[vsnet-grb 118739] New Swift-BAT_Monitor_Alert Notice type is available

[Bacodine]

TO:  All GCN Notice recipients
RE:  Swift-BAT_Monitor_Alert Notice type is available
DT:  23 Feb 2010


INTRODUCTION:
The GCN system has been modified to incorporate the distribution
of the Swift_BAT_Monitor_Alert notices.  This notice type
contains information about outbursts (increases in the flux)
of any of the 741 hard x-ray sources routinely monitored by Swift-BAT.

OCCURANCE RATE:
These will occur about 45 times per month.

OUTBURST DETECTION ALGORITHM:
The detection algorithm for detecting oubursts involves a combination
of flux increases above the long-term average, above the recent variance,
and above a ratcheting-up threshold to prevent multiple triggers
on closely spaced mini-but-related outbursts.

FALSE POSITIVES:
Given that the outburst threshold is set low and that outburst detection
algorithm not sophisticated, there will be false positives in this
notice type stream.  The false positive rate is ~20%.  Given this
relatively high false positive rate, the intended recipients
of this new notice type are robotic telescopes that
(a) have waiting time between bursts, and (b) are not too impacted
by taking data on false positives.  Of course, anyone (non-robotics)
can sign up for this type.  Advanced warning about an outburst
of their favorite source will allow them to trigger TOOs on other telescopes.

TIME DELAY:
Given that the data used in the BAT Monitor program comes down
the telemetry link with delay 1 to 8 hours, plus an ~2 hr processing time,
plus the time it takes for the ground processing to have a significant enough
flux increase in the source, the total delay ranges from ~4 hrs to 36 hrs. 

ERROR:
There is no position uncertaintly in this new notice type, because they
are known sources (e.g. PKS 1717+177, CygX-1, Mrk 421).

ACTION ITEM:
If, after reviewing the information below, you want to receive
these Swift_BAT_Monitor_Alert notices, please send me a request
to have them enabled.  You can do this by forwarding this email to
scott at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov .

ARCHIVE STORAGE:
The GCN/Swift BAT Monitor Notices are archived within the GCN website
in the Table of Swift-BAT Monitor Alerts:  http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/bat_mon_alerts.html

MORE INFORMATION:
Can be found at: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/swift.html
The full set of BAT's Hard X-ray Source monitoring can be found at
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/results/transients/

APOLOGIES:
My apologies to those of you that got about 4 instances of this new notice type.
I was doing some final "live" testing last night, and I forgot to turn on
the block2world filter for this type.  As such, they went out to nearly
all the sites.

NOTICE EXAMPLE:
Here is an example of a full-format email SWIFT_BAT_MONITOR_ALERT Notice:

Subject: GCN/TYPE_SWIFT_BAT_MONITOR

    TITLE:           GCN/SWIFT NOTICE
    NOTICE_DATE:     Tue 02 Feb 10 11:33:58 UT
    NOTICE_TYPE:     Swift-BAT Monitor Alert
    SOURCE_OBJ:      0FGL J1855.9+0126
    REF_NUM:         1
    RA:              283.985d {+18h 55m 56s} (J2000),
                     284.113d {+18h 56m 27s} (current),
                     283.351d {+18h 53m 24s} (1950)
    DEC:              +1.435d {+01d 26' 06"} (J2000),
                      +1.449d {+01d 26' 55"} (current),
                      +1.369d {+01d 22' 09"} (1950)
    CURR_FLUX:       0.0080 [cnts/cm2/sec]   35.00 [mCrab]
    BASELINE_FLUX:   0.0000 [cnts/cm2/sec]
    SIGNIF:          8.24 [sigma]
    OUTBURST_DATE:   15229 TJD;    33 DOY;   10/02/02
    OUTBURST_TIME:   17168.00 SOD {04:46:08.00} UT
    SAMPLING:        Daily
    SOLN_STATUS:     0x0
    FLAGS:           0x40000001
    LC_URL:          http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/results/transients/weak/0FGLJ1855.9p0126
    SUN_POSTN:       335.08d {+22h 20m 20s}  -10.35d {-10d 21' 00"}   
    SUN_DIST:         52.07 [deg]   Sun_angle= 3.4 [hr] (West of Sun)
    MOON_POSTN:       58.58d {+03h 54m 19s}  +24.21d {+24d 12' 54"}
    MOON_DIST:       128.92 [deg]
    MOON_ILLUM:      49 [%]
    GAL_COORDS:       34.72, -0.35 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the known-source transient
    ECL_COORDS:      285.35, 24.13 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the known-source transient
    COMMENTS:        SWIFT-BAT Monitor.
    COMMENTS:        This Notice was ground-processed from flight-data.



