The exact relationship between the long gamma-ray burst (LGRB) rate and the cosmic star formation rate (CSFR) is essential for using LGRBs as cosmological probes. In this work, we collect a large sample composed of 371 Swift LGRBs with known redshifts and prompt emission properties. We first compare the rest-frame prompt properties of these bursts in different redshift bins, finding negligible redshift evolution of the luminosity of LGRBs with L_iso_>~10^51^erg/s between z~1 and z~4. Then, by utilizing the CSFR obtained from the large-scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, the Illustris simulation, we calculate the cumulative redshift distribution of LGRBs under different metallicity thresholds. After comparing with our sample, we find that the predictions with a moderate threshold between 0.3Z_{sun}_<=Z_th_<=1.0Z_{sun}_ are consistent with the sample between redshift 0<z<3, while at higher redshifts, between 3<z<5, all metallicity thresholds fit the data well. When changing to an empirical model based on observations, the predictions show similar results as well. After comparing with the metallicity distribution of the observed LGRB host galaxies between 0<z<1, we confirm that the production of LGRBs in galaxies with super-solar metallicity is suppressed. Nevertheless, considering that a significant fraction of stars are born in sub-solar metallicity environments at z>~3, we suggest that, as a first approximation, LGRBs can be used as direct tracers of the CSFR in this redshift range.
This table records high-level information for each Swift observation and provides access to the data archive. Each record is associated with a single observation that contains data from all instruments on board Swift. The BAT is the large field of view instrument and operates in the 10-300 keV energy band. The narrow field instruments, XRT and UVOT, operate in the X-ray and UV/optical regime, respectively. An observation is defined as a collection of snapshots, where a snapshot is defined as the time spent observing the same position continuously. Because of observing constraints, the length of a snapshot can be shorter than a single orbit and it can be interrupted because the satellite will point in a different direction of the sky or because the time allocated to that observation ends. The typical Swift observing strategy for a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) and/or afterglow, consists of a serious of observations aimed at following the GRB and its afterglow evolution. This strategy is achieved with two different type of observations named Automatic Targets and Pre-Planned Targets. The Automatic Target is initiated on board soon after an event is triggered by the BAT. The Figure of Merit (FOM) algorithm, part of the observatory's autonomy, decides if it is worth requesting a slew maneuver to point the narrow field instruments (NFI) on Swift, XRT and UVOT, in the direction of the trigger. If the conditions to slew to the new position are satisfied, the Automatic Target observation takes place; all the instruments have a pre-set standard configuration of operating modes and filters and about 20000 seconds on source will be collected. The Pre-Planned Target observations instead are initiated from the ground once the trigger is known. These observations are planned on ground and uploaded onto the spacecraft. This database table is generated at the Swift processing site. During operation, it is updated on daily basis. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
Swift intensive accretion disk reverberation mapping of four AGN yielded light curves sampled ~200-350 times in 0.3-10keV X-ray and six UV/optical bands. Uniform reduction and cross-correlation analysis of these data sets yields three main results: (1) The X-ray/UV correlations are much weaker than those within the UV/optical, posing severe problems for the lamp-post reprocessing model in which variations in a central X-ray corona drive and power those in the surrounding accretion disk. (2) The UV/optical interband lags are generally consistent with {tau}{propto}{lambda}^4/3^ as predicted by the centrally illuminated thin accretion disk model. While the average interband lags are somewhat larger than predicted, these results alone are not inconsistent with the thin disk model given the large systematic uncertainties involved. (3) The one exception is the U band lags, which are on average a factor of ~2.2 larger than predicted from the surrounding band data and fits. This excess appears to be due to diffuse continuum emission from the broad-line region (BLR). The precise mixing of disk and BLR components cannot be determined from these data alone. The lags in different AGN appear to scale with mass or luminosity. We also find that there are systematic differences between the uncertainties derived by Just Another Vehicle for Estimating Lags In Nuclei (JAVELIN) versus more standard lag measurement techniques, with JAVELIN reporting smaller uncertainties by a factor of 2.5 on average. In order to be conservative only standard techniques were used in the analyses reported herein.
