“慧眼”硬X射线调制望远镜(简称慧眼卫星,英文名为Insight Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope,简称Insight-HXMT或HXMT),于2017年6月15日发射升空,标志着我国自主研发的首个天文台级X射线望远镜的诞生.慧眼卫星凭借其大面积、宽波段、...“慧眼”硬X射线调制望远镜(简称慧眼卫星,英文名为Insight Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope,简称Insight-HXMT或HXMT),于2017年6月15日发射升空,标志着我国自主研发的首个天文台级X射线望远镜的诞生.慧眼卫星凭借其大面积、宽波段、高时间分辨率和高能量分辨率的综合优势,为黑洞与中子星系统的硬X射线快速变化和宽波段能谱研究领域开辟了新的研究窗口.超出设计寿命的慧眼卫星已稳定运行超过8yr,目前状态良好,且有望进一步延长其在轨服务时间.截至2024年10月,慧眼卫星已7次向全球科学界公开征集观测提案,共收到334份有效的观测提案,并据此制定了2368个观测计划.此外,慧眼卫星已向公众发布数据13批次,累计数据量达到40 TB,数据公开比率高达94%.慧眼卫星还向用户提供了不同版本的数据分析软件和标定数据库,在轨标定精度在2%左右,满足科学分析的要求.来自全球17家及国内36家研究机构的学者使用慧眼数据开展了科学研究,发表了约300多篇高质量学术论文,累计引用次数约7300次.展开更多
Stars getting close enough to black holes(BHs)can be torn apart by strong tidal forces,producing electromagnetic flares.To date,more than 100 tidal disruption events(TDEs)have been observed,each involving invariably n...Stars getting close enough to black holes(BHs)can be torn apart by strong tidal forces,producing electromagnetic flares.To date,more than 100 tidal disruption events(TDEs)have been observed,each involving invariably normal gaseous stars whose debris falls onto the BH,sustaining the flares over years.White dwarfs(WDs),which are the most prevalent compact stars and a million times denser-and therefore tougher-than gaseous stars,can only be disrupted by intermediate-mass black holes(IMBHs)of 10^(2)–10^(5) solar masses.WD-TDEs are considered to generate more powerful and short-lived flares,but their evidence has been lacking.Here we report observations of a fast and luminous X-ray transient EP250702a detected by Einstein Probe.Its one-day-long X-ray peak as luminous as 10^(47−49) erg s^(−1) showed strong recurrent flares with hard spectra extending to several tens of MeV gamma-rays,as detected by Fermi/GBM and Konus-Wind,indicating relativistic jet emission.The jet's X-rays dropped sharply from 3×10^(49) erg s^(−1) to around 1044 erg s^(−1) within 20 days(10 days in the source rest frame).These characteristics are inconsistent with any previously known transient phenomena.We suggest that this fast-evolving event over the unprecedentedly short timescale arises likely from disruption of a WD by an IMBH.At late times,a soft component progressively dominates the X-ray spectrum,reaching a luminosity as high as 1044 erg s^(−1),which is consistent with being extreme super-Eddington emission from an accretion disk expected to form in an IMBH-WD TDE.WD-TDEs open a new window for investigating the elusive IMBHs and their surrounding stellar environments,and they are prime sources of gravitational waves in the band of space-based interferometers.展开更多
A large-scale view of the magnetospheric cusp is expected to be obtained by the Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)onboard the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE).However,it is challenging to trace the three-d...A large-scale view of the magnetospheric cusp is expected to be obtained by the Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)onboard the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE).However,it is challenging to trace the three-dimensional cusp boundary from a two-dimensional X-ray image because the detected X-ray signals will be integrated along the line of sight.In this work,a global magnetohydrodynamic code was used to simulate the X-ray images and photon count images,assuming an interplanetary magnetic field with a pure Bz component.The assumption of an elliptic cusp boundary at a given altitude was used to trace the equatorward and poleward boundaries of the cusp from a simulated X-ray image.The average discrepancy was less than 0.1 RE.To reduce the influence of instrument effects and cosmic X-ray backgrounds,image denoising was considered before applying the method above to SXI photon count images.The cusp boundaries were reasonably reconstructed from the noisy X-ray image.展开更多
