中平 聡志

Relativistic electron precipitation (REP) from the Earth's radiation belt plays an important role in mesospheric ozone loss as a connection between space weather and the climate system. However, the rapid (tens of minutes) destruction of mesospheric ozone directly caused by REP has remained poorly understood due to the difficulty of recognizing its location and duration. Here we show a compelling rapid correspondence between localized REP and ozone destruction during a specific auroral phenomenon, the called an isolated proton aurora (IPA). The IPA from the Earth's radiation belt becomes an important spatial and temporal proxy of REP, distinct from other auroral phenomena, and allowing visualizing micro-ozone holes. We found ozone destruction of as much as 10-60% within 1.5 h of the initiation of IPA. Electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves in the oxygen ion band observed as the driver of REP likely affect through resonance with mainly ultra-relativistic (> 2 mega-electron-volts) energy electrons. The rapid REP impact demonstrates its crucial role and direct effect on regulating the atmospheric chemical balance.

Abstract The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the International Space Station consists of a high-energy cosmic-ray CALorimeter (CAL) and a lower-energy CALET Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (CGBM). CAL is sensitive to electrons up to 20 TeV, cosmic-ray nuclei from Z = 1 through Z ∼ 40, and gamma rays over the range 1 GeV–10 TeV. CGBM observes gamma rays from 7 keV to 20 MeV. The combined CAL-CGBM instrument has conducted a search for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) since 2015 October. We report here on the results of a search for X-ray/gamma-ray counterparts to gravitational-wave events reported during the LIGO/Virgo observing run O3. No events have been detected that pass all acceptance criteria. We describe the components, performance, and triggering algorithms of the CGBM—the two Hard X-ray Monitors consisting of LaBr₃(Ce) scintillators sensitive to 7 keV–1 MeV gamma rays and a Soft Gamma-ray Monitor BGO scintillator sensitive to 40 keV–20 MeV—and the high-energy CAL consisting of a charge detection module, imaging calorimeter, and the fully active total absorption calorimeter. The analysis procedure is described and upper limits to the time-averaged fluxes are presented.

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>We report the results from the broadband X-ray monitoring of the new Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1803−298 with MAXI/GSC and Swift/BAT during its outburst. After the discovery on 2021 May 1, the soft X-ray flux below 10 keV rapidly increased for ∼10 days, then gradually decreased over five months. In the brightest phase, the source exhibited the state transition from the low/hard state to the high/soft state via the intermediate state. The broadband X-ray spectrum during the outburst is well described with a disk blackbody plus its thermal or nonthermal Comptonization. Before the transition, the source spectrum is described by a thermal Comptonization component with a photon index of ∼1.7 and an electron temperature of ∼30 keV, while a strong disk blackbody component is observed after the transition. The spectral properties in these periods are consistent with the low/hard state and the high/soft state, respectively. A sudden flux drop with a duration of a few days, unassociated with a significant change in the hardness ratio, was found in the intermediate state. A possible cause of this variation is that the mass accretion rate rapidly increased at the disk transition, which induced a strong Compton-thick outflow and scattered out the X-ray flux. Assuming a nonspinning black hole, we estimate the black hole mass of MAXI J1803−298 to be<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math> <?CDATA $5.8\pm 0.4\,{(\cos i/\cos 70^\circ )}^{-1/2}(D/8\,\mathrm{kpc})\,{M}_{\odot }$?> </jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mn>5.8</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.4</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.25em" /> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>cos</mml:mi> <mml:mi>i</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi>cos</mml:mi> <mml:mn>70</mml:mn> <mml:mo>°</mml:mo> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>D</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>8</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.25em" /> <mml:mi>kpc</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mspace width="0.50em" /> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="apjac517bieqn1.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula> (where <jats:italic>i</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>D</jats:italic> are the inclination angle and the distance, respectively) from the inner disk radius obtained in the high/soft state.</jats:p>

We report that the RS CVn-type star GT Mus (HR 4492, HD 101379 + HD 101380) was the most active star in the X-ray sky in the last decade in terms of the scale of recurrent energetic flares. We detected 11 flares from GT Mus in 8 yr of observations with Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) from 2009 August to 2017 August. The detected flare peak luminosities were 1-4 $\times$ 10$^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the 2.0-20.0 keV band for its distance of 109.6 pc. Our timing analysis showed long durations ($\tau_{\rm r} + \tau_{\rm d}$) of 2-6 days with long decay times ($\tau_{\rm d}$) of 1-4 days. The released energies during the decay phases of the flares in the 0.1-100 keV band ranged 1-11 $\times$ 10$^{38}$ erg, which are at the upper end of the observed stellar flare. The released energies during whole duration time ranged 2-13 $\times$ 10$^{38}$ erg in the same band. We carried out X-ray follow-up observations for one of the 11 flares with Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) on 2017 July 18 and found that the flare cooled quasi-statically. On the basis of a quasi-static cooling model, the flare loop length is derived to be 4 $\times$ 10$^{12}$ cm (or 60 R$_{\odot}$). The electron density is derived to be 1 $\times$ 10$^{10}$ cm$^{-3}$, which is consistent with the typical value of solar and stellar flares (10$^{10-13}$ cm$^{-3}$). The ratio of the cooling timescales between radiative cooling ($\tau_{\rm rad}$) and conductive cooling ($\tau_{\rm cond}$) is estimated to be $\tau_{\rm rad}$ $\sim$ 0.1$\tau_{\rm cond}$ from the temperature; thus radiative cooling was dominant in this flare.

