, Swift at X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), and optical frequencies, and the Submillimeter Array at 1.3 mm. From this dataset, we form a series of 52 spectral energy distributions (SEDs) spanning nearly two months that are unprecedented in time coverage and breadth of frequency. Discrete…
We report on the discovery by the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer of the black hole candidate Swift J1539.2-6227 and the subsequent course of an outburst beginning in November 2008 and lasting at least seven months. The source was discovered during normal observations with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on 2008 November 25. An extended observing campaign with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and Swift provided near-daily coverage over 176 days, giving us a good opportunity to track the evolution of spectral and timing parameters with fine temporal resolution through a series of spe…
I point to an interesting similarity in the radio and the soft X-ray light curves between the November 2009 outburst of the X-ray binary Aquila X-1 and some solar flares. The ratio of the soft X-ray and radio luminosities of Aquila X-1 in that outburst is also similar to some weak solar flares, and so is the radio spectrum near 8 GHz. Based on these, as well as on some other recent studies that point to some similar properties of accretion disk coronae and stellar flares, such as ratio of radio to X-ray luminosities (Laor & Behar 2008), I speculate that the soft X-ray outburst of Aquila X-1 wa…
We study the timing properties of XTE J1858+034 using the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Burst Alert Telescope onboard Swift during the outburst in October--November 2019. We have investigated for Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO) during the outburst and detected a low-frequency QPO at $\sim$196 mHz with $\sim$6% RMS variability from the NuSTAR observation. The QPO is fitted and explained with the model - power law and a Lorentzian component. We have also studied the variation of QPO frequency with energy. The beat frequency model and Keplerian frequency model both are suita…
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…
The nearby galaxy NGC 300 is hosting two luminous transient supersoft X-ray sources with bolometric luminosities above 3x10^38 erg/s, assuming simple black-body spectra with temperatures around 60-70 eV. For one of these, SSS1, a periodic modulation of 5.4h was observed in an XMM-Newton observation from 1st of January 2001 lasting 47 ks, but not visible 6 days earlier when the luminosity was higher. We report here the detection of a new outburst from this source, which occurred during two more recent XMM-Newton observations performed on 17 to 20 December 2016 lasting for 310 ks. The luminosity…
PSR~J1119$-$6127, a high-magnetic field pulsar detected from radio to high-energy wavelengths, underwent a magnetar-like outburst beginning on July 27, 2016. In this paper, we study the post-outburst multi-wavelength properties of this pulsar from the radio to GeV bands and discuss its similarity with the outburst of the magnetar XTE~J1810$-$197. In phase-resolved spectral analysis of 0.5--10\,keV X-ray data collected in August 2016, the on-pulse and off-pulse spectra are both characterized by two blackbody components and also require a power-law component similar to the hard X-ray spectra of …
The optical behaviour of the Be star in the high mass X-ray transient A0535+26/HDE245770 shows that at the periastron typically there is an enhancement in the luminosity of order 0.02 to few tenths mag, and the X-ray outburst happens about 8 days after the periastron. We construct a quantitative model of this event, basing on the a nonstationary accretion disk behavior, connected with a high ellipticity of the orbital motion. The ephemeris used in this paper -- JD$_{\rm opt-outb}$ = JD$_0$(2,444,944) $\pm$ n(111.0 $\pm$ 0.4) days are derived from the orbital period of the system P$_{\rm orb} =…
The black hole transient V404 Cygni exhibited a bright outburst in June 2015 that was intensively followed over a wide range of wavelengths. Our team obtained high time resolution optical spectroscopy (~90 s), which included a detailed coverage of the most active phase of the event. We present a database consisting of 651 optical spectra obtained during this event, that we combine with 58 spectra gathered during the fainter December 2015 sequel outburst, as well as with 57 spectra from the 1989 event. We previously reported the discovery of wind-related features (P-Cygni and broad-wing line pr…
