Supernova (SN) 2018cow (or AT2018cow) is an optical transient detected in the galaxy CGCG 137-068. It has been classified as a SN due to various characteristics in its optical spectra. The transient is also a bright X-ray source. We present results of the analysis of ~62ks of X-ray observations taken with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory over 27 days. We found a variable behavior in the 0.3-10 keV X-ray light curve of SN 2018cow, with variability timescales of days. The observed X-ray variability could be due to the interaction between the SN ejecta and a non-uniform circumstellar medium, perhaps related to previous mass ejections from a luminous-blue-variable-like progenitor.
We report on radio and X-ray observations of PSR 1832+0029, a 533-ms radio pulsar discovered in the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey. From radio observations taken with the Parkes, Lovell and Arecibo telescopes, we show that this pulsar exhibits two spindown states akin to PSRs B1931+24 reported by Kramer et al. and J1841-0500 reported by Camilo et al. Unlike PSR B1931+24, which switches between on and off states on a 30--40 day time-scale, PSR 1832+0029 is similar to PSR J1841-0500 in that it spends a much longer period of time in the off-state. So far, we have fully sampled two off-states. The first one lasted between 560 and 640 days and the second one lasted between 810 and 835 days. From our radio timing observations, the ratio of on/off spindown rates is $1.77 pm 0.03$. Chandra observations carried out during both the on- and off-states of this pulsar failed to detect any emission. Our results challenge but do not rule out models involving accretion onto the neutron star from a low-mass stellar companion. In spite of the small number of intermittent pulsars currently known, difficulties in discovering them and in quantifying their behavior imply that their total population could be substantial.
We present deep Swift follow-up observations of a sample of 94 unidentified X-ray sources from the XMM-Newton Slew Survey. The X-ray Telescope on-board Swift detected 29% of the sample sources; the flux limits for undetected sources suggests the bulk of the Slew Survey sources are drawn from one or more transient populations. We report revised X-ray positions for the XRT-detected sources, with typical uncertainties of 2.9, reducing the number of catalogued optical matches to just a single source in most cases. We characterise the sources detected by Swift through their X-ray spectra and variability and via UVOT photometry and catalogued nIR, optical and radio observations. Six sources can be associated with known objects and 8 may be associated with unidentified ROSAT sources within the 3-sigma error radii of our revised X-ray positions. We find 10 of the 30 XRT-detected sources are clearly stellar in nature, including one periodic variable star and 2 high proper motion stars. For 11 sources we propose an AGN classification, among which 4 are detected with BAT and 3 have redshifts spanning z = 0.2 - 0.9 obtained from the literature or from optical spectroscopy presented here. The 67 Slew Survey sources we do not detect with Swift are studied via their characteristics in the Slew Survey and by comparison with the XRT and BAT detected population. We suggest that these are mostly if not all extragalactic, though unlikely to be highly absorbed sources in the X-rays such as Compton thick AGN. A large number of these are highly variable soft X-ray sources. A small fraction of mainly hard-band detections may be spurious. This follow-up programme brings us a step further to completing the identifications of a substantial sample of XMM-Newton Slew Survey sources, important for understanding the nature of the transient sky and allowing flux-limited samples to be constructed.
We present observations of four bright stars observed with the AstroSat Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT). Visible light from bright stars like these can leak through the very thin filter in front of the CCD in the focal plane CCD camera of the SXT and thus making the extraction of X-ray events difficult. Here, we show how to extract the X-ray events without contamination by the visible light. The procedure applied to four bright stars here demonstrates how reliable X-ray information can be derived in such cases. The sample of bright stars studied here consists of two A spectral types (HIP 19265, HIP 88580), one G/K Giant (Capella), and a nearby M-type dwarf (HIP 23309). No X-ray emission is observed from the A-type stars, as expected. X-ray spectra of Capella and HIP 23309 are derived and modeled here, and compared with the previous X-ray observations of these stars to show the reliability of the method used. We find that optical light can start to leak in the very soft energy bands below 0.5 keV for stars with V=8 mag. In the process, we present the first X-ray spectrum of HIP 23309.
We report the first broad-band (0.5-150 keV) simultaneous X-ray observations of the very faint X-ray transient IGRJ17285-2922/XTEJ1728-295 performed with XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL satellites during its last outburst, started on 2010, August 28. XMM-Newton observed the source on 2010 September 9-10, for 22ks. INTEGRAL observations were part of the publicly available Galactic Bulge program, and overlapped with the times covered by XMM-Newton. The broad-band spectroscopy resulted in a best-fit with an absorbed power law displaying a photon index of 1.61+/-0.01, an absorbing column density of (5.10+/-0.05)E21 cm-2, and a flux of 2.4E-10 erg/cm2/s (1-100 keV), corrected for the absorption. The data did not require either a spectral cut-off (E>50 keV) or an additional soft component. The slopes of the XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL separate spectra were compatible, within the uncertainties. The timing analysis does not show evidence either for X-ray pulsations or for type I X-ray bursts. The broad band X-ray spectrum as well as the power density spectrum are indicative of a low hard state in a low mass X-ray binary, although nothing conclusive can be said about the nature of the compact object (neutron star or black hole). The results we are reporting here allow us to conclude that IGRJ17285-2922 is a low mass X-ray binary, located at a distance greater than 4 kpc.
On August 24 (UT) the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) discovered PTF11kly (SN 2011fe), the youngest and most nearby type Ia supernova (SN Ia) in decades. We followed this event up in the radio (centimeter and millimeter bands) and X-ray bands, starting about a day after the estimated explosion time. We present our analysis of the radio and X-ray observations, yielding the tightest constraints yet placed on the pre-explosion mass-loss rate from the progenitor system of this supernova. We find a robust limit of dM/dt<10^-8 (w/100 km/s) [M_solar/yr] from sensitive X-ray non-detections, as well as a similar limit from radio data, which depends, however, on assumptions about microphysical parameters. We discuss our results in the context of single-degenerate models for SNe Ia and find that our observations modestly disfavor symbiotic progenitor models involving a red giant donor, but cannot constrain systems accreting from main-sequence or sub-giant stars, including the popular supersoft channel. In view of the proximity of PTF11kly and the sensitivity of our prompt observations we would have to wait for a long time (decade or longer) in order to more meaningfully probe the circumstellar matter of Ia supernovae.