INTEGRAL AND SWIFT OBSERVATIONS OF THE Be X-RAY BINARY 4U 1036-56 (RX J1037.5-5647) AND ITS POSSIBLE RELATION WITH gamma-RAY TRANSIENTS
We present timing, spectral, and long-term temporal analysis of the high-mass X-ray binary 4U 1036-56 using INTEGRAL and Swift observations. We show that it is a weak hard X-ray source spending a major fraction of the time in quiescence and only occasionally characterized by X-ray outbursts. The outburst activity we report here lasts several days, with a dynamic range spanned by the luminosity in quiescence and in outburst as high as similar to 30. We report the detection of pulse period at 854.75 +/- 4.39 s during an outburst, which is consistent with previous measurements. Finally, we analyze the possibility of the association of 4U 1036-56 with the unidentified transient gamma-ray sources AGL J1037-5708 and GRO J1036-55, as prompted by its positional correlation.

title: The afterglows of ultraluminous quasars
abstract: Quasars represent a brief phase in the life cycle of most massive galaxies, but the evolutionary connection between central black holes and their host galaxies remains unclear. While quasars are active and shining brighter than the Compton-limit luminosity, their radiation heats the surrounding medium to the Compton temperature, forming Compton spheres extending to the Stromgren radius of Fe26+/He2+. After the quasars shut off, their "afterglow" can be detected through three signatures: (1) an extended X-ray envelope, with a characteristic temperature of ~3 × 107 K, (2) Lyα and Lyβ lines and the K edge of Fe26+, and (3) nebulosity from hydrogen and helium recombination emission lines. We discuss the possibility of detecting these signatures using Chandra, the planned X-Ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy mission, and ground-based optical telescopes. The luminosity and size of quasar afterglows can be used to constrain the lifetime of quasars.

title: EVOLUTION OF GASEOUS DISK VISCOSITY DRIVEN BY SUPERNOVA EXPLOSIONS IN STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT
abstract: Motivated by Genzel et al.'s observations of high-redshift star-forming galaxies, containing clumpy and turbulent rings or disks, we build a set of equations describing the dynamical evolution of gaseous disks with inclusion of star formation and its feedback. Transport of angular momentum is due to "turbulent" viscosity induced by supernova explosions in the star formation region. Analytical solutions of the equations are found for the initial cases of a gaseous ring and the integrated form for a gaseous disk, respectively. For a ring with enough low viscosity, it evolves in a slow process of gaseous diffusion and star formation near the initial radius. For a high viscosity, the ring rapidly diffuses in the early phase. The diffusion drives the ring into a region with a low viscosity and starts the second phase undergoing pile-up of gas at a radius following the decreased viscosity torque. The third is a sharply decreasing phase because of star formation consumption of gas and efficient transportation of gas inward forming a stellar disk. We apply the model to two z similar to 2 galaxies BX 482 and BzK 6004, and find that they are undergoing a decline in their star formation activity.

title: INTEGRAL and RXTE/ASM observations on IGR J17098−3628
abstract: To probe further the possible nature of the unidentified source IGR J17098-3628, we have carried out a detailed analysis of its long-term time variability as monitored by RXTE/ASM, and of its hard X-ray properties as observed by INTEGRAL. INTEGRAL has monitored this sky region over years and significantly detected IGR J17098-3628 only when the source was in this dubbed active state. In particular, at $\ge$ 20 keV, IBIS/ISGRI caught an outburst in March 2005, lasting for $\sim$5 days with detection significance of 73$\sigma$ (20-40 keV) and with the emission at $ $20 keV) outburst by $\sim$2 days. This resembles the behavior of X-ray novae like XN 1124-683, hence it further suggests a LMXB nature for IGR  While the quality of the ASM data prevents us from drawing any definite conclusions, these discoveries are important clues that, coupled with future observations, will help to resolve the as yet unknown nature of IGR J17098-3628.

title: Suppressed star formation in circumnuclear regions in seyfert galaxies
abstract: Feedback from black hole activity is widely believed to play a key role in regulating star formation and black hole growth. A long-standing issue is the relation between star formation and the fueling of the supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We compile a sample of 57 Seyfert galaxies to tackle this issue. We estimate the surface densities of gas and star formation rates in circumnuclear regions (CNRs). Comparing them with the well-known Kennicutt-Schmidt (K-S) law, we find that the star formation rates (SFRs) in the CNRs of most Seyfert galaxies are suppressed in this sample. Feedback is suggested to explain the suppressed SFRs.

title: Possible hard X-ray shortages in bursts from KS 1731-260 and 4U 1705-44
abstract: A hard X-ray shortage, implying the cooling of the corona, was observed during bursts of IGR J17473-272, 4U 1636-536, Aql X-1, and GS 1826-238. Apart from these four sources, we investigate here an atoll sample, in which the number of bursts for each source is larger than 5, to explore the possible additional hard X-ray shortage during Rossi X-ray timing explorer (RXTE) era.  According to the source catalog that shows type-I bursts, we analyzed all the available pointing observations of these sources carried out by the RXTE proportional counter array. We grouped and combined the bursts according to their outburst states and searched for the possible hard X-ray shortage while bursting.  We found that the island states of KS 1731-260 and 4U 1705-44 show a hard X-ray shortage at significant levels of 4.5 and 4.7σ and a systematic time lag of 0.9 ± 2.1 s and 2.5 ± 2.0 s with respect to the soft X-rays, respectively. While in their banana branches and other sources, we did not find any consistent shortage.

