IGF::OT::IGF NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD - RE-START THE PROCESSING OF THE SWIFT BAT HARD X-RAY SURVEY…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT AWARD - RE-START THE PROCESSING OF THE SWIFT BAT HARD X-RAY SURVEY WHICH HALTED IN 2010 DUE TO A LACK OF FUNDS. THE ADDITIONAL FIVE YEARS OF SWIFT WILL ROUGHLY DOUBLE THE EXPOSURE AND INCLUDE RECENT NUSTAR OBSERVATIONS THAT PROVIDE A UNIQUE SCIENTIFIC OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY: 1. THE MOST COMPTON-THICK AGN IN THE NEARBY UNIVERSE, 2. LONGTERM AGN VARIABILITY ABOUT 10 KEV, AND 3. TARGETED SEARCHES FOR SPECTRAL FEATURES OF SUPERNOVA REMNANTS AND SIGNATURES OF WARM DARK MATTER ANNIHILATION USING STACKING. REPROCESSING THE SWIFT SURVEY WAS RECOMMENDED AS AN IMPORTANT TASK IN THE 2014 NASA SENIOR REVIEW OF MISSIONS WHERE SWIFT WAS GIVEN THE HIGHEST RATING. THE CONTRACTOR WILL ALSO DEVELOP NEW SOFTWARE TOOLS THAT SHOULD ALLOW GUEST OBSERVERS TO ACCESS THE BAT SURVEY DATA IN NEW AND POWERFUL WAYS TO INCREASE THE SCIENTIFIC USEFULNESS OF THE DATA. THE CONTRACTOR WILL APPLY NEW TECHNIQUES TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF CHANNELS OF THE BAT SPECTRA FOR TARGETED SPECTROSCOPIC SEARCHES. THE CONTRACTOR WILL ALSO DEVELOP NEW SOFTWARE TOOLS THAT ALLOW TIME DEPENDENT SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF ANY CATALOG SOURCE, TIME AND ENERGY SLICES TO PRODUCE AN ALL SKY SOURCE CATALOG, FLUXES AND UPPER LIMITS FOR CANDIDATE HARD X-RAY SOURCES CHOSEN IN ANOTHER WAVEBAND, AND THE FINALLY THE ABILITY TO STACK THE BAT DATA FOR A PRE-SELECTED LIST OF OBJECTS AND ENERGY BANDS.