arXiv subjects

A. Mescheryakov

Publications and source records attributed to A. Mescheryakov.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2010

The Afterglows of Swift-era Gamma-Ray Bursts. I. Comparing pre-Swift and Swift era Long/Soft (Type II) GRB Optical Afterglows

We have gathered optical photometry data from the literature on a large sample of Swift-era gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows including GRBs up to September 2009, for a total of 76 GRBs, and present an additional three pre-Swift GRBs not included in an earlier sample. Furthermore, we publish 840 additional new photometry data points on a total of 42 GRB afterglows, including large data sets for GRBs 050319, 050408, 050802, 050820A, 050922C, 060418, 080413A and 080810. We analyzed the light curves of all GRBs in the sample and derived spectral energy distributions for the sample with the best data quality, allowing us to estimate the host galaxy extinction. We transformed the afterglow light curves into an extinction-corrected z=1 system and compared their luminosities with a sample of pre-Swift afterglows. The results of a former study, which showed that GRB afterglows clustered and exhibited a bimodal distribution in luminosity space, is weakened by the larger sample. We found that the luminosity distribution of the two afterglow samples (Swift-era and pre-Swift) are very similar, and that a subsample for which we were not able to estimate the extinction, which is fainter than the main sample, can be explained by assuming a moderate amount of line-of-sight host extinction. We derived bolometric isotropic energies for all GRBs in our sample, and found only a tentative correlation between the prompt energy release and the optical afterglow luminosity at one day after the GRB in the z=1 system. A comparative study of the optical luminosities of GRB afterglows with echelle spectra (which show a high number of foreground absorbing systems) and those without reveals no indication that the former are statistically significantly more luminous. (abridged)

astro-ph↗

arXiv2009

Fossil Systems in the 400d Cluster Catalog

We report the discovery of seven new fossil systems in the 400d cluster survey. Our search targets nearby, $z\le0.2$, and X-ray bright, $L_X\ge 10^{43}$ erg sec$^{-1}$, clusters of galaxies. Where available, we measure the optical luminosities from Sloan Digital Sky Survey images, thereby obtaining uniform sets of both X-ray and optical data. Our selection criteria identify 12 fossil systems, out of which five are known from previous studies. While in general agreement with earlier results, our larger sample size allows us to put tighter constraints on the number density of fossil clusters. It has been previously reported that fossil groups are more X-ray bright than other X-ray groups of galaxies for the same optical luminosity. We find, however, that the X-ray brightness of massive fossil systems is consistent with that of the general population of galaxy clusters and follows the same $L_X-L_{\rm opt}$ scaling relation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2006

The 400 square degrees ROSAT PSPC galaxy cluster survey: Catalog and statistical calibration

We present a catalog of galaxy clusters detected in a new ROSAT PSPC survey. The survey is optimized to sample, at high redshifts, the mass range corresponding to T> keV clusters at z=0. Technically, our survey is the extension of the 160 square degrees survey (Vikhlinin etal 98a, Mullis etal 2003). We use the same detection algorithm, thus preserving high quality of the resulting sample; the main difference is a significant increase in sky coverage. The new survey covers 397 square degrees and is based on 1610 high Galactic latitude ROSAT PSPC pointings, virtually all pointed ROSAT data suitable for the detection of distant clusters. The search volume for X-ray luminous clusters within z<1 exceeds that of the entire local Universe (z<0.1). We detected 287 extended X-ray sources with fluxes f>1.4e-13 erg/s/cm^2 in the 0.5-2 keV energy band, of which 266 (93%) are optically confirmed as galaxy clusters, groups or individual elliptical galaxies. This paper provides a description of the input data, the statistical calibration of the survey via Monte-Carlo simulations, and the catalog of detected clusters. We also compare the basic results to those from previous, smaller area surveys and find good agreement for the log N - log S distribution and the local X-ray luminosity function. Our sample clearly shows a decrease in the number density for the most luminous clusters at z>0.3. The comparison of our ROSAT-derived fluxes with the accurate Chandra measurements for a subset of high-redshift clusters demonstrates the validity of the 400 square degree survey's statistical calibration.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Face-on SS433 stars as a possible new type of extragalactic X-ray sources

The SS433 objects is a well-known source of relativistic jets, which are formed in supercritical accretion disk. It is very probable that the disk has polar channels and their radiation is collimated (the photocones). The face-on SS433 object can appear as beamed ultra-bright (and highly variable) X-ray source, L_x = 10^39 - 10^42 erg/s. We discuss properties of these hypothetical objects and their frequency expected in galaxies. We describe a search for such objects using the ROSAT ASS Bright Source Catalog and Faint Source Catalog (99528 point-like sources) and the RC3 catalog (16741 spiral and irregular galaxies). Among in total 418 positive correlations in all types of galaxies we find that in S and Irr galaxies 142 sources are unknown as AGNs. We isolated by visual inspection 37 clear non-nuclear, 43 probably non-nuclear and 35 probably nuclear sources. The last two classes certainly contain many unknown AGNs. The sources of the 1-st class have X-ray luminosities mainly 10^39 - 3 10^41 erg/s. Their observed frequency is about 4% - 5% per S/Irr galaxy, what is in agreement with expected frequency of face-on SS433 stars. The only way to recognize such stars is their expected violent variability in X-rays.

astro-ph↗