讨论了X射线脉冲星光子到达的周期平稳Poisson模型和到达时刻(Time of arrival,TOA)估计问题.在此基础上,得到了脉冲到达时刻的最大似然估计和克拉美-罗限(Cramer-Rao boundary,CRB),并推导了低信噪比情况下的似然函数近似表达和克拉美...讨论了X射线脉冲星光子到达的周期平稳Poisson模型和到达时刻(Time of arrival,TOA)估计问题.在此基础上,得到了脉冲到达时刻的最大似然估计和克拉美-罗限(Cramer-Rao boundary,CRB),并推导了低信噪比情况下的似然函数近似表达和克拉美-罗限.利用解析的脉冲轮廓,对PSR B1821-24的TOA估计进行了Monte Carlo仿真,讨论了不同观测时间和信噪比下的估计误差,给出了相应的信噪比门限.研究表明:该分析方法能够有效估计X射线脉冲星的TOA定时精度,有利于评估其在各种应用中的性能.展开更多
文摘Stars getting close enough to black holes(BHs)can be torn apart by strong tidal forces,producing electromagnetic flares.To date,more than 100 tidal disruption events(TDEs)have been observed,each involving invariably normal gaseous stars whose debris falls onto the BH,sustaining the flares over years.White dwarfs(WDs),which are the most prevalent compact stars and a million times denser-and therefore tougher-than gaseous stars,can only be disrupted by intermediate-mass black holes(IMBHs)of 10^(2)–10^(5) solar masses.WD-TDEs are considered to generate more powerful and short-lived flares,but their evidence has been lacking.Here we report observations of a fast and luminous X-ray transient EP250702a detected by Einstein Probe.Its one-day-long X-ray peak as luminous as 10^(47−49) erg s^(−1) showed strong recurrent flares with hard spectra extending to several tens of MeV gamma-rays,as detected by Fermi/GBM and Konus-Wind,indicating relativistic jet emission.The jet's X-rays dropped sharply from 3×10^(49) erg s^(−1) to around 1044 erg s^(−1) within 20 days(10 days in the source rest frame).These characteristics are inconsistent with any previously known transient phenomena.We suggest that this fast-evolving event over the unprecedentedly short timescale arises likely from disruption of a WD by an IMBH.At late times,a soft component progressively dominates the X-ray spectrum,reaching a luminosity as high as 1044 erg s^(−1),which is consistent with being extreme super-Eddington emission from an accretion disk expected to form in an IMBH-WD TDE.WD-TDEs open a new window for investigating the elusive IMBHs and their surrounding stellar environments,and they are prime sources of gravitational waves in the band of space-based interferometers.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NNSFC)under Grant Numbers 42322408,42188101,and 42441809Additional support was provided by the Climbing Program of the National Space Science Center(NSSC,Grant No.E4PD3005)as well as the Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories of China.
文摘A large-scale view of the magnetospheric cusp is expected to be obtained by the Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)onboard the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE).However,it is challenging to trace the three-dimensional cusp boundary from a two-dimensional X-ray image because the detected X-ray signals will be integrated along the line of sight.In this work,a global magnetohydrodynamic code was used to simulate the X-ray images and photon count images,assuming an interplanetary magnetic field with a pure Bz component.The assumption of an elliptic cusp boundary at a given altitude was used to trace the equatorward and poleward boundaries of the cusp from a simulated X-ray image.The average discrepancy was less than 0.1 RE.To reduce the influence of instrument effects and cosmic X-ray backgrounds,image denoising was considered before applying the method above to SXI photon count images.The cusp boundaries were reasonably reconstructed from the noisy X-ray image.
