Kaori Kubota

Discovery of a New Dwarf Nova, TSS J022216.4+412259.9: WZ Sge-Type Dwarf Nova Breaking the Shortest Superhump Period Record

We report on the time-resolved CCD photometry of a newly discovered variable star, TSS J022216.4+412259.9 during the outburst in 2005 November-December brightening. The obtained light curves unambiguously showed 0.2-0.3 mag modulations, which we confirmed to be the superhump observed among SU UMa-type dwarf novae. We also performed a period search for the data obtained during the outburst plateau phase, and revealed the existence of the two periodicities: 0.054868(98) days for the first two nights and 0.055544(26) days for the following plateau phase. This bi-periodicity is hardly observed in usual SU UMa-type dwarf novae, but characteristic of WZ Sge-type stars. We undoubtedly detected a rebrightening in the post-outburst stage, which is typical of short-period SU UMa-type dwarf novae including WZ Sge-type stars. These observations suggests that TSS J022216.4+412259.9 may be a new WZ Sge stars breaking the shortest superhump period of 0.05648 days for V592 Her among this class with a known superhump period so far.

The 2003/2004 Superoutburst of SDSS J013701.06-091234.9

We report on time-resolved photometry of the superoutburst of an SU UMa-type dwarf nova, SDSS J013701.06−091234.9, in 2003 December–2004 January. The obtained light curves definitely show superhumps with a period of 0.056686(12)d, which is one of the shortest superhump periods among those of SU UMa-type dwarf novae ever observed. Considering quiescent photometric studies, we estimated the fractional superhump excess to be 0.024. Spectroscopic observations by Szkody et al. (2003, AJ, 126, 1499) provided evidence for TiO bands despite the short orbital period, implying that the system has a luminous secondary star. We have drawn a color–color diagram of SU UMa-type dwarf novae in quiescence using 2MASS archives, revealing that the location of this star in the color-color diagram deviates from the general trend. The distance to the system was roughly estimated to be 300 ±80pc, using the empirical period–absolute magnitude relation and based on the proper motion.

Long-term monitoring of the short period SU UMa-type dwarf nova, V844 Herculis

We report on the time-resolved CCD photometry of four outbursts of a short-period SU UMa-type dwarf nova, V844 Herculis. We successfully determined the mean superhump periods to be 0.05584(64) d, and 0.055883(3) d for a 2002 May superoutburst, and a 2006 April–May superoutburst, respectively. During the 2002 October observations, we confirmed that the outburst was a normal outburst, which was the first recorded normal outburst in V844 Her. We also examined superhump period changes during the 2002 May and 2006 April–May superoutbursts, both of which showed an increasing superhump period over the course of the plateau stage. In order to examine the long-term behavior of V844 Her, we analyzed archival data over the past ten years since the discovery of this binary. Although photometry is not satisfactory for some superoutbursts, we found that V844 Her showed no precursors or rebrightenings. Based on the long-term light curve, we further confirmed that V844 Her has shown almost no normal outbursts despite the fact that the supercycle of the system is estimated to be about 300 d. In order to explain the long-term light curves of V844 Her, evaporation in the accretion disk may play a role in the avoidance of several normal outbursts, which does not contradict with the relatively a large X-ray luminosity of V844 Her.

Spectral Evolution of GRB060904A Observed with Swift and Suzaku- Possibility of Inefficient Electron Acceleration

We observed an X-ray afterglow of GRB 060904A with the Swift and Suzaku satellites. We found rapid spectral softening during both the prompt tail phase and the decline phase of an X-ray flare in the BAT and XRT data. The observed spectra were fit by power-law photon indices which rapidly changed from

The 2006 November outburst of EG Aquarii: the SU UMa nature revealed

\Gamma = 1.51^{+0.04}_{-0.03}

Swift and Suzaku observations of the X-ray afterglow from the GRB 060105

to

Suzaku X-Ray and Optical Spectroscopic Observations of SS 433 in the 2006 April Multiwavelength Campaign

\Gamma = 5.30^{+0.69}_{-0.59}

Dwarf Novae in the Shortest Orbital Period Regime. I A New Short Superhump Period Dwarf Nova, OT J055717+683226

within a few hundred seconds in the prompt tail. This is one of the steepest X-ray spectra ever observed, making it quite difficult to explain by simple electron acceleration and synchrotron radiation. Then, we applied an alternative spectral fitting using a broken power-law with exponential cutoff (BPEC) model. It is valid to consider the situation that the cutoff energy is equivalent to the synchrotron frequency of the maximum energy electrons in their energy distribution. Since the spectral cutoff appears in the soft X-ray band, we conclude the electron acceleration has been inefficient in the internal shocks of GRB 060904A. These cutoff spectra suddenly disappeared at the transition time from the prompt tail phase to the shallow decay one. After that, typical afterglow spectra with the photon indices of 2.0 are continuously and preciously monitored by both XRT and Suzaku/XIS up to 1 day since the burst trigger time. We could successfully trace the temporal history of two characteristic break energies (peak energy and cutoff energy) and they show the time dependence of

The Observation Campaign of SS 433 in April 2006

\propto t^{-3} \sim t^{-4}

Discovery of a New Dwarf Nova, TSS J022216.4+412259.9: a WZ Sge-type Dwarf Nova Breaking the Shortest Superhump Period Record

while the following afterglow spectra are quite stable. This fact indicates that the emitting material of prompt tail is due to completely different dynamics from the shallow decay component. Therefore we conclude the emission sites of two distinct phenomena obviously differ from each other.