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The Athena mission entered a redefinition phase in July 2022, driven by the imperative to reduce the mission cost at completion for the European Space Agency below an acceptable target, while maintaining the flagship nature of its science return. This notably called for a complete redesign of the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) cryogenic architecture towards a simpler active cooling chain. Passive cooling via successive radiative panels at spacecraft level is now used to provide a 50 K thermal environment to an X-IFU owned cryostat. 4.5 K cooling is achieved via a single remote active cryocooler unit, while a multi-stage Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator ensures heat lift down to the 50 mK required by the detectors. Amidst these changes, the core concept of the readout chain remains robust, employing Transition Edge Sensor microcalorimeters and a SQUID-based Time-Division Multiplexing scheme. Noteworthy is the introduction of a slower pixel. This enables an increase in the multiplexing factor (from 34 to 48) without compromising the instrument energy resolution, hence keeping significant system margins to the new 4 eV resolution requirement. This allows reducing the number of channels by more than a factor two, and thus the resource demands on the system, while keeping a 4' field of view (compared to 5' before). In this article, we will give an overview of this new architecture, before detailing its anticipated performances. Finally, we will present the new X-IFU schedule, with its short term focus on demonstration activities towards a mission adoption in early 2027., Comment: 44 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy

Research infrastructures have been identified as an important source of greenhouse gas emissions of astronomical research. Based on a comprehensive inventory of 1,211 ground-based observatories and space missions, we assessed the evolution of the number of astronomical facilities and their carbon footprint from 1945 to 2022. We found that space missions dominate greenhouse gas emissions in astronomy, showing an important peak at the end of the 1960ies, followed by a decrease that has turned again into a rise over the last decade. Extrapolating past trends, we predict that greenhouse gas emissions from astronomical facilities will experience no strong decline in the future, and may even rise substantially, unless research practices are changed. We demonstrate that a continuing growth in the number of operating astronomical facilities is not environmentally sustainable. These findings should motivate the astronomical community to reflect about the necessary evolutions that would put astronomical research on a sustainable path., Comment: 53 pages, 17 figures, 3 tables

Most of the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are radio-quiet (RQ) and, differently from radio-loud (RL) AGN, do not show signature of large-scale and powerful jets. The physical origin of their radio emission remains then broadly unclear. The observation of flat/inverted radio spectra at GHz frequencies seems to support however the presence of an unresolved synchrotron self-absorbed region in the close environment of the supermassive black hole. Its size could be as small as that of the X-ray corona. Since synchrotron self absorption decreases strongly with frequency, these sources need to be observed in the millimetric (mm) domain. We report here a 12h simultaneous mm-X-ray observation of the RQ AGN MCG+08-11-11 by NOEMA and NuSTAR. The mm flux shows a weak but clear increase along the pointing with a fractional variability of $2.0\pm0.1$\%. The 3-10 keV flux of NuSTAR also increases and shows a fractional variability of $7.0\pm1.5$\%. A structure function analysis shows a local maximum in the mm light curve corresponding to 2-3\% of variability on timescale of $\sim2\times10^4$ seconds (100-300 $R_g$ light crossing time). Assuming an optically thick mm emitting medium, this translates into an upper limit of its size of $\sim$1300 $R_g$. The observation of fast variability in radio-mm and X-ray wavelengths, as well as a similar variability trend, well support the mm emission to be emitted by a region close, and potentially related to, the X-ray corona like an outflow/weak jet., Comment: Accepted in A&A Letters. 5 pages main text, 3 pages of appendices, 12 figures

Increased capabilities such as recognition and self-adaptability are now required from IoT applications. While IoT node power consumption is a major concern for these applications, cloud-based processing is becoming unsustainable due to continuous sensor or image data transmission over the wireless network. Thus optimized ML capabilities and data transfers should be integrated in the IoT node. Moreover, IoT applications are torn between sporadic data-logging and energy-hungry data processing (e.g. image classification). Thus, the versatility of the node is key in addressing this wide diversity of energy and processing needs. This paper presents SamurAI, a versatile IoT node bridging this gap in processing and in energy by leveraging two on-chip sub-systems: a low power, clock-less, event-driven Always-Responsive (AR) part and an energy-efficient On-Demand (OD) part. AR contains a 1.7MOPS event-driven, asynchronous Wake-up Controller (WuC) with a 207ns wake-up time optimized for sporadic computing, while OD combines a deep-sleep RISC-V CPU and 1.3TOPS/W Machine Learning (ML) for more complex tasks up to 36GOPS. This architecture partitioning achieves best in class versatility metrics such as peak performance to idle power ratio. On an applicative classification scenario, it demonstrates system power gains, up to 3.5x compared to cloud-based processing, and thus extended battery lifetime.

XMM-Newton, a European Space Agency observatory, has been observing the X-ray, ultra-violet and optical sky for 23 years. During this time, astronomy has evolved from mainly studying single sources to populations and from a single wavelength, to multi-wavelength or messenger data. We are also moving into an era of time domain astronomy. New software and methods are required to accompany evolving astronomy and prepare for the next generation X-ray observatory, Athena. Here we present XMM2ATHENA, a programme funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. XMM2ATHENA builds on foundations laid by the XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (XMM-SSC), including key members of this consortium and the Athena Science ground segment, along with members of the X-ray community. The project is developing and testing new methods and software to allow the community to follow the X-ray transient sky in quasi-real time, identify multi-wavelength or messenger counterparts of XMM-Newton sources and determine their nature using machine learning. We detail here the first milestone delivery of the project, a new online, sensitivity estimator. We also outline other products, including the forthcoming innovative stacking procedure and detection algorithms to detect the faintest sources. These tools will then be adapted for Athena and the newly detected or identified sources will enhance preparation for observing the Athena X-ray sky., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichten

