16th HEAD Meeting Sun Valley, Idaho – August, 2017 Meeting Abstracts Session Table of Contents 99 – Public Talk - Revealing the Hidden, High Energy Sun, 204 – Mid-Career Prize Talk - X-ray Winds from Black Rachel Osten Holes, Jon Miller 100 – Solar/Stellar Compact I 205 – ISM & Galaxies 101 – AGN in Dwarf Galaxies 206 – First Results from NICER: X-ray Astrophysics from 102 – High-Energy and Multiwavelength Polarimetry: the International Space Station Current Status and New Frontiers 300 – Black Holes Across the Mass Spectrum 103 – Missions & Instruments Poster Session 301 – The Future of Spectral-Timing of Compact Objects 104 – First Results from NICER: X-ray Astrophysics from 302 – Synergies with the Millihertz Gravitational Wave the International Space Station Poster Session Universe 105 – Galaxy Clusters and Cosmology Poster Session 303 – Dissertation Prize Talk - Stellar Death by Black 106 – AGN Poster Session Hole: How Tidal Disruption Events Unveil the High 107 – ISM & Galaxies Poster Session Energy Universe, Eric Coughlin 108 – Stellar Compact Poster Session 304 – Missions & Instruments 109 – Black Holes, Neutron Stars and ULX Sources Poster 305 – SNR/GRB/Gravitational Waves Session 306 – Cosmic Ray Feedback: From Supernova Remnants 110 – Supernovae and Particle Acceleration Poster Session to Galaxy Clusters 111 – Electromagnetic & Gravitational Transients Poster 307 – Diagnosing Astrophysics of Collisional Plasmas - A Session Joint HEAD/LAD Session 112 – Physics of Hot Plasmas Poster Session 400 – Solar/Stellar Compact II 113 – Spectral Timing & Data Analysis Poster Session 401 – Galaxy Clusters X-ray SIG Meeting Gamma SIG Meeting 114 – Advances in Bayesian Astrostatistics: Applications to 402 – Plenary Talk - The Sun as a Library for High-Energy High-Energy Astrophysics Astrophysics, David Smith 200 – AGN I 403 – From Stars to Accretion Disks: Why are Coronae So 201 – The First Black Holes in the Universe Hot? 202 – The Very High Energy Universe as Viewed with 404 – ULX Pulsars VERITAS and HAWC 405 – AGN II 99 – Public Talk - Revealing the Hidden, High Energy Sun, Rachel Osten 99.01 – Revealing the Hidden, High Energy Sun Eclipses of the Sun happen when the Moon blocks the Sun's light from our view. It may seem puzzling, then, that solar physicists flock to study the Sun during these special events. Shouldn't there be nothing to see? Yet there is. I will talk about what the tantalizing solar features revealed during solar eclipses tell us about the Sun and its structure, as well as how this relates to what high energy solar satellites routinely discover without the need for eclipses. I will then make a leap into the cosmos to relate this to what astronomers are learning about the nearest stars and their abilities to make good homes for other planets. Author(s): Rachel A. Osten1 Institution(s): 1. Space Telescope Science Institute 100 – Solar/Stellar Compact I 100.01 – Observable Impacts of Exoplanets on Stars hosts – an X-ray perspective Since soon after the discovery of hot Jupiters, it had been suspected that interaction of these massive bodies with their host stars could give rise to observable signals. We discuss the observational evidence for star-planet interactions (SPI) of tidal and magnetic origin observed in X-rays and FUV. While not all Hot Jupiters effect their hosts, in extreme cases they significantly impact the activity of their host stars through both tidal and magnetic interaction. This can lead to either increased or decreased stellar activity - depending on the internal structure of the host star and the properties of the hosted planet. In HD 189733, X-ray and FUV flares are preferentially in a very restricted range of planetary phases. Matsakos et al. (2015) show, using MHD simulations, planetary gas can be liberated, forming a stream of material that gets compressed and accretes onto the star with a phase lag of 70-90 degrees. This scenario explains many features observed both in X-rays and the FUV (Pillitteri et al. 2015). We have identified several examples of Hot Jupiter hosts which appear too active when compared to their binary companion. On the other hand, WASP-18 - an F6 star with a massive hot Jupiter, shows no signs of activity in X-rays or UV. Several age indicators (isochrone fitting, Li abundance) point to a young age (~0.5 -1.0 Gyr) and thus significant activity was expected. In this system, tidal SPI between the star and the very close-in and massive planet appears to destroy the formation of magnetic dynamo and thus nullify the stellar activity. Author(s): Scott J. Wolk3, Ignazio Pillitteri1, Katja Poppenhaeger2 Institution(s): 1. INAF, 2. Queen's University , 3. SAO 100.02 – The X-ray high resolution Chandra spectra of Nova SMC 2016 Nova SMC 2016 was discovered in the direction of the SMC by the MASTER Global Robotic Net on 2016 October 14. At peak optical magnitude B~9.55, if it is located in the SMC it is one of the intrinsically