arXiv subjects

Robbie Webbe

Publications and source records attributed to Robbie Webbe.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A systematic assessment of the short-term X-ray behaviour of the $\gamma$ Cas analogues

Context. Overall, $\gamma$ Cas analogues represent a class of OBe stars displaying bright and hard X-ray emission. This emission was recently determined to be the result of accretion onto a companion white dwarf (WD), which might possibly be a magnetic WD. Aims. We present a systematic review of the properties of $\gamma$ Cas analogues on short-term (kilosecond, ks) scales to further investigate the nature of the X-ray source. In particular, the presence of periodicities could be associated with the rotation of a magnetic WD. Methods. We generated the power spectra and a generalised Fourier algorithm. We applied an epoch folding method, along with Z2n approaches, to 131 X-ray detections of 26 $\gamma$ Cas analogues and two candidate sources. Results. We identified five sources ($\gamma$ Cas, $\zeta$ Tau, HD45314, V771 Sgr, and $\pi$ Aqr), with recurrent periodic variability (P $\sim$ 1.2-5.4 ks) across observations. Period values and pulsed fractions are consistent with those reported for intermediate polars. However, while similar periods are found in all exposures of an object, the exact period value or folded light curve shape can vary. We also identify another nine sources displaying periodicities that cannot be confirmed, as there was only one observation available for their analysis. In other cases, periodicities appear (at best) transient and/or marginally significant. Aperiodic variability could be fitted by a power law in 18 of the sources, while the power-law index always is $\sim$ 1, as observed in other accreting WDs. Conclusions. The global properties of the observed short-term X-ray variability of the $\gamma$ Cas analogues are consistent with those observed from other accreting WD systems.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2026

Long-term investigation of gamma Cas analogs

The subcategory of gamma Cas analogs gathers Be stars with bright and hard X-ray emission. Long-term variations are expected in such objects for two reasons: their Be disk builds and dissipates, and such stars are suspected long-period binaries. Seven targets are analysed in this paper: five of them benefit from a spectroscopic monitoring in the visible (ESO, TIGRE, and amateur data) and three of them have been repeatedly observed at X-ray wavelengths (using XMM-Newton, Chandra, and Swift). Broad-band photometric data are also examined. We confirm the binary status of five targets (HD44458, HD110432, HD119682, HD161103, and HD162718) and propose first orbital solutions for all of them (they remain preliminary for two cases). Their long periods (59-322 d) and small velocity amplitudes (K~5km/s) imply low-mass (~1 M_sol) companions, as in other Be binaries and in agreement with expectations from binary interaction models. In parallel, variations of the X-ray flux are detected in all three targets with a large dataset of X-ray observations. For NGC 6649 9 and HD162718, these changes are modest (a factor of three) and uncorrelated to simultaneous optical broad-band photometry (which remains rather stable). In contrast, SS397 varies by nearly one dex and the largest and best monitored X-ray changes correlate well with optical variations. At minimum flux, SS397 keeps a hard X-ray spectrum despite a nearly normal L_X/L_BOL ratio, which has not been seen yet among gamma Cas analogs. Finally, the photometric behaviours on short timescales of HD161103, SS397, and NGC 6649 9 appear linked to broad frequency groups, as typically found for Be stars. The frequency spectrum of HD162718 displays a complex mix of (isolated) periodicities with the main one at 6.658/d. This target is thus one of the rare gamma Cas analogs to display a strong high-frequency signal typical of beta Cep activity. [summarized]

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arXiv2026

STONKS first results: Long-term transients in the XMM-Newton Galactic plane survey