In our self-similar, analytical, magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) accretion-ejection solution, the density at the base of the outflow is explicitly dependent on the disk accretion rate - a unique property of this class of solutions. We had earlier found that the ejection index $p >\sim 0.1 (\dot{M}_{acc} \propto r^p ) $ is a key MHD parameter that decides if the flow can cause absorption lines in the high resolution X-ray spectra of black hole binaries. Here we choose 3 dense warm solutions with $p = 0.1, 0.3, 0.45$ and carefully develop a methodology to generate spectra which are convolved with the Athena and XRISM response functions to predict what they will observe seeing through such MHD outflows. In this paper two other external parameters were varied - extent of the disk, $\rm{r_o|_{max}} = 10^5, \, 10^6 \,\, \rm{r_G}$, and the angle of the line of sight, $i \sim 10 - 25^{\circ}$. Resultant absorption lines (H and He-like Fe, Ca, Ar) change in strength and their profiles manifest varying degrees of asymmetry. We checked if a) the lines and ii) the line asymmetries are detected, in our suit of synthetic Athena and XRISM spectra. Our analysis shows that Athena should detect the lines and their asymmetries for a standard 100 ksec observation of a 100 mCrab source - lines with equivalent width as low as a few eV should be detected if the 6-8 keV counts are larger than $10^4 - 10^5$ even for the least favourable simulated cases., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures in the main body and 3 figures in the appendix. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer, studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory, a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), it aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over an hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (including the X-IFU cryostat and the cooling chain), due to an unanticipated cost overrun of Athena. In this paper, after illustrating the breakthrough capabilities of the X-IFU, we describe the instrument as presented at its SRR, browsing through all the subsystems and associated requirements. We then show the instrument budgets, with a particular emphasis on the anticipated budgets of some of its key performance parameters. Finally we briefly discuss on the ongoing key technology demonstration activities, the calibration and the activities foreseen in the X-IFU Instrument Science Center, and touch on communication and outreach activities, the consortium organisation, and finally on the life cycle assessment of X-IFU aiming at minimising the environmental footprint, associated with the development of the instrument. Thanks to the studies conducted so far on X-IFU, it is expected that along the design-to-cost exercise requested by ESA, the X-IFU will maintain flagship capabilities in spatially resolved high resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabling most of the original X-IFU related scientific objectives of the Athena mission to be retained. (abridged)., Comment: 48 pages, 29 figures, Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy with minor editing

We present an assessment of the greenhouse gases emissions of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP), located in Toulouse (France). It was performed following the established "Bilan Carbone" methodology, over a large scope compared to similar previous studies, including in particular the contribution from the purchase of goods and services as well as IRAP's use of external research infrastructures, such as ground-based observatories and space-borne facilities. The carbon footprint of the institute for the reference year 2019 is 7400 +/- 900 tCO2e. If we exclude the contribution from external research infrastructures to focus on a restricted perimeter over which the institute has some operational control, IRAP's emissions in 2019 amounted to 3300 +/- 400 tCO2e. Over the restricted perimeter, the contribution from purchasing goods and services is dominant, about 40% of the total, slightly exceeding the contribution from professional travel including hotel stays, which accounts for 38%. Local infrastructures make a smaller contribution to IRAP's carbon footprint, about 25% over the restricted perimeter. We note that this repartition may be specific to IRAP, since the energy used to produce the electricity and heating has a relatively low carbon footprint. Over the full perimeter, the large share from the use of ground-based observatories and space-borne facilities and the fact that the majority of IRAP purchases are related to instrument development indicate that research infrastructures represent the most significant challenge for reducing the carbon footprint of research at our institute. With ~260 staff members employed, our results imply that performing research in astronomy and astrophysics at IRAP according to the standards of 2019 produces average GHG emissions of 28 tCO2e/yr per person involved in that activity (Abridged)., Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures

Low Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations or LF QPOs are ubiquitous in BH X-ray binaries and provide strong constraints on the accretion-ejection processes. Although several models have been proposed so far, none has been proven to reproduce all observational constraints and no consensus has emerged yet. We make the conjecture that disks are threaded by a large scale vertical magnetic field that splits it into two radial zones. In the inner Jet Emitting Disk (JED), a near equipartition field allows to drive powerful self-collimated jets, while beyond a transition radius, the disk magnetization is too low and a Standard Accretion Disk (SAD) is settled. In a series of papers, this hybrid JED-SAD disk configuration has been shown to successfully reproduce most multi-wavelength (radio and X-rays) observations, as well as the concurrence with the LFQPOs for the archetypal source GX 339-4. We first analyze the main QPO scenarios provided in the literature: 1) a specific process occurring at the transition radius, 2) the accretion-ejection instability and 3) the solid-body Lense-Thirring disk precession. We recall their main assumptions and shed light on some severe theoretical issues that question the capability to reproduce LF QPOs. We then argue that none of these models could be operating under the JED-SAD physical conditions. We finally propose an alternative scenario where LF QPOs would be the disk response to an instability triggered in the jets, near a magnetic recollimation zone. Such a situation could account for most Type-C QPO phenomenology and is consistent with the global behavior of black hole binaries. The calculation of this non-destructive jet instability remains however to be done. If the existence of this instability is numerically confirmed, then it could also naturally account for the jet wobbling phenomenology seen in various accreting sources., Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

The carbon footprint of astronomical research is an increasingly topical issue with first estimates of research institute and national community footprints having recently been published. As these assessments have typically excluded the contribution of astronomical research infrastructures, we complement these studies by providing an estimate of the contribution of astronomical space missions and ground-based observatories using greenhouse gas emission factors that relates cost and payload mass to carbon footprint. We find that worldwide active astronomical research infrastructures currently have a carbon footprint of 20.3$\pm$3.3 MtCO$_2$ equivalent (CO$_2$e) and an annual emission of 1,169$\pm$249 ktCO$_2$e yr$^{-1}$ corresponding to a footprint of 36.6$\pm$14.0 tCO$_2$e per year per astronomer. Compared with contributions from other aspects of astronomy research activity, our results suggest that research infrastructures make the single largest contribution to the carbon footprint of an astronomer. We discuss the limitations and uncertainties of our method and explore measures that can bring greenhouse gas emissions from astronomical research infrastructures towards a sustainable level., Comment: 48 pages, 6 tables, 2 figures

The spectral evolution of transient X-ray binaries can be reproduced by an interplay between two flows separated at a radius $R_J$: a standard accretion disk (SAD) in the outer parts and a jet-emitting disk (JED) in the inner parts. In the previous papers of this series, we recover the spectral evolution in both X-rays and radio for four outbursts of GX339-4 by playing independently with the two parameters: $R_J$ and the accretion rate $\dot{M}_{in}$. In this paper, we compare the time evolution of $R_J$ and $\dot{M}_{in}$ for the four outbursts. We show that despite the undeniable differences between the time evolution of each outburst, a unique pattern in the $\dot{M}_{in}-R_J$ plane seems to be followed by all cycles within the JED-SAD model. We call this pattern a fingerprint, and show that even the 'failed' outburst considered follows it. We also compute the radiative efficiency in X-rays during the cycles and consider its impact on the radio--X-ray correlation. Within the JED-SAD paradigm, we find that the accretion flow is always radiatively efficient in the hard states, with between $15\%$ and $40\%$ of the accretion power being radiated away at any given time. Moreover, we show that the radiative efficiency evolves with the accretion rate because of key changes in the JED thermal structure. These changes give birth to two different regimes with different radiative efficiencies: the thick disk and the slim disk. While the existence of these two regimes is intrinsically linked to the JED-SAD model, we show direct observational evidence of the presence of two different regimes using the evolution of the X-ray power-law spectral index, a model-independent estimate. We then argue that these two regimes could be the origin of the gap in X-ray luminosity in the hard state, the wiggles and different slopes seen in the radio--X-ray correlation, and even the existence of outliers., Comment: replaced after language editing

