A multiwavelength view of a classical T Tauri star CV Cha

Using long-term optical, ultraviolet(UV) and X-ray data, we present a study of a classical T Tauri star CV Cha. The V-band light curve obtained from the All Sky Automated Survey(ASAS) shows short as well as long-term variability. The short-term variability could be due to rotational modulation of CV Cha. We derive the rotational period of 3.714 ± 0.001 d for CV Cha. UV light curves obtained from Swift also show the variations. X-ray light curves from XMM-Newton and Swift do not show any significant short as well as long-term variability. However, the light curve from Chandra appears to be variable, which could be due to the emergence of flaring activities. X-ray spectra from all observations are explained well by the single temperature plasma of 0.95 keV with X-ray luminosity of 1030.4erg s-1in the 0.5–7.5 keV energy band. It appears that variability in optical and UV bands could be due to the presence of both hot and cool spots on the surface, while X-ray emission is dominated by magnetic processes.

Intra-day variability of three Seyfert galaxies measured with XMM-Newton

We present and analyze the variability of three Seyfert galaxies on intra-day timescales. We have analyzed in a uniform manner the 38 longest(> 30 ks) observations made for NGC 4051, MCG-06–30–15 and NGC 4151 by XMM-Newton between 2000 and 2015. The nuclei were quite active during essentially all of these observations and the overall X-ray fluxes(0.3–10 keV) varied by an order of magnitude. Most of the observations do appear to show characteristic timescales, estimated through their auto-correlation functions, ranging between ~2.9 ks and ~45.3 ks. The hard(2–10 keV) and soft(0.3–2.0 keV) bands are very well correlated but consideration of their hardness ratios shows that the sources typically soften during flares. We also provide new estimates of the central black hole masses for these three AGNs that support the hypothesis that Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies have relatively small central black holes.

A proper motion study of the globular cluster M12(NGC 6218)

Using astrometric techniques developed by Anderson et al., we determine proper motions （PMs） in the ~ 14.60 × 16.53 arcmin^2 area of the kinematically ＂thick-disk＂ globular cluster M 12. The cluster＇s proximity and sparse nature makes it a suitable target for ground-based telescopes. Archive images with time gap of ~ 11.1 years were observed with the wide-field imager （WFI） mosaic cam-era mounted on the ESO 2.2m telescope. The median value of PM error in both components is 0.7masyr^-1 for the stars having V ≤ 20mag. PMs are used to determine membership probabil-ities and to separate field stars from the cluster sample. In electronic form, a membership catalog of 3725 stars with precise coordinates, PMs and BVRI photometry is being provided. One of the possible applications of the catalog is demonstrated by gathering the membership information of the variable stars, blue stragglers and X-ray sources reported earlier in the cluster＇s region.

The Relative Orientation between Local Magnetic Field and Galactic Plane in Low Latitude Dark Clouds

In this work,we study the magnetic field morphology of selected star-forming clouds spread over the galactic latitude(b)range−10°to 10°.The polarimetric observations of clouds CB24,CB27 and CB188 are conducted to study the magnetic field geometry of those clouds using the 104 cm Sampurnanand Telescope(ST)located at ARIES,Manora Peak,Nainital,India.These observations are combined with those of 14 further low latitude clouds available in the literature.Most of these clouds are located within a distance range 140–500 pc except for CB3(∼2500 pc),CB34(∼1500 pc),CB39(∼1500 pc)and CB60(∼1500 pc).Analyzing the polarimetric data of 17 clouds,we find that the alignment between the envelope magnetic field(θ^(env)_(B))and galactic plane(GP)(θGP)of the low-latitude clouds varies with their galactic longitudes(l).We observe a strong correlation between the longitude(l)and the offset(θ_(off)=|θ^(env)_(B)-θ_(GP))which shows that θ^(env)_(B) is parallel to the GP when the clouds are situated in the region 115°<l<250°.However,θ^(env)_(B) has its own local deflection irrespective of the orientation of θGP when the clouds are at l<100°and l>250°.To check the consistency of our results,the stellar polarization data available in the Heiles catalog are overlaid on the DSS image of the clouds having mean polarization vector of field stars.The results are almost consistent with the Heiles data.A systematic discussion is presented in the paper.The effect of turbulence in the cloud is also studied which may play an important role in causing the misalignment phenomenon observed between θ^(env)_(B) and θ_(GP).We have used Herschel(Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.)SPIRE 500μm and SCUBA 850μm dust continuum emission maps in our work to understand the density structure of the clouds.