Swift Serendipitous Survey in Deep XRT GRB Fields (SwiftFT)
Short Name:
SWIFTFT
Date:
25 Apr 2025
Publisher:
NASA/GSFC HEASARC
Description:
This table contains the SwiftFT catalog of point sources detected by the X-ray Telescope (XRT) on board the Swift satellite in observations centered on gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) during the first four years of operation (Jan 2005 - Dec 2008). Swift is a NASA mission with international participation dedicated to the gamma-ray burst study. It carries three instruments. The BAT is the large field of view instrument and operates in the 10-300 keV energy band; and two narrow field instruments, XRT and UVOT, that operate in the X-ray and UV/optical regime, respectively. The catalog was derived including pointing positions of the 374 fields centered on the GRBs covering a total area of ~32.55 square degrees. Since GRBs are distributed randomly in the sky, the survey covers totally unrelated parts of the sky, and is highly uniform courtesy of the XRT's stable point spread function and small vignetting correction factors. The observations for a particular field were merged together and the source search analysis was restricted to a circular area of 10 arcmin radius centered in the median of the individual observation aim points. The total exposure considering all the fields is of 36.8 Ms, with ~32% of the fields having more than 100 ks exposure time, and ~28% with exposure time in the range 50-100 ks. The catalog was generated by running the detection algorithm in the XIMAGE package version 4.4.1 that locates the point sources using a sliding-cell method. The average background intensity is estimated in several small square boxes uniformly located within the image. The position and intensity of each detected source are calculated in a box whose size maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio. The detect algorithm was run separately in the following three energy bands: 0.3-3 (Soft), 2-10 (Hard), and 0.3-10 (Full) keV. For each detections the three count rates in the soft, hard, and full bands are all corrected for dead times and vignetting using exposure maps and for the PSF. Hardness ratios are calculated using the three energy band and defined as HR = (c<sub>H</sub> - c<sub>S</sub>)/(c<sub>H</sub> + c<sub>S</sub>) where c<sub>S</sub> and c<sub>H</sub> are the count rates in the S(oft) and H(ard) bands, respectively. The catalog was cleaned of spurious and extended sources by visual inspection of all the observations. Count rates in the three bands were converted into flux in the 0.5-10, 0.5-2, and 2-10 keV energy bands, respectively. The flux was estimated using a power law spectrum with photon spectral index of 1.8 and a Galactic N<sub>H</sub> of 3.3 x 10<sup>20</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup>. Each row in the catalog is a unique source. The detections from the soft, hard, and full bands were merged into a single catalog using a matching radius of 6 arcsec and retaining detection with a significance level of being spurious <= 2 x 10<sup>-5</sup> in at least one band. There are 9387 total entries in the catalog. The SWIFTFT acronym honors both the Swift satellite and the memory of Francesca Tamburelli who made numerous crucial contributions to the development of the Swift-XRT data reduction software. This database table was created by the HEASARC in November 2021 based on the electronic version available from the ASI Data Center <a href="https://www.asdc.asi.it/xrtgrbdeep_cat/">https://www.asdc.asi.it/xrtgrbdeep_cat/</a> and published in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal. This catalog is also available as the <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/528/A122">CDS catalog J/A+A/528/A122</a>. The HEASARC added the source_number parameter, a counter to numerically identify each source in the catalog, as well as Galactic coordinates and changed the source name from SWIFTFTJHHMMSS.s+DDMM.m to SWIFTFT JHHMMSS.s+DDMM.m, adding a space between the catalog prefix and the formatted J2000 coordinates. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
Swift Simultaneous UV, Optical, and X-Ray Observed Quasar Catalog
Short Name:
SWSDSSQSO
Date:
25 Apr 2025
Publisher:
NASA/GSFC HEASARC
Description:
The authors have compiled a catalog of optically selected quasars with simultaneous observations in UV/optical and X-ray bands by the Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer. Objects in this catalog are identified by matching the Swift pointings with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 (DR5) quasar catalog. The final catalog contains 843 objects, among which 637 have both Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) and X-Ray Telescope (XRT) observations and 354 of which are detected by both instruments. The overall X-ray detection rate is ~ 60% which rises to ~ 85% among sources with at least 10 ks of XRT exposure time. The authors construct the time-averaged spectral energy distribution (SED) for each of the 354 quasars using UVOT photometric measurements and XRT spectra. From model fits to these SEDs, they find that the big blue bump contributes about ~ 0.3 dex to the quasar luminosity. The authors re-visit the alpha<sub>ox</sub> - L<sub>2500A</sub> relation by selecting a clean sample with only Type 1 radio-quiet quasars; the dispersion of this relation is reduced by at least 15% compared with studies that use non-simultaneous UV/optical and X-ray data. They find only a weak correlation between L<sub>bol</sub>/L<sub>Edd</sub> and alpha<sub>UV</sub>. They do not find significant correlations between alpha<sub>x</sub> and alpha<sub>ox</sub>, alpha<sub>ox</sub> and alpha<sub>UV</sub>, and alpha<sub>x</sub> and log L(0.3-10 keV). The correlations between alpha<sub>UV</sub> and alpha<sub>x</sub>, alpha<sub>ox</sub> and alpha<sub>x</sub>, alpha<sub>ox</sub> and alpha<sub>UV</sub>, L<sub>bol</sub>/L<sub>Edd</sub> and alpha<sub>x</sub>, and L<sub>bol</sub>/L<sub>Edd</sub> and alpha<sub>ox</sub> are stronger among low-redshift quasars, indicating that these correlations are likely driven by the changes of SED shape with accretion state. This quasar sample was compiled in the following steps: 1. Candidate objects for the catalog were selected as any SDSS DR5 quasar that lie within 20 arcminutes of the center of the Swift FOV in any pointing from launch through 2008 June. 2. XRT data were processed to obtain X-ray count rates, spectra, and spectral parameters. 