The study of astronomical transients at high energies provides insights into some of the most extreme physical events in the universe; however, carrying out their detection and fast follow-up studies are limited by instrumental constraints. Search for Transient Object in New observations using Known Sources (STONKS) is a near-real-time transient detection system for XMM-Newton offering the capability to detect transients in XMM-Newton observations at fainter fluxes than can be achieved with wide survey instruments. We present the transients detected with the STONKS pipeline found in an XMM-Newton multi-year heritage survey of the Galactic plane to identify and classify highly variable X-ray sources that have recently been reported in this region. We examined the alerts created by the STONKS pipeline from over 200 XMM observations of the Galactic plane, screening for instrumental effects. The 78 alerts associated with 70 real astrophysical sources were then subjected to further temporal and spectral analysis. From the 70 sources we identified, we were able to classify 32 with a high degree of confidence, including 7 X-ray binaries, 1 $\gamma$-Cas analogue, and 1 magnetar candidate. Of the 70 sources, 23 were detected for the first time in X-rays. This systematic analysis of publicly available data has shown the value and potential of STONKS in the application to XMM-Newton observations. It will enable the community to detect transient and highly variable sources at fainter fluxes than with any other X-ray transient detection systems.

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arXiv2025

Discovering periodic and repeating nuclear transients in the XMM-Newton archives

The regions around massive black holes can show X-ray variability on timescales from seconds to decades. Observing many black holes over different timescales can enhance our chances of detecting variability coming from (partial) tidal disruption events, massive black hole binaries, changing state AGN, blazar activity and much more. X-ray catalogues with hundreds of thousands of detections are treasure troves of such sources, which require innovative methods to identify these black holes. We present the current XMM-Newton catalogues available and describe several examples of tidal disruption events (TDEs) and quasi-periodic eruption sources that have been found whilst mining this data. We describe preliminary work on a search for periodic variables in the XMM-Newton EPIC archival data, with the example of finding new massive black hole binaries. We also describe the STONKS pipeline that is now in the XMM-Newton automatic reduction pipeline and the near real-time alert system that allows the follow-up of new and fading transients. We provide examples of fading sources that are newly identified candidate TDEs.

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arXiv2025

4XMM J175136.8-275858: A New Magnetar Candidate?

Magnetars are very rare astrophysical objects, with $\sim$31 known to date. They are best understood as highly magnetised neutron stars, but a greater number need to be found to constrain their role in stellar evolution pathways. We apply a novel approach for the detection of fast, transient X-ray sources, using a revised version of the EPIC XMM-Newton Outburst Detector (EXOD) with the aim of detecting and identifying new and rare variable compact objects. We detect a transient, variable source notable for its strong variability and hard spectrum. The emission from 4XMM J175136.8-275858 is well characterised by a blackbody, with temperatures between $\sim$1.8--5\,keV during its lower luminosity phase. Its temperature is poorly constrained during its brightest phase, and we observe an increase in luminosity by two orders of magnitude over timescales of a few ks. This is driven by increased emission of X-rays at energies above 2\,keV, with a luminosity decay potentially over weeks or months. Derived luminosities for 4XJ1751-2759 range up to $\sim10^{35} \text{\,erg s}^{-1}$ at 8\,kpc at the Galactic centre, but neutral hydrogen column densities are greater than predicted Galactic values possibly implying a greater distance to the source, still within our galaxy, further increasing its luminosity. A consideration of optical and IR information in combination with the X-ray observations allow us to exclude the possibility that 4XJ1751-2759 is a star, rotationally powered pulsar or supergiant fast X-ray transient. This rapid, hard, variability is closest to that of outbursts in magnetars than any other known class of X-ray transient.

