Observations of sub-millisecond bursts from Cygnus X-1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Cygnus X-1 was observed by a powerful X-ray rocket payload on 1976 November 4 and several sub-millisecond bursts were found. These bursts when superimposed imply a rising profile with a width of |$\sim 500\mu s$|⁠, but a high resolution autocorrelation function shows this time-scale is not characteristic of the source. The problems involved in demonstrating the existence of ms bursts are discussed and the bursts seen are then compared with the few previously reported examples. This comparison shows that all observations to date have been made with detectors that are too small in area to escape entirely from the realm of small numbers and their associated statistical problems.