We present the earliest X-ray observations of the 2018 outburst of XTE J1810-197, the first outburst since its 2003 discovery as the prototypical transient and radio-emitting anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP). The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) detected XTE J1810-197 immediately after a November 20-26 visibility gap, contemporaneous with its reactivation as a radio pulsar, first observed on December 8. On December 13 the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NUSTAR) detected X-ray emission up to at least 30 keV, with a spectrum well-characterized by a blackbody plus power-law model with tem…
Spectral Analysis of the 2019 and 2022 Outbursts of SAX J1808.4-3658
Montana State University(蒙大拿州立大学);Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo(东京大学宇宙学前沿研究机构(WPI));RTX(RTX公司)
We present recent contemporaneous X-ray and optical observations of the Be/X-ray binary system A\,0535+26 with the \textit{Fermi}/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and several ground-based observatories. These new observations are put into the context of the rich historical data (since $\sim$1978) and discussed in terms of the neutron star Be-disk interaction. The Be circumstellar disk was exceptionally large just before the 2009 December giant outburst, which may explain the origin of the unusual recent X-ray activity of this source. We found a peculiar evolution of the pulse profile during this …
MAXI/GSC observed 21 outbursts from Circinus X-1 between 2009 August and 2013 December. Although 14 outbursts showed ordinary gradual decays, in 7 outbursts we found sudden luminosity decrease in a time scale of a few hours around the periastron, and then the outbursts terminated. These sudden decreases started at the estimated luminosity of a few times $10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and reached to $\lesssim3\times10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$. We propose three interpretations for the sudden luminosity decrease: (1) the end of the outburst during the dip, (2) the propeller effect, and (3) the stripping effect…
The Be/X-ray binary 1A 0535+262 underwent a giant X-ray outburst in November 2020, peaking at $\sim1\times 10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (1--100 keV, 1.8 kpc), the brightest outburst recorded for this source so far. Our goal is to search for patterns of correlated spectral and timing behavior that can be used to characterize the accretion states in hard X-ray transient pulsars. We have studied the evolution of the spectral continuum emission using hardness-intensity diagrams and the aperiodic variability of the source. The hardness-intensity diagram displays three distinct branches that can be identif…
In December 2009, the bright blazar, 3C 454.3 exhibited a strong outburst in the optical, X-ray and gamma-ray regions. We performed photometric and polarimetric monitoring of this outburst in the optical and near-infrared bands with TRISPEC and HOWPol attached to the Kanata telescope. We also observed this outburst in the infrared band with AKARI, and the radio band with the 32-m radio telescope of Yamaguchi University. The object was in an active state from JD 2455055 to 2455159. It was 1.3 mag brighter than its quiescent state before JD 2455055 in the optical band. After the end of the activ…
We report on a campaign of X-ray and soft gamma-ray observations of the black hole candidate H 1743-322 (also named IGR J17464-3213), performed with the RXTE, INTEGRAL and Swift satellites. The source was observed during a short outburst between 2008 October 03 and 2008 November 16. The evolution of the hardness-intensity diagram throughout the outburst is peculiar, in that it does not follow the canonical pattern through all the spectral states (the so called q-track pattern) seen during the outburst of black-hole transients. On the contrary, the source only makes a transition from the Hard S…
The X-ray transient MAXI J1631-479 went into outburst on 2018 December 21 and remained active for about seven months. Owing to various constraints it was monitored by NICER only during the decay phase of the outburst for about four months. The NICER observations were primarily in the soft state with a brief excursion to the hard intermediate state. While the soft state spectrum was dominated by thermal disk emission, the hard intermediate state spectrum had maximum contribution from the thermal Comptonization. Almost all intermediate-state power spectra had a Type-C low frequency quasi-periodi…
The Be/X-ray binary A0535+26 showed a giant outburst in December 2009 that reached ~5.14 Crab in the 15-50 keV range. Unfortunately, due to Sun constraints it could not be observed by most X-ray satellites. The outburst was preceded by four weaker outbursts associated with the periastron passage of the neutron star. The fourth of them, in August 2009, presented a peculiar double-peaked light curve, with a first peak lasting about 9 days that reached a (15-50 keV) flux of 440 mCrab. The flux then decreased to less than 220 mCrab, and increased again reaching 440 Crab around the periastron. The …