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arXiv2025

The EXOD search for faint transients in XMM-Newton observations. Part II

The XMM-Newton observatory has accumulated a vast archive of over 17,000 X-ray observations over the last 25 years. However, the standard data processing pipelines may fail to detect certain types of transient X-ray sources due to their short-lived or dim nature. Identifying these transient sources is important for understanding the full range of temporal X-ray behaviour, as well as understanding the types of sources that could be routinely detected by future missions such as Athena. This work aims to reprocess XMM-Newton archival observations using newly developed dedicated software in order to identify neglected and missed transient X-ray sources that were not detected by the existing pipeline. We use a new approach that builds upon previous methodologies, by transforming event lists into data cubes, which are then searched for transient variability in short time windows. Our method enhances the detection capabilities in the Poisson regime by accounting for the statistical properties of sparse count rates, and allowing for transient search in previously discarded periods of high background activity. Our reprocessing efforts identified 32,247 variable sources at the 3-sigma level and 4,083 sources at the 5-sigma level in 12,926 XMM archival observations. We highlight four noteworthy sources: A candidate quasi-periodic eruption (QPE), a new magnetar candidate, a previously undetected Galactic hard X-ray burst and a possible X-ray counterpart to a Galactic radio pulsar. Our method demonstrates a new, fast, and effective way to process event list data from XMM-Newton, which is efficient in finding rapid outburst-like or eclipsing behaviour. This technique can be adapted for use with future telescopes, such as Athena, and can be generalised to other photon counting instruments operating in the low-count Poisson regime.

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arXiv2024

The Effects of Instrumental Deadtime on NICER Timing Products

The X-ray Timing Instrument as part of the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer has the potential to examine the time-domain properties of compact objects in regimes not explored by previous timing instruments, due to its combination of high effective area and timing resolution. We consider the effects of instrumental deadtime at a range of effective countrates in a series of observations of the X-ray binary GX 339-4 to determine what effect deadtime has on photometric and Fourier frequency-domain products. We find that there are no significant inconsistencies across the functional detectors in the instrument, and that in the regimes where instrumental deadtime is a limiting factor on observations that previous approaches to dealing with deadtime, as applied to RXTE and other detectors, are still appropriate, and that performing deadtime corrections to lightcurves before creating Fourier products are not necessary at the count rates considered in our analysis.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Searching for Quasi-Periodic Eruptions using Machine Learning

Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs) are a rare phenomenon in which the X-ray emission from the nuclei of galaxies shows a series of large amplitude flares. Only a handful of QPEs have been observed but the possibility remains that there are as yet undetected sources in archival data. Given the volume of data available a manual search is not feasible, and so we consider an application of machine learning to archival data to determine whether a set of time-domain features can be used to identify further lightcurves containing eruptions. Using a neural network and 14 variability measures we are able to classify lightcurves with accuracies of greater than 94% with simulated data and greater than 98% with observational data on a sample consisting of 12 lightcurves with QPEs and 52 lightcurves without QPEs. An analysis of 83,531 X-ray detections from the XMM Serendipitous Source Catalogue allowed us to recover lightcurves of known QPE sources and examples of several categories of variable stellar objects.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Variability In A Low-Mass AGN: Oscillation Or Eruption?

Following the discovery of a new class of X-ray variability seen in four galaxies, dubbed Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs), we reconsider the variability seen in the low-mass AGN 2XMM J123103.2+110648 to ascertain whether it should be considered the fifth QPE host galaxy. We apply the autocorrelation function to two archival XMM-Newton observations to determine characteristic timescales for variability of $\sim$ 13.52 ks and $\sim$ 14.35 ks. The modelling of lightcurves, both folded at these timescales and unfolded, indicates that a Gaussian model is preferable over a sinusoidal model, with average durations for the bright phases of 6.17 ks and 7.69 ks. In a broad 0.2-1.0 keV band the average amplitude of the bright phases was found to be 2.86 and 8.56 times the quiescent count rate. The pattern of variability seen in 2XMM J123103.2+110648 cannot be definitively declared as a series of Quasi-Periodic Eruptions. Instead, this suggests there may be a continuum of quasi-periodic variability ranging from eruptions to oscillations being caused by a single mechanism. This offers the possibility of finding further sources that continue to bridge the gap between QPEs and Quasi-Periodic Oscillations. A targeted analysis of 47 observations of 11 other low-mass AGN $(log(M_{BH}) \lesssim 6)$ found no evidence of QPE or QPO-like behaviour in a sample of other similar mass objects.

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