We report on the X-ray properties of the new transient Swift J0840.7$-$3516, discovered with Swift/BAT in 2020 February, using extensive data of Swift, MAXI, NICER, and NuSTAR. The source flux increased for $\sim 10^3$ s after the discovery, decayed rapidly over $\sim$ 5 orders of magnitude in 5 days, and then remained almost constant over 9 months. Large-amplitude short-term variations on time scales of 1--$10^4$ s were observed throughout the decay. In the initial flux rise, the source showed a hard power-law shaped spectrum with a photon index of $\sim 1.0$ extending up to $\sim 30$ keV, above which an exponential cutoff was present. The photon index increased in the following rapid decay and became $\sim 2$ at the end of the decay. A spectral absorption feature at 3--4 keV was detected in the decay. It is not straightforward to explain all the observed properties by any known class of X-ray sources. We discuss the possible nature of the source, including a Galactic low mass X-ray binary with multiple extreme properties and a tidal disruption event by a supermassive black hole or a Galactic neutron star.

In this paper, we present the measurement of the energy spectra of carbon and oxygen in cosmic rays based on observations with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station from October 2015 to October 2019. Analysis, including the detailed assessment of systematic uncertainties, and results are reported. The energy spectra are measured in kinetic energy per nucleon from 10  GeV/n to 2.2  TeV/n with an all-calorimetric instrument with a total thickness corresponding to 1.3 nuclear interaction length. The observed carbon and oxygen fluxes show a spectral index change of ∼0.15 around 200  GeV/n established with a significance >3σ. They have the same energy dependence with a constant C/O flux ratio 0.911±0.006 above 25  GeV/n. The spectral hardening is consistent with that measured by AMS-02, but the absolute normalization of the flux is about 27% lower, though in agreement with observations from previous experiments including the PAMELA spectrometer and the calorimetric balloon-borne experiment CREAM.

By accumulating data from the Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC) on board the MAXI mission for 2 years from 2009 to 2011, diffuse X-ray background maps were obtained in energies of 0.7--1.0, 1.0--2.0, and 2.0--4.0 keV. They are the first ones that were derived with a solid-state instrument, and to be compared with the previous ROSAT all sky survey result. While the SSC map in the highest energy band is dominated by point sources and the Galactic Diffuse X-ray emission, that in 0.7--1.0 keV reveals an extended X-ray structure, of which the brightness distribution is very similar to that observed with ROSAT about 20 years before. Like in the ROSAT result, the emission is dominated by a bright arc-like structure, which appears to be a part of a circle of $\sim 50^\circ$ radius centered at about $(l, b) \sim (340^\circ, 15^\circ)$. In addition, the SSC map suggests a fainter and larger ellipse, which is elongated in the north-south direction and roughly centered at the Galactic center. The spectrum of these structures is explained as thin thermal emission from a plasma, with a temperature of $\sim 0.31$ keV and an abundance of $\sim0.3$ Solar. Based on SSC observation conditions including the low Solar activity, the Solar Wind Charge Exchange signals are estimated to be negligible in the present SSC maps, as well as in the $>0.56$ keV ROSAT map. A brief discussion is given to the obtained results.

© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan. We report results from X-ray and optical observations of the Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1828-249 performed with Suzaku and the Kanata telescope around the X-ray flux peak in the 2013 outburst. The time-averaged X-ray spectrum covering 0.6-168 keV was approximately characterized by a strong multi-color disk blackbody component with an inner disk temperature of ∼0.6 keV, and a power-law tail with a photon index of ∼2.0. We detected an additional structure at 5-10 keV, which can be modeled neither with X-ray reflection on the disk nor relativistic broadening of the disk emission. Instead, it was successfully reproduced with a Comptonization of disk photons by thermal electrons with a relatively low temperature (10 keV). We infer that the source was in the intermediate state, considering its long-term trend in the hardness intensity diagram, the strength of the spectral power-law tail, and its variability properties. The lowerature Comptonization component could be produced in a boundary region between the truncated standard disk and the hot inner flow, or a Comptonizing region that somehow developed above the disk surface. The multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution suggests that the optical and ultraviolet fluxes were dominated by irradiated outer disk emission.

