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An All Sky Study of Fast X-Ray Transients Alanna Connors

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An All Sky Study of Fast X-Ray Transients Alanna Connors AN ALL SKY STUDY OF FAST X-RAY TRANSIENTS - - , ALANNA CONNORS J b . - (LASA-TI-tS71b) JN ALL SKY 5'IC;CY CT FAS'i Nd9-11bE6 . I-RAY 1BAhSAEhl: 1h.C. Ihesi~ (bASB) 3~2p CSCL 03b Unclas ~3/93 0 40 A1 anna Connors Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics NASA/Goddard Space Fl ight Center Greenbel t, Mary1and 20771 USA April 1988 /" * Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1988 ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: "An A1 1 Sky Study of Fast X-Ray Transients" A1 anna Connors, Doctor of Phi losophy , 1988 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Elihu Boldt, Adjunct Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy In the HEAO 1 A-2 survey of fast X-ray transients, we searched 2- 20 keV scanning data for brief increases in flux, >4 millicrabs, on tinescales -1-lo4 s above a 12 hour average. We divided the search into two regions, an "a1 1-sky" survey of the Galaxy, and a survey of the Magellanic Clouds. In the Magellanic Clouds survey, we found 37 events, and identified all with 4 of the 5 brightest sources in the LMC, plus 2 as flares from a foreground star. We found no X-ray bursts, no y-ray bursts, and no events from the SMC. In the llall-sky" survey, after excluding well-known variable sources, out of the equivalent of -104 days of data, we found 15 events, falling into two broad categories: flares from coronal sources, roughly isotropically distributed, with optically thin thermal spectra; and harder fast transients apparently distributed near the Galactic plane. We identified the first as flares from ubiquitous active cool dwarf stars. We hypothesized that the second may have been from distant Be- neutron star binaries. However, at least two of the harder, more luminous events remain unidentified. Intriguing questions for future research include the nature of these rare events, and how they may fit into a hierarchy of hard fast transients from y-ray bursts to outbursts from pulsar systems; testing the "Be-neutron star" hypothesis; and more detailed understanding of the role of flaring activity in the atmospheres of main sequence stars. AN ALL SKY STUDY OF FAST X-RAY TRANSIENTS by Alanna Connors Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland in partial fulfillment' of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1988 Advisory Committee: Adjunct Professor Elihu Boldt Professor George Gloeckler Dr. Peter Serlemi tsos Associate Professor Jordan Goodman Professor David Zipoy For those who may come after ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I find I have not enough time or space to sufficiently thank everyone who has helped during the long creation of this project. I hope to thank in person those who are not specifically mentioned here. This work would not have been possible without the support and facilities of the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics of NASA/GSFC, made available to me through the ever benign influences of G. Gloeckler, F, McDonald, and S. Holt, It is a pleasure to thank my academic and technical advisors in the X-Ray group, E. A. Boldt, P. J. Serlemitsos, and J. H. Swank, who I think may have spent more time and energy then they had on this project, and often did so on very short notice. On a personal level over the years I have also appreciated their examples as scientists and individuals. I recall the careful and thoughtful emphasis of E. Boldt on understanding the connections to 'the big pictureH, and his quiet and complete attention when some aspect suggested an interesting line of investigation, I recall the insistence of J. H. Swank that a work aspiring to be a work of science should follow 'a thread of truth' through every detail of analysis and interpretation. She also frequently took pains to make the life of graduate students a little more hospitable, even when she herself was probably working longer hours. P. J. Serlemitsos, who initiated this project, pored over reams of computer output as the project got under way, and encouraged me to be down to earth and practical throughout. Thanks are due to my Dissertation Examination Committee (E. A. Boldt, P. J. Serlemitsos, J. H. Swank, G. Gloeckler, J. Goodman, and D. Zipoy), who waded through 3 1bs 10 02 of text and figures without a Table of Contents. Thanks, too, to the "Ad Hoc Local Thesis Committee", many of whom a1 so rendered aid in specific areas. I am indebted to R. L. Kelley for sharing his knowledge of X-ray binaries on numerous occasions, and for "The Venn