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We study the evolution of the temporal properties of MAXI 1820+070 during the 2018 outburst in its hard state from MJD 58190 to 58289 with Insight-HXMT in a broad energy band 1-150 keV. We find different behaviors of the hardness ratio, the fractional rms and time lag before and after MJD 58257, suggesting a transition occurred at around this point. The observed time lags between the soft photons in the 1-5 keV band and the hard photons in higher energy bands, up to 150 keV, are frequency-dependent: the time lags in the low-frequency range, 2-10 mHz, are both soft and hard lags with a timescale of dozens of seconds but without a clear trend along the outburst; the time lags in the high-frequency range, 1-10 Hz, are only hard lags with a timescale of tens of milliseconds; first increase until around MJD 58257 and decrease after this date. The high-frequency time lags are significantly correlated to the photon index derived from the fit to the quasi-simultaneous NICER spectrum in the 1-10 keV band. This result is qualitatively consistent with a model in which the high-frequency time lags are produced by Comptonization in a jet., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present the analysis of the brightest flare that was recorded in the \emph{Insight}-HMXT data set, in a broad energy range (2$-$200 keV) from the microquasar GRS~1915+105 during an unusual low-luminosity state. This flare was detected by \emph{Insight}-HXMT among a series of flares during 2 June 2019 UTC 16:37:06 to 20:11:36, with a 2-200 keV luminosity of 3.4$-$7.27$\times10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Basing on the broad-band spectral analysis, we find that the flare spectrum shows different behaviors during bright and faint epochs. The spectrum of the flare can be fitted with a model dominated by a power-law component. Additional components show up in the bright epoch with a hard tail and in the faint epoch with an absorption line $\sim$ 6.78 keV. The reflection component of the latter is consistent with an inner disk radius $\sim$ 5 times larger than that of the former. These results on the giant flare during the "unusual" low-luminosity state of GRS~1915+105 may suggest that the source experiences a possible fast transition from a jet-dominated state to a wind-dominated state. We speculate that the evolving accretion disk and the large-scale magnetic field may play important roles in this peculiar huge flare.

Corona cooling was detected previously from stacking a series of short type-I bursts occurred during the low/had state of atoll outburst. Type-I bursts are hence regarded as sharp probe to our better understanding on the basic property of the corona. The launch of the first Chinese X-ray satellite Insight-HXMT has large detection area at hard X-rays which provide almost unique chance to move further in this research field. We report the first detection of the corona cooling by Insight-HXMT from single short type-I burst showing up during {\bf flare} of 4U 1636-536. This type-I X-ray burst has a duration of $\sim$13 seconds and hard X-ray shortage is detected with significance 6.2~$\sigma$ in 40-70 keV. A cross-correlation analysis between the lightcurves of soft and hard X-ray band, shows that the corona shortage lag the burst emission by 1.6 $\pm$1.2~s. These results are consistent with those derived previously from stacking a large amount of bursts detected by RXTE/PCA within a series of {\bf flares} of 4U 1636-536. Moreover, the broad bandwidth of Insight-HXMT allows as well for the first time to infer the burst influence upon the continuum spectrum via performing the spectral fitting of the burst, which ends up with the finding that hard X-ray shortage appears at around 40 keV in the continuum spectrum. These results suggest that the evolution of the corona along with the outburst{\bf /flare} of NS XRB may be traced via looking into a series of embedded type-I bursts by using Insight-HXMT., Comment: published in 2018, ApJL,864, L30

We present spectral line profiles for the 557 GHz 110 → 101 ground-state rotational transition of ortho-H216O for 18 Galactic star formation regions observed by the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite. Water is unambiguously detected in every source. The line profiles exhibit a wide variety of shapes, including single-peaked spectra and self-reversed profiles. We interpret these profiles using a Monte Carlo code to model the radiative transport. The observed variations in the line profiles can be explained by variations in the relative strengths of the bulk flow and small-scale turbulent motions within the clouds. Bulk flow (infall, outflow) must be present in some cloud cores, and in certain cases this bulk flow dominates the turbulent motions.

We have used the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite to map the ground-state 1_{10}-1_{01} transition of ortho-water at 557 GHz in the Orion molecular cloud. Water emission was detected in Orion over an angular extent of about 20 arcmin, or nearly 3 pc. The water emission is relatively weak, with line widths (3-6 km s^{-1}) and V_{LSR} velocities (9-11 km s^{-1}) consistent with an origin in the cold gas of the molecular ridge. We find that the ortho-water abundance relative to H_2 in the extended gas in Orion varies between 1 and 8x10^{-8}, with an average of 3x10^{-8}. The absence of detectable narrow-line ortho-H_2^{18}O emission is used to set a 3-sigma upper limit on the relative ortho-water abundance of 7x10^{-8}.