Understanding the mechanisms of accretion-ejection during X-ray binaries outbursts has been a problem for several decades. It is still not clear yet what controls the spectral evolution of these objects from the hard to the soft states and then back to the hard states at the end of the outburst, tracing the well-known hysteresis cycle in the hardness-intensity diagram. Moreover, the link between the spectral states and the presence/absence of radio emission is still highly debated. In a series of papers, we developed a model composed of a truncated outer standard accretion disk (SAD, from the solution of Shakura and Sunyaev) and an inner jet emitting disk (JED). In this paradigm, the JED plays the role of the hot corona while simultaneously explaining the presence of a radio jet. Our goal is to apply for the first time direct fitting procedures of the JED-SAD model to the hard states of four outbursts of GX 339-4 observed during the 2000-2010 decade by RXTE, combined with simultaneous or quasi simultaneous ATCA observations. We built JED-SAD model tables usable in Xspec as well as a reflection model table based on the Xillver model. We apply our model to the 452 hard state observations obtained with RXTE/PCA. We were able to correctly fit the X-ray spectra and simultaneously reproduce the radio flux. We show that the functional dependency of the radio emission on the model parameters (mainly the accretion rate and the transition radius between the JED and the SAD) is similar between all the rising phases of the different outbursts of GX 339-4. But it is significantly different from the functional dependency obtained in the decaying phases. This result strongly suggests a change in the radiative and/or dynamical properties of the ejection between the beginning and the end of the outburst. We discuss possible scenarios that could explain these differences., Comment: Accepted A&A

Blueshifted X-ray absorption lines (preferentially from Fe XXV and Fe XXVI present in the 6-8 keV range) indicating the presence of massive hot disk winds in Black Hole (BH) X-ray binaries (XrB) are most generally observed during the soft states. It has been recently suggested that the non-detection of such hot wind signatures in the hard states could be due to the thermal instability of the wind in the ionisation domain consistent with Fe XXV and Fe XXVI. Studying the wind thermal stability requires however a very good knowledge of the spectral shape of the ionizing Spectral Energy Distribution (SED). We discuss in this paper the expected evolution of the disk wind properties during an entire outburst by using the RXTE observations of GX 339-4 during its 2010-2011 outburst. While GX 339-4 never showed signatures of a hot wind in the X-rays, the dataset used is optimal to illustrate our purposes. We compute the corresponding stability curves of the wind using the SED obtained with the Jet-Emitting Disk model. We show that the disk wind can transit from stable to unstable states for Fe XXV and Fe XXVI ions on a day time scale. While the absence of wind absorption features in hard states could be explained by this instability, their presence in soft states seems to require changes of the wind properties (e.g. density) during the spectral transitions between hard and soft states. We propose that these changes could be partly due to the variation of heating power release at the accretion disk surface through irradiation by the central X-ray source. The evolution of the disk wind properties discussed in this paper could be confirmed through the daily monitoring of the spectral transition of a high-inclination BH XrB., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. Accepted in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Compared to first version, addition of a few references and some changes in the title and the text

The XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre Consortium (SSC) develops software in close collaboration with the Science Operations Centre to perform a pipeline analysis of all XMM-Newton observations. In celebration of the 20th launch anniversary, the SSC has compiled the 4th generation of serendipitous source catalogues, 4XMM. The catalogue described here, 4XMM-DR9s, explores sky areas that were observed more than once by XMM-Newton. It was constructed from simultaneous source detection on the overlapping observations, which were bundled in groups ("stacks"). Stacking leads to a higher sensitivity, resulting in newly discovered sources and better constrained source parameters, and unveils long-term brightness variations. As a novel feature, positional rectification was applied beforehand. Observations with all filters and suitable camera settings were included. Exposures with a high background were discarded, which was determined through a statistical analysis of all exposures in each instrument configuration. The X-ray background maps used in source detection were modelled via adaptive smoothing with newly determined parameters. Source fluxes were derived for all contributing observations, irrespective of whether the source would be detectable in an individual observation. From 1,329 stacks with 6,604 contributing observations over repeatedly covered 300 square degrees in the sky, 4XMM-DR9s lists 288,191 sources. 218,283 of them were observed several times. Most stacks are composed of two observations, the largest one comprises 352. The number of observations of a source ranges from 1 to 40. Auxiliary products like X-ray images, long-term light curves, and optical finding charts are published as well. 4XMM-DR9s is considered a prime resource to explore long-term variability of X-ray sources discovered by XMM-Newton. Regular incremental releases including new public observations are planned., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 20 pages

Sky surveys produce enormous quantities of data on extensive regions of the sky. The easiest way to access this information is through catalogues of standardised data products. {\em XMM-Newton} has been surveying the sky in the X-ray, ultra-violet, and optical bands for 20 years. The {\em XMM-Newton} Survey Science Centre has been producing standardised data products and catalogues to facilitate access to the serendipitous X-ray sky. Using improved calibration and enhanced software, we re-reduced all of the 14041 {\em XMM-Newton} X-ray observations, of which 11204 observations contained data with at least one detection and with these we created a new, high quality version of the {\em XMM-Newton} serendipitous source catalogue, 4XMM-DR9. 4XMM-DR9 contains 810795 detections down to a detection significance of 3 $\sigma$, of which 550124 are unique sources, which cover 1152 degrees$^{2}$ (2.85\%) of the sky. Filtering 4XMM-DR9 to retain only the cleanest sources with at least a 5 $\sigma$ detection significance leaves 433612 detections. Of these detections, 99.6\% have no pileup. Furthermore, 336 columns of information on each detection are provided, along with images. The quality of the source detection is shown to have improved significantly with respect to previous versions of the catalogues. Spectra and lightcurves are also made available for more than 288000 of the brightest sources (36\% of all detections)., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted to be published Astronomy and Astrophysics (A&A)

