Localization Method for the Pointing Observation with the Collimated Telescopes of Insight-HXMT

An accurate target source position is sometimes useful for the pointing observation with the collimated telescopes of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope(Insight-HXMT),which is determined by the reliability of the instrumental response.Insight-HXMT has the unique design that all three main payloads(LE,ME and HE)consist of detector groups with three fields of views(FOVs)whose orientations differ by 60°.As the point-spread functions are different at different positions in the FOV coordinates,the count rate ratios between the detector groups depend on the position of an X-ray source in the FOVs.Based on the multi-FOV design,we develop a localization method for an X-ray source in the pointing observation of Insight-HXMT.The accuracy of the method is investigated with the pointing observations of the Crab with different exposures.We find that the statistical error decreases with the exposure,and the systematic error is dominant for the exposure>128 s.With the exposure of1024 s,the total error is 0°.015 for the Crab.This method can effectively distinguish the Rapid Burster H 1730–333and Slow Burster GX 354–0,which are only 0°.5 apart and can both contribute to bursts in the light curve obtained by Insight-HXMT.We also apply the pointing observation localization method to locate the X-ray counterpart of FRB 200428 with high precision.The located position is consistent with SGR J1935+2154 within 1σuncertainty of 10′,which provides important evidence that fast radio bursts can originate from magnetars.

Analysis of Bright Source Hardness Ratios in the 4 yr Insight-HXMT Galactic Plane Scanning Survey Catalog

We conduct a statistical analysis of the hardness ratio(HR)for bright sources in the 4 yr Galactic Plane Scanning Survey catalog of Insight-HXMT.Depending on the stable(variable)flux F_(s)(F_(v))or spectrum S_(s)(S_(v))of each source,the bright sources are classified into three groups:F_(v)&S_(v),F_(v)&S_(s),and F_(s)&_(s).Our study of the HR characteristics in different types of sources reveals that accretion-powered neutron star(NS)low-mass X-ray binaries(LMXBs)exhibit softer energy spectra than NS high-mass X-ray binaries(HMXBs),but harder energy spectra than black hole binaries in most cases.This difference is probably due to their different magnetic field strengths.Additionally,Fv&Sv LMXBs tend to be harder than Fv&Ss LMXBs below 7 keV,while the opposite is true for HMXBs.Our results suggest that LMXBs may dominate unclassified sources,and NS binaries are likely to be the primary type of X-ray binaries with ambiguous compact stars.By comparing the HR of transient sources in their outburst and low-flux states,it is found that the averaged HR of four sources in the two states are roughly comparable within uncertainties.We also investigate the spatial properties of the three groups and find that Fv&Sv sources are mainly located in the longitude of-20°<l<9°,Fv&Ss sources cross the Galactic Plane,and Fs&Ss sources are predominantly concentrated in 19°<l<42°.In addition,analyzing the HR spatial distributions shows the absorption of soft X-rays(primarily below 2 keV)in the Galactic Plane.

The YSZ,Planck - YSZ,XMM scaling relation and its difference between cool-core and non-cool-core clusters

We construct a sample of 70 clusters using data from XMM-Newton and Planck to investigate the YSZ,Planck-YSZ,XMM scaling relation and the cool-core influences on this relation.YSZ,XMM is calculated by accurately de-projected temperature and electron number density profiles derived from XMMNewton.YSZ,Planckis the latest Planck data restricted to our precise X-ray cluster size θ500.To study the cool-core influences on the YSZ,Planck-YSZ,XMM scaling relation,we apply two criteria,namely the limits of central cooling time and classic mass deposition rate,to distinguish cool-core clusters(CCCs) from non-cool-core clusters(NCCCs).We also use YSZ,Planckfrom other papers,which are derived from different methods,to confirm our results.The intercept and slope of the YSZ,Planck-YSZ,XMM scaling relation are A =-0.86 ± 0.30 and B = 0.83 ± 0.06 respectively.The intrinsic scatter is σins= 0.14 ± 0.03.The ratio of YSZ,Planck/YSZ,XMM is 1.03 ± 0.05,which is in excellent statistical agreement with unity.Discrepancies in the YSZ,Planck-YSZ,XMM scaling relation between CCCs and NCCCs are found in the observation.They are independent of the cool-core classification criteria and YSZ,Planckcalculation methods,although the discrepancies are more significant under the classification criteria of classic mass deposition rate.The intrinsic scatter of CCCs(0.04) is quite small compared to that of NCCCs(0.27).The ratio of YSZ,Planck/YSZ,XMM for CCCs is 0.89 ± 0.05,suggesting that CCCs’ YSZ,XMM may overestimate the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich(SZ)signal.By contrast,the ratio of YSZ,Planck/YSZ,XMM for NCCCs is 1.14 ± 0.12,which indicates that NCCCs’ YSZ,XMM may underestimate the SZ signal.