most luminous novae ever recorded. The X-ray to optical luminosity of the nova is around the average value, so it was also very X-ray luminous for a nova in the SMC. It was classified as a fast nova. It was monitored with Swift until the present day (2017 May), with close cadence whenever it was feasible, and we were able to observe it on the rise to maximum X-ray luminosity on 2016 November 17-18 and at maximum on 2017 January 4 with the Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating (another high resolution X-ray spectrum was obtained with XMM-Newton on 2016 December 22). We report on the luminous supersoft spectrum of the central source observed with Chandra, a luminous stellar continuum with effective temperature of about 650,000 K in December and 750,000 K in January, with deep absorption features of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, blue-shifted by about 1700 km/s in November and by 2100 km/s in January. We describe the results of our initial spectral and timing analysis. Author(s): Marina Orio2, Elias Aydi7, Ehud Behar5, David Buckley7, Andrej Dobrotka6, Jan-Uwe Ness8, Kim L Page1, Thomas Rauch4, Polina Zemko3 Institution(s): 1. Deaprtment of Physics and Astronomy, Universrsity of Leicester, 2. Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, 3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Padova University, 4. Eberhard Karls University, 5. Physics Department, Technion, 6. Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Faculty of material Science and Technology, 7. South African Astronomical Observatory, 8. XMM-Newton Science Operation Center, ESA 100.03 – A Hard Look at NS LMXBs with NuSTAR Through NuSTAR we have been able to perform inner disk measurements that are unbiased by pile-up effects. From these measurements we are able to infer different properties about the neutron star itself, such as magnetic field estimates, the extent of the boundary layer, and constraints to the equation of state. NuSTAR has observed a number of neutron stars over range of Eddington ratios, which has allowed us to probe the extent of the inner disk over a range of mass accretion rates. There does not appear to be a clear trend between mass accretion rate and the location of the inner disk radius. This affirms the results of several previous studies that were complicated by pile-up effects. We compare the magnetic field strengths from reflection modeling methods to those seen for accreting millisecond X- ray pulsars (AMXPs). We find the magnetic field strengths to be consistent with AMXP’s over comparable Eddington ratios, though coherent pulsations have not yet been detected for some of these sources. Additionally, we explore possible implications for the equation of state of neutron stars. Author(s): Renee Ludlam7, Jon M. Miller7, Edward Cackett8, Nathalie Degenaar5, Andrew C Fabian2, Michael Parker2, John Tomsick6, Matteo Bachetti1, Didier Barret4,Lorenzo Natalucci3 Institution(s): 1. INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, 2. Institute of Astronomy, 3. Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, 4. Universit de Toulouse, 5. University of Amsterdam, 6. University of California, 7. University of Michigan, 8. Wayne State University 100.04 – A potential low-mass black hole in GX 339-4 GX 339-4 is a low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) that has been extensively studied since its discovery. All four X-ray states typically seen in X-ray binaries (XRBs) have been detected in this system, and X-ray observations of its relatively frequent outbursts have been very important in shaping the theory of LMXB outbursts. The relation between X-ray and radio emission from XRBs also relies heavily on observations of this source. However, absorption lines from the donor star in this system had never been detected because even in quiescence, the accretion disc dominates the optical spectrum. We have for the first time detected absorption lines from the donor star in near-infrared spectra of GX 339-4 obtained with X-shooter on the VLT. We confirm that the donor is a K-type subgiant and measure its radial velocity semi- amplitude to be 219 km/s, much lower than previously determined from the Bowen emission lines. This leads to a mass function of 1.91 ± 0.08 Msun, which means that GX 339-4 could harbor one of the lowest mass black holes known to date. Author(s): Marianne Heida1, Peter G Jonker4, Manuel Torres2, Andrea Chiavassa3 Institution(s): 1. Caltech, 2. IAC, 3. Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, 4. SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research 100.05 – Hyper-luminous Wandering Massive Black Holes Discovered in the XMM-Newton Catalog Galaxies are believed to assemble through hierarchical merging. The cosmological simulations find that the merging process should leave many wandering massive black holes in galactic halos. Only a few candidates for such objects have been found.