Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Search For Heavily Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei In The Local Universe, Ross Silver

All Dissertations

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the center of galaxies that accrete surrounding gas and emit across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. They are the most energetic persistent emitters in the Universe, capable of outshining their host galaxies despite their emission originating from a region smaller than our Solar System. AGN were some of the first sources discovered that helped teach us that there were galaxies outside of our own, and they proved the existence of black holes. Moreover, AGN can give us valuable insights into other branches of astrophysics. For example, they can be used to …

Erratum: Chandra Grating Spectroscopy Of Embedded Wind Shock X-Ray Emission From O Stars Shows Low Plasma Temperatures And Significant Wind Absorption, David H. Cohen, Winter Parts, Graham M. Doskoch, Jiaming Wang, Veronique Petit, Maurice A. Leutenegger, Marc Gagné

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

This is an erratum to the paper ‘ Chandra grating spectroscopy of embedded wind shock X-ray emission from O stars shows low plasma temperatures and significant wind absorption’ (2021, MNRAS, 503, 715). We present here a modest correction to the o v erall scaling of the differential emission measures (DEMs) of six O stars originally presented in Cohen et al. ( 2021 ). While working on a follow-up paper, we realized that we had incorrectly converted the bvapec spectral emission model’s normalization parameters (proportional to the emission measure per temperature bin size) to the emission measure per decade Kelvin shown …

Chandra Revisits Wr 48a: Testing Colliding Wind Models In Massive Binaries, Svetozar A. Zhekov, Marc Gagné, Stephen L. Skinner

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

We present results of new Chandra High-Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) observations (2019 November-December) of the massive Wolf-Rayet binary WR 48a. Analysis of these high-quality data showed that the spectral lines in this massive binary are broadened (full width at half-maximum, FWHM = 1400 km s(-1)) and marginally blueshifted (similar to-100 km s(-1)). A direct modelling of these high-resolution spectra in the framework of the standard colliding stellar wind (CSW) picture provided a very good correspondence between the shape of the theoretical and observed spectra. Also, the theoretical line profiles are in most cases an acceptable representation of the observed ones. …

Coordinated Uv And X-Ray Spectroscopic Observations Of The O-Type Giant Ξ Per: The Connection Between X-Rays And Large-Scale Wind Structure, Derek Massa, Lidi Oskinova, Raman Prinja, Richard Ignace

ETSU Faculty Works

We present new, contemporaneous Hubble Space Telescope STIS and XMM-Newton observations of the O7 III(n)((f)) star ξ Per. We supplement the new data with archival IUE spectra, to analyze the variability of the wind lines and X-ray flux of ξ Per. The variable wind of this star is known to have a 2.086-day periodicity. We use a simple, heuristic spot model that fits the low-velocity (near-surface) IUE wind line variability very well, to demonstrate that the low-velocity absorption in the new STIS spectra of N iv λ1718 and Si iv λ1402 vary with the same 2.086-day period. It …

Modeling X-Ray Emission Line Profiles From Massive Star Winds - A Review, Richard Igance

Richard Ignace

The Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray telescopes have led to numerous advances in the study and understanding of astrophysical X-ray sources. Particularly important has been the much increased spectral resolution of modern X-ray instrumentation. Wind-broadened emission lines have been spectroscopically resolved for many massive stars. This contribution reviews approaches to the modeling of X-ray emission line profile shapes from single stars, including smooth winds, winds with clumping, optically thin versus thick lines, and the effect of a radius-dependent photoabsorption coefficient.

Grb 130427a Afterglow: A Test For Grb Models, Massimiliano De Pasquale, M. J. Page, D. A. Kann, S. R. Oates, S. Schulze, Bing Zhang, Z. Cano, B. Gendre, D. Malesani, A. Rossi, N. Gehrels, E. Troja, L. Piro, M. Boër, G. Stratta

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Gamma-ray Burst 130427A had the largest fluence for almost 30 years. With an isotropic energy output of 8.5×1053 erg and redshift of 0.34, it combined a very high energy release with a relative proximity to Earth in an unprecedented fashion. Sensitive X-ray facilities such as {\it XMM-Newton} and {\it Chandra} detected the afterglow of this event for a record-breaking baseline of 90 Ms. We show the X-ray light curve of GRB 130427A of this event over such an interval. The light curve shows an unbroken power law decay with a slope of α=1.31 over more than three decades in time. …