The Year-scale X-Ray Variations in the Core of M87

The analysis of light variation of M87 can help us understand the disk evolution.In the past decade,M87 has experienced several short-term light variabilities related to flares.We also find that there are year-scale X-ray variations in the core of M87.Their light variability properties are similar to clumpy-ADAF.By re-analyzing 56Chandra observations from 2007 to 2019,we distinguish the“non-flaring state”from“flaring state”in the light variability.After removing flaring state data,we identify four gas clumps in the nucleus and all of them can be well fitted by the clumpy-ADAF model.The average mass accretion rate is~0.16M⊙yr^(-1).We analyze the photon index(Γ)-flux(2-10 keV)correlation between the non-flaring state and flaring state.For the non-flaring states,the flux is inversely proportional to the photon index.For the flaring states,we find no obvious correlation between the two parameters.In addition,we find that the flare always occurs at a high mass accretion rate,and after the luminosity of the flare reaches the peak,it will be accompanied by a sudden decrease in luminosity.Our results can be explained as that the energy released by magnetic reconnection destroys the structure of the accretion disk,thus the luminosity decreases rapidly and returns to normal levels thereafter.

An X-Ray Burst Associated with FRB 200428 from a Magnetar-asteroid Impact

Fast radio bursts(FRBs)are extragalactic radio transients with millisecond duration and brightness temperature.An FRB-associated X-ray burst(XRB)was recently found to arise from the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154.Following the model of Dai,in which an FRB may originate from a magnetar encountering an asteroid,we focus on explaining the spectrum of the XRB associated with FRB 200428 from SGR J1935+2154.Collisions between asteroidal fragments and the magnetar surface produce a fireball,which further expands relativistically.Due to the velocity difference among some shells in the fireball,internal shocks would form far away from the magnetar,and further emit X-ray emission.We propose that the FRB-associated XRB can be produced by synchrotron emission from the internal shocks,and then constrain the physical parameters by the observed XRB spectrum.

Burst Phase Distribution of SGR J1935+2154 Based on Insight-HXMT

On 2020 April 27,the soft gamma-ray repeater SGR J1935+2154 entered its intense outburst episode again.Insight-HXMT carried out about one month observation of the source.A total number of 75 bursts were detected during this activity episode by Insight-HXMT,and persistent emission data were also accumulated.We report on the spin period search result and the phase distribution of burst start times and burst photon arrival times of the Insight-HXMT high energy detectors and Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor(GBM).We find that the distribution of burst start times is uniform within its spin phase for both Insight-HXMT and Fermi/GBM observations,whereas the phase distribution of burst photons is related to the type of a burst’s energy spectrum.The bursts with the same spectrum have different distribution characteristics in the initial and decay episodes for the activity of magnetar SGR J1935+2154.

Statistical Properties of X-Ray Bursts from SGR J1935+2154 Detected by Insight-HXMT

As one class of the most important objects in the universe,magnetars can produce a lot of different frequency bursts including X-ray bursts.In Cai et al.,75 X-ray bursts produced by magnetar SGR J1935+2154 during an active period in 2020 are published,including the duration and net photon counts of each burst,and waiting time based on the trigger time difference.In this paper,we utilize the power-law model,dN(x)/dx∝(x+x_0)~((-α)_x),to fit the cumulative distributions of these parameters.It can be found that all the cumulative distributions can be well fitted,which can be interpreted by a self-organizing criticality theory.Furthermore,we check whether this phenomenon still exists in different energy bands and find that there is no obvious evolution.These findings further confirm that the X-ray bursts from magnetars are likely to be generated by some self-organizing critical process,which can be explained by a possible magnetic reconnection scenario in magnetars.

Atlas of dynamic spectra of fast radio burst FRB 20201124A

Fast radio bursts(FRBs) are highly dispersed millisecond-duration radio bursts,[1,2]of which the physical origin is still not fully understood. FRB 20201124A is one of the most actively repeating FRBs. In this paper, we present the collection of 1863 burst dynamic spectra of FRB 20201124A measured with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST). The current collection, taken from the observation during the FRB active phase from April to June 2021, is the largest burst sample detected for any FRB so far. The standard PSRFITs format is adopted, including dynamic spectra of the burst, and the time information of the dynamic spectra, in addition, mask files help readers to identify the pulse positions are also provided. The dataset is available in Science Data Bank, with the link https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.j00113.00076.