The socket packets contents can be found at:
http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/sock_pkt_def_doc.html


Sincerely,
Scott

Scott Barthelmy                      NASA-GSFC, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD   20771
PHONE:  301-286-3106                 (office)       CELL:   301-346-3733
FAX:    301-286-1684                 (1st choice,  -1682 2nd choice)
EMAIL:  scott at lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov
PAGER:  3013463733 at cingularme.com
WEB:    http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn


//////////////////////////////// Your Current Configuration /////////////////////////


Site_name: VSNET
Lon,Lat=  135.75   35.00
Distribution_method: EMAIL  Attachment_format: NONE
Address: vsnet-grb at ooruri.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp   
Filter:  ALL
Error_limit=   360.100 [deg, diameter]
Delta_T_limit= 999.900 [hr]
Swift_Trigger_ID_filter:   Disabled
Sources & Notice Types/Subtypes:
    RXTE-PCA_Alert_wont:      Disabled
    RXTE-PCA_Alert_will:      Disabled
    RXTE-PCA_nosaw:           Enabled
    RXTE-PCA_saw:             Enabled
    RXTE-ASM:                 Enabled
    IPN_RAW:                  Disabled
    IPN_POS:                  Enabled
    RXTE-ASM_TRANS:           Enabled
    HETE_TEST:                Disabled
    TYPE2_TEST:               Disabled
    INTEGRAL_Test_notices:    Disabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_TEST:       Disabled
    AGILE_GRB_TEST:           Disabled
    FERMI_GBM_TEST:           Disabled
    FERMI_LAT_TEST:           Disabled
    INTEGRAL_POINTDIR:        Disabled
    INTEGRAL_SPIACS:          Enabled
    INTEGRAL_WAKEUP:          Enabled
    INTEGRAL_REFINED:         Enabled
    INTEGRAL_OFFLINE:         Enabled
    GRB_CNTRPART:             Disabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_ALERT:      enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_POS:        enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_POS_NACK:   enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_SUBTHRESH_POS:  Disabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_LIGHTCURVE: enabled
    SWIFT_FOM_2OBS:           enabled
    SWIFT_SC_2SLEW:           enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_POS:            enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_POS_NACK:       enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_IMAGE:          enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_IMAGE:         enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_SRCLIST:       enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_POS:           enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_POS_NACK:      Disabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_LC_PROC:    enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_IMAGE_PROC:     enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_IMAGE_PROC:    enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_SRCLIST_PROC:  enabled
    SWIFT_POINTDIR:           enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_TRANS:          Disabled
    SWIFT_BAT_QL_POS:         Disabled
    SWIFT_BAT_SLEW_POS:       Disabled
    SWIFT_TOO_FOM:            enabled
    SWIFT_TOO_SLEW:           enabled
    AGILE_GRB_WAKEUP_POS:     Disabled
    AGILE_GRB_GROUND_POS:     Disabled
    AGILE_GRB_REFINED_POS:    Disabled
    AGILE_POINTDIR:           Disabled
    FERMI_GBM_FLT_POS:        Disabled
    FERMI_GBM_GND_POS:        Disabled
    FERMI_GBM_FIN_POS:        Disabled
    FERMI_LAT_POS_UPD:        Disabled
    FERMI_SC_SLEW:            Disabled
    FERMI_POINTDIR:           Disabled
    SIMBAD-NED:               Disabled


General Adminastrivia Comments/Suggestions:

1) When requesting changes to your configuration,
   it helps if you refer to your site_name.
2) If your site has more than one recipient (ie a list),
   please review the list to see if anybody should be deleted;
   (the volume of bounce-back-to-gcn emails gets large after a while).
3) If a new contact_person has taken over for the project, please inform me.
4) If your site is no longer active, please inform me.