© 2019 authors. In this paper, we present the analysis and results of a direct measurement of the cosmic-ray proton spectrum with the CALET instrument onboard the International Space Station, including the detailed assessment of systematic uncertainties. The observation period used in this analysis is from October 13, 2015 to August 31, 2018 (1054 days). We have achieved the very wide energy range necessary to carry out measurements of the spectrum from 50 GeV to 10 TeV covering, for the first time in space, with a single instrument the whole energy interval previously investigated in most cases in separate subranges by magnetic spectrometers (BESS-TeV, PAMELA, and AMS-02) and calorimetric instruments (ATIC, CREAM, and NUCLEON). The observed spectrum is consistent with AMS-02 but extends to nearly an order of magnitude higher energy, showing a very smooth transition of the power-law spectral index from-2.81±0.03 (50-500 GeV) neglecting solar modulation effects (or-2.87±0.06 including solar modulation effects in the lower energy region) to-2.56±0.04 (1-10 TeV), thereby confirming the existence of spectral hardening and providing evidence of a deviation from a single power law by more than 3σ.

© 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. We report results from the X-ray and optical monitoring of the black hole candidate MAXI J1820+070 (=ASSASN-18ey) over the entire period of its outburst from 2018 March to October. In this outburst, the source exhibited two sets of "fast rise and slow decay"-type long-term flux variations. We found that the 1-100 keV luminosities at two peaks were almost the same, although a significant spectral softening was only seen in the second flux rise. This confirms that the state transition from the low/hard state to the high/soft state is not determined by the mass accretion rate alone. The X-ray spectrum was reproduced with the disk blackbody emission and its Comptonization, and the long-term spectral variations seen in this outburst were consistent with a disk truncation model. The Comptonization component, with a photon index of 1.5-1.9 and electron temperature of 40 keV, was dominant during the low/hard state periods, and its contribution rapidly decreased (increased) during the spectral softening (hardening). During the high/soft-state period, in which the X-ray spectrum became dominated by the disk blackbody component, the inner disk radius was almost constant, suggesting that the standard disk was present down to the innermost stable circular orbit. The long-term evolution of optical and X-ray luminosities and their correlation suggest that the jets substantially contributed to the optical emission in the low/hard state, while they are quenched and the outer disk emission dominated the optical flux in the intermediate state and the high/soft state.

CALET (CALorimetric Electron Telescope) has been installed and operational on the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility of the International Space Station (ISS) since August 2015. We describe the Web analaysis system for the CALET Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (CGBM), which is publicly available from DARTS.

© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. We report X-ray, optical, and near-infrared monitoring of the new X-ray transient MAXI J1820+070 discovered with MAXI on 2018 March 11. Its X-ray intensity reached ∼2 crab at 2-20 keV at the end of March, and then gradually decreased until the middle of June. In this period, the X-ray spectrum was described by Comptonization of the disk emission, with a photon index of ∼1.5 and an electron temperature of ∼50 keV, which is consistent with a black hole X-ray binary in the low/hard state. The electron temperature was slightly decreased, and the photon index increased, with increasing flux. The source showed significant X-ray flux variation on a timescale of seconds. This short-term variation was found to be associated with changes in the spectral shape, and the photon index became slightly harder at higher fluxes. This suggests that the variation was produced by a change in the properties of the hot electron cloud responsible for the strong Comptonization. Modeling a multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution around the X-ray flux peak at the end of March, covering the near-infrared to X-ray bands, we found that the optical and near-infrared fluxes were likely contributed substantially by the jet emission. Before this outburst, the source was never detected in the X-ray band with MAXI (with a 3σ upper limit of ∼0.2 mcrab at 4-10 keV, obtained from seven years of data from 2009 to 2016), whereas weak optical and infrared activity was found at flux levels ∼3 orders of magnitude lower than the peak fluxes in the outburst.

© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. We present the third MAXI/GSC catalog in the high Galactic latitude sky () based on the 7-year data from 2009 August 13 to 2016 July 31, complementary to that in the low Galactic latitude sky (|b| > 10°) (Hori et al. 2018). We compile 682 sources detected at significances of s D,4-10 keV ≥ 6.5 in the 4-10 keV band. A two-dimensional image fit based on the Poisson likelihood algorithm (C-statistics) is adopted for the detections and constraints on their fluxes and positions. The 4-10 keV sensitivity reaches ≈0.48 mCrab, or ≈5.9 × 10-12 erg cm-2 s-1, over half of the survey area. Compared with the 37-month Hiroi et al. (2013) catalog, which adopted a threshold of s D,4-10 keV ≥ 7, the source number increases by a factor of ∼1.4. The fluxes in the 3-4 keV and 10-20 keV bands are further estimated, and hardness ratios (HRs) are calculated using the 3-4 keV, 4-10 keV, 3-10 keV, and 10-20 keV band fluxes. We also make the 4-10 keV light curves in 1-year bins for all the sources and characterize their variabilities with an index based on a likelihood function and the excess variance. Possible counterparts are found from five major X-ray survey catalogs by Swift, Uhuru, RXTE, XMM-Newton, and ROSAT, as well as an X-ray galaxy cluster catalog (MCXC). Our catalog provides the fluxes, positions, detection significances, HRs, 1-year bin light curves, variability indices, and counterpart candidates.

© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan. All rights reserved. We report on the detection and subsequent X-ray monitoring of the new Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1535−571 with the Gas Slit Camera onboard Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI/GSC). After the discovery on 2017 September 2, made independently with MAXI and the Swift/BAT, the source brightened gradually, and in a few weeks reached the peak intensity of ∼5 Crab, or ∼1.6 × 10−7 erg cm−2 s−1 in terms of the 2-20 keV flux. On the initial outburst rise, the 2-20 keV MAXI/GSC spectrum was described by a power-law model with a photon index of 2, while after a hard-to-soft transition, which occurred on September 18, the spectrum required a disk blackbody component in addition. At around the flux peak, the 2-8 keV and 15-50 keV light curves showed quasi-periodic and anti-correlated fluctuations with amplitudes of 10%-20%, on a time scale of ∼1 d. Based on these X-ray properties obtained with the MAXI/GSC, with additional information from the Swift/BAT, we discuss the evolution of the spectral state of this source, and give constraints on its system parameters.

© The Author(s) 2018. We report on the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) observation of the gravitational-wave (GW) event GW170817 and the electromagnetic counterpart of GW170817. GW170817 is a binary neutron star coalescence candidate detected by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and Advanced Virgo detectors, and it is the first event for which the optical counterpart has been discovered. In the MAXI observation, the Gas Slit Camera (GSC) covered approximately 62% of the sky region of the GW event within the 90% probability during the first 92 min orbital period after the trigger. No significant X-ray transient was detected in the error region, and the upper limit of the average flux with a significance of 3σ in the 2–10 keV band was 53/26 mCrab (one-orbit observation/one-day observation). In the optical counterpart of GW170817, the observational window of the GSC at the position started 20 s after the GW trigger, but the high-voltage power supply of the GSC was unfortunately off at the time because the International Space Station (ISS) was entering a high-particle-background region.The first observation of the position by the GSC was eventually performed 16797 s (4.6 hr) after the GW trigger, yielding the 3σ upper limit of 8.60 × 10−9 erg cm−2 s−1 in the 2–10 keV band, though it was the earliest X-ray observation of the counterpart.

© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. The CALorimetric Electron Telescope primary detector (CALET-CAL) is a 30 radiation-length-deep hybrid calorimeter designed for the accurate measurement of high-energy cosmic rays. It is capable of triggering on and giving near complete containment of electromagnetic showers from primary electrons and gamma rays from 1 GeV to over 10 TeV. The first 24 months of on-orbit scientific data (2015 November 01-2017 October 31) provide valuable characterization of the performance of the calorimeter based on analyses of the gamma-ray data set in general and bright point sources in particular. We describe the gamma-ray analysis, the expected performance of the calorimeter based on Monte Carlo simulations, the agreement of the flight data with the simulated results, and the outlook for long-term gamma-ray observations with the CAL.

© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present the results of searches for gamma-ray counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events using CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) observations. The main instrument of CALET, CALorimeter (CAL), observes gamma-rays from ∼1 GeV up to 10 TeV with a field of view (FOV) of nearly 2 sr. In addition, the CALET gamma-ray burst monitor views ∼3 sr and ∼2π sr of the sky in the 7 keV-1 MeV and the 40 keV-20 MeV bands, respectively, by using two different crystal scintillators. The CALET observations on the International Space Station started in 2015 October, and here we report analyses of events associated with the following gravitational wave events: GW151226, GW170104, GW170608, GW170814, and GW170817. Although only upper limits on gamma-ray emission are obtained, they correspond to a luminosity of 1049 ∼ 1053 erg s-1 in the GeV energy band depending on the distance and the assumed time duration of each event, which is approximately on the order of luminosity of typical short gamma-ray bursts. This implies that there will be a favorable opportunity to detect high-energy gamma-ray emission in further observations if additional gravitational wave events with favorable geometry will occur within our FOV. We also show the sensitivity of CALET for gamma-ray transient events, which is on the order of 10-7 erg cm-2 s-1 for an observation of 100 s in duration.

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), launched for installation on the International Space Station (ISS) in August, 2015, has been accumulating scientific data since October, 2015. CALET is intended to perform long-duration observations of high-energy cosmic rays onboard the ISS. CALET directly measures the cosmic-ray electron spectrum in the energy range of 1 GeV to 20 TeV with a 2% energy resolution above 30 GeV. In addition, the instrument can measure the spectrum of gamma rays well into the TeV range, and the spectra of protons and nuclei up to a PeV. In order to operate the CALET onboard ISS, JAXA Ground Support Equipment (JAXA-GSE) and the Waseda CALET Operations Center (WCOC) have been established at JAXA and Waseda University, respectively. Scientific operations using CALET are planned at WCOC, taking into account orbital variations of geomagnetic rigidity cutoff. Scheduled command sequences are used to control the CALET observation modes on orbit. Calibration data acquisition by, for example, recording pedestal and penetrating particle events, a low-energy electron trigger mode operating at high geomagnetic latitude, a low-energy gamma-ray trigger mode operating at low geomagnetic latitude, and an ultra heavy trigger mode, are scheduled around the ISS orbit while maintaining maximum exposure to high-energy electrons and other high-energy shower events by always having the high-energy trigger mode active. The WCOC also prepares and distributes CALET flight data to collaborators in Italy and the United States. As of August 31, 2017, the total observation time is 689 days with a live time fraction of the total time of ∼ 84%. Nearly 450 million events are collected with a high-energy (E > 10 GeV) trigger. In addition, calibration data acquisition and low-energy trigger modes, as well as an ultra-heavy trigger mode, are consistently scheduled around the ISS orbit. By combining all operation modes with the excellent-quality on-orbit data collected thus far, it is expected that a five-year observation period will provide a wealth of new and interesting results.

