Julian P. Osborne

Einstein Probe - a small mission to monitor and explore the dynamic X-ray Universe

Einstein Probe is a small mission dedicated to time-domain high-energy astrophysics. Its primary goals are to discover high-energy transients and to monitor variable objects in the

MXT instrument on-board the French-Chinese SVOM mission

0.5-4~

Four Swift searches for transient sources of high-energy neutrinos

keV X-rays, at higher sensitivity by one order of magnitude than those of the ones currently in orbit. Its wide-field imaging capability, featuring a large instantaneous field-of-view (

Disco very of an extraordinary luminous and soft X-ray transient MAXI J0158744

60^\circ \times60^\circ

Deriving an X‐ray luminosity function of dwarf novae

,

Deriving an X-ray luminosity function of dwarf novae based on parallax measurements

\sim1.1

The Microchannel X-ray Telescope on Board the SVOM Satellite

sr), is achieved by using established technology of micro-pore (MPO) lobster-eye optics, thereby offering unprecedentedly high sensitivity and large Grasp. To complement this powerful monitoring ability, it also carries a narrow-field, sensitive follow-up X-ray telescope based on the same MPO technology to perform follow-up observations of newly-discovered transients. Public transient alerts will be downlinked rapidly, so as to trigger multi-wavelength follow-up observations from the world-wide community. Over three of its 97-minute orbits almost the entire night sky will be sampled, with cadences ranging from 5 to 25 times per day. The scientific objectives of the mission are: to discover otherwise quiescent black holes over all astrophysical mass scales by detecting their rare X-ray transient flares, particularly tidal disruption of stars by massive black holes at galactic centers; to detect and precisely locate the electromagnetic sources of gravitational-wave transients; to carry out systematic surveys of X-ray transients and characterize the variability of X-ray sources. Einstein Probe has been selected as a candidate mission of priority (no further selection needed) in the Space Science Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, aiming for launch around 2020.

GRB 050906: Swift/BAT detection of a possible burst.

The SVOM (Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor) French-Chinese mission is dedicated to the detection, localization and study of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) and other high-energy transient phenomena. We first present the general description of the French payload composed of the ECLAIRs instrument, dedicated to GRB detection and localization and the MXT instrument, dedicated to GRB follow-up observation in soft X-ray band. Then the paper describes more in detail the design and the performances of the MXT instrument, finally a status of MXT development will be given.

GRB 050906: possible X-ray counterpart.

We present results of the first four Swift satellite follow-up campaigns seeking to identify transient or variable X-ray or UV/optical sources that might be associated with individual candidate high-energy cosmic muon neutrinos detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Real-time public alerts providing coordinates and arrival times of likely-cosmic neutrinos have been provided by IceCube, via the Astrophysical Multimessenger Observatory Network, since April 2016. Subsequent Swift X-ray observations of four likely-cosmic neutrinos (events 160731A, 161103A, 170312A, and 170321A) reveal multiple X-ray sources in the targeted 90%-containment regions, most of which have been previously identified, and none of which are considered likely sources of high-energy neutrinos. Observations exclude association with the brightest 30% to 65% of Swift-type gamma-ray burst X-ray afterglows over the observed regions. Contemporaneous Swift UV/optical observations, providing reduced coverage of the event localizations, also reveal no candidate transient or variable UV/optical counterparts. We discuss the results of these campaigns and our plans for further follow-up of likely-cosmic high-energy neutrinos from IceCube.

Swift-BAT detection of the bright long burst GRB041219.

Mikio Morii1, Hiroshi Tomida2, Masaki Kimura2, Fumitoshi Suwa3, Hitoshi Negoro3, Motoko Serino4, Jamie A. Kennea5, Kim L. Page6, Peter A. Curran7, Frederick M. Walter8, N. Paul. M. Kuin9, Tyler Pritchard5, Satoshi Nakahira2, Kazuo Hiroi10, Ryuichi Usui1, Nobuyuki Kawai1, Julian P. Osborne6, Tatehiro Mihara4, David N. Burrows5, Neil Gehrels11, Mitsuhiro Kohama2, Masaru Matsuoka4, Motoki Nakajima12, Peter W. A. Roming13, Kousuke Sugimori1, Mutsumi Sugizaki4, Yohko Tsuboi14, Hiroshi Tsunemi15, Yoshihiro Ueda10, Shiro Ueno2 and Atsumasa Yoshida16 1Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama 2-12-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. 2ISS Science Project Office, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2-1-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8505, Japan. 3Department of Physics, Nihon University, 1-8-14 Surugadai, Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-8308, Japan. 4MAXI team, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. 5Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. 6Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. 7International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research / Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia. 8Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3800, USA. 9Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK. 10Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University, Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan. 11NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA. 12School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Nihon University, 2-870-1 Sakaecho-nishi, Matsudo, Chiba 271-8587, Japan. 13Southwest Research Institute, Space Science and Engineering Division, PO Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510, USA. 14Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan. 15Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan. 16Department of Physics and Mathematics, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5258, Japan.