Varun Bhalerao

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) High-Energy X-Ray Mission

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Small Explorer mission that carried the first focusing hard X-ray (6-79 keV) telescope into orbit. It was launched on a Pegasus rocket into a low-inclination Earth orbit on June 13, 2012, from Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll. NuSTAR will carry out a two-year primary science mission. The NuSTAR observatory is composed of the X-ray instrument and the spacecraft. The NuSTAR spacecraft is three-axis stabilized with a single articulating solar array based on Orbital Sciences Corporations LEOStar-2 design. The NuSTAR science instrument consists of two co-aligned grazing incidence optics focusing on to two shielded solid state CdZnTe pixel detectors. The instrument was launched in a compact, stowed configuration, and after launch, a 10-meter mast was deployed to achieve a focal length of 10.15 m. The NuSTAR instrument provides sub-arcminute imaging with excellent spectral resolution over a 12-arcminute field of view. The NuSTAR observatory will be operated out of the Mission Operations Center (MOC) at UC Berkeley. Most science targets will be viewed for a week or more. The science data will be transferred from the UC Berkeley MOC to a Science Operations Center (SOC) located at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In this paper, we will describe the mission architecture, the technical challenges during the development phase, and the post-launch activities.

CALIBRATION OF THE NuSTAR HIGH-ENERGY FOCUSING X-RAY TELESCOPE

We present the calibration of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) X-ray satellite. We used the Crab as the primary effective area calibrator and constructed a piece-wise linear spline function to modify the vignetting response. The achieved residuals for all off-axis angles and energies, compared to the assumed spectrum, are typically better than ±2% up to 40 keV and 5%–10% above due to limited counting statistics. An empirical adjustment to the theoretical two-dimensional point-spread function (PSF) was found using several strong point sources, and no increase of the PSF half-power diameter has been observed since the beginning of the mission. We report on the detector gain calibration, good to 60 eV for all grades, and discuss the timing capabilities of the observatory, which has an absolute timing of ±3 ms. Finally, we present cross-calibration results from two campaigns between all the major concurrent X-ray observatories (Chandra, Swift, Suzaku, and XMM-Newton), conducted in 2012 and 2013 on the sources 3C 273 and PKS 2155-304, and show that the differences in measured flux is within ~10% for all instruments with respect to NuSTAR.

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR)

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will carry the first focusing hard X-ray (6 - 80 keV) telescope to orbit. NuSTAR will offer a factor 50 - 100 sensitivity improvement compared to previous collimated or coded mask imagers that have operated in this energy band. In addition, NuSTAR provides sub-arcminute imaging with good spectral resolution over a 12-arcminute eld of view. After launch, NuSTAR will carry out a two-year primary science mission that focuses on four key programs: studying the evolution of massive black holes through surveys carried out in fields with excellent multiwavelength coverage, understanding the population of compact objects and the nature of the massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, constraining the explosion dynamics and nucleosynthesis in supernovae, and probing the nature of particle acceleration in relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei. A number of additional observations will be included in the primary mission, and a guest observer program will be proposed for an extended mission to expand the range of scientic targets. The payload consists of two co-aligned depth-graded multilayer coated grazing incidence optics focused onto a solid state CdZnTe pixel detectors. To be launched in early 2012 on a Pegasus rocket into a low-inclination Earth orbit, NuSTAR largely avoids SAA passage, and will therefore have low and stable detector backgrounds. The telescope achieves a 10.14-meter focal length through on-orbit deployment of an extendable mast. An aspect and alignment metrology system enable reconstruction of the absolute aspect and variations in the telescope alignment resulting from mast exure during ground data processing. Data will be publicly available at GSFCs High Energy Archive Research Center (HEASARC) following validation at the science operations center located at Caltech.

Transformation of a Star into a Planet in a Millisecond Pulsar Binary

Timing observations of a millisecond pulsar reveal a planet that is far denser than any known planet. Millisecond pulsars are thought to be neutron stars that have been spun-up by accretion of matter from a binary companion. Although most are in binary systems, some 30% are solitary, and their origin is therefore mysterious. PSR J1719−1438, a 5.7-millisecond pulsar, was detected in a recent survey with the Parkes 64-meter radio telescope. We show that this pulsar is in a binary system with an orbital period of 2.2 hours. The mass of its companion is near that of Jupiter, but its minimum density of 23 grams per cubic centimeter suggests that it may be an ultralow-mass carbon white dwarf. This system may thus have once been an ultracompact low-mass x-ray binary, where the companion narrowly avoided complete destruction.

Timing and Flux Evolution of the Galactic Center Magnetar SGR J1745–2900

We present the X-ray timing and spectral evolution of the Galactic Center magnetar SGR J1745−2900 for the first ~4 months post-discovery using data obtained with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array and Swift observatories. Our timing analysis reveals a large increase in the magnetar spin-down rate by a factor of 2.60 ± 0.07 over our data span. We further show that the change in spin evolution was likely coincident with a bright X-ray burst observed in 2013 June by Swift, and if so, there was no accompanying discontinuity in the frequency. We find that the source 3–10 keV flux has declined monotonically by a factor of ~2 over an 80 day period post-outburst accompanied by a ~20% decrease in the sources blackbody temperature, although there is evidence for both flux and kT having leveled off. We argue that the torque variations are likely to be magnetospheric in nature and will dominate over any dynamical signatures of orbital motion around Sgr A*.

