Search

We present Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) 143.5-MHz radio observations of flaring activity during 2019 May from the X-ray binary Cygnus X-3. Similar to radio observations of previous outbursts from Cygnus X-3, we find that this source was significantly variable at low frequencies, reaching a maximum flux density of about 5.8 Jy. We compare our LOFAR light curve with contemporaneous observations taken at 1.25 and 2.3 GHz with the RATAN-600 telescope, and at 15 GHz with the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) Large Array. The initial 143.5-MHz flux density level, $\sim$2 Jy, is suggested to be the delayed and possibly blended emission from at least some of the flaring activity that had been detected at higher frequencies before our LOFAR observations had begun. There is also evidence of a delay of more than four days between a bright flare that initially peaked on May 6 at 2.3 and 15 GHz, and the corresponding peak ($\gtrsim$ 5.8 Jy) at 143.5 MHz. From the multi-frequency light curves, we estimate the minimum energy and magnetic field required to produce this flare to be roughly 10$^{44}$ erg and 40 mG, respectively, corresponding to a minimum mean power of $\sim$10$^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Additionally, we show that the broadband radio spectrum evolved over the course of our observing campaign; in particular, the two-point spectral index between 143.5 MHz and 1.25 GHz transitioned from being optically thick to optically thin as the flare simultaneously brightened at 143.5 MHz and faded at GHz frequencies., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report the first detection at 4.7 and 8.2 GHz with the RATAN-600 radio telescope of the source PSO J047.4478+27.2992, which has been announced as a blazar at z=6.1. The average flux density is $12\pm3$ and $8\pm4$ mJy at 4.7 and 8.2 GHz respectively, and an upper limit is estimated as 3 mJy at 11.2 GHz. The light curve at 4.7 GHz, obtained on a time-scale of four months, exhibits moderate variability of the source (fractional variability $F_{var}=0.28\pm0.02$). The new RATAN-600 measurements extend previous literature data to higher frequencies, indicating a single power-law radio spectrum with $\alpha_{0.147-8.2}$=$-0.51\pm0.1$. The monochromatic radio luminosity at 4.7 GHz $P_{\nu} \sim 2 \times 10^{27}$ W Hz$^{-1}$ is consistent with values for high-redshift quasars at $z\geq 3$., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

In the long-term multi-frequency monitoring program of the microquasars with RATAN-600 we discovered the giant flare from the X-ray binary Cygnus X-3 on 13 September 2016. It happened after 2000 days of the 'quiescent state' of the source passed after the former giant flare (~18 Jy) in March 2011. We have found that during this quiet period the hard X-ray flux (Swift/BAT, 15-50 keV) and radio flux (RATAN-600, 11 GHz) have been strongly anti-correlated. Both radio flares occurred after transitions of the microquasar to a 'hypersoft' X-ray state that occurred in February 2011 and in the end of August 2016. The giant flare was predicted by us in the first ATel #9416. Indeed after dramatic decrease of the hard X-ray Swift 15-50 keV flux and RATAN 4-11 GHz fluxes (a 'quenched state') a small flare (0.7 Jy at 4-11 GHz) developed on MJD 57632 and then on MJD 57644.5 almost simultaneously with X-rays radio flux rose from 0.01 to 15 Jy at 4.6 GHz during few days. The rise of the flaring flux is well fitted by a exponential law that could be a initial phase of the relativistic electrons generation by internal shock waves in the jets. Initially spectra were optically thick at frequencies lower 2 GHz and optically thin at frequencies higher 8 GHz with typical spectral index about -0.5. After maximum of the flare radio fluxes at all frequencies faded out with the exponential law (~ exp(-(t-t0)/2d) for 21.7 GHz)., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, in Stars: from collapse to collapse. Proceedings of the International Conference held in Nizhnij Arkhyz, Karachai-Cherkessian Republic, Special Astrophysical Observatory RAS, October 3-7, 2016, ASP Conf. Ser. 2017 (in press)

