Related papers: Can the soft X-ray opacity towards high redshift s…

We report on a 12 hr XMM-Newton observation of the supergiant High-Mass X-ray Binary IGR J16207-5129. This is only the second soft X-ray (0.4-15 keV, in this case) study of the source since it was discovered by the INTEGRAL satellite. The…

Recent works have suggested that selection criteria based on MIR colors can be used to reveal a population of dust-enshrouded, extremely luminous quasars at z>1. However the X-ray spectral properties of these intriguing sources still remain…

Gamma-ray bursts are promising tools for tracing the formation of high redshift stars, including the first generation. At very high redshifts the reverse shock emission lasts longer in the observer frame, and its importance for detection…

A simple physical model for long-duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs) is used to fit the redshift (z) and the jet opening-angle distributions measured with earlier GRB missions and with Swift. The effect of different sensitivities for GRB…

We investigate the scaling relation between the observed amount of absorption in the X-ray spectra of Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows and the absorber redshift. Through dedicated numerical simulations of an ideal instrument, we establish…

Prediction of the soft X-ray absorption along lines of sight through our Galaxy is crucial for understanding the spectra of extragalactic sources, but requires a good estimate of the foreground column density of photoelectric absorbing…

Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous known electromagnetic radiation sources in the Universe for the 3 to 300 sec of their prompt flashes (isotropic X/ gamma-ray luminosities up to 10^53 ergs/sec). Their afterglows have first…

We analyse very deep X-ray and mid-IR surveys in common areas of the Lockman Hole and the HDF North to study the sources of the X-ray background (XRB) and to test the standard obscured accretion paradigm. We detect with ISO a rich…

We report on a medium deep XMM-Newton survey of the Marano Field and optical follow-up observations. The mosaicked XMM-Newton pointings in this optical quasar survey field cover 0.6 square degree with a total of 120 ksec good observation…

We calculate the absorption of 10-500 GeV gamma-rays at high redshifts. This calculation requires the determination of the high-redshift evolution of the intergalactic starlight photon field, including its IR-UV spectral energy…

We report on the spectral properties of a sample of 90 hard X-ray selected serendipitous sources detected in 12 XMM observations with 1<F(2-10)<80 10^(-14) erg/cm2/s. Approximately 40% of the sources are optically identified with 0.1<z<2…

We have undertaken a search for millimetre-wave band absorption (through the CO and HCO+ rotational transitions) in the host galaxies of reddened radio sources (z = 0.405-1.802). Despite the colour selection (optical-near infrared colours…

We present sensitive 850 micron SCUBA photometry of a statistically-complete sample of six of the most luminous, z>4 radio-quiet quasars, reaching noise levels comparable with the deep blank sky surveys. One quasar (BR2237-0607; z=4.55) is…

We provide important new constraints on the nature and redshift distribution of optically faint (R>25) X-ray sources in the Chandra Deep Field South Survey. We show that we can derive accurate photometric redshifts for the spectroscopically…

The origin of the hard (2-10 keV) X-ray background has remained mysterious for over 35 years. Most of the soft (0.5-2 keV) X-ray background has been resolved into discrete sources, which are primarily quasars; however, these sources do not…

Studies of the cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their host galaxies are now starting to provide interesting or even unique new insights in observational cosmology. Observed GRB host galaxies have a median magnitude R ~ 25 mag, and show a…

We report on follow-up observations of the GRB 060927 using the ROTSE-IIIa telescope and a suite of larger aperture ground-based telescopes. An optical afterglow was detected 20 s after the burst, the earliest rest-frame detection of…

Arguably the best hope of understanding the tail end of the reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at redshift z > 6 is through the detection and characterization of the Gunn-Peterson (GP) damping wing absorption of the IGM in…

Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are objects that have flux densities of several mJy at 1.4GHz, but that are invisible at 3.6um when using sensitive Spitzer observations with uJy sensitivities. Their nature is unclear and difficult to…

We present an extensive X-ray spectral analysis of the cores of 19 FRII sources in the redshift range 0.5<z<1.0 which were selected to be matched in isotropic radio power. The sample consists of 10 radio galaxies and 9 quasars. We compare…