© 2018 American Physical Society. Extended results on the cosmic-ray electron + positron spectrum from 11 GeV to 4.8 TeV are presented based on observations with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the International Space Station utilizing the data up to November 2017. The analysis uses the full detector acceptance at high energies, approximately doubling the statistics compared to the previous result. CALET is an all-calorimetric instrument with a total thickness of 30 X0 at normal incidence and fine imaging capability, designed to achieve large proton rejection and excellent energy resolution well into the TeV energy region. The observed energy spectrum in the region below 1 TeV shows good agreement with Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) data. In the energy region below ∼300 GeV, CALET's spectral index is found to be consistent with the AMS-02, Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT), and Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), while from 300 to 600 GeV the spectrum is significantly softer than the spectra from the latter two experiments. The absolute flux of CALET is consistent with other experiments at around a few tens of GeV. However, it is lower than those of DAMPE and Fermi-LAT with the difference increasing up to several hundred GeV. The observed energy spectrum above ∼1 TeV suggests a flux suppression consistent within the errors with the results of DAMPE, while CALET does not observe any significant evidence for a narrow spectral feature in the energy region around 1.4 TeV. Our measured all-electron flux, including statistical errors and a detailed breakdown of the systematic errors, is tabulated in the Supplemental Material in order to allow more refined spectral analyses based on our data.

© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. We present the first MAXI/GSC X-ray source catalog in the low-Galactic-latitude sky outside the Galactic center region (, l < 30°, and l > 330°) based on 7-year data from 2009 August 13 to 2016 July 31. To overcome source confusion in crowded regions, we have accurately calibrated the position-dependent shape of the point-spread function of the MAXI/GSC by analyzing onboard data. We have also taken into account the Galactic ridge X-ray emission. Using a maximum likelihood image fitting method, we have detected 221 sources with a significance threshold >6.5σ, 7 of which are transients only detected in 73-day time-sliced images. The faintest source has a flux of 5.2 10-12 erg cm-2 s-1 (or an intensity of 0.43 mCrab) in the 4-10 keV band. We have identified the counterparts for about 81% of the detected sources, by cross-matching with the Swift, Uhuru, RXTE, XMM-Newton, MCXC, and ROSAT all-sky survey catalogs. Our catalog contains the source name, position and its error, flux and detection significance in the 3-4 keV, 4-10 keV, and 10-20 keV bands, hardness ratios, and information on the likely counterpart for the individual detected sources. We have obtained 73-day bin light curves of all the cataloged sources over 7 years and have calculated their periodograms. On the basis of the mean properties of time variability and spectral hardness, we suggest that the majority of the unidentified sources are low-mass X-ray binaries or blazars. Finally, we present the log N-log S relations at different Galactic longitudes and for different source populations.

© The Author(s) 2018. We present the detection of a blackbody component in gamma-ray burst GRB 160107A emission by using the combined spectral data of the CALET Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (CGBM) and the MAXI Gas Slit Camera (GSC). MAXI/GSC detected the emission ∼45 s prior to the main burst episode observed by the CGBM. The MAXI/GSC and the CGBM spectrum of this prior emission period is fitted well by a blackbody with temperature 1.0 +0.3-0.2 keV plus a power law with a photon index of -1.6 ± 0.3. We discuss the radius of the photospheric emission and the main burst emission based on the observational properties. We stress the importance of coordinated observations via various instruments collecting high-quality data over a broad energy coverage in order to understand the GRB prompt emission mechanism.

© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We report on the detection and follow-up multi-wavelength observations of the new X-ray transient MAXI J1807+132 with the MAXI/GSC, Swift, and ground-based optical telescopes. The source was first recognized with the MAXI/GSC on 2017 March 13. About a week later, it reached maximum intensity (∼10 mCrab in 2-10 keV), and then gradually faded in ∼10 days by more than one order of magnitude. Time-averaged Swift/X-ray Telescope spectra in the decaying phase can be described by a blackbody with a relatively low temperature (0.1-0.5 keV), plus a hard power-law component with a photon index of ∼2. These spectral properties are similar to those of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) in their dim periods. The blackbody temperature and the radius of the emission region varied in a complex manner as the source became dimmer. The source was detected in the optical wavelength on March 27-31 as well. The optical flux decreased monotonically as the X-ray flux decayed. The correlation between the X-ray and optical fluxes is found to be consistent with those of known neutron star LMXBs, supporting the idea that the source is likely to be a transient neutron star LMXB.