In recent years, the black hole candidate X-ray binary system H1743-322 has undergone outbursts and it has been observed with X-ray and radio telescopes. We present 1.3 GHz MeerKAT radio data from the ThunderKAT Large Survey Project on radio transients for the 2018 outburst of H1743-322. We obtain seven detections from a weekly monitoring programme and use publicly available Swift X-ray Telescope and MAXI data to investigate the radio/X-ray correlation of H1743-322 for this outburst. We compare the 2018 outburst with those reported in the literature for this system and find that the X-ray outburst reported is similar to previously reported `hard-only' outbursts. As in previous outbursts, H1743-322 follows the `radio-quiet' correlation in the radio/X-ray plane for black hole X-ray binaries, and the radio spectral index throughout the outburst is consistent with the `radio-quiet' population., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures

In the past two decades, high amplitude electromagnetic outbursts have been detected from dormant galaxies and often attributed to the tidal disruption of a star by the central black hole. X-ray emission from the Seyfert 2 galaxy GSN 069 (2MASX J01190869-3411305) at redshift z = 0.018 was first detected in 2010 July and implies an X-ray brightening of more than a factor of 240 over ROSAT observations performed 16 years earlier. The emission has smoothly decayed over time since 2010, possibly indicating a long-lived tidal disruption event. The X-ray spectrum is ultra-soft and can be described by accretion disc emission with luminosity proportional to the fourth power of the disc temperature during long-term evolution. Here we report observations of X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from the nucleus of GSN 069 over the course of 54 days, 2018 December onwards. During these eruptions, the X-ray count rate increases by up to two orders of magnitude with event duration of just over 1 hour and recurrence time of about 9 hours. These eruptions are associated with fast spectral transitions between a cold and a warm phase in the accretion flow around a low-mass black hole (of approximately 4x10$^5$ solar masses) with peak X-ray luminosity of ~ 5x10$^{42}$ ergs per second. The warm phase has a temperature of about 120 eV, reminiscent of the typical soft X-ray excess, an almost universal thermal-like feature in the X-ray spectra of luminous active nuclei. If the observed properties are not unique to GSN 069, and assuming standard scaling of timescales with black hole mass and accretion properties, typical active galactic nuclei with more massive black holes can be expected to exhibit high-amplitude optical to X-ray variability on timescales as short as months or years., Comment: Authors' version of a Letter published on-line in Nature on September 11, 2019. Includes Methods and Extended Data. 43 pages, 3 tables and 10 figures

Transients XrB exhibit different spectral shapes during their evolution. In luminosity-color diagrams, their X-ray behavior forms unexplained q-shaped cycles. We proposed a framework where the innermost regions of the accretion disk evolve as a response to variations imposed in the outer regions. These variations lead not only to modifications of the inner disk accretion rate $\dot m_{in}$ but also to the evolution of the transition radius $r_J$ between two regions. The outermost region is a standard accretion disk (SAD), whereas the innermost region is a jet-emitting disk (JED) where all the disk angular momentum is carried away vertically by two self-confined jets. In the previous papers of this series, it has been shown that such a configuration reproduces the typical spectral properties of the five canonical XrB states. The aim of this paper is now to replicate all X-ray spectra and radio emission observed during GX 339-4 2010-2011 outburst. We use the 2T plasma code presented in papers II and III, and design an automatic fitting procedure that gives the parameters $(\dot m_{in},r_J)$ that best fit each X-ray spectrum. We use RXTE/PCA X-ray data spread over 438 days, together with radio observations at 9 GHz (ATCA). We obtain the time distributions of $\dot m_{in}$ and $r_J$ that uniquely reproduce the X-ray luminosity and the spectral shape of the whole cycle. Using the classical self-absorbed jet synchrotron emission model, the JED-SAD configuration reproduces also very satisfactorily the radio properties, in particular the switch-off and -on events and the radio-X-ray correlation. Within the JED-SAD framework, radio emission can be used to constrain the underlying disk configuration. If this result is confirmed using other outbursts from GX 339-4 or other X-ray binaries, then radio could be indeed used as another means to indirectly probe disk physics., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 11 pages, 7 figures

We present the results of millimetre (33 and 35 GHz) and centimetre (2.1, 5.5 and 9.0 GHz) wavelength observations of the neutron star X-ray binary Circinus X-1, using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We have used advanced calibration and deconvolution algorithms to overcome multiple issues due to intrinsic variability of the source and direction dependent effects. The resulting centimetre and millimetre radio maps show spatially resolved jet structures from sub-arcsecond to arcminute angular scales. They represent the most detailed investigation to date of the interaction of the relativistic jet from the X-ray binary with the young supernova remnant in which it is embedded. Comparison of projected jet axes at different wavelengths indicate significant rotation of the jet axis with increasing angular scale. This either suggests interactions of the jet material with surrounding media, creating bends in the jet flow path, or jet precession. We explore the latter hypothesis by successfully modelling the observed jet path using a kinematic jet model. If precession is the right interpretation and our modelling correct, the best fit parameters describe an accreting source with mildly relativistic ejecta ($v = 0.5 c$), inclined close to the plane of the sky ($i = 86^{\circ}$) and precessing over a 5-year period., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The black hole candidate MAXI J1836-194 was discovered in 2011 when it went into an outburst, and was the subject of numerous, quasi-simultaneous, multi-wavelength observations in the radio, infrared, optical and X-rays. In this paper, we model its multi-wavelength radio to optical spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with an internal shock jet model. The jet emission is modelled on five dates of the outburst, during which the source is in the hard and hard intermediate X-ray spectral states. The model assumes that fluctuations of the jet velocity are driven by the variability in the accretion flow which is traced by the observed X-ray timing properties of the source. While the global shape of the SED is well reproduced by this model for all the studied observations, the variations in bolometric flux and typical energies require at least two parameters to evolve during the outburst. Here we investigate variations of the jet power and mean Lorentz factor, which are both found to increase with the source luminosity. Our results are compatible with the evolution of the jet Lorentz factor reported in earlier studies of this source. However, due to the large degeneracy of the parameters of the ishem model, our proposed scenario is not unique., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures

Using the simultaneous Infra-Red (IR) and X-ray light curves obtained by Kalamkar et al. (2016), we perform a Fourier analysis of the IR/X-ray timing correlations of the black hole X-ray binary (BHB) GX 339-4. The resulting IR vs X-ray Fourier coherence and lag spectra are similar to those obtained in previous studies of GX 339-4 using optical light curves. In particular, above 1 Hz, the lag spectrum features an approximately constant IR lag of about 100 ms. We model simultaneously the radio to IR Spectral Energy Distribution (SED), the IR Power Spectral Density (PSD), and the coherence and lag spectra using the jet internal shock model ISHEM assuming that the fluctuations of the jet Lorentz factor are driven by the accretion flow. It turns out that most of the spectral and timing features, including the 100 ms lag, are remarkably well reproduced by this model. The 100 ms time-scale is then associated with the travel time from the accretion flow to the IR emitting zone. Our exploration of the parameter space favours a jet which is at most mildly relativistic ($\bar{\Gamma}< 3$), and a linear and positive relation between the jet Lorentz factor and X-ray light curve i.e. $\Gamma(t)-1\propto L_{X}(t)$. The presence of a strong Low Frequency Quasi Periodic Oscillation (LFQPO) in the IR light curve could be caused by jet precession driven by Lense-Thirring precession of the jet-emitting accretion flow. Our simulations confirm that this mechanism can produce an IR LFQPO similar to that observed in GX 339-4., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