Upper Limits On Gravitational Waves From Scorpius X-1 From A Model-Based Cross-Correlation Search In Advanced Ligo Data, B. P. Abbott, K. Aultoneal, S. Gaudio, K. Gill, B. Hughey, J. W. W. Pratt, E. Schmidt, S. G. Schwalbe, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Publications

We present the results of a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass X-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run. The search method uses details of the modeled, parametrized continuous signal to combine coherently data separated by less than a specified coherence time, which can be adjusted to trade off sensitivity against computational cost. A search was conducted over the frequency range 25–$2000\,\mathrm{Hz}$, spanning the current observationally constrained range of binary orbital parameters. No significant detection candidates were found, and frequency-dependent upper limits were set using a combination of sensitivity estimates and …

Modeling X-Ray Emission Line Profiles From Massive Star Winds - A Review, Richard Igance

ETSU Faculty Works

The Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray telescopes have led to numerous advances in the study and understanding of astrophysical X-ray sources. Particularly important has been the much increased spectral resolution of modern X-ray instrumentation. Wind-broadened emission lines have been spectroscopically resolved for many massive stars. This contribution reviews approaches to the modeling of X-ray emission line profile shapes from single stars, including smooth winds, winds with clumping, optically thin versus thick lines, and the effect of a radius-dependent photoabsorption coefficient.

X-Ray Populations In The Local Group: Insights With Hubble & Chandra, Neven Vulic

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

X-ray observations provide a unique perspective on the most energetic processes in the Universe. In particular, Low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) found in globular clusters have been shown to depend on the mass, radius, and metallicity of the cluster. This thesis focuses on the impact environmental parameters have on X-ray sources and the underlying physical explanations for them.

I studied the X-ray binary population in M31 using 1 Ms of Chandra ACIS data and 6-filter photometry from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury Survey. From a sample of 83 star clusters we found the brightest and most compact star clusters preferentially hosted …

Hst Imaging Of The Dusty Filaments And Nucleus Swirl In Ngc4696 At The Centre Of The Centaurus Cluster, A. C. Fabian, S. A. Walker, H. R. Russell, C. Pinto, R. E. A. Canning, P. Salome, J. S. Sanders, G. B. Taylor, E. G. Zweibel, C. J. Conselice, F. Combes, C. S. Crawford, Gary J. Ferland, J. S. Gallagher Iii, N. A. Hatch, R. M. Johnstone, C. S. Reynolds

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Narrow-band HST imaging has resolved the detailed internal structure of the 10 kpc diameter H α+[N II] emission line nebulosity in NGC4696, the central galaxy in the nearby Centaurus cluster, showing that the dusty, molecular, filaments have a width of about 60 pc. Optical morphology and velocity measurements indicate that the filaments are dragged out by the bubbling action of the radio source as part of the active galactic nucleus feedback cycle. Using the drag force we find that the magnetic field in the filaments is in approximate pressure equipartition with the hot gas. The filamentary nature of the …

Mid-Infrared Luminous Quasars In The Goods–Herschel Fields: A Large Population Of Heavily Obscured, Compton-Thick Quasars At Z ≈ 2, A. Del Moro, D. M. Alexander, F. E. Bauer, E. Daddi, Dale D. Kocevski, Daniel H. Mcintosh, F. Stanley, W. N. Brandt, D. Elbaz, C. M. Harrison, B. Luo, J. R. Mullaney, Y. Q. Xue

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present the infrared (IR) and X-ray properties of a sample of 33 mid-IR luminous quasars (νL_6 μm ≥ 6 × 10⁴⁴ erg s⁻¹) at redshift z ≈ 1–3, identified through detailed spectral energy distribution analyses of distant star-forming galaxies, using the deepest IR data from Spitzer and Herschel in the GOODS–Herschel fields. The aim is to constrain the fraction of obscured, and Compton-thick (CT, N_H > 1.5 × 10²⁴ cm⁻²) quasars at the peak era of nuclear and star formation activities. Despite being very bright in the mid-IR band, ≈30 …

Reconciling Ag-Star Formation, The Soltan Argument, And Meier's Paradox, David Garofalo, Matthew I. Kim, Damian J. Christian, Emily Hollingworth