In November 2019, MAXI detected an X-ray outburst from the known Be X-ray binary system RX J0209.6-7427 located in the outer wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud. We followed the outburst of the system with NICER which led to the discovery of X-ray pulsations with a period of 9.3 s. We analyzed simultaneous X-ray data obtained with NuSTAR and NICER allowing us to characterize the spectrum and provide an accurate estimate of its bolometric luminosity. During the outburst the maximum broadband X-ray luminosity of the system reached $1-2\times10^{39}$ erg/s, thus exceeding by about one order of mag…
SVOM discovery of a strong X-ray outburst of the blazar 1ES~1959+650 and multi-wavelength follow-up with the Neil Gehrels Swift observatory
Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Astroparticule et Cosmologie(巴黎西岱大学);Max-Planck-Institut für Radiostronomie(马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所);National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院国家天文台);Northern Kentucky University(北肯塔基大学);Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS(斯特拉斯堡天文台,斯特拉斯堡大学);University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学)
We present multi-frequency monitoring observations of the black hole X-ray binary V404 Cygni throughout its June 2015 outburst. Our data set includes radio and mm/sub-mm photometry, taken with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, Arc-Minute MicroKelvin Imager Large Array, Sub-millimeter Array, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, and the Northern Extended Millimetre Array, combined with publicly available infrared, optical, UV, and X-ray measurements. With these data, we report detailed diagnostics of the spectral and variability properties of the jet emission observed during different stages of thi…
In the last 10 years, since its last giant outburst in 2006, regular X-ray outbursts (type I) were detected every periastron passage in the Be X-ray binary EXO 2030+375. Recently, however, it was reported that the source started to show a peculiar behavior: its X-ray flux decreased significantly and type I outbursts were missed in several cases. At the same time, the spin frequency of the neutron star, which had been increasing steadily since the end of the 2006 giant outburst, reached a plateau. Very recent observations indicate that the source is now starting to spin down. These observed phe…
Since its discovery, 1E 1048.1$-$5937 has been one of the most active magnetars, both in terms of radiative outbursts, and changes to its spin properties. Here we report on a continuing monitoring campaign with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory X-ray Telescope in which we observe two new outbursts from this source. The first outburst occurred in 2016 July, and the second in 2017 December, reaching peak 0.5-10 keV absorbed fluxes of $3.2^{+0.2}_{-0.3}\times 10^{-11}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ and $2.2^{+0.2}_{-0.2}\times10^{-11}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, respectively, factors of $\sim$5 and $\sim …
The flat spectrum radio quasar 3C~454.3 underwent an extraordinary outburst in December 2009 when it became the brightest gamma-ray source in the sky for over one week. Its daily flux measured with the Fermi Large Area Telescope at photon energies E>100 MeV reached F = 22+/-1 x 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1, representing the highest daily flux of any blazar ever recorded in high-energy gamma-rays. It again became the brightest source in the sky in 2010 April, triggering a pointed-mode observation by Fermi. The correlated gamma-ray temporal and spectral properties during these exceptional events are pres…
A prominent outburst of the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C~454.3 was observed in 2014 June with the \emph{Fermi} Large Area Telescope. This outburst was characterized by a three-stage light-curve pattern---plateau, flare and post-flare---that occurred from 2014 May to July, in a similar pattern as observed during the exceptional outburst in 2010 November. The highest flux of the outburst reported in this paper occurred during 2014 June 7--29, showing a multiple-peak structure in the light-curves. The average flux in these 22 days was found to be $F[E > 100~\mathrm{MeV}] = (7.2 \pm 0.2) \times 1…