XMM-Newton has observed the X-ray sky since early 2000. The XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre Consortium has published catalogues of X-ray and ultraviolet sources found serendipitously in the individual observations. This series is now augmented by a catalogue dedicated to X-ray sources detected in spatially overlapping XMM-Newton observations. The aim of this catalogue is to explore repeatedly observed sky regions. It thus makes use of the long(er) effective exposure time per sky area and offers the opportunity to investigate long-term flux variability directly through the source detection process. A new standardised strategy for simultaneous source detection on multiple observations is introduced. It is coded as a new task within the XMM-Newton Science Analysis System and used to compile a catalogue of sources from 434 stacks comprising 1,789 overlapping XMM-Newton observations that entered the 3XMM-DR7 catalogue, have a low background and full-frame readout of all EPIC cameras. The first stacked catalogue is called 3XMM-DR7s. It contains 71,951 unique sources with positions and parameters such as fluxes, hardness ratios, quality estimates, and information on inter-observation variability. About 15% of the sources are new with respect to 3XMM-DR7. Through stacked source detection, the parameters of repeatedly observed sources can be determined with higher accuracy than in the individual observations. The method is more sensitive to faint sources and tends to produce fewer spurious detections. With this first stacked catalogue we demonstrate the feasibility and benefit of the approach. It supplements the large data base of XMM-Newton detections by additional, in particular faint, sources and adds variability information. In the future, the catalogue will be expanded to larger samples and continued within the series of serendipitous XMM-Newton source catalogues., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 27 pages, ~4MB

It has been suggested that the cycles of activity of X-ray Binaries (XrB) are triggered by a switch in the dominant disk torque responsible for accretion (paper I). As the disk accretion rate increases, the disk innermost regions would change from a jet-emitting disk (JED) to a standard accretion disk (SAD). While JEDs have been proven to successfully reproduce hard states (paper II), the existence of an outer cold SAD introduces an extra non local cooling term. We investigate the thermal structure and associated spectra of such a hybrid disk configuration. We use the 2T plasma code elaborated in paper II, allowing to compute outside-in the disk local thermal equilibrium with self-consistent advection and optically thin-to-thick transitions, in both radiation and gas supported regimes. The non-local inverse Compton cooling introduced by the external soft photons is computed by the BELM code. This additional term has a profound influence on JED solutions, allowing a smooth temperature transition from the outer SAD to the inner JED. We explore the full parameter space in disk accretion rate and transition radius, and show that the whole domain in X-ray fluxes and hardness ratios covered by standard XrB cycles is well reproduced by such hybrid configurations. Precisely, a reasonable combination of these parameters allows to reproduce the 3-200 keV spectra of five canonical XrB states. Along with X-ray signatures, JED-SAD configurations also naturally account for the radio emission whenever it is observed. By varying only the transition radius and the accretion rate, hybrid disk configurations combining an inner JED and an outer SAD are able to reproduce simultaneously the X-ray spectral states and radio emission of X-ray binaries during their outburst. Adjusting these two parameters, it is then possible to reproduce a full cycle. This will be shown in a forthcoming paper (paper IV)., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

We elaborate on the paradigm proposed in Ferreira et al. (2006), where the increase and decrease in the disk accretion rate is accompanied by a modification of the disk magnetization $\mu \propto B_z^2/\dot{m}_{in}$, which in turn determines the dominant torque allowing accretion. For $\mu>0.1$, the accretion flow produces jets that vertically, carry away the disk angular momentum (jet-emitting disk or JED). The goal of this paper is to investigate the spectral signatures of the JED configurations. We have developed a two-temperature plasma code that computes the disk local thermal equilibria, taking into account the advection of energy in an iterative way. Our code addresses optically thin-to-thick transitions, both radiation and gas supported regimes and computes in a consistent way the emitted spectrum from a steady-state disk. The optically thin emission is obtained using the BELM code, which provides accurate spectra for bremsstrahlung and synchrotron emission processes as well as for their local Comptonization. For a range in radius and accretion rates, JEDs exhibit three thermal equilibria, one thermally unstable and two stables. Due to the existence of two thermally stable solutions, a hysteresis cycle is naturally obtained. However, standard outbursting X-ray binary cycles cannot be reproduced. Another striking feature of JEDs is their ability to reproduce luminous hard states. Showing that when the loss of angular momentum and power in jets is consistently taken into account, accretion disks have spectral signatures that are consistent with hard states, even up to high luminosities. The reproduction of soft states being well performed by standard accretion disks (SAD), this study argues for the existence of hybrid disk configuration: JED and SAD. A study of such hybrid configuration will be presented in a forthcoming paper III., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

The "Square Kilometre Array" (SKA) is a large international radio telescope project characterised, as suggested by its name, by a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre, and consisting of several interferometric arrays to observe at metric and centimetric wavelengths. The deployment of the SKA will take place in two sites, in South Africa and Australia, and in two successive phases. From its Phase 1, the SKA will be one of the most formidable scientific machines ever deployed by mankind, and by far the most impressive in terms of data throughput and required computing power. With the participation of almost 200 authors from forty research institutes and six private companies, the publication of this French SKA white paper illustrates the strong involvement in the SKA project of the French astronomical community and of a rapidly growing number of major scientific and technological players in the fields of Big Data, high performance computing, energy production and storage, as well as system integration., Comment: Editor in chief: C. Ferrari; Editors: M. Alves, S. Bosse, S. Corbel, A. Ferrari, K. Ferri\`ere, S. Gauffre, E. Josselin, G. Lagache, S. Lambert, G. Marquette, J.-M. Martin, M.-A. Miville-Desch\^enes, L. Montier, B. Semelin, G. Theureau, S. Vergani, N. Vilmer, P. Zarka; Original file with high resolution figures at SKA-France link: https://ska-france.oca.eu/images/SKA-France-Media/FWB_051017.pdf