© 2017 Published by the American Physical Society. First results of a cosmic-ray electron and positron spectrum from 10 GeV to 3 TeV is presented based upon observations with the CALET instrument on the International Space Station starting in October, 2015. Nearly a half million electron and positron events are included in the analysis. CALET is an all-calorimetric instrument with total vertical thickness of 30 X0 and a fine imaging capability designed to achieve a large proton rejection and excellent energy resolution well into the TeV energy region. The observed energy spectrum over 30 GeV can be fit with a single power law with a spectral index of -3.152±0.016 (stat+syst). Possible structure observed above 100 GeV requires further investigation with increased statistics and refined data analysis.

© 2017 The Authors In August 2015, the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), designed for long exposure observations of high energy cosmic rays, docked with the International Space Station (ISS) and shortly thereafter began to collect data. CALET will measure the cosmic ray electron spectrum over the energy range of 1 GeV to 20 TeV with a very high resolution of 2% above 100 GeV, based on a dedicated instrument incorporating an exceptionally thick 30 radiation-length calorimeter with both total absorption and imaging (TASC and IMC) units. Each TASC readout channel must be carefully calibrated over the extremely wide dynamic range of CALET that spans six orders of magnitude in order to obtain a degree of calibration accuracy matching the resolution of energy measurements. These calibrations consist of calculating the conversion factors between ADC units and energy deposits, ensuring linearity over each gain range, and providing a seamless transition between neighboring gain ranges. This paper describes these calibration methods in detail, along with the resulting data and associated accuracies. The results presented in this paper show that a sufficient accuracy was achieved for the calibrations of each channel in order to obtain a suitable resolution over the entire dynamic range of the electron spectrum measurement.

© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan. The error region of the the gravitational-wave (GW) event GW151226 was observed with Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). MAXIwas operating at the time ofGW151226, and continuously observed up to 4min after the event. MAXI covered about 84% of the 90% error region of the GW event during the first 92 min orbit after the event. No significant X-ray transient was detected in the GW error region. A typical 3 σ Gas Slit Camera upper limit for a scan is 1.2 × 10-9 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 2-20 keV band. The autodetection (MAXI nova-search) systems detected a short excess event with a low significance (2.85 σ) from 5257 s to 5260 s after the GWtrigger. Finally, we discuss the sensitivity of MAXI to long Xray emissions of short gamma-ray bursts, which are expected to accompany GW events.

© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40 8 8-+ Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 M. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient's position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.

© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan. All rights reserved. We searched for X-ray candidates for the gravitational wave (GW) event GW150914 with Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). MAXI observed the error region of the GW event GW150914 from 4min after the event and covered about 90% of the error region in 25 min. No significant time variations on timescales of 1 s to 4 d were found in the GW error region. The 3 s upper limits for the X-ray emission associated with the GWevent in 2-20 keV were 9.5 × 10 -10 , 2.3 × 10 -10 , and 0.8 × 10 -10 erg cm -2 s -1 for the time scales of ~1000 s, 1 d, and 10 d, respectively. If GW events are associated with short gamma-ray bursts like GRB 050709, MAXI will be able to detect X-ray emissions from the source.

© 2016 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan. All rights reserved. Twenty-three giant flares from thirteen active stars (eight RS CVn systems, one Algol system, three dMe stars, and one young stellar object) were detected during the first two years of our all-sky X-ray monitoring with the gas propotional counters (GSC) of the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). The observed parameters of all these MAXI/GSC flares are found to be at the upper ends for stellar flares with the luminosity of 1031-34 erg s-1 in the 2-20 keV band, the emission measure of 1054-57 cm-3, the e-folding time of 1 hr to 1.5 d, and the total radiative energy released during the flare of 1034-39 erg. Notably, the peak X-ray luminosity of 5+4-2 × 1033erg s-1 in the 2-20 keV band was detected in one of the flares on II Peg, which is one of the, or potentially the, largest-ever-observed in stellar flares. X-ray flares were detected from GT Mus, V841 Cen, SZ Psc, and TWA-7 for the first time in this survey. Whereas most of our detected sources are multiple-star systems, two of them are single stars (YZ CMi and TWA-7). Among the stellar sources within 100 pc distance, the MAXI/GSC sources have larger rotation velocities than the other sources. This suggests that the rapid rotation velocity may play a key role in generating large flares. Combining the X-ray flare data of nearby stars and the sun, taken from literature and our own data, we discovered a universal correlation of τ LX0.2 for the flare duration τ and the intrinsic X-ray luminosity LX in the 0.1-100 keV band, which holds for 5 and 12 orders of magnitude in τ and LX, respectively. The MAXI/GSC sample is located at the highest ends of the correlation.

© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. We present upper limits in the hard X-ray and gamma-ray bands at the time of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) gravitational-wave event GW151226 derived from the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) observation. The main instrument of CALET, CALorimeter (CAL), observes gamma-rays from ∼1 GeV up to 10 TeV with a field of view of ∼2 sr. The CALET gamma-ray burst monitor (CGBM) views ∼3 sr and ∼2π sr of the sky in the 7 keV-1 MeV and the 40 keV-20 MeV bands, respectively, by using two different scintillator-based instruments. The CGBM covered 32.5% and 49.1% of the GW151226 sky localization probability in the 7 keV-1 MeV and 40 keV-20 MeV bands respectively. We place a 90% upper limit of 2 ×10-7 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 1-100 GeV band where CAL reaches 15% of the integrated LIGO probability (∼1.1 sr). The CGBM 7σ upper limits are 1.0 ×10-6 erg cm-2 s-1 (7-500 keV) and 1.8 ×10-6 erg cm-2 s-1 (50-1000 keV) for a 1 s exposure. Those upper limits correspond to the luminosity of 3-5 ×1049 erg s-1, which is significantly lower than typical short GRBs.

© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. A gravitational-wave (GW) transient was identified in data recorded by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on 2015 September 14. The event, initially designated G184098 and later given the name GW150914, is described in detail elsewhere. By prior arrangement, preliminary estimates of the time, significance, and sky location of the event were shared with 63 teams of observers covering radio, optical, near-infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths with ground- and space-based facilities. In this Letter we describe the low-latency analysis of the GW data and present the sky localization of the first observed compact binary merger. We summarize the follow-up observations reported by 25 teams via private Gamma-ray Coordinates Network circulars, giving an overview of the participating facilities, the GW sky localization coverage, the timeline, and depth of the observations. As this event turned out to be a binary black hole merger, there is little expectation of a detectable electromagnetic (EM) signature. Nevertheless, this first broadband campaign to search for a counterpart of an Advanced LIGO source represents a milestone and highlights the broad capabilities of the transient astronomy community and the observing strategies that have been developed to pursue neutron star binary merger events. Detailed investigations of the EM data and results of the EM follow-up campaign are being disseminated in papers by the individual teams.

© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. This Supplement provides supporting material for Abbott et al. (2016a). We briefly summarize past electromagnetic (EM) follow-up efforts as well as the organization and policy of the current EM follow-up program. We compare the four probability sky maps produced for the gravitational-wave transient GW150914, and provide additional details of the EM follow-up observations that were performed in the different bands.

© 2016 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan. Various transient phenomena on a timescale ranging from seconds to days appear at unexpected sky positions in X-rays. MAXI, Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image, on the International Space Station has been monitoring about 95% of the sky a day and has detected transient objects since 2009 August. Here, we describe quasi-real-time data processing systems of MAXI and a subsequent nova-alert system to find transient objects, and present the capabilities for the nova-alert system to detect transient events with excess fluxes from ≥80 mCrab in a single scan transit to ≥8 mCrab for 4 d, and to send prompt alert information to the world in less than 30 s after the onboard detection of a burst, making the best use of the International Space Station (ISS) real-time network. We also report on highlights of scientific results obtained with the system until the end of the first extended mission phase, 2015 March. Including 15 X-ray novae solely or independently discovered, we have reported on 177 transient phenomena, such as X-ray bursts, outbursts, and state transitions of X-ray binaries and X-ray flares from active stars and blazars, via the Astronomer's Telegram, and on 63 burst phenomena of other types via the Gamma-ray Coordinates Network. We summarize the results of these transient sources and phenomena focusing on the detections with the nova-alert system, and some new transients yet unpublished or requiring attention.

© The Author 2015. We have observed the prompt emission of GRB 100418A from its beginning captured by the MAXI SSC (0.7-7 keV) on board the International Space Station followed by the Swift XRT (0.3-10 keV) observation. The light curve can be fitted by a combination of a power-law component and an exponential component (the decay constant is 31.6 ± 1.6 s). The X-ray spectrum is well expressed by the Band function with E p ≤ 8.3 keV. This is the brightest gamma-ray burst showing a very low value of E p . It satisfies the Yonetoku relation (E p -L p ). It is also consistent with the Amati relation (E p -E iso ) within a 2.5σ level.

© 2016 The Author. We present a newly developed broadband transient monitor using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the MAXI Gas Slit Camera (GSC) data. Our broadband transient monitor keeps vigil for high-energy transient sources from 2 keV to 200 keV in seven energy bands by combining the BAT (15-200 keV) and the GSC (2-20 keV) data. Currently, daily and 90-minute (one orbit) averaged light curves are available for 106 high-energy transient sources. This transient monitor is available to the public through our web server, http://yoshidalab.mydns.jp/bat-gsc-trans-mon/, for wider use by the community. We discuss a daily sensitivity of our monitor and possible future improvements on our pipeline.

