Background subtraction and transient timing with Bayesian Blocks

Abstract

Aims: To incorporate background subtraction into the Bayesian Blocks algorithm so that transient events can be timed accurately and precisely even in the presence of a substantial, rapidly variable, background. Methods: We developed several modifications to the algorithm and tested them on a simulated XMM-Newton observation of a bursting and eclipsing object. Results: We found that bursts can be found to good precision for almost all background subtraction methods, but eclipse ingresses and egresses present problems for most methods. We found one method that recovered these events with precision comparable to the interval between individual photons, in which both source and background region photons are combined into a single list and weighted according to the exposure area. We have also found that adjusting the Bayesian Blocks change points nearer to blocks with higher count rate removes a systematic bias towards blocks of low count rate.

10 pages, 13 figures, 1 table

References in corpus (3)

• A statistical analysis of X-ray variability in pre-main sequence objects of the Taurus Molecular Cloud
• On Spectral Evolution and Temporal Binning in Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Study of the X-ray activity of Sgr A* during the 2011 XMM-Newton campaign

Cited by in corpus (7)

• AMORPH: A statistical program for characterizing amorphous materials by X-ray diffraction
• Multiwavelength study of the flaring activity of Sgr A* in 2014 February-April
• The EXTraS Project: Exploring the X-ray transient and variable sky
• Neutron Star Mass-Radius Constraints using Evolutionary Optimization
• Testing a model for subphotospheric dissipation in GRBs: fits to Fermi data constrain the dissipation scenario
• Testing the Simultaneity of Forbush Decreases with Algorithm-Selected Forbush Event Catalogue
• XMM-Newton and optical observations of the eclipsing polar CSS081231:071126+440405