Cygnus X-3 (Cyg X-3) is a well-known microquasar producing variable emission at all wavelengths. Cyg X-3 is a prominent X-ray binary producing relativistic jets, and studying its high energy emission is crucial for the understanding of the fundamental acceleration processes in accreting compact objects. Aims. Our goal is to study extreme particle acceleration and {\gamma}-ray production above 100 MeV during special spectral states of Cyg X- 3 usually characterized by a low hard X-ray flux and enhanced soft X-ray states. We observed Cyg X-3 with the AGILE satellite in extended time intervals from 2009 Jun.-Jul., and 2009 Nov.-2010 Jul. We report here the results of the AGILE {\gamma}-ray monitoring of Cyg X-3 as well as the results from extensive multiwavelength campaigns involving radio (RATAN-600, AMI-LA and Mets\"{a}hovi Radio Observatories) and X-ray monitoring data (XTE and Swift). We detect a series of repeated {\gamma}-ray flaring activity from Cyg X-3 that correlate with the soft X-ray states and episodes of decreasing or non-detectable hard X-ray emission. Furthermore, we detect {\gamma}-ray enhanced emission that tends to be associated with radio flares greater than 1 Jy at 15 GHz, confirming a trend already detected in previous observations. The source remained active above 100 MeV for an extended period of time (almost 1.5 months in 2009 Jun.-Jul. and 1 month in 2010 May). We study in detail the short timescale {\gamma}-ray flares that occurred before or near the radio peaks. Our results confirm the transient nature of the extreme particle acceleration from the microquasar Cyg X-3. A series of repeated {\gamma}-ray flares shows correlations with radio and X-ray emission confirming a well established trend of emission. We compare our results with Fermi-LAT and MAGIC TeV observations of Cyg X-3., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables; A&A (2011)

The study of relativistic particle acceleration is a major topic of high-energy astrophysics. It is well known that massive black holes in active galaxies can release a substantial fraction of their accretion power into energetic particles, producing gamma-rays and relativistic jets. Galactic microquasars (hosting a compact star of 1-10 solar masses which accretes matter from a binary companion) also produce relativistic jets. However, no direct evidence of particle acceleration above GeV energies has ever been obtained in microquasar ejections, leaving open the issue of the occurrence and timing of extreme matter energization during jet formation. Here we report the detection of transient gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV from the microquasar Cygnus X-3, an exceptional X-ray binary which sporadically produces powerful radio jets. Four gamma-ray flares (each lasting 1-2 days) were detected by the AGILE satellite simultaneously with special spectral states of Cygnus X-3 during the period mid-2007/mid-2009. Our observations show that very efficient particle acceleration and gamma-ray propagation out of the inner disk of a microquasar usually occur a few days before major relativistic jet ejections. Flaring particle energies can be thousands of times larger than previously detected maximum values (with Lorentz factors of 105 and 102 for electrons and protons, respectively). We show that the transitional nature of gamma-ray flares and particle acceleration above GeV energies in Cygnus X-3 is clearly linked to special radio/X-ray states preceding strong radio flares. Thus gamma-rays provide unique insight into the nature of physical processes in microquasars., Comment: 29 pages (including Supplementary Information), 8 figures, 2 tables version submitted to Nature on August 7, 2009 (accepted version available at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/nature08578.pdf)

Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are a rare type of gamma-ray transient sources that are ocasionally detected as bursts in the high-energy sky. They are thought to be produced by magnetars, young neutron stars with very strong magnetic fields of the order of 10^(14-15) G. Only three such objects are known in our Galaxy, and a fourth one is associated with the supernova remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In none of these cases has an optical counterpart to either the gamma-ray flares or the quiescent source been identified. Here we present multi-wavelength observations of a puzzling source, SWIFT J195509+261406, for which we detected more than 40 flaring episodes in the optical band over a time span of 3 days, plus a faint infrared flare 11 days later, after which it returned to quiescence. We propose that SWIFT J195509+261406 is a member of a subgroup of SGRs for which the long-term X-ray emission is transient in nature. Furthermore, it is the first SGR for which bursts have been detected in the optical and near-infrared bands and maybe the link between the "persistent" SGRs and the dim isolated neutron stars., Comment: Version submitted to Nature on 31 Jan 2008. A substantially revised version of this work has been published in Nature, vol. 455 issue 7212 pp 506-509 under the title "Flares from a Galactic magnetar suggest a missing link to dim isolated neutron stars"

We report about the multi-frequency (1-30 GHz) daily monitoring of the radio flux variability of the three microquasars: SS433, GRS1915+105 and Cyg X-3 during the period from September 2005 to May 2006. 1. We detected clear correlation of the flaring radio fluxes and X-rays 'spikes' at 2-12 keV emission detected in RXTE ASM from GRS1915+105 during eight relatively bright (200-600 mJy) radio flares in October 2005. The 1-22 GHz spectra of these flares in maximum were optically thick at frequencies lower 2.3 GHz and optically thin at the higher frequencies. During the radio flares the spectra of the X-ray spikes become softer than those of the quiescent phase. Thus these data indicated the transitions from very high/hard states to high/soft ones during which massive ejections are probably happened. These ejections are visible as the detected radio flares. 2. After of the quiescent radio emission we have detected a drop down of the fluxes (~20 mJy) from Cyg X-3. That is a sign of the following bright flare. Indeed such a 1Jy-flare was detected on 3 February 2006 after 18 days of the quenched radio emission. The daily spectra of the flare in the maximum was flat from 1 to 100 GHz, using the quasi-simultaneous observations at 109 GHz with RT45m telescope and millimeter array (NMA) of Nobeyama Radio Observatory in Japan. The several bright radio flaring events (1-10 Jy) followed during this state of very variable and intensive 1-12 keV X-ray emission (~0.5 Crab), which being monitored in RXTE ASM program., Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 6th INTEGRAL workshop "The Obscured Universe" (3-7 July 2006, Moscow), ESA SP-622