3. UVOT data were processed to obtain UV and optical photometry. 4. UVOT photometry were supplemented with measurements at other wavelengths from published catalogs. 5. Quasar SEDs were constructed. 6. Additional parameters were calculated based on the SEDs of each quasar. The raw sample is constructed by matching 3.5 years Swift pointings and the SDSS DR5 quasar catalog and contains 1034 objects. This HEASARC version of this catalog contains all 1034 objects in the "raw" catalog. To select only the 843 objects in the "final" catalog, the user should specify catalog_flag = 1 in any searches of this table. This table was created by the HEASARC in August 2012 based on an electronic version of Table 8 from the reference paper which was obtained from the ApJS web site. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
This database table is derived from the Swift TDRSS messages sent on ground soon after a BAT trigger occurs on-board. For each trigger there are associated up to 14 messages, however not all are always generated and sent on ground. The messages are generated on board by the BAT, XRT and UVOT instruments and the Figure of Merit part of the observatory's autonomy. The BAT and XRT can each have five different message types. The UVOT and FOM can each have two different message types. These TDRSS messages are the results of the on-board data processing of the three instruments and some contain data products. They are first distributed via the GCN and later archived. The BAT messages are: alert, 'ack' containing the position, or 'nack' if the position could not be calculated, a lightcurve and scaled map. The XRT messages are: centroid containing the position, an image (if the position has been calculated), centroid error if the position could not be calculated, spectra in Low Rate Photodiode and Windowed Timing modes, a lightcurve. The UVOT messages are: finding chart containing star positions and a subimage centered on the XRT position. The FOM messages are used to indicate if the FOM will or will not observe the new target and if the spacecraft will (or will not) request a slew for the new target. The parameters in this database table are a collection of high level information taken from the following messages : the BAT alert, 'ack' or 'nack' message, the FOM messages, the XRT position and image. If the information is not available the fields are left blank. All messages are provided as data products within this database table. This database table is generated at the Swift processing site. During operation, it is updated on daily basis. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
The UVOT runs only one type of configuration filter/mode/window in a given time interval. This database table, therefore, contains for a given time interval a single record that describes one configuration. This database table is generated by the Swift Data Center. During operation, it is updated on daily basis. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
The intrinsic colors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are important to understanding their use as cosmological standard candles. Understanding the effects of reddening and redshift on the observed colors are complicated and dependent on the intrinsic spectrum, the filter curves, and the wavelength dependence of reddening. We present ultraviolet and optical data of a growing sample of SNe Ia observed with the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope on the Swift spacecraft and use this sample to re-examine the near-UV (NUV) colors of SNe Ia. We find that a small amount of reddening (E(B-V)=0.2mag) could account for the difference between groups designated as NUV-blue and NUV-red, and a moderate amount of reddening (E(B-V)=0.5mag) could account for the whole NUV-optical differences. The reddening scenario, however, is inconsistent with the mid-UV colors and color evolution. The effect of redshift alone only accounts for part of the variation. Using a spectral template of SN2011fe, we can forward model the effects of redshift and reddening and directly compare those with the observed colors. We find that some SNe are consistent with reddened versions of SN2011fe, but most SNe Ia are much redder in the uvw1-v color than SN2011fe reddened to the same b-v color. The absolute magnitudes show that two out of five NUV-blue SNe Ia are blue because their near-UV luminosity is high, and the other three are optically fainter. We also show that SN 2011fe is not a "normal" SN Ia in the UV, but has colors placing it at the blue extreme of our sample.
We compare early ultraviolet (UV) observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with theoretical predictions for the brightness of the shock associated with the collision between SN ejecta and a companion star. Our simple method is independent of the intrinsic flux from the SN and treats the flux observed with the Swift/Ultra-Violet Optical Telescope as conservative upper limits on the shock brightness. Comparing this limit with the predicted flux for various shock models, we constrain the geometry of the SN progenitor-companion system. We find the model of a 1 M_{sun}_ red supergiant companion in Roche-lobe overflow to be excluded at a 95% confidence level for most individual SNe for all but the most unfavorable viewing angles. For the sample of 12 SNe taken together, the upper limits on the viewing angle are inconsistent with the expected distribution of viewing angles for red gaint stars as the majority of companions with high confidence. The separation distance constraints do allow main-sequence companions. A better understanding of the UV flux arising from the SN itself as well as continued UV observations of young SNe Ia will further constrain the possible progenitors of SNe Ia.
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