© 2016 The Author. We present the first source catalog of the Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC) of the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) mission on the International Space Station, using the 45-month data from 2010 August to 2014 April in the 0.7-7.0 keV bands. Sources are searched for in two energy bands, 0.7-1.85 keV (soft) and 1.85-7.0 keV (hard), the limiting sensitivity of 3 and 4 mCrab are achieved, and 140 and 138 sources are detected in the soft and hard energy bands, respectively. Combining the two energy bands, 170 sources are listed in the MAXI/SSC catalog. All but 2 sources are identified with 22 galaxies including AGNs, 29 cluster of galaxies, 21 supernova remnants, 75 X-ray binaries, 8 stars, 5 isolated pulsars, and 9 non-categorized objects. Comparing the soft-band fluxes at the brightest end in our catalog with the ROSAT survey, which was performed about 20 years ago, 10% of the cataloged sources are found to have changed flux since the ROSAT era.

© 2016 The Author. The long-term X-ray variability of the black hole binary Cygnus X-1 was studied with five years of MAXI data from 2009 to 2014, which include substantial periods of the high/soft state, as well as the low/hard state. In each state, normalized power spectrum densities (NPSDs) were calculated in three energy bands of 2-4 keV, 4-10 keV, and 10-20 keV. The NPSDs for frequencies from 10 -7 Hz to 10 -4 Hz are all approximated by a power-law function with an index -1.35-1.29. The fractional RMS variation η, calculated in the above frequency range, was found to show the following three properties: (1) η slightly decreases with energy in the low/hard state; (2) η increases towards higher energies in the high/soft state; and (3) in the 10-20 keV band, η is three times higher in the high/soft state than in the low/hard state. These properties were confirmed through studies of intensity-correlated changes of the MAXI spectra. Of these three findings, the first one is consistent with that seen in the short-term variability during the low/hard state. The latter two can be understood as a result of high variability of the hard-tail component seen in the high/soft state with the above very low frequency range, although the origin of the variability remains inconclusive.

© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. We present the results from our Suzaku observations of the Galactic black hole binary 4U 1630-47. 4U 1630-47 was observed in the very high state (VHS) during the 2012 September-October outburst. The inner disk appears slightly truncated by comparison with a previous high/soft state (HSS) of this source, even by taking into account energetic coupling between the disk and corona. The spectra do not show the Doppler-shifted emission lines indicating baryonic jets that were seen four days previously in an XMM-Newton observation, despite the source being in a similar state. There are no significant absorption lines from highly ionized iron ions. We also observed 4U 1630-47 in the HSS simultaneously with Suzaku and NuSTAR in an early epoch of the 2015 outburst. All Suzaku spectra in the HSS show variable iron-K absorption line features. We find that the ionization state of the disk wind rapidly increased when the continuum showed significant spectral hardening. This behavior is consistent with that expected from a thermally driven wind.

© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. How black holes accrete surrounding matter is a fundamental yet unsolved question in astrophysics. It is generally believed that matter is absorbed into black holes via accretion disks, the state of which depends primarily on the mass-accretion rate. When this rate approaches the critical rate (the Eddington limit), thermal instability is supposed to occur in the inner disk, causing repetitive patterns of large-amplitude X-ray variability (oscillations) on timescales of minutes to hours. In fact, such oscillations have been observed only in sources with a high mass-accretion rate, such as GRS 1915+105 (refs 2, 3). These large-amplitude, relatively slow timescale, phenomena are thought to have physical origins distinct from those of X-ray or optical variations with small amplitudes and fast timescales (less than about 10 seconds) often observed in other black-hole binaries - for example, XTE J1118+480 (ref. 4) and GX 339â '4 (ref. 5). Here we report an extensive multi-colour optical photometric data set of V404 Cygni, an X-ray transient source containing a black hole of nine solar masses (and a companion star) at a distance of 2.4 kiloparsecs (ref. 8). Our data show that optical oscillations on timescales of 100 seconds to 2.5 hours can occur at mass-accretion rates more than ten times lower than previously thought. This suggests that the accretion rate is not the critical parameter for inducing inner-disk instabilities. Instead, we propose that a long orbital period is a key condition for these large-amplitude oscillations, because the outer part of the large disk in binaries with long orbital periods will have surface densities too low to maintain sustained mass accretion to the inner part of the disk. The lack of sustained accretion - not the actual rate - would then be the critical factor causing large-amplitude oscillations in long-period systems.

Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) is X-ray mission on the International Space Station. MAXI scans all sky every 92 minutes and detects various X-ray transient events including X-ray bursts. Among the X-ray bursts observed by MAXI, eleven had long duration and were observed more than one scan. Six out of eleven long bursts have the e-folding time of >1 hour, that should be classified as "superbursts", while the rest are "intermediate-duration bursts". The total emitted energy of these long X-ray bursts range from 10(41) to 10(42) ergs. The lower limits of the superburst recurrence time of 4U 0614+091 and Ser X-1 are calculated as 4400 and 59 days, which may be consistent with the observed recurrence time of 3523 and 1148 days, respectively.