Faculty and Research Publications

We provide a theoretical context for understanding the recent work of Kalfountzou et al. showing that star formation is enhanced at lower optical luminosity in radio-loud quasars. Our proposal for coupling the assumption of collimated FRII quasar-jet-induced star formation with lower accretion optical luminosity also explains the observed jet power peak in active galaxies at higher redshift compared to the peak in accretion power, doing so in a way that predicts the existence of a family of radio-quiet active galactic nuclei associated with rapidly spinning supermassive black holes at low redshift, as mounting observations suggest. The relevance of this work …

Strong Variability Of The Coronal Line Region In Ngc 5548, Hermine Landt, Martin J. Ward, Katrien C. Steenbrugge, Gary J. Ferland

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present the second extensive study of the coronal line variability in an active galaxy. Our data set for the well-studied Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548 consists of five epochs of quasi-simultaneous optical and near-infrared spectroscopy spanning a period of about five years and three epochs of X-ray spectroscopy overlapping in time with it. Whereas the broad emission lines and hot dust emission varied only moderately, the coronal lines varied strongly. However, the observed high variability is mainly due to a flux decrease. Using the optical [Fe vii] and X-ray O vii emission lines we estimate that the coronal line gas …

The Nustar Extragalactic Survey: First Direct Measurements Of The Greater Than Or Similar To 10 Kev X-Ray Luminosity Function For Active Galactic Nuclei At Z > 0.1, J. Aird, D. M. Alexander, D. R. Ballantyne, R. C. Hickox, A. Del-Moro, R. C. Hickox, G. B. Lansbury, J. R. Mullaney, F. E. Bauer, W. N. Brandt

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present the first direct measurements of the rest-frame 10–40 keV X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on a sample of 94 sources at 0.1 < z < 3, selected at 8–24 keV energies from sources in the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) extragalactic survey program. Our results are consistent with the strong evolution of the AGN population seen in prior, lower-energy studies of the XLF. However, different models of the intrinsic distribution of absorption, which are used to correct for selection biases, give significantly different predictions for the total number of sources in our sample, leading to small, systematic differences in our binned estimates of …

The Young Radio Lobe Of 3c 84: Inferred Gas Properties In The Central 10 Pc, Yutaka Fujita, Nozomu Kawakatu, Isaac Shlosman, Hirotaka Ito

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We analyse the environment of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) in the centre of a massive elliptical galaxy NGC 1275 in the Perseus cluster, hosting the radio source 3C 84. We focus on the young radio lobe observed inside the estimated Bondi accretion radius, and discusss the momentum balance between the jet associated with the lobe and the surrounding gas. The results are compared with the proper motion of the radio lobe obtained with the very long baseline interferometry. We find that under assumption of a high-density environment ( ≳ 100 cm⁻³), the jet power must be comparable …

Deep Chandra, Hst-Cos, And Megacam Observations Of The Phoenix Cluster: Extreme Star Formation And Agn Feedback On Hundred Kiloparsec Scales, Michael Mcdonald, B. R. Mcnamara, Reinout J. Van Weeren, Douglas E. Applegate, Matthew Bayliss, Marshall W. Bautz, Bradford A. Benson, John E. Carlstrom, Lindsey E. Bleem, Marios Chatzikos, A. C. Edge, A. C. Fabian, Gordon P. Garmire, Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, Christine Jones-Forman, Adam B. Mantz, Eric D. Miller, Brian Stalder, Sylvain Veilleux, John A. Zuhone

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present new ultraviolet, optical, and X-ray data on the Phoenix galaxy cluster (SPT-CLJ2344-4243). Deep optical imaging reveals previously undetected filaments of star formation, extending to radii of ~50–100 kpc in multiple directions. Combined UV-optical spectroscopy of the central galaxy reveals a massive (2 x 10⁹ M_⊙), young (~4.5 Myr) population of stars, consistent with a time-averaged star formation rate of 610 ± 50 M_⊙ yr⁻¹. We report a strong detection of O ᴠɪ λλ1032,1038, which appears to originate primarily in shock-heated gas, but may contain a substantial contribution (>1000 M_{⊙ …}