GRB 190530A:From Precursor,Prompt Emission to Afterglow all Originated from Synchrotron Radiation

GRB 190530A was jointly observed by the High Energy X-ray Telescope of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope(Insight-HXMT/HE)and the Ground-Based Wide-Angle Camera network(GWAC-N)with the extremely large field of view.After triggered by Insight-HXMT/HE and Fermi/GBM,we observed the optical emission of GRB 190530A,using the 30 cm telescope of GWAC(GWAC-F30)to search and locate its position.Subsequent observation of the late afterglow of GRB 190530A was made with the 2.16 m telescope at Xinglong Observatory.In this paper,we make a detailed exploration of the origin of GRB 190530A.In the prompt emission,a“double-tracking”pattern is presented both for the low-energy spectral indexαand the peak energy Epin the Band function with Insight-HXMT/HE and Fermi/GBM data;the results of GRB 190530A are consistent with the Amati and Yonetoku correlations;the spectral lag(τ)versus energy(E)can be estimated withτ=-3.0±0.06+(0.17±0.03)logE.The synchrotron radiation can account for the origin of GRB190530A prompt emission behaviors.Theαand Epof the precursor are essentially the same as that of the main prompt emission,implying that they have the same origin.For the afterglow,it can be described with the external forward shock model in ISM circumburst medium.In summary,from precursor,prompt emission to afterglow of GRB 190530A all originated from synchrotron radiation.

Timing analysis of the black hole candidate EXO 1846–031 with Insight-HXMT monitoring

We present the observational results from a detailed timing analysis of the black hole candidate EXO 1846-031 during its outburst in 2019 with the observations of Insight-HXMT,NICER and MAXI.This outburst can be classified roughly into four different states.Type-C quasi-periodic oscillations(QPOs)observed by NICER(about 0.1-6 Hz)and Insight-HXMT(about 0.7-8 Hz)are also reported in this work.Meanwhile,we study various physical quantities related to QPO frequency.The QPO rms-frequency relationship in the energy band 1-10 keV indicates that there is a turning pointing in frequency around2 Hz,which is similar to that of GRS 1915+105.A possible hypothesis for the relationship above may be related to the inclination of the source,which may require a high inclination to explain it.The relationships between QPO frequency and QPO rms,hardness,total fractional rms and count rate have also been found in other transient sources,which can indicate that the origin of type-C QPOs is non-thermal.

The influence of the Insight-HXMT/LE time response on timing analysis

The LE is the low energy telescope that is carried on Insight-HXMT.It uses swept charge devices(SCDs)to detect soft X-ray photons.LE’s time response is caused by the structure of the SCDs.With theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo simulations we discuss the influence of LE time response(LTR)on the timing analysis from three aspects:the power spectral density,the pulse profile and the time lag.After the LTR,the value of power spectral density monotonously decreases with the increasing frequency.The power spectral density of a sinusoidal signal reduces by a half at frequency 536 Hz.The corresponding frequency for quasi-periodic oscillation(QPO)signals is 458 Hz.The root mean square(RMS)of QPOs holds a similar behaviour.After the LTR,the centroid frequency and full width at half maxima(FWHM)of QPOs signals do not change.The LTR reduces the RMS of pulse profiles and shifts the pulse phase.In the time domain,the LTR only reduces the peak value of the cross-correlation function while it does not change the peak position;thus it will not affect the result of the time lag.When considering the time lag obtained from two instruments and one among them is LE,a 1.18 ms lag is expected caused by the LTR.The time lag calculated in the frequency domain is the same as that in the time domain.

Weak Merging Scenario of CLASH Cluster A209

We study the structural and dynamical properties of A209 based on Chandra and XMM-Newton observations.We obtain detailed temperature,pressure,and entropy maps with the contour binning method,and find a hot region in the NW direction.The X-ray brightness residual map and corresponding temperature profiles reveal a possible shock front in the NW direction and a cold front feature in the SE direction.Combined with the galaxy luminosity density map we propose a weak merger scenario.A young sub-cluster passing from the SE to NW direction could explain the optical subpeak,the intracluster medium temperature map,the X-ray surface brightness excess,and the X-ray peak offset together.