Search for H I emission from superdisk candidates associated with radio galaxies

Giant gaseous layers(termed “superdisks”) have been hypothesized in the past to account for the strip-like radio emission gap(or straight-edged central brightness depression) observed between twin radio lobes, in over a dozen relatively nearby powerful Fanaroff-Riley Class II radio galaxies. They could also provide a plausible alternative explanation for a range of observations. Although a number of explanations have been proposed for the origin of the superdisks, little is known about their material content. Some X-ray observations of superdisk candidates indicate the presence of hot gas, but a cool dusty medium also seems to be common. If they are entirely or partly composed of neutral gas, then it may be directly detectable and we report here a first attempt to detect/image any neutral hydrogen gas present in the superdisks that are inferred to be present in four nearby radio galaxies. We have not found a positive H I signal in any of the four sources, resulting in tight upper limits on the H I number density in the postulated superdisks,estimated directly from the central rms noise values of the final radio continuum subtracted image. The estimated ranges of the upper limit on neutral hydrogen number density and column density are 10^-4-10^-3 atoms per cm3 and 10^19-10^20 atoms per cm^2, respectively. No positive H I signal is detected even after combining all the four available H I images(with inverse variance weighting). This clearly rules out an H I dominated superdisk as a viable model to explain these structures, however, the possibility of a superdisk being composed of warm/hot gas still remains open.

X-Ray and Ultraviolet Flares on AT Microscopii Observed by AstroSat

We present observations of the active M-dwarf binary AT Mic(dM4.5e+dM4.5e)obtained with the orbital observatory Astro Sat.During 20 ks of observations,in the far-ultraviolet(130-180 nm)and soft X-ray(0.3-7 keV)spectral ranges,we detected both quiescent emission and at least five flares on different components of the binary.The X-ray flares were typically longer than and delayed(by 5-6 minutes)with respect to their ultraviolet counterparts,in agreement with the Neupert effect.Using X-ray spectral fits,we estimated the parameters of the emitting plasma.The results indicate the presence of a hot multi-thermal corona with average temperatures in the range of~7-15 MK and emission measure of~(2.9-4.5)×10^(52)cm^(-3);both the temperature and the emission measure increased during the flares.The estimated abundance of heavy elements in the corona of AT Mic is considerably lower than at the Sun(~0.18-0.34 of the solar photospheric value);the coronal abundance increased during the flares due to chromospheric evaporation.The detected flares had the energies of~10^(31)-10^(32)erg;the energy-duration relations indicate the presence of magnetic fields stronger than in typical solar flares.

Magnetar giant flare originating from GRB 200415A:transient GeV emission, time-resolved E_(p)-L_(iso) correlation and implications

Giant flares(GFs)are unusual bursts from soft gamma-ray repeaters(SGRs)that release an enormous amount of energy in a fraction of a second.The afterglow emission of these SGR-GFs or GF candidates is a highly beneficial means of discerning their composition,relativistic speed and emission mechanisms.GRB 200415A is a recent GF candidate observed in a direction coincident with the nearby Sculptor galaxy at 3.5 Mpc.In this work,we searched for transient gamma-ray emission in past observations by Fermi-LAT in the direction of GRB 200415A.These observations confirm that GRB 200415A is observed as a transient GeV source only once.A pure pair-plasma fireball cannot provide the required energy for the interpretation of GeV afterglow emission and a baryonic poor outflow is additionally needed to explain the afterglow emission.A baryonic rich outflow is also viable,as it can explain the variability and observed quasi-thermal spectrum of the prompt emission if dissipation is happening below the photosphere via internal shocks.Using the peak energy(Ep)of the time-resolved prompt emission spectra and their fluxes(Fp),we found a correlation between Ep and Fp or isotropic luminosity Liso for GRB 200415A.This supports the intrinsic nature of Ep-Liso correlation found in SGRs-GFs,hence favoring a baryonic poor outflow.Our results also indicate a different mechanism at work during the initial spike,and that the evolution of the prompt emission spectral properties in this outflow would be intrinsically due to the injection process.

Duration distributions for different softness groups of gamma-ray bursts

Gamma-ray bursts(GRBs) are divided into two classes according to their durations.We investigate if the softness of bursts plays a role in the conventional classification of the objects.We employ the BATSE(Burst and Transient Source Experiment) catalog and analyze the duration distributions of different groups of GRBs associated with distinct softness.Our analysis reveals that the conventional classification of GRBs with the duration of bursts is influenced by the softness of the objects.There exists a bimodality in the duration distribution of GRBs for each group of bursts and the time position of the dip in the bimodality histogram shifts with the softness parameter.Our findings suggest that the conventional classification scheme should be modified by separating the two well-known populations in different softness groups,which would be more reasonable than doing so with a single sample.According to the relation between the dip position and the softness parameter,we get an empirical function that can roughly set apart the short-hard and long-soft bursts:SP =(0.100 ± 0.028) T-(0.85 0.18) 90,± where SP is the softness parameter adopted in this paper.