A Coordinated X-Ray And Optical Campaign Of The Nearest Massive Eclipsing Binary, Δ Ori Aa: I. Overview Of The X-Ray Spectrum., Michael Corcoran, Joy Nichols, H. Pablo, Tomer Shenar, Andy Pollock, W. Waldron, A. Moffat, N. Richardson, C. Russell, K. Hamaguchi, D. Huenemoerder, L. Oskinova, W.-R. Hamann, Y. Nazé, Richard Ignace, Nancy Evans, Jamie Lomax, J. Hoffman, K. Gayley, S. Owocki, M. Leutenegger, T. Gull, K. Hole, J. Lauer, R. Iping

ETSU Faculty Works

We present an overview of four deep phase-constrained Chandra HETGS X-ray observations of δ Ori A. Delta Ori A is actually a triple system that includes the nearest massive eclipsing spectroscopic binary, δ Ori Aa, the only such object that can be observed with little phase-smearing with the Chandra gratings. Since the fainter star, δ Ori Aa2, has a much lower X-ray luminosity than the brighter primary (δ Ori Aa1), δ Ori Aa provides a unique system with which to test the spatial distribution of the X-ray emitting gas around δ Ori Aa1 via occultation by the photosphere of, and …

The Nustar Extragalactic Surveys: Overview And Catalog From The Cosmos Field, F. Civano, R. C. Hickox, S. Puccetti, A. Comastri

Dartmouth Scholarship

To provide the census of the sources contributing to the X-ray background peak above 10 keV, NuSTAR is performing extragalactic surveys using a three-tier "wedding cake" approach. We present the NuSTAR survey of the COSMOS field, the medium sensitivity and medium area tier, covering 1.7 deg2 and overlapping with both Chandra and XMM-Newton data. This survey consists of 121 observations for a total exposure of ~3 Ms. To fully exploit these data, we developed a new detection strategy, carefully tested through extensive simulations. The survey sensitivity at 20% completeness is 5.9, 2.9 and 6.4 x 10^-14 erg/cm2/s in the 3-24 …

The Nustar Extragalactic Surveys: Initial Results And Catalog From The Extended Chandra Deep Field South, J. R. Mullaney, A. Del-Moro, J. Aird, D. M. Alexander, F. M. Civano, R. C. Hickox

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present initial results and the source catalog from the NuSTAR survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (hereafter, ECDFS) - currently the deepest contiguous component of the NuSTAR extragalactic survey program. The survey covers the full ~30 arcmin x 30 arcmin area of this field to a maximum depth of ~360 ks (~220 ks when corrected for vignetting at 3-24 keV), reaching sensitivity limits of ~1.3 x 10^-14 erg/cm2/s (3-8 keV), ~3.4 x 10^-14 erg/cm2/s (8-24 keV) and ~3.0 x 10^-14 erg/cm2/s (3-24 keV). Fifty four (54) sources are detected over the full field, although five of these …

A Remarkably Flat Relationship Between The Average Star Formation Rate And Agn Luminosity For Distant X-Ray Agn, F. Stanley, C. M. Harrison, D. M. Alexander, A. M. Swinbank, J. A. Aird, A. Del Moro, R. C. Hickox, J. R. Mullaney

Dartmouth Scholarship

In this study we investigate the relationship between the star formation rate, SFR, and AGN luminosity, L(AGN), for ~2000 X-ray detected AGN. The AGN span over three orders of magnitude in X-ray luminosity (10^(42) < L(2-8keV) < 10^(45.5) erg/s) and are in the redshift range z = 0.2 - 2.5. Using infrared (IR) photometry (8 - 500um), including deblended Spitzer and Herschel images and taking into account photometric upper limits, we decompose the IR spectral energy distributions into AGN and star formation components. Using the IR luminosities due to star formation, we investigate the average SFRs as a function of redshift and AGN luminosity. In agreement with previous studies, we find a strong evolution of the average SFR with redshift, tracking the observed evolution of the overall star forming galaxy population. However, we find that the relationship between the average SFR and AGN luminosity is flat at all redshifts and across all the AGN luminosities investigated; in comparison to previous studies, we find less scatter amongst the average SFRs across the wide range of AGN luminosities investigated. By comparing to empirical models, we argue that the observed flat relationship is due to short timescale variations in AGN luminosity, driven by changes in the mass accretion rate, which wash out any underlying correlations between SFR and L(AGN). Furthermore, we show that the exact form of the predicted relationship between SFR and AGN luminosity (and it's normalisation) is highly sensitive to the assumed intrinsic Eddington ratio distribution.