We report on a detailed spectral analysis of the transient X-ray pulsar 1A~0535+262, which underwent the brightest giant outburst ever recorded for this source from November to December 2020 with a peak luminosity of $1.2$ $\times10^{38}\ \rm erg\ s^{-1}$. Thanks to the unprecedented energy coverage and high cadence observations provided by Insight-HXMT, we were able to find for the first time evidence for a transition of the accretion regime. At high luminosity, above the critical luminosity $6.7\times10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$, the cyclotron absorption line energy anti-correlates with luminosity.…
We present two observational campaigns performed with the RXTE satellite on the black hole transient H 1743-322. The source was observed in outburst on two separate occasions between October-November 2008 and May-July 2009. We have carried out timing and spectral analysis of the data set, obtaining a complete state classification of all the observations. We find that all the observations are well described by using a spectral model consisting of a disk-blackbody, a powerlaw + reflection + absorption and a gaussian emission component. During the 2009 outburst the system followed the canonical e…
We present optical multi-colour photometry of V404 Cyg during the outburst from December, 2015 to January, 2016 together with the simultaneous X-ray data. This outburst occurred less than 6 months after the previous outburst in June-July, 2015. These two outbursts in 2015 were of a slow rise and rapid decay-type and showed large-amplitude ($\sim$2 mag) and short-term ($\sim$10 min-3 hours) optical variations even at low luminosity (0.01-0.1$L_{\rm Edd}$). We found correlated optical and X-ray variations in two $\sim$1 hour time intervals and performed Bayesian time delay estimations between th…
On 2016 July 30 (MJD 57599), observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud by Swift/XRT found an increase in X-ray counts coming from a position consistent with the Be/X-ray binary pulsar SMC X-3. Follow-up observations on 2016 August 3 (MJD 57603) and 2016 August 10 (MJD 57610) revealed a rapidly increasing count rate and confirmed the onset of a new X-ray outburst from the system. Further monitoring by Swift began to uncover the enormity of the outburst, which peaked at 1.2 x 10^39 erg/s on 2016 August 25 (MJD 57625). The system then began a gradual decline in flux that was still continuing ove…
OJ287 is a quasi-periodic quasar with roughly 12 year optical cycles. It displays prominent outbursts which are predictable in a binary black hole model. The model predicted a major optical outburst in December 2015. We found that the outburst did occur within the expected time range, peaking on 2015 December 5 at magnitude 12.9 in the optical R-band. Based on Swift/XRT satellite measurements and optical polarization data, we find that it included a major thermal component. Its timing provides an accurate estimate for the spin of the primary black hole, chi = 0.313 +- 0.01. The present outburs…
We present the spectral and timing analysis of X-ray observations performed on the Galactic black hole transient GRS 1716-249 during the 2016-2017 outburst. The source was almost continuously observed with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from December 2016 until October 2017. The X-ray hardness ratio and timing evolution indicate that the source approached the soft state three times during the outburst, even though it never reached the canonical soft spectral state. Thus, GRS 1716-249 increases the number of black hole transients showing outbursts with "failed" state transition. During the …
We investigate the early phase of the first state change during the 2008 September-November outburst of H1743-322, first detected by the INTEGRAL satellite. We analyse INTEGRAL, RXTE, Swift, and XMM/Newton observations, which provide coverage of the quiescence to outburst evolution in the 3-200 keV range every few days. The energy spectra are well fitted by a phenomenological model consisting of an exponentially cut-off power law plus a disc component. A more physical model of thermal Comptonisation (and a disc) represents the spectra equally well. In a first phase (up to MJD 54760), the photo…
The 2009 November outburst of the neutron star X-ray binary Aquila X-1 was observed with unprecedented radio coverage and simultaneous pointed X-ray observations, tracing the radio emission around the full X-ray hysteresis loop of the outburst for the first time. We use these data to discuss the disc-jet coupling, finding the radio emission to be consistent with being triggered at state transitions, both from the hard to the soft spectral state and vice versa. Our data appear to confirm previous suggestions of radio quenching in the soft state above a threshold X-ray luminosity of about 10% of…
