Swift/XRT observation of the Crab Nebula/PSR following the September 2010 gamma-ray flare
ATel #2866; Y. Evangelista, R. Campana (INAF/IASF Roma), M. Capalbi (ASDC), V. Mangano (IASF-Pa), E. Costa, I. Donnarumma, M. Feroci, L. Pacciani, E. Del Monte, F. Lazzarotto, P. Soffitta, I. Lapshov, M. Tavani (INAF/IASF Roma), E. Striani (Univ. Tor Vergata), C. Pittori, F. Verrecchia (ASDC), P. Romano (IASF-Pa), A. Bulgarelli (INAF/IASF Bologna), F. Gianotti, M. Trifoglio (INAF/IASF Bologna), A. Argan, A. Trois, G. De Paris, V. Vittorini, S. Sabatini, G. Piano (INAF/IASF Roma), F. D'Ammando (IASF-Pa), A. Chen, A. Giuliani(INAF-IASF-Milano), M. Marisaldi, G. Di Cocco, C. Labanti, F. Fuschino, M. Galli (INAF/IASF Bologna), P. Caraveo, S. Mereghetti, F. Perotti (INAF/IASF Milano), G. Pucella, M. Rapisarda (ENEA-Roma), S. Vercellone (IASF-Pa), A. Pellizzoni, M. Pilia (INAF/OA-Cagliari), G. Barbiellini, F. Longo (INFN Trieste), P. Picozza, A. Morselli (INFN and Univ. Tor Vergata), M. Prest (Universita` dell'Insubria), P. Lipari, D. Zanello (INFN Roma-1), P. W. Cattaneo, A. Rappoldi (INFN Pavia), P. Giommi, P. Santolamazza, F. Lucarelli (ASDC), L. Salotti (ASI)
on 24 Sep 2010; 14:26 UT
Credential Certification: Yuri Evangelista (yuri.evangelista@iasf-roma.inaf.it)
Subjects: X-ray, Gamma Ray, >GeV, Neutron Star, Supernova Remnant, Pulsar
Following the detection by AGILE (ATel #2855) of enhanced gamma-ray emission from a
source positionally consistent with the Crab Nebula, confirmed also by Fermi/LAT (ATel
#2861), we requested a ToO Swift/XRT observation. We obtained 1 ks XRT observation of the
Crab Nebula in the windowed timing (WT) mode starting at 2010-09-22 16:42:44 UT.
A preliminary analysis does not reveal any significant change in the source flux and
spectrum compared with previously detected values (see, e.g., Weisskopf et al., ApJ, 713, 2010 and references therein).
We also analyzed the source pulse profile. From a comparison with the XRT folded
light-curve reported in Cusumano et al., Proceedings of the
SPIE, 5898, (2005) we do not detect any significant change in the X-ray pulse shape.
Analysis of additional Swift observations of the Crab Nebula/PSR is in progress.
We thank the Swift team for the prompt scheduling of this observation.
