The Swift X-Ray Telescope: Status and Performance

Details The Swift X-Ray Telescope: Status and Performance The Swift X-Ray Telescope: Status and Performance

2008-03-12

arxiv.org/abs/0803.1844v1

Proc.SPIE Int.Soc.Opt.Eng.6686:668607,2007

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

9 pages, 14 figures

Scientific paper

We present science highlights and performance from the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT), which was launched on November 20, 2004. The XRT covers the 0.2-10 keV band, and spends most of its time observing gamma-ray burst (GRB)afterglows, though it has also performed observations of many other objects. By mid-August 2007, the XRT had observed over 220 GRB afterglows, detecting about 96% of them. The XRT positions enable followup ground-based optical observations, with roughly 60% of the afterglows detected at optical or near IR wavelengths. Redshifts are measured for 33% of X-ray afterglows. Science highlights include the discovery of flaring behavior at quite late times, with implications for GRB central engines; localization of short GRBs, leading to observational support for compact merger progenitors for this class of bursts; a mysterious plateau phase to GRB afterglows; as well as many other interesting observations such as X-ray emission from comets, novae, galactic transients, and other objects.

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