title: Measurement of D(s)- ---> tau- anti-tau-neutrino and a new limit for B- ---> tau- anti-tau-neutrino

title: Probing the X-ray binary populations of the ring galaxy NGC 1291
abstract: We present Chandra studies of the X-ray binary (XRB) populations in the bulge and ring regions of the ring galaxy NGC 1291. We detect 169 X-ray point sources in the galaxy, 75 in the bulge and 71 in the ring, utilizing the four available Chandra observations totaling an effective exposure of 179 ks. We report photometric properties of these sources in a point-source catalog. There are Almost-Equal-To 40% of the bulge sources and Almost-Equal-To 25% of the ring sources showing >3{sigma} long-term variability in their X-ray count rate. The X-ray colors suggest that a significant fraction of the bulge ( Almost-Equal-To 75%) and ring ( Almost-Equal-To 65%) sources are likely low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). The spectra of the nuclear source indicate that it is a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN) with moderate obscuration; spectral variability is observed between individual observations. We construct 0.3-8.0 keV X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) for the bulge and ring XRB populations, taking into account the detection incompleteness and background AGN contamination. We reach 90% completeness limits of Almost-Equal-To 1.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 37} and Almost-Equal-To 2.2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 37} erg s{sup -1} for the bulge and ring populations, respectively. Both XLFs can be fit with a brokenmore » power-law model, and the shapes are consistent with those expected for populations dominated by LMXBs. We perform detailed population synthesis modeling of the XRB populations in NGC 1291, which suggests that the observed combined XLF is dominated by an old LMXB population. We compare the bulge and ring XRB populations, and argue that the ring XRBs are associated with a younger stellar population than the bulge sources, based on the relative overdensity of X-ray sources in the ring, the generally harder X-ray color of the ring sources, the overabundance of luminous sources in the combined XLF, and the flatter shape of the ring XLF.« less

title: A realistic design of the CBM-TOF wall based on modules commissioned in-beam
abstract: The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research will use a time-of-flight (TOF) wall for hadron identification, which is at the moment planned to be based on the Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) technology. The wall will be placed at 10m distance from the target, covering an area of the order of 150 m2. Over such an area, it will provide a time-of-flight resolution of 80 ps, by resorting to ca. 50000 RPC cells (in multi-strip or multi-pad configuration). Fluxes of quasi-minimum ionizing particles (γβ≥3) as high as 20 kHz/cm2 can be reached in the central region, corresponding to the low polar angle/high rapidity section. We propose here a realistic design for building the TOF wall by resorting to a single technology based on low-resistivity doped glass and relying on small structural modifications of the modules developed and tested during the last two years. Latest results from the modules are summarized. A comprehensive analytic discussion on the counter performance under non-uniform beams, when neglecting non-local effects, is also presented.

title: A Puzzling X-Ray Source Found in the Chandra Deep Field-South
abstract: In this Letter, we report the detection of an extremely strong X-ray emission line in the 940 ks Chandra ACIS-I spectrum of CXOCDFS J033225.3-274219. The source was identified as a type 1 active galactic nucleus at a redshift of z = 1.617, with a 2.0-10.0 keV rest-frame X-ray luminosity of ~1044 ergs s-1. The emission line was detected at 6.2 keV, with an equivalent width (EW) of 4.4 keV; both quantities refer to the observed frame. In the rest frame, the line is at 16.2 keV with an EW of 11.5 keV. An X-ray emission line at a similar energy (~17 keV, in the rest frame) in PKS 2149-306 was discovered before using ASCA data. We reject the possibility that the line is due to a statistical or instrumental artifact. The line is most likely due to blueshifted Fe K emission from an relativistic outflow, probably an inner X-ray jet, with velocities of the order of ~0.6c-0.7c. Other possible explanations are also discussed.

title: A graphical analysis of the systematic error of classical binned methods in constructing luminosity functions
abstract: The classical 1/Va and PC methods of constructing binned luminosity functions (LFs) are revisited and compared by graphical analysis. Using both theoretical analysis and illustration with an example, we show why the two methods give different results for the bins which are crossed by the flux limit curves L=Llim(z). Based on a combined sample simulated by a Monte Carlo method, the estimate ϕ of two methods are compared with the input model LFs. The two methods give identical and ideal estimate for the high luminosity points of each redshift interval. However, for the low luminosity bins of all the redshift intervals both methods give smaller estimate than the input model. We conclude that once the LF is evolving with redshift, the classical binned methods will unlikely give an ideal estimate over the total luminosity range. Page & Carrera ( 2000) noticed that for objects close to the flux limit $\phi_{1/V_{a}}$ nearly always to be too small. We believe this is due to the arbitrary choosing of redshift and luminosity intervals. Because $\phi_{1/V_{a}}$ is more sensitive to how the binning are chosen than ϕPC. We suggest a new binning method, which can improve the LFs produced by the 1/Va method significantly, and also improve the LFs produced by the PC methods. Our simulations show that after adopting this new binning, both the 1/Va and PC methods have comparable results.