Diagram of Galactic X-Ray Sources1'. A. E. Szymkowiak deserves special mention, not only for practical help in matters both scientific and computational, but also for repeatedly demonstrating that no problem is incomprehensible if one is willing to take it down to its raw bits. I thank R. Petre, G. Madejski, S. Vrtilek, K. Jahoda, M. Persic, and H. Kunieda, all of whom I bothered for general advice and specific calculations. F. Marshal 1 and R. Mushotzky repeatedly demonstrated their wi 11 ingness to help less experienced folk to learn the ropes, whether it involved capabilities of X-ray detectors, how to make finding charts, or where to find office supplies. Outside the X-ray group, I enjoyed many lively discussions (and about 213 of the jokes) with T. L. Cline and B. E. Schaefer. People at other labs who frequently shared complementary data from other HEAO 1 experiments included C. Ambruster, P. Hertz, G. Hueter, J. Norris, and R. Remillard, and K. Wood. Although I was notthere to see it, since so much of this dissertation relies on the stability and low background of the HEAO A-2 instruments, I appreciate the roles of many quiet hands that designed and built the quiet detectors, including those of E. Boldt, P. Serlemitsos, F. Birsa, J. Saba, C. Glasser, and others that I may not have met. I would like to give special thanks to those who helped with specific chapters. Much of the first five pages of Chapter 1 took form following discussions with E. M. Cavicchi, who (along with her spouse A. Couch) has challenged me with examples of scholarly and fundamentally original visions for nearly fourteen years. I also acknowledge the indirect influence of D. Heath, as she led me to consider ways of presenting an overview of the X-ray sky; and from my early days of teaching at Maryland, I acknowledge the emphasis and example (of D. Falk, E. Redish, and J. Layman, among others) on providing both some historical, social, and philosophical overview, and on appealing to as many senses as possible, to a1 low people who learn in very different ways to assimilate the information. I had hoped this introduction would enable someone completely unf ami 1 i ar with the basic framework, issues, vocabulary, and standard procedures of X-ray astronomy, to comprehend enough of the field to grasp any cogent ideas much more quickly and completely than I think I did, as a newcomer. It remains to be seen whether this kind of introduction will work as I had planned. In Chapter 2, I am indebted to the work of J. Esposito and K. Jahoda for the histogram plots and sky maps, respectively; and also to F. Marshall, J. Swank, P. Serlemitsos, A. Tennant, and R. Shafer for discussions of spurious signals. Chapters 3 and 4 owe much to discussions with J. Swank, R. Kelley, and A. Szymkowiak; and the overviews to the comments of E. Boldt, although they are still not as-clear as one could wish. In Chapter 5, I relied heavily on earlier work done by L. Kaluzienski (and also R. Griff iths) using HEAO 1; on later work done with K. Jensen using HEAO 2 and EXOSAT; and on earlier analysis of the OSO-8 event by A. Bunner, P. Serlemitsos, and J. Swank. Discussions with Re Mushotzky, R. Petre, K. Jahoda, and G. Madejski, on the properties of future missions in the U.S. and abroad, formed the basis for the discussions of future prospects in Chapter -6. For computer support, I had the gracious aid of N. Laubenthal, H. K. Rhee, M. Esfandiari, T. Sheets, E. Eng, T. Nolan, J. Kodis, and N. Lal. Documentation accumulated by G. Koenigsberger, C. M. Urry, and E. Hu proved invaluable. In analyzing HEAO 2 data, like many others, I had the kind help of F. Harnden. For my visits to EXOSAT I appreciated the hospitality of N. White, P. Barr, A. Parmar, and particularly the kindness of the parents of M. McKay, Kevin and Sheila McKay, when I continued on to Ire1 and. In making the final copy somewhat presentable, I thank "The Reference Checking Committee" of J. Cole, G. Freeman, S. Leake, J. Lochner, G. Reichert, and P. Veatch. Special thanks to J. Vrtilek, who became involved in the hunt for the last missing reference. I am pleased to acknowledge the staggering amount of aid and gl ue-st i cks provided by G. Reichert, particularly in making the figures of Chapters 3 and 4. Thanks are due to the example and advice of the anonymous referee of my first paper, who surely would not approve 'of the large number of subjunctive clauses and passive tense verbs in these pages. S. Shrader and E. Schronce provided help with the NBI word processor. Over the years I have benefited from the companionship, example, and help of my fellow graduate students, from the recent vocal support of J.
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