Tracing the Orphan Stream to 55 kpc with RR Lyrae Stars

We report positions, velocities and metallicities of 50ab-type RR Lyrae (RRab) stars observed in the vicinity of the Orphan stellar stream. Using about 30 RRab stars classied as being likely members of the Orphan stream, we study the metallicity and the spatial extent of the stream. We nd that RRab stars in the Orphan stream have a wide range of metallicities, from -1.5 dex to -2.7 dex. The average metallicity of the stream is -2.1 dex, identical to the value obtained by Newberg et al. (2010) using blue horizontal branch stars. We nd that the most distant parts of the stream (40-50 kpc from the Sun) are about 0.3 dex more metal-poor than the closer parts (within 30 kpc), suggesting a possible metallicity gradient along the stream’s length. We have extended the previous studies and have mapped the stream up to 55 kpc from the Sun. Even after a careful search, we did not identify any more distant RRab stars that could plausibly be members of the Orphan stream. If conrmed with other tracers, this result would indicate a detection of the end of the leading arm of the stream. We have compared the distances of Orphan stream RRab stars with the best-t orbits obtained by Newberg et al. (2010). We nd that model 6 of Newberg et al. (2010) cannot explain the distances of the most remote Orphan stream RRab stars, and conclude that the best t to distances of Orphan stream RRab stars and to the local circular velocity is provided by potentials where the total mass of the Galaxy within 60 kpc is M60 2:7 10 11 M , or about 60% of the mass found by previous studies. More extensive modelling that would consider non-spherical potentials and the possibility of misalignment between the stream and the orbit, is highly encouraged.

iPTF search for an optical counterpart to gravitational-wave transient GW150914

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) autonomously responded to and promptly tiled the error region of the first gravitational-wave event GW150914 to search for an optical counterpart. Only a small fraction of the total localized region was immediately visible in the northern night sky, due both to Sun-angle and elevation constraints. Here, we report on the transient candidates identified and rapid follow-up undertaken to determine the nature of each candidate. Even in the small area imaged of 126 deg^2, after extensive filtering, eight candidates were deemed worthy of additional follow-up. Within two hours, all eight were spectroscopically classified by the Keck II telescope. Curiously, even though such events are rare, one of our candidates was a superluminous supernova. We obtained radio data with the Jansky Very Large Array and X-ray follow-up with the Swift satellite for this transient. None of our candidates appear to be associated with the gravitational-wave trigger, which is unsurprising given that GW150914 came from the merger of two stellar-mass black holes. This end-to-end discovery and follow-up campaign bodes well for future searches in this post-detection era of gravitational waves.

NuSTAR detection of a cyclotron line in the supergiant fast X-ray transient IGR J17544−2619

We present NuSTAR spectral and timing studies of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient (SFXT) IGR J17544-2619. The spectrum is well-described by a ~ 1 keV blackbody and a hard continuum component, as expected from an accreting X-ray pulsar. We detect a cyclotron line at 17 keV, confirming that the compact object in IGR J17544-2619 is indeed a neutron star. This is the first measurement of the magnetic field in a SFXT. The inferred magnetic field strength, B = (1.45 ± 0.03) x 10^(12)G • (1 + z) is typical of neutron stars in X-ray binaries, and rules out a magnetar nature for the compact object. We do not find any significant pulsations in the source on time scales of 1–2000 s.

Hard X-ray polarimetry with Astrosat-CZTI

X-ray polarimetry is largely an unexplored area of an otherwise mature field of X-ray astronomy. Except for a few early attempts during the 1970s, no dedicated X-ray polarimeter has been flown during the past four decades. On the other hand, the scientific value of X-ray polarization measurement has been well known for a long time, and there has been significant technical progress in developing sensitive X-ray polarimeters in recent years. But there are no approved dedicated X-ray polarimetric experiments to be flown in the near future, so it is important to explore the polarimetric capabilities of other existing or planned instruments and examine whether they can provide significant astrophysical polarization measurements. In this paper, we present experimental results to show that the CZTI instrument onboard the forthcoming Indian astronomy mission, Astrosat, will be able to provide sensitive measurements of X-ray polarization in the energy range of 100 300 keV. CZTI will be able to constrain any intrinsic polarization greater than 40% for bright X-ray sources (>500 mCrab) within a short exposure of 100 ks with a 3-sigma confidence level. We show that this seemingly “modest” sensitivity can play a very significant role in addressing long pending questions, such as the contribution of relativistic jets to hard X-rays in black hole binaries and X-ray emission mechanism and geometry in X-ray pulsars.

X-Ray Spectral Components Observed in the Afterglow of GRB 130925A

We have identified spectral features in the late-time X-ray afterglow of the unusually long, slow-decaying GRB 130925A using NuSTAR, Swift/X-Ray Telescope, and Chandra. A spectral component in addition to an absorbed power law is required at >4σ significance, and its spectral shape varies between two observation epochs at 2 × 10^5 and 10^6 s after the burst. Several models can fit this additional component, each with very different physical implications. A broad, resolved Gaussian absorption feature of several keV width improves the fit, but it is poorly constrained in the second epoch. An additive blackbody or second power-law component provide better fits. Both are challenging to interpret: the blackbody radius is near the scale of a compact remnant (10^8 cm), while the second power-law component requires an unobserved high-energy cutoff in order to be consistent with the non-detection by Fermi/Large Area Telescope.