ThunderKAT is the image-plane transients programme for MeerKAT. The goal as outlined in 2010, and still today, is to find, identify and understand high-energy astrophysical processes via their radio emission (often in concert with observations at other wavelengths). Through a comprehensive and complementary programme of surveying and monitoring Galactic synchrotron transients (across a range of compact accretors and a range of other explosive phenomena) and exploring distinct populations of extragalactic synchrotron transients (microquasars, supernovae and possibly yet unknown transient phenomena) - both from direct surveys and commensal observations - we will revolutionise our understanding of the dynamic and explosive transient radio sky. As well as performing targeted programmes of our own, we have made agreements with the other MeerKAT large survey projects (LSPs) that we will also search their data for transients. This commensal use of the other surveys, which remains one of our key programme goals in 2016, means that the combined MeerKAT LSPs will produce by far the largest GHz-frequency radio transient programme to date., Comment: To be published in "MeerKAT Science: On the Pathway to the SKA". Proceedings of Science. Workshop held 25-27 May, 2016 Stellenbosch, South Africa

We present an in-depth study of the large-scale, western jet of the microquasar XTE J1550-564, based on X-ray and radio observations performed in 2002-2003. The jet is spatially resolved in both observing windows. The X-ray jet is expanding in time along the axis of the jet's propagation: we observe the formation of a tail (~2.25"), which appears to extend backwards with an apparent velocity ~-0.10c. The origin of this feature is discussed in the framework of scenarios of energy dissipation. A single power-law adequately describes the broadband spectra, supporting a synchrotron origin of the X-ray emission. However, a spectral break at ~10^{15} Hz is necessary in coincidence with a re-flare at 8.64 GHz in September 2002. This finding may be indicative of emission from newly accelerated low-energy particles. The first detection of the jet is in February 2001 (F_{8.64GHz}=0.25+/-0.09 mJy) in the flux rising phase. A phase of stable emission is followed by a rapid decay (t_{decay}=167+/-5 days). The decay at radio frequencies is significantly shorter than in X-rays (t_{decay}=338+/-14 days). We detected a high fraction (up to ~9%) of linearly polarized radiation at 4.8 GHz and 8.6 GHz. The orientation of the electric vector is consistent with the picture of a shock-compressed magnetic field, and there are hints of variations on month-timescales, possibly connected with the evolution of the jet structure., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We studied X-ray reverberation lags in the BHXRB GX 339-4 at the end of the 2014-2015 outburst. We analysed data from a XMM-Newton campaign covering the end of the transition from the soft to the hard state, and the decrease of luminosity in the hard state. During all the observations we detected, at high frequencies, significant disc variability, responding to variations of the power law emission with an average time delay of $\sim0.009\pm 0.002$ s. These new detections of disc thermal reverberation add to those previously obtained and suggest the lag to be always present in hard and hard-intermediate states. Our study reveals a net decrease of lag amplitude as a function of luminosity. We ascribe this trend to variations of the inner flow geometry. A possible scenario implies a \emph{decrease} of the inner disc truncation radius as the luminosity increases at the beginning of the outburst, followed by an \emph{increase} of the inner disc truncation radius as the luminosity decreases at the end of the outburst. Finally, we found hints of FeK reverberation ($\sim3\sigma$ significance) during the best quality observation of the XMM monitoring. The lag at the FeK energy has similar amplitude as that of the thermally reprocessed component, as expected if the same irradiated region of the disc is responsible for producing both the thermalized and reflected component. This finding suggests FeK reverberation in BHXRBs to be at the reach of current detectors provided observations of sufficiently long exposure are available., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Aims. ESO 243-49 HLX-1, otherwise known as HLX-1, is an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) candidate located 8" (3.7 Kpc) from the centre of the edge-on S0 galaxy ESO 243-49. How the black hole came to be associated with this galaxy, and the nature of the environment in which it resides, are still unclear. Using multi-wavelength observations we investigate the nature of the medium surrounding HLX-1, search for evidence of past mergers with ESO 243-49 and constrain parameters of the galaxy. Methods. We reduce and analyse integral field unit observations of ESO 243-49 that were taken with the MUSE instrument on the VLT. Using complementary multi-wavelength data, including X-Shooter, HST, Swift, Chandra and ATCA data, we further examine the vicinity of HLX-1. We additionally examine the nature of the host galaxy and estimate the mass of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) in ESO 243-49. Results. No evidence for a recent minor-merger that could result in the presence of the IMBH is discerned, but the data are compatible with a scenario in which minor mergers may have occurred in the history of ESO 243-49. The MUSE data reveal a rapidly rotating disc in the centre of the galaxy, around the SMBH. The mass of the SMBH at the centre of ESO 243-49 is estimated to be 0.5-23 $\times$ 10$^7$ M$_\odot$. Studying the spectra of HLX-1, that were taken in the low/hard state, we determine H$_\alpha$ flux variability to be at least a factor 6, compared to observations taken during the high/soft state. This H$_\alpha$ flux variability over one year indicates that the line originates close to the IMBH, excluding the possibility that the line emanates from a surrounding nebula or a star cluster. The large variability associated with the X-ray states of HLX-1 confirms that the H$_\alpha$ line is associated with the object and therefore validates the distance to HLX-1., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted to be published in A&A

X-ray binary observations led to the interpretation that powerful compact jets, produced in the hard state, are quenched when the source transitions to its soft state. The aim of this paper is to discuss the possibility that a powerful dark jet is still present in the soft state. Using the black hole X-ray binaries GX339-4 and H1743-322 as test cases, we feed observed X-ray power density spectra in the soft state of these two sources to an internal shock jet model. Remarkably, the predicted radio emission is consistent with current upper-limits. Our results show that, for these two sources, a compact dark jet could persist in the soft state with no major modification of its kinetic power compared to the hard state., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Aims: This work is the first stage of a campaign to search for IMBHs, in low luminosity AGN (LLAGN) and dwarf galaxies. An additional, and equally important, aim of this pilot study is to investigate the consistency between the predictions of several BH scaling relations and the fundamental plane of black hole activity (FP-BH). Methods: We use X-ray and radio luminosity relations in accreting BHs, along with the latest scaling relations between the mass of the central black hole (MBH) and the properties of its host spheroid, to predict MBH in seven LLAGN, that were previously reported to be in the IMBH regime. Namely, we use the recently re-evaluated MBH - Msph (Msph : spheroid absolute magnitude at 3.6 microm) scaling relation for spiral galaxies, the MBH - nsph (nsph : major axis Sersic index of the bulge) relation, the MBH - PA (PA: pitch angle) relation and the FP-BH for weakly accreting BHs, to independently estimate MBH in all seven galaxies. Results: We find that all LLAGN in our list have low-mass central black holes - with log MBH/Msol~6.5 on average - but they are, not IMBHs. All 4 methods used predicted consistent BH masses, in the 1sigma range. Furthermore, we report that, in contrast to previous classification, galaxy NGC 4470 is bulge-less, and cast doubts on the AGN classification of NGC 3507. Conclusions: We find that our latest, state-of-the-art techniques for bulge magnitude & Sersic index computations and the most recent updates of the MBH - Lsph, MBH - nsph , MBH - PA relations and the FP-BH produce consistent results in the low mass regime. We establish a multiple method approach for predicting BH masses in the regime where their spheres-of- grav. influence cannot be spatially resolved. Our approach mitigates against outliers from any one relation and provides a more robust average prediction. We will use our new method to revisit more IMBH candidates in LLAGN, Comment: Accepted by A&A: 14 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