Variability Of The Coronal Line Region In Ngc 4151, Hermine Landt, Martin J. Ward, Katrien C. Steenbrugge, Gary J. Ferland

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present the first extensive study of the coronal line variability in an active galaxy. Our data set for the nearby source NGC 4151 consists of six epochs of quasi-simultaneous optical and near-infrared spectroscopy spanning a period of about 8 yr and five epochs of X-ray spectroscopy overlapping in time with it. None of the coronal lines showed the variability behaviour observed for the broad emission lines and hot dust emission. In general, the coronal lines varied only weakly, if at all. Using the optical [Fe vii] and X-ray O vii emission lines we estimate that the coronal line gas …

New Multiwavelength Observations Of The Of?P Star Cpd -28◦ 2561., S. Hubrig, M. Schöller, A. Kholtygin, H. Tsumura, A. Hoshino, S. Kitamoto, L. Oskinova, Richard Ignace, H. Todt, I. Ilyin

ETSU Faculty Works

A rather strong mean longitudinal magnetic field of the order of a few hundred gauss was detected a few years ago in the Of?p star CPD −28° 2561 using FORS2 (FOcal Reducer low dispersion Spectrograph 2) low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations. In this work, we present additional low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations obtained during several weeks in 2013 December using FORS 2 mounted at the 8-m Antu telescope of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). These observations cover a little less than half of the stellar rotation period of 73.41 d mentioned in the literature. The behaviour of the mean longitudinal magnetic field is consistent …

The Host Galaxies Of X-Ray Selected Active Galactic Nuclei To Z = 2.5: Structure, Star Formation, And Their Relationships From Candels And Herschel/Pacs, Dale D. Kocevski, D. J. Rosario, D. H. Mcintosh, A. Van Der Wel, J. Kartaltepe, P. Lang, P. Santini, S. Wuyts, D. Lutz, M. Rafelski, C. Villforth

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We study the relationship between the structure and star formation rate (SFR) of X-ray selected low and moderate luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the two Chandra Deep Fields, using Hubble Space Telescope imaging from the Cosmic Assembly Near Infrared Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) and deep far-infrared maps from the PEP+GOODS-Herschel survey. We derive detailed distributions of structural parameters and FIR luminosities from carefully constructed control samples of galaxies, which we then compare to those of the AGNs. At z ~ 1, AGNs show slightly diskier light profiles than massive inactive (non-AGN) galaxies, as well as modestly higher levels …

Candels/Goods-S, Cdfs, And Ecdfs: Photometric Redshifts For Normal And X-Ray-Detected Galaxies, Li-Ting Hsu, Mara Salvato, Kirpal Nandra, Marcella Brusa, Ralf Bender, Johannes Buchner, Jennifer L. Dooley, Dale D. Kocevski, Yicheng Guo, Nimish P. Hathi, Cyprian Rangel, S. P. Willner, Murray Brightman, Antonis Georgakakis, Tamás Budavári, Alexander S. Szalay, Matthew L.N. Ashby, Guillermo Barro, Tomas Dahlen, Sandra M. Faber, Henry C. Ferguson, Audrey Galametz, Andrea Grazian, Norman A. Grogin, Kuang-Han Huang, Anton M. Koekemoer, Ray A. Lucas, Elizabeth Mcgrath, Bahram Mobasher, Michael Peth, David J. Rosario, Jonathan R. Trump

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present photometric redshifts and associated probability distributions for all detected sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS). This work makes use of the most up-to-date data from the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Legacy Survey (CANDELS) and the Taiwan ECDFS Near-Infrared Survey (TENIS) in addition to other data. We also revisit multi-wavelength counterparts for published X-ray sources from the 4 Ms CDFS and 250 ks ECDFS surveys, finding reliable counterparts for 1207 out of 1259 sources (~96%). Data used for photometric redshifts include intermediate-band photometry deblended using the TFIT method, which is used for the first time in …

Veritas Observations Of The Microquasar Cygnus X-3, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

