Swift BAT 100-Month Catalog of Supergiant Fast X-Ray Transient Flares

1117 hard X-ray flares from 11 Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs) were detected by NASA's Swift Burst Alert Telescope from 2005 to 2013. The catalog contains previously unpublished events, with fluxes down to ~6 x 10^-10 erg/cm²/s, spanning 100 months of observations. Researchers compiled this data to investigate flare characteristics and their correlation with orbital phase in these high-mass binary systems.

Use Cases

• Analyzing flare clustering patterns based on orbital phase to infer binary system properties.
• Modeling flare duration and brightness distributions based on the catalog's significance and flux records.
• Estimating expected flare rates for future hard X-ray observatories based on the provided limiting flux recipe.
• Studying the progression from tight to wide, eccentric orbits as orbital period increases, based on flare phase trends.

Strengths

• Contains 1117 flare events from 11 distinct sources, providing a substantial sample for analysis.
• Spans a long temporal baseline of 100 months (MJD 53413 - 56443), enabling study of long-term behavior.
• Data sourced from the Swift/BAT Transient Monitor, which observes 88% of the sky daily, maximizing detection opportunity.
• The great majority of the cataloged flares are unpublished, offering novel research material.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the specific 2005-2013 observation window.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Flares retrieved from Swift/BAT Transient Monitor light curves and on-board detections, selected for significance (>5 sigma) and proximity.

Time Range

2005 February 12 to 2013 May 31 (MJD 53413 - 56443)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:48:00.304454; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Celestial observations; no specific terrestrial geography.