We have used the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) to carry out deep integrations on the NJ = 33 → 12 transition of O2 in a variety of Galactic molecular clouds. We here report no convincing detection in an initial set of observations of 20 sources. We compare O2 integrated intensities with those of C18O in a similarly sized beam and obtain 3 σ upper limits for the O2/C18O abundance ratio ≤ 2.3 in four clouds and ≤ 3.6 in five additional clouds. Our lowest individual limit corresponds to N(O2)/N(H2) < 2.6 × 10-7 (3 σ). A combination of data from nine sources yields N(O2)/N(H2) = [0.33 ± 1.6 (3 σ)] × 10-7. These low limits, characterizing a variety of clouds in different environments at different Galactocentric radii, indicate that O2 is not a major constituent of molecular clouds and is not an important coolant. The abundance of O2 is significantly lower than predicted by steady state single-component chemical models. The present results are best understood in the context of cloud chemical and dynamical models that include the interaction of gas-phase molecules and grain surfaces and/or circulation of material between well-shielded and essentially unshielded regions. This circulation may be powered by turbulence or other driving forces that effectively keep molecular clouds chemically unevolved.

We have observed the 110-101 transition of interstellar water vapor near 557 GHz toward the three outflow sources NGC 2071, L1157, and NGC 1333 IRAS 4 using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite. In each case, the observations reveal broad emission from water in the outflow accompanied by a narrow absorption feature at the velocity of the quiescent gas. Our estimates of the average ortho-water abundance within the outflowing gas lie in the range (0.5-1.6) × 10-6 relative to H2.

We have used the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite to carry out observations on Jupiter and Saturn in two bands centered at 489 and 553 GHz. We detect spectrally resolved 557 GHz H2O emission on both planets, constraining for the first time the residence levels of external water vapor in Jupiter's and Saturn's stratosphere. For both planets, the line appears to be formed at maximum pressures of about 5 mbar. For Jupiter, the data further show that water is not uniformly mixed but increases with altitude above the condensation level. In each planet, the amount of water implied by the data is 1.5-2.5 times larger than inferred from Infrared Space Observatory data. In addition, our observations provide new whole-disk brightness measurements of Jupiter and Saturn near 489 and 553 GHz.

We mapped a 13 by 22 pc region in emission from 492 GHz [C I] and, for the first time, 551 GHz ^{13}CO(5-4) in the giant molecular cloud M17SW, using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite. The morphologies of the [C I] and ^{13}CO emission are strikingly similar. The extent and intensity of the [C I] and ^{13}CO(5-4) emission is explained as arising from photodissociation regions on the surfaces of embedded molecular clumps. Modeling of the ^{13}CO(5-4) emission in comparison to ^{13}CO(1-0) indicates a temperature gradient across the cloud, peaking to at least 63 K near the M17 ionization front and decreasing to at least 20 K at the western edge of the cloud. We see no correlation between gas density and column density. The beam-averaged column density of C I in the core is 1x10^{18} cm^-2, and the mean column density ratio N(C I)/N(CO) is about 0.4. The variations of N(C I)/N(CO) with position in M17SW indicate a similar clump size distribution throughout the cloud.

We have detected the 110-101 pure rotational transition of water vapor toward comet C/1999 H1 using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite. Over the period 1999 May 19.01-23.69 UT, the average integrated antenna temperature was 1.79 ± 0.03 K km s-1 within a 33 × 45 (FWHM) elliptical beam. For an assumed ortho-to-para ratio of 3, we estimate the total water production rate as 8 × 1028 s-1. This value lies approximately 50% above the value estimated by Biver et al. from contemporaneous radio observations of hydroxyl molecules. The observed line width of 1.8 km s-1 (FWHM) is broader than the instrumental profile and suggests an intrinsic line width of about 1.4 km s-1 (FWHM). The data, taken during a portion of every 97 minute spacecraft orbit over a 4.68 day period, provide no evidence for variability.

We report the first detections of absorption features in the submillimeter spectrum of Mars that are due to the H2O (110-101) and 13CO (5-4) rotational transitions. Observations were obtained over several days near the planet's closest approach to Earth in 1999 April. These observations simultaneously provide us with an opportunity to derive the atmospheric temperature structure and to measure directly the distribution of water vapor with altitude. The Martian atmosphere is found to be relatively cool, consistent with results found from ground-based millimeter observations of CO. The distribution of water in the Martian atmosphere matches a profile of constant, 100% saturation from 10 to 45 km altitude.