We report results from TeV gamma-ray observations of the microquasar Cygnus X-3. The observations were made with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) over a time period from 2007 June 11 to 2011 November 28. VERITAS is most sensitive to gamma rays at energies between 85 GeV and 30 TeV. The effective exposure time amounts to a total of about 44 hr, with the observations covering six distinct radio/X-ray states of the object. No significant TeV gamma-ray emission was detected in any of the states, nor with all observations combined. The lack of a positive signal, especially …

Broad Iron Lines In Neutrons Stars: Dynamical Broadening Or Wind Scattering?, E. M. Cackett, Jon M. Miller

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

Broad iron emission lines are observed in many accreting systems from black holes in active galactic nuclei and X-ray binaries to neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries. The origin of the line broadening is often interpreted as due to dynamical broadening and relativistic effects. However, alternative interpretations have been proposed, included broadening due to Compton scattering in a wind or accretion disk atmosphere. Here we explore the observational signatures expected from broadening in a wind, in particular that the iron line width should increase with an increase in the column density of the absorber (due to an increase in the number …

Hard X-Ray Lags In Active Galactic Nuclei: Testing The Distant Reverberation Hypothesis With Ngc 6814, D. J. Walton, A. Zoghbi, E. M. Cackett, P. Uttley, F. A. Harrison, A. C. Fabian, E. Kara, J. M. Miller, R. C. Reis, C. S. Reynolds

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We present an X-ray spectral and temporal analysis of the variable active galaxy NGC 6814, observed with Suzaku during 2011 November. Remarkably, the X-ray spectrum shows no evidence for the soft excess commonly observed amongst other active galaxies, despite its relatively low level of obscuration, and is dominated across the whole Suzaku bandpass by the intrinsic powerlaw-like continuum. Despite this, we clearly detect the presence of a low-frequency hard lag of ~1600 s between the 0.5-2.0 and 2.0-5.0 keV energy bands at greater than 6σ significance, similar to those reported in the literature for a variety of other active galactic …

Finding Rare Agn: Xmm-Newton And Chandra Observations Of Sdss Stripe 82, Stephanie M. Lamassa, C. Megan Urry, Nico Cappelluti, Francesca Civano

Dartmouth Scholarship

We have analysed the XMM–Newton and Chandra data overlapping ∼16.5 deg² of Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82, including ∼4.6 deg² of proprietary XMM–Newton data that we present here. In total, 3362 unique X-ray sources are detected at high significance. We derive the XMM–Newton number counts and compare them with our previously reported Chandra logN–logS relations and other X-ray surveys. The Stripe 82 X-ray source lists have been matched to multiwavelength catalogues using a maximum likelihood estimator algorithm. We discovered the highest redshift (z = 5.86) quasar yet identified in an X-ray survey. We …

A Change In The Quiescent X-Ray Spectrum Of The Neutron Star Low-Mass X-Ray Binary Mxb 1659-29, E. M. Cackett, E. F. Brown, A. Cumming, N. Degenaar, J. K. Fridriksson, J. Homan, J. M. Miller, R. Wijnands

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

The quasi-persistent neutron star low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1659-29 went into quiescence in 2001, and we have followed its quiescent X-ray evolution since. Observations over the first 4 yr showed a rapid drop in flux and temperature of the neutron star atmosphere, interpreted as cooling of the neutron star crust which had been heated during the 2.5 yr outburst. However, observations taken approximately 1400 and 2400 days into quiescence were consistent with each other, suggesting the crust had reached thermal equilibrium with the core. Here we present a new Chandra observation of MXB 1659-29 taken 11 yr into quiescence and …

Continued Neutron Star Crust Cooling Of The 11 Hz X-Ray Pulsar In Terzan 5: A Challenge To Heating And Cooling Models?, N. Degenaar, R. Wijnands, E. F. Brown, D. Altamirano, E. M. Cackett, J. Fridriksson, J. Homan, C. O. Heinke, J. M. Miller, D. Pooley, G. R. Sivakoff

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

The transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary and 11 Hz X-ray pulsar IGR J17480-2446 in the globular cluster Terzan 5 exhibited an 11 week accretion outburst in 2010. Chandra observations performed within five months after the end of the outburst revealed evidence that the crust of the neutron star became substantially heated during the accretion episode and was subsequently cooling in quiescence. This provides the rare opportunity to probe the structure and composition of the crust. Here, we report on new Chandra observations of Terzan 5 that extend the monitoring to sime2.2 yr into quiescence. We find that the thermal …