We study in detail the evolution of the 2015 outburst of GS 1354-64 (BW Cir) at optical, UV and X-ray wavelengths using Faulkes Telescope South/LCOGT, SMARTS and Swift. The outburst was found to stay in the hard X-ray state, albeit being anomalously luminous with a peak luminosity of L$_{X} >$ 0.15 L$_{Edd}$, which could be the most luminous hard state observed in a black hole X-ray binary. We found that the optical/UV emission is tightly correlated with the X-ray emission, consistent with accretion disc irradiation and/or a jet producing the optical emission. The X-ray spectra can be fitted well with a Comptonisation model, and show softening towards the end of the outburst. In addition, we detect a QPO in the X-ray lightcurves with increasing centroid frequency during the peak and decay periods of the outburst. The long-term optical lightcurves during quiescence show a statistically significant, slow rise of the source brightness over the 7 years prior to the 2015 outburst. This behaviour as well as the outburst evolution at all wavelengths studied can be explained by the disc instability model with irradiation and disc evaporation/condensation., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We want to test if self-similar magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) accretion-ejection models can explain the observational results for accretion disk winds in BHBs. In our models, the density at the base of the outflow, from the accretion disk, is not a free parameter, but is determined by solving the full set of dynamical MHD equations without neglecting any physical term. Different MHD solutions were generated for different values of (a) the disk aspect ratio ($\varepsilon$) and (b) the ejection efficiency ($p$). We generated two kinds of MHD solutions depending on the absence (cold solution) or presence (warm solution) of heating at the disk surface. The cold MHD solutions are found to be inadequate to account for winds due to their low ejection efficiency. The warm solutions can have sufficiently high values of $p (\gtrsim 0.1)$ which is required to explain the observed physical quantities in the wind. The heating (required at the disk surface for the warm solutions) could be due to the illumination which would be more efficient in the Soft state. We found that in the Hard state a range of ionisation parameter is thermodynamically unstable, which makes it impossible to have any wind at all, in the Hard state. Our results would suggest that a thermo-magnetic process is required to explain winds in BHBs., Comment: Draft contains 6 pages and 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomical Notes (AN) as Conference Proceedings of XMM-Newton 2015 Science Workshop - The Extremes of Black Hole Accretion

Black hole X-ray binaries display large outbursts, during which their properties are strongly variable. We develop a systematic spectral analysis of the 3-40 keV RXTE/PCA data in order to study the evolution of these systems and apply it to GX 339-4. Using the low count rate observations, we provide a precise model of the Galactic background at GX 339-4's location and discuss its possible impact on the source spectral parameters. At higher fluxes, the use of a Gaussian line to model the reflection component can lead to the detection of a high-temperature disk, in particular in the high-hard state. We demonstrate that this component is an artifact arising from an incomplete modeling of the reflection spectrum., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Proceeding of the XMM-Newton 2015 Science Workshop 'The Extremes of Black Hole Accretion', Accepted for publication in Astronomical Notes

High resolution X-ray spectra of black hole X-ray binaries (BHBs) show blueshifted absorption lines from disk winds which seem to be equatorial. Winds occur in the Softer (disk-dominated) states of the outburst and are less prominent or absent in the Harder (power-law dominated) states. We use self-similar magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) accretion-ejection models to explain the disk winds in BHBs. In our models, the density at the base of the outflow from the accretion disk is not a free parameter, but is determined by solving the full set of dynamical MHD equations. Thus the physical properties of the outflow are controlled by the global structure of the disk. We studied different MHD solutions characterized by different values of (a) the disk aspect ratio ($\varepsilon$) and (b) the ejection efficiency ($p$). We use two kinds of MHD solutions depending on the absence (cold solution) or presence (warm solution) of heating at the disk surface. Such heating could be from e.g. dissipation of energy due to MHD turbulence in the disk or from illumination. We use each of these MHD solutions to predict the physical parameters of an outflow; put limits on the ionization parameter ($\xi$), column density and timescales, motivated by observational results; and thus select regions within the outflow which are consistent with the observed winds. The cold MHD solutions cannot account for winds due to their low ejection efficiency. But warm solutions can explain the observed physical quantities in the wind because they can have sufficiently high values of $p$ ($\gtrsim 0.1$, implying larger mass loading at the base of the outflow). Further from our thermodynamic equilibrium curve analysis for the outflowing gas, we found that in the Hard state a range of $\xi$ is thermodynamically unstable, and had to be excluded. This constrain made it impossible to have any wind at all, in the Hard state., Comment: 16 Pages, 10 figures in the main body and 4 figures in the appendix. Accepted for publication in A&A

We report on a multiwavelength observational campaign of the black hole X-ray binary Swift J1753.5-0127 that consists of an ESO/X-shooter spectrum supported by contemporaneous Swift/XRT+UVOT and ATCA data. ISM absorption lines in the X-shooter spectrum allows us to determine E(B-V)=0.45+/-0.02 along the line-of-sight to the source. We also report detection of emission signatures of He II at 4686 angstrom, H alpha, and, for the first time, H I at 10906 angstrom and Paschen Beta. The double-peaked morphology of these four lines is typical of the chromosphere of a rotating accretion disk. Nonetheless, the paucity of disk features points towards a low level of irradiation in the system. This is confirmed through spectral energy distribution modeling and we find that the UVOT+X-shooter continuum mostly stems from the thermal emission of a viscous disk. We speculate that the absence of reprocessing is due to the compactness of an illumination-induced envelope that fails to reflect enough incoming hard X-ray photons back to the outer regions. The disk also marginally contributes to the Compton-dominated X-ray emission and is strongly truncated, with an inner radius about a thousand times larger than the black hole's gravitational radius. A near-infrared excess is present, and we associate it with synchrotron radiation from a compact jet. However, the measured X-ray flux is significantly higher than what can be explained by the optically thin synchrotron jet component. We discuss these findings in the framework of the radio quiet versus X-ray bright hypothesis, favoring the presence of a residual disk, predicted by evaporation models, that contributes to the X-ray emission without enhancing the radio flux., Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

(abridged) We report on multi-wavelength measurements of Swift J1753.5-0127 in the hard state at L=2.7e36 erg/s (assuming d=3 kpc) in 2014. The radio emission is optically thick synchrotron, presumably from a compact jet. We take advantage of the low extinction and model the near-IR to UV emission with a multi-temperature disk model. Assuming a BH mass of M_BH=5 Msun and a system inclination of 40 deg, the fits imply an inner radius for the disk of Rin/Rg>212 d_3 (5Msun/M_BH). The outer radius is R_out/R_g=90,000 d_3 (5Msun/M_BH), which corresponds to 6.6e10 d_3 cm, consistent with the expected size of the disk. The 0.5-240 keV spectrum measured by Swift/XRT, Suzaku, and NuSTAR is relatively well characterized by a power-law with a photon index of Gamma=1.722+/-0.003, but a significant improvement is seen when a second continuum component is added. Reflection is a possibility, but no iron line is detected, implying a low iron abundance. We are able to fit the entire SED with a multi-temperature disk component, a Comptonization component, and a broken power-law, representing the emission from the compact jet. The broken power-law cannot significantly contribute to the soft X-ray emission, and this may be related to why Swift J1753.5-0127 is an outlier in the radio/X-ray correlation. The broken power-law might dominate above 20 keV, which would constrain the break frequency to be between 2.4e10 Hz and 3.6e12 Hz. Although the fits to the full SED do not include significant thermal emission in the X-ray band, previous observations have consistently seen such a component, and we find that there is evidence at the 3.1-sigma level for a disk-blackbody component with a temperature of 150(+30)(-20) eV and an inner radius of 5-14 R_g. If this component is real, it might imply the presence of an inner accretion disk in addition to the strongly truncated (R_in>212 R_g) disk., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted by ApJ

Thanks to the large collecting area (3 x ~1500 cm$^2$ at 1.5 keV) and wide field of view (30' across in full field mode) of the X-ray cameras on board the European Space Agency X-ray observatory XMM-Newton, each individual pointing can result in the detection of hundreds of X-ray sources, most of which are newly discovered. Recently, many improvements in the XMM-Newton data reduction algorithms have been made. These include enhanced source characterisation and reduced spurious source detections, refined astrometric precision, greater net sensitivity and the extraction of spectra and time series for fainter sources, with better signal-to-noise. Further, almost 50\% more observations are in the public domain compared to 2XMMi-DR3, allowing the XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (XMM-SSC) to produce a much larger and better quality X-ray source catalogue. The XMM-SSC has developed a pipeline to reduce the XMM-Newton data automatically and using improved calibration a new catalogue version has been produced from XMM-Newton data made public by 2013 Dec. 31 (13 years of data). Manual screening ensures the highest data quality. This catalogue is known as 3XMM. In the latest release, 3XMM-DR5, there are 565962 X-ray detections comprising 396910 unique X-ray sources. For the 133000 brightest sources, spectra and lightcurves are provided. For all detections, the positions on the sky, a measure of the quality of the detection, and an evaluation of the X-ray variability is provided, along with the fluxes and count rates in 7 X-ray energy bands, the total 0.2-12 keV band counts, and four hardness ratios. To identify the detections, a cross correlation with 228 catalogues is also provided for each X-ray detection. 3XMM-DR5 is the largest X-ray source catalogue ever produced. Thanks to the large array of data products, it is an excellent resource in which to find new and extreme objects., Comment: 23 pages, version accepted for publication in A&A

MAXI J1836-194 is a Galactic black hole candidate X-ray binary that was discovered in 2011 when it went into outburst. In this paper, we present the full radio monitoring of this system during its `failed' outburst, in which the source did not complete a full set of state changes, only transitioning as far as the hard intermediate state. Observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) show that the jet properties changed significantly during the outburst. The VLA observations detected linearly polarised emission at a level of ~1% early in the outburst, increasing to ~3% as the outburst peaked. High-resolution images with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) show a ~15 mas jet along the position angle $-21 \pm 2^\circ$, in agreement with the electric vector position angle found from our polarisation results ($-21 \pm 4^\circ$), implying that the magnetic field is perpendicular to the jet. Astrometric observations suggest that the system required an asymmetric natal kick to explain its observed space velocity. Comparing quasi-simultaneous X-ray monitoring with the 5 GHz VLA observations from the 2011 outburst shows an unusually steep hard-state radio/X-ray correlation of $L_{\rm R} \propto L_{\rm X}^{1.8\pm0.2}$, where $L_{\rm R}$ and $L_{\rm X}$ denote the radio and X-ray luminosities, respectively. With ATCA and Swift monitoring of the source during a period of re-brightening in 2012, we show that the system lay on the same steep correlation. Due to the low inclination of this system, we then investigate the possibility that the observed correlation may have been steepened by variable Doppler boosting., Comment: 18 pages, 4 tables, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

This is a White Paper in support of the mission concept of the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT), proposed as a medium-sized ESA mission. We discuss the potential of LOFT for the study of the physics of accretion and ejection around compact objects. For a summary, we refer to the paper., Comment: White Paper in Support of the Mission Concept of the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing

Galaxies and supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are believed to evolve through a process of hierarchical merging and accretion. Through this paradigm, multiple SMBH systems are expected to be relatively common in the Universe. However, to date there are poor observational constraints on multiple SMBHs systems with separations comparable to a SMBH gravitational sphere of influence (<< 1 kpc). In this chapter, we discuss how deep continuum observations with the SKA will make leading contributions towards understanding how multiple black hole systems impact galaxy evolution. In addition, these observations will provide constraints on and an understanding of stochastic gravitational wave background detections in the pulsar timing array sensitivity band (nanoHz -microHz). We also discuss how targets for pointed gravitational wave experiments (that cannot be resolved by VLBI) could potentially be found using the large-scale radio-jet morphology, which can be modulated by the presence of a close-pair binary SMBH system. The combination of direct imaging at high angular resolution; low-surface brightness radio-jet tracers; and pulsar timing arrays will allow the SKA to trace black hole binary evolution from separations of a galaxy virial radius down to the sub-parsec level. This large dynamic range in binary SMBH separation will ensure that the SKA plays a leading role in this observational frontier., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. To be published in the proceedings of "Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array", PoS(AASKA14)151, in press