We discuss the results of the monitoring programs of the X-ray binaries with relativistic jets studies. We carried out a multi-frequency (1-30 GHz) daily monitoring of the radio flux variability of the microquasars SS433, GRS1915+105, V4641 Sgr and Cyg X-3 with RATAN-600 radio telescope during the recent sets in 2002-2006. We detected a lot of bright short-time flares from GRS 1915+105 which could be associated with active X-ray events. In 2004 we have detected two flares from V4641 Sgr, which followed after recurrent X-ray activity of the transient. From September 2005 to May 2006 and then in July we have daily measured flux densities from Cyg X-3. In January 2006 we detected a drop down of its quiescent fluxes (from 100 to ~20 mJy), then the 1Jy-flare was detected on 2 February 2006 after 18 days of quenched radio emission. The daily spectra of the flare in the maximum were flat from 2 to 110 GHz, using the quasi-simultaneous observations at 110 GHz with the RT45m telescope and the NMA millimeter array of the Nobeyama Radio Observatory in Japan. Several bright radio flaring events (1-15 Jy) followed during the continuing state of very variable and intensive 1-12 keV X-ray emission (~0.5 Crab), which was monitored in the RXTE ASM program. We discuss the various spectral and temporal characteristics of the light curves from the microquasars. Thus we conclude that monitoring of the flaring radio emission is a good tracer of jet activity X-ray binaries., Comment: Proceedings VI Microquasar Workshop: Microquasars and beyond, Sept 18-22 2006, Como, Italy, eds: T. Belloni et al., 10 pages, 9 figures, Published online at http://pos.sissa.it/cgi-bin/reader/conf.cgi?confid=33

We present new RATAN-600 data on the synchrotron Galaxy radiation at the PLANCK Mission and WMAP frequencies at high Galactic latitudes upto l=3000. The difference between the standard synchrotron template (l<50) of the WMAP group and RATAN-600 data was detected with the strong synchrotron ``longitude quadrant asymmetry''. It may change the WMAP estimates of z_{reheating} from low l polarization data. The polarized synchrotron noise for very deep observations (<< 1 microK) at the PLANCK HFI was not detected at l>200 scales. ``Sakharov Oscillations'' in the E-mode (500

The principal results of daily observations with the RATAN-600 radio telescope of X-ray binary with relativistic jets microquasar SS433 in 1986--2003 are presented. We have measured the flux densities at 0.96, 2.3, 3.9, 7.7, 11.2 and 21.7 GHz in different sets, duration from a week to some months. In general there are 940 observations of SS433 and more than 4500 flux density measurements in the period. Observations show that radio spectra are well fitting by a power law. The mean spectral index remained the same, $-0.60\pm0.14$ during almost 20 years at least, and mean accuracy of the index determination was better than 0.1 in our multi-frequency observations, i.e. it was higher than in the intensive two-frequency monitoring of SS433 with the three-element GBI interferometer. Flux density data and spectra `on-line' plotting are accessible on the CATS data base site: http://cats.sao.ru/., Comment: 34 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Bulletin of Special Astrophysical Observatory RAS

We report photometric observations of the optical afterglow of GRB010222 in V,R and I passbands carried out at UPSO, Naini Tal between 22-27 Feb 2001. We determine CCD Johnson BV and Cousins RI photometric magnitudes for 31 stars in the field of GRB010222 and use them to calibrate our measurements as well as other published BVRI photometric magnitudes of GRB010222 afterglow. We construct the light curve in V,R,I passbands and from a broken power-law fit determine the decay indices of 0.74+/-0.05 and 1.35+/-0.04 before and after the break at 0.7 days. Using reported X-ray flux measurements at 0.35 and 9.13 days after the burst we determine X-ray to opt/IR spectral index of 0.61+/-0.02 and 0.75+/-0.02 on these two days. We also report upper limits to the radio flux obtained from the RATAN-600 telescope and the GMRT, and millimeter-wave upper limits obtained from the Plateau de Bure Millimeter interferometer. We argue that the synchrotron cooling frequency is below the optical band for most of the observing period. We also estimate an initial jet opening angle of about 2.0n^(1/8) degrees, where n is the number density of the ambient medium., Comment: 16 pages, 4 postscript figures, minor revisions according to referee's comments, millimeter upper limit added, accepted for publication in Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India