Swift J1626.6-5156 is a Be/X-ray binary that was in outburst from December 2005 until November 2008. We have examined RXTE/PCA and HEXTE spectra of three long observations of this source taken early in its outburst, when the PCA 2-20 keV count rate was >70 counts/s/PCU, as well as several combined observations from different stages of the outburst. The spectra are best fit with an absorbed cutoff power law with a ~6.4 keV iron emission line and a Gaussian optical depth absorption line at ~10 keV. We present strong evidence that this absorption-like feature is a cyclotron resonance scattering f…
BL Lacertae had undergone a series of historical high flux activity over a year, from August 2020 in the optical to VHE $γ$-rays. In this paper, we report on optical flux and spectral variability of the first historical maxima outburst event during October-November in g, r and i bands with the 1.26m telescope at Xinglong observatory, China. We detected significant intranight variations with amplitude rising up to $\sim 30$%, when the fastest variability timescale is found to be a few tens of minutes, giving an emitting region size of the order $10^{-3}$ pc, which corresponds to $\sim 100$ Schw…
We present a long-term study of the 2011 outburst of the magnetar Swift J1834.9-0846 carried out using new Chandra observations, as well as all the available Swift, RXTE, and XMM-Newton data. The last observation was performed on 2011 November 12, about 100 days after the onset of the bursting activity that had led to the discovery of the source on 2011 August 07. This long time span enabled us to refine the rotational ephemeris and observe a downturn in the decay of the X-ray flux. Assuming a broken power law for the long-term light curve, the break was at ~46 d after the outburst onset, when…
We studied the optical counterpart of the intermediate-mass black hole candidate HLX-1 in ESO 243-49. We used a set of Very Large Telescope imaging observations from 2010 November, integrated by Swift X-ray data from the same epoch. We measured standard Vega brightnesses U = 23.89 +/- 0.18 mag, B = 25.19 +/- 0.30 mag, V = 24.79 +/- 0.34 mag and R = 24.71 +/- 0.40 mag. Therefore, the source was ~1 mag fainter in each band than in a set of Hubble Space Telescope images taken a couple of months earlier, when the X-ray flux was a factor of 2 higher. We conclude that during the 2010 September obser…
We have observed the fast nova V5583 Sagittarii with five B, V, y, R_C, and I_C bands, and found that these multi-band light curves are almost identical with those of V382 Vel 1999 until at least 100 days after outburst. A supersoft X-ray phase of V382 Vel was detected with BeppoSAX about six months after outburst. V5583 Sgr outbursted a few days ago the discovery on 2009 August 6.5 UT near its optical peak. From a complete resemblance between these two nova light curves, we expect a supersoft X-ray phase of V5583 Sgr six months after outburst. Detection of supersoft X-ray turn-on/turnoff date…
U 2206+54 is a wind-fed high mass X-ray binary with a main-sequence donor star. The nature of its compact object was recently identified as a slow-pulsation magnetized neutron star. INTEGRAL/IBIS observations have a long-term hard X-ray monitoring of 4U 2206+54 and detected a hard X-ray outburst around 15 December 2005 combined with the RXTE/ASM data.The hard X-ray outburst had a double-flare feature with a duration of $\sim$ 2 days. The first flare showed a fast rise and long time decaying light curve about 15 hours with a peak luminosity of $\sim 4\times 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$ from 1.5 -- 12 …
An outburst of the accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 in October-November 2002 was followed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer for more than a month. We demonstrate how the area covered by the hotspot at the neutron star surface is decreasing in the course of the outburst together with the reflection amplitude. These trends are in agreement with the natural scenario, where the disc inner edge is receding from the neutron star as the mass accretion rate drops. These findings are further supported by the variations of the pulse profiles, which clearly show the presence of the se…
We present recent optical photometric observations of the blazar OJ 287 taken during September 2015 -- May 2016. Our intense observations of the blazar started in November 2015 and continued until May 2016 and included detection of the large optical outburst in December 2016 that was predicted using the binary black hole model for OJ 287. For our observing campaign, we used a total of 9 ground based optical telescopes of which one is in Japan, one is in India, three are in Bulgaria, one is in Serbia, one is in Georgia, and two are in the USA. These observations were carried out in 102 nights w…