We have obtained spectra of the rotational ground-state 110-101 556.936 GHz ortho-H216O and 110-101 547.676 GHz ortho-H218O transitions toward Orion BN/KL using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS). The ortho-H216O spectrum shows strong evidence for both a broad (Δv 48 km s-1) and a narrow (Δv 7.5 km s-1) component, while the ortho-H218O shows evidence for only a broad (Δv 24 km s-1) component. The broad component emission in both ortho-H216O and ortho-H218O arises primarily from gas heated within the low- and high-velocity outflows and shocked gas surrounding IRc2 in which the ortho-H216O and ortho-H218O fractional abundances are estimated to be 3.5 × 10-4 and 7 × 10-7, respectively. This finding provides further confirmation that water is efficiently and abundantly produced within warm shock-heated gas. We estimate that the hot core plus the compact ridge contribute 10% to the ortho-H216O integrated intensity within the SWAS beam. The narrow component seen in the ortho-H216O spectrum is best fitted by ortho-water emission from the extended ridge (ER) and the higher temperature core of the extended ridge (CER) with a common fractional abundance of 3.3 × 10-8. The absence of any discernible narrow component in the ortho-H218O spectrum is used to set 3 σ upper limits on the ortho-water fractional abundance within the ER of 7 × 10-8 and within the CER of 5.2 × 10-7. This implies that within the dense extended quiescent region, gas-phase water is neither a major repository of oxygen nor a major coolant in Orion BN/KL.

A long-standing prediction of steady state gas-phase chemical theory is that H2O and O2 are important reservoirs of elemental oxygen and major coolants of the interstellar medium. Analysis of Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) observations has set sensitive upper limits on the abundance of O2 and has provided H2O abundances toward a variety of star-forming regions. Based on these results, we show that gaseous H2O and O2 are not dominant carriers of elemental oxygen in molecular clouds. Instead, the available oxygen is presumably frozen on dust grains in the form of molecular ices, with a significant portion potentially remaining in atomic form, along with CO, in the gas phase. H2O and O2 are also not significant coolants for quiescent molecular gas. In the case of H2O, a number of known chemical processes can locally elevate its abundance in regions with enhanced temperatures, such as warm regions surrounding young stars or in hot shocked gas. Thus, water can be a locally important coolant. The new information provided by SWAS, when combined with recent results from the Infrared Space Observatory, also provides several hard observational constraints for theoretical models of the chemistry in molecular clouds, and we discuss various models that satisfy these conditions.

The submillimeter wave astronomy satellite (SWAS) mission is dedicated to the investigation of star formation and interstellar chemistry. In order to perform the mission, SWAS will survey dense molecular clouds within the Milky Way Galaxy in either the ground state or a low-lying transition of five astrophysically-significant species: H2O, H2(18)O, O2, C I and (13)CO. The observation of these lines will: test theories that predict that these species are dominant coolants of molecular clouds during early stages of their collapse to form stars and planets, and supply information concerning the abundance of species central to the chemical models of dense interstellar gas. The SWAS will use two independent Schottky barrier diode mixers and a 53 x 68 sq cm, off-axis Cassegrain antenna.

We have observed the 110-101 pure rotational transitions of both H216O and H218O toward Sagittarius B2 using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite. The spectra thereby obtained show a complex pattern of absorption and—in the case of H216O—emission, with numerous features covering a wide range of LSR velocities (-130 to 130 km s-1) and representing absorption both in gas associated with Sgr B2 as well as by several components of foreground gas along the line of sight. The ortho-water abundance derived for the absorbing foreground gas is ~6 × 10-7 relative to H2.

We have completed two years of photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of a large number of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with very high accretion rates. In this paper, we report on the result of the second phase of the campaign, during 2013--2014, and the measurements of five new H$\beta$ time lags out of eight monitored AGNs. All five objects were identified as super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs). The highest measured accretion rates for the objects in this campaign are $\dot{\mathscr{M}}\gtrsim 200$, where $\dot{\mathscr{M}}= \dot{M}_{\bullet}/L_{\rm Edd}c^{-2}$, $\dot{M}_{\bullet}$ is the mass accretion rates, $L_{\rm Edd}$ is the Eddington luminosity and $c$ is the speed of light. We find that the H$\beta$ time lags in SEAMBHs are significantly shorter than those measured in sub-Eddington AGNs, and the deviations increase with increasing accretion rates. Thus, the relationship between broad-line region size ($R_{_{\rm H\beta}}$) and optical luminosity at 5100\AA, $R_{_{\rm H\beta}}-L_{5100}$, requires accretion rate as an additional parameter. We propose that much of the effect may be due to the strong anisotropy of the emitted slim-disk radiation. Scaling $R_{_{\rm H\beta}}$ by the gravitational radius of the black hole, we define a new radius-mass parameter ($Y$) and show that it saturates at a critical accretion rate of $\dot{\mathscr{M}}_c=6\sim 30$, indicating a transition from thin to slim accretion disk and a saturated luminosity of the slim disks. The parameter $Y$ is a very useful probe for understanding the various types of accretion onto massive black holes. We briefly comment on implications to the general population of super-Eddington AGNs in the universe and applications to cosmology., Comment: 53 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal