Publications (46)
Initial Optical Results for the ChaMPlane Survey
Ping Zhao, Jonathan Grindlay, Peter Edmonds +5
We provide a brief description of the optical survey being conducted under the NOAO Long Term Surveys program in support of the Chandra Multiwavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey (se…
Chandra ACIS Survey of M33 (ChASeM33): A First Look
Paul P. Plucinsky, Benjamin Williams, Knox S. Long +22
We present an overview of the Chandra ACIS Survey of M33 (ChASeM33): A Deep Survey of the Nearest Face-on Spiral Galaxy. The 1.4 Ms survey covers the galaxy out to $R \approx 18\ar…
GRBs as Probes of the Early Universe with TSO
Nial Tanvir, Jonathan Grindlay, Edo Berger +12
Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous known electromagnetic radiation sources in the Universe for the 3 to 300 sec of their prompt flashes (isotropic X/ gamma-ray lumi…
The High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P): resolving the nature of Sgr A* flares, compact object binaries and diffuse X-ray emission in the Galactic Center and beyond
Kaya Mori, Gabriele Ponti, Matteo Bachetti +24
HEX-P is a probe-class mission concept that will combine high spatial resolution X-ray imaging ( FWHM) and broad spectral coverage (0.2-80 keV) with an effective area far sup…
Opening the 100-Year Window for Time Domain Astronomy
Jonathan Grindlay, Sumin Tang, Edward Los +1
The large-scale surveys such as PTF, CRTS and Pan-STARRS-1 that have emerged within the past 5 years or so employ digital databases and modern analysis tools to accentuate research…
DASCH Discovery of Large Amplitude ~10-100 Year Variability in K Giants
Sumin Tang, Jonathan Grindlay, Edward Los +1
Here we present the discovery of three unusual long-term variables found in the Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH) project, with ~1 magnitude variations in their li…
An Extended Galactic Population of Low-Luminosity X-Ray Sources (CVs?) and the Diffuse X-Ray Background
Eyal Maoz, Jonathan Grindlay
Summary of abstract: The existence of a new population of yet unrecognized x-ray sources has been often suggested to resolve some pecularities in the properties of the x-ray backgr…
A multiwavelength study of the Galactic center black hole candidate MAXI J1744-294
Shifra Mandel, Kaya Mori, Paul A. Draghis +37
For the first time in nearly a decade, a bright transient was detected in the central parsec (pc) of the Galaxy. MAXI J1744-294, or -- as it was known in its previous life -- Swift…
Characteristic Variability Timescales in the Gamma-ray Power Spectra of Blazars
James L. Ryan, Aneta Siemiginowska, Malgosia Sobolewska +1
Characteristic variability timescales in blazar gamma-ray light curves can provide insight into the physical processes responsible for the gamma-ray variability. The power spectral…
The REgolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) for OSIRIS-REx: Identifying Regional Elemental Enrichment on Asteroids
Branden Allen, Jonathan Grindlay, Jaesub Hong +10
The OSIRIS-REx Mission was selected under the NASA New Frontiers program and is scheduled for launch in September of 2016 for a rendezvous with, and collection of a sample from the…
Gamma-ray Bursts: Light on the distant Universe
Jonathan Grindlay
Observations of a long-lasting Gamma-ray burst, one that has the brightest optical counterpart yet discovered, challenge theoretical understanding of these bursts but may enhance t…
Tuning of Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) to improve low energy threshold of future Hard X-ray Imaging Detectors
Daniel P. Violette, Branden Allen, Jaesub Hong +2
Detector commanding, processing and readout of spaceborne instrumentation is often accomplished with Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). The ASIC designed for the Nuc…
DASCH on KU Cyg: a ~5 year dust accretion event in ~1900
Sumin Tang, Jonathan Grindlay, Edward Los +1
KU Cyg is an eclipsing binary consisting of a F-type star accreting through a large accretion disk from a K5III red giant. Here we present the discovery of a 5-yr dip around 1900 f…
Observations of Stellar-Mass Black Holes in the Galaxy
Morgan MacLeod, Jonathan Grindlay
Stellar-mass black holes (BHs), with masses comparable to stars, are a major constituent of our Milky Way galaxy. This chapter describes the landscape of challenging, and long-soug…
Tiled Array of Pixelated CZT Imaging Detectors for ProtoEXIST2 and MIRAX-HXI
Jaesub Hong, Branden Allen, Jonathan Grindlay +7
We have assembled a tiled array (220 cm2) of fine pixel (0.6 mm) imaging CZT detectors for a balloon borne wide-field hard X-ray telescope, ProtoEXIST2. ProtoEXIST2 is a prototype…
Astro2010 Decadal Survey Whitepaper: Coordinated Science in the Gravitational and Electromagnetic Skies
Joshua S. Bloom, Daniel E. Holz, Scott A. Hughes +37
It is widely expected that the coming decade will witness the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs). The ground-based LIGO and Virgo GW observatories are being upgrad…
Proof of Concept for Through Silicon Vias (TSVs) in Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for Hard X-ray Imaging Detectors
Jaesub Hong, Jonathan Grindlay, Branden Allen +6
Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are commonly used to efficiently process the signals from sensors and detectors in space. Wire bonding is a space qualified techniq…
Modeling the Expected Performance of the REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS)
Niraj K. Inamdar, Richard P. Binzel, Jae Sub Hong +3
OSIRIS-REx is the third spacecraft in the NASA New Frontiers Program and is planned for launch in 2016. OSIRIS-REx will orbit the near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu, characterize i…
GRB Probes of the High-z Universe with EXIST
Jonathan Grindlay, the EXIST Team
The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) mission concept is optimized for study of high-z GRBs as probes of the early Universe. With a High Energy Telescope (HET) incor…
Short gamma-ray bursts from binary neutron star mergers in globular clusters
Jonathan Grindlay, Simon Portegies Zwart, Stephen McMillan
The first locations of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in elliptical galaxies suggest they are produced by the mergers of double neutron star (DNS) binaries in old stellar population…
A Vigorous Explorer Program
Martin Elvis, Matthew Beasley, Roger Brissenden +47
Explorers have made breakthroughs in many fields of astrophysics. The science from both these missions contributed to three Nobel Prizes - Giacconi (2002), Mather, and Smoot (2006)…
NuSTAR J163433-4738.7: A Fast X-ray Transient in the Galactic Plane
John A. Tomsick, Eric V. Gotthelf, Farid Rahoui +14
During hard X-ray observations of the Norma spiral arm region by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) in 2013 February, a new transient source, NuSTAR J163433-4738.7,…
Constraining white dwarf mass and magnetic field strength of a new intermediate polar through X-ray observations
Benjamin Vermette, Ciro Salcedo, Kaya Mori +9
We report a broad-band analysis of a Galactic X-ray source, CXOGBS J174517.0-321356 (J1745), with a 614-second periodicity. Chandra discovered the source in the direction of the Ga…
Measuring the Accreting Stellar and Intermediate Mass Black Hole Populations in the Galaxy and Local Group
Jonathan Grindlay, Didier Barret, Tomaso Belloni +23
The population of stellar black holes (SBHs) in the Galaxy and galaxies generally is poorly known in both number and distribution. SBHs are the fossil record of the massive stars i…
Calibration and Performance of the REgolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) Aboard NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission to Bennu
Jaesub Hong, Richard P. Binzel, Branden Allen +23
The REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) instrument on board NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu is a Class-D student collaboration experiment designed to detect…
Improved Photometry for the DASCH Pipeline
Sumin Tang, Jonathan Grindlay, Edward Los +1
The Digital Access to a Sky Century@Harvard (DASCH) project is digitizing the ~500,000 glass plate images obtained (full sky) by the Harvard College Observatory from 1885-1992. Ast…
The DASCH Data Processing Pipeline and Multiple Exposure Plate Processing
Edward Los, Jonathan Grindlay, Sumin Tang +2
Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard (DASCH) is a project to digitize the collection of approximately 525,000 astronomical plates held at the Harvard College Observatory. This…
DASCH Discovery of A Possible Nova-like Outburst in A Peculiar Symbiotic Binary
Sumin Tang, Jonathan Grindlay, Maxwell Moe +4
We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of a peculiar variable (designated DASCH J075731.1+201735 or J0757) discovered from our DASCH project using the digitized Harv…
Lessons from the Onset of a Common Envelope Episode: the Remarkable M31 2015 Luminous Red Nova Outburst
Morgan MacLeod, Phillip Macias, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz +3
This paper investigates the recent stellar merger transient M31LRN 2015 in the Andromeda galaxy. We analyze published optical photometry and spectroscopy along with a Hubble Space…
Imaging effects due to pixel distortions in CdZnTe (CZT) detectors -- results from the HREXI Calibration Facility (HCF)
Arkadip Basak, Branden Allen, Jaesub Hong +2
ProtoEXIST2 (P2) was a prototype imaging X-ray detector plane developed for wide-field Time Domain Astrophysics (TDA) in the 5 - 200 keV energy band. It was composed of an 8 $\time…
HCF (HREXI Calibration Facility): Mapping out sub-pixel level responses from high resolution Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) imaging X-ray detectors
Arkadip Basak, Branden Allen, Jaesub Hong +2
The High Resolution Energetic X-Ray Imager (HREXI) CZT detector development program at Harvard is aimed at developing tiled arrays of finely pixelated CZT detectors for use in wide…
Kilonovae: nUV/Optical/IR Counterparts of Neutron Star Binary Mergers with TSO
Brian D. Metzger, Edo Berger, Jonathan Grindlay +12
With the epochal first detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star (NS) merger with the GW170817 event, and its direct confirmation that NS-NS mergers are significa…
Chandra Multi-wavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey: Design and Initial Results
Jonathan Grindlay, Ping Zhao, JaeSub Hong +9
The Chandra Multiwavength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey of the galactic plane incorporates serendipitous sources from selected Chandra pointings in or near the galactic plane (b < 12deg…
The Case for Probe-class NASA Astrophysics Missions
Martin Elvis, Jon Arenberg, David Ballantyne +45
Astrophysics spans an enormous range of questions on scales from individual planets to the entire cosmos. To address the richness of 21st century astrophysics requires a correspond…
Hunting for High-Mass X-ray Binaries in the Galactic Center with NuSTAR
Shifra Mandel, Julian Gerber, Kaya Mori +9
The central deg region of our Galaxy contains X-ray point sources that were detected by a series of Chandra observations over the last two decades. Ho…
Testing Station for Fast Screening of Through Silicon Via (TSV)-enabled Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for Hard X-ray Imaging Detectors
Daniel P. Violette, Branden Allen, Jaesub Hong +2
Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are used in space-borne instruments for signal processing and detector readout. The electrical interface of these ASICs to frontend…
Imaging Analysis of the Hard X-ray Telescope ProtoEXIST2 and New Techniques for High Resolution Coded Aperture Telescopes
Jaesub Hong, Branden Allen, Jonathan Grindlay +1
Wide-field (> 100 deg) hard X-ray coded-aperture telescopes with high angular resolution (< 2') will enable a wide range of time domain astrophysics. For instance, transient so…
100-year DASCH Light Curves of Kepler Planet-Candidate Host Stars
Sumin Tang, Dimitar Sasselov, Jonathan Grindlay +2
We present 100 year light curves of Kepler planet-candidate host stars from the Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH) project. 261 out of 997 host stars have at least…
Energy Spectra and High Frequency Oscillations in 4U 0614+091
Eric C. Ford, Philip Kaaret, Kaiyou Chen +7
We investigate the behavior of the high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in 4U 0614+091, combining timing and spectral analysis of RXTE observations. The energy spectra…
Historical astronomical data: urgent need for preservation, digitization enabling scientific exploration
Alexei Pevtsov, Elizabeth Griffin, Jonathan Grindlay +16
Over the past decades and even centuries, the astronomical community has accumulated a signif-icant heritage of recorded observations of a great many astronomical objects. Those re…
Physical Considerations for an Intercept Mission to a 1I/'Oumuamua-like Interstellar Object
Amir Siraj, Abraham Loeb, Amaya Moro-Martin +7
In this paper, we review some of the extant literature on the study of interstellar objects (ISOs). With the forthcoming Vera C. Rubin Telescope and Legacy Survey of Space and Time…
In Situ Probes of the First Galaxies and Reionization: Gamma-ray Bursts
Matthew McQuinn, Joshua S. Bloom, Jonathan Grindlay +20
The first structures in the Universe formed at z>7, at higher redshift than all currently known galaxies. Since GRBs are brighter than other cosmological sources at high redshift a…
Target of Opportunity Observations of Gravitational Wave Events with Vera C. Rubin Observatory
Igor Andreoni, Raffaella Margutti, Om Sharan Salafia +52
The discovery of the electromagnetic counterpart to the binary neutron star merger GW170817 has opened the era of gravitational-wave multi-messenger astronomy. Rapid identification…
Big Science with a nUV-MidIR Rapid-Response 1.3m telescope at L2
Jonathan Grindlay, Edo Berger, Brian Metzger +12
Time-domain Astrophysics (TDA), a foundation of Astronomy, has become a major part of current and projected (2020s) astrophysics. While much has been derived from temporal measures…
The Brightest Serendipitous X-ray Sources in ChaMPlane
Kyle Penner, Maureen van den Berg, JaeSub Hong +3
The Chandra Multiwavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey is a comprehensive effort to constrain the population of accretion-powered and coronal low-luminosity X-ray sources (L_X < 10^3…
The Quasar SDSS J153636.22+044127.0: A Double-Peaked Emitter in a Candidate Binary Black-Hole System
Sumin Tang, Jonathan Grindlay
Double-peaked emission lines are believed to be originated from accretion disks around supermassive black holes (SMBHs), and about 3% of z<0.33 AGNs are found to be double-peaked e…