Related papers: Very fast optical flaring from a possible new Gala…

Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which signify the end-life collapsing of very massive stars, are produced by extremely relativistic jets colliding into circumstellar medium. Huge energy is released both in the first few seconds, namely the…

Optical variability in galaxies at high redshift is a tracer of evolution in AGN activity, and should provide a useful constraint on models of galaxy evolution, AGN structure, and cosmology. We studied optical variability in multiple deep…

The black hole candidate MAXI J1535-571 is a recently discovered X-ray transient. We report on the monitoring observations of Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission during outburst. The source transits from the hard state to the intermediate state,…

Long-lived massive magnetars are expected to be remnants of some binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. In this paper, we argue that the magnetic powered flaring activities of these merged magnetars would occur dominantly in their early…

Very faint X-ray binaries (VFXBs), defined as having peak luminosities Lx of 10^34-10^36 erg/s, have been uncovered in significant numbers, but remain poorly understood. We analyse three published outburst light curves of two transient…

In order to discern the physical nature of many gamma-ray sources in the sky, we must look not only in spectral and spatial dimensions, but also understand their temporal variability. However, timing analysis of sources with a highly…

Swift is shedding new light on the phenomenon of Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs), a recently discovered class of High-Mass X-ray Binaries, whose optical counterparts are O or B supergiants, and whose X-ray outbursts are about 10000…

XSS J12270-4859 (henceforth J12270) is the first low-mass X-ray binary to exhibit a transition, taking place at the end of 2012, from an X-ray active state to a radio pulsar state. The X-ray emission based on archival XMM-Newton…

Supersoft X-ray sources are stellar objects which emit X-rays with temperatures of about 1 million Kelvin and luminosities well in excess of what can be produced by stellar coronae. It has generally been presumed that the objects in this…

Following the detection of a long GRB 190919B by INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory), we obtained an optical photometric sequence of its optical counterpart. The light curve of the optical emission exhibits an…

We have identified two moderately bright, rapidly variable transients in new and archival X-ray data near the Galactic center. Both objects show strong, flaring variability on timescales of tens to thousands of seconds, evidence of N_H…

A helium nova occurs on a white dwarf (WD) accreting hydrogen-deficient matter from a helium star companion. When the mass of a helium envelope on the WD reaches a critical value, unstable helium burning ignites to trigger a nova outburst.…

In 2018, XMM-Newton observed the awakening in X-rays of the Be/X-ray binary (Be/XRB) A0538-66. It showed bright and fast flares close to periastron with properties that had never been observed in other Be/XRBs before. We report the results…

We are searching for hot, constant-color, offset optical flares in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) data stream that are ${>}10''$ from any galaxy in public imaging data from the PanSTARRS survey. Here, we present the first discovery…

We present a compilation of high time-resolution photometric observations of quiescent soft X-ray transients obtained with the acquisition camera of Gemini-South. A0620-00 was observed with a short cycle time and high precision.…

The majority of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) are thought to originate from the merger of compact binary systems collapsing directly to form a black hole. However, it has been proposed that both SGRBs and long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) may,…

The transient Be/X-ray binary A0538-66 shows peculiar X-ray and optical variability. Despite numerous studies, the intrinsic properties underlying its anomalous behaviour remain poorly understood. Since 2014 September we are conducting the…

We present the results of two extensive Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations of large X-ray flaring episodes from the high-mass X-ray binary pulsar LMC X-4. Light curves during the flaring episodes comprise bright peaks embedded in…

We present an analysis of the Swift BAT and XRT data of GRB060602B, which is most likely an accreting neutron star in a binary system and not a gamma-ray burst. Our analysis shows that the BAT burst spectrum is consistent with a…

(abridged) In the hunt for rare time-domain events, confusing exotic extragalactic phenomena with more common Galactic foreground events is an important consideration. We show how observations from multiple wavebands, in this case optical…