SPECTROSCOPIC SIGNATURES OF THE SUPERORBITAL PERIOD IN THE NEUTRON STAR BINARY LMC X-4 (original) (raw)
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016
Broad relativistic iron lines from neutron star X-ray binaries are important probes of the inner accretion disc. The X-ray reflection features can be weakened due to strong magnetic fields or very low iron abundances such as is possible in X-ray binaries with low mass, first generation stars as companions. Here, we investigate the reality of the broad iron line detected earlier from the neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1820−30 with a degenerate helium dwarf companion. We perform a comprehensive, systematic broad-band spectral study of the atoll source using Suzaku and simultaneous NuSTAR and Swift observations. We have used different continuum models involving accretion disc emission, thermal blackbody and thermal Comptonization of either disc or blackbody photons. The Suzaku data show positive and negative residuals in the region of Fe K band. These features are well described by two absorption edges at 7.67 ± 0.14 keV and 6.93 ± 0.07 keV or partial covering photoionized absorption or by blurred reflection. Though, the simultaneous Swift and NuSTAR data do not clearly reveal the emission or absorption features, the data are consistent with the presence of either absorption or emission features. Thus, the absorption based models provide an alternative to the broad iron line or reflection model. The absorption features may arise in winds from the inner accretion disc. The broad-band spectra appear to disfavour continuum models in which the blackbody emission from the neutron-star surface provides the seed photons for thermal Comptonization. Our results suggest emission from a thin accretion disc (kT disc ∼ 1 keV), Comptonization of disc photons in a boundary layer most likely covering a large fraction of the neutron-star surface and innermost parts of the accretion disc, and blackbody emission (kT bb ∼ 2 keV) from the polar regions.
Monthly Notices of …, 2009
Iron emission lines at 6.4-6.97 keV, identified with fluorescent Kα transitions, are among the strongest discrete features in the X-ray band. These are therefore one of the most powerful probes to infer the properties of the plasma in the innermost part of the accretion disc around a compact object. In this paper, we present a recent XMM-Newton observation of the X-ray burster 4U 1705−44, where we clearly detect a relativistically smeared iron line at about 6.7 keV, testifying with high statistical significance that the line profile is distorted by highvelocity motion in the accretion disc. As expected from disc reflection models, we also find a significant absorption edge at about 8.3 keV; this feature appears to be smeared, and is compatible with being produced in the same region where the iron line is produced. From the line profile, we derive the physical parameters of the inner accretion disc with large precision. The line is identified with the Kα transition of highly ionized iron, Fe XXV, the inner disc radius is R in = 14 ± 2 R g (where R g is the Gravitational radius, GM/c 2), the emissivity dependence from the disc radius is r −2.27±0.08 , the inclination angle with respect to the line of sight is i = 39 • ± 1 •. Finally, the XMM-Newton spectrum shows evidences of other low-energy emission lines, which again appear broad and their profiles are compatible with being produced in the same region where the iron line is produced.
Discovery of Absorption Features in the X-Ray Spectrum of an Isolated Neutron Star
The Astrophysical Journal, 2002
We observed 1E 1207.4-5209, a neutron star in the center of the supernova remnant PKS 1209-51/52, with the ACIS detector aboard the Chandra X-ray observatory and detected two absorption features in the source spectrum. The features are centered near 0.7 keV and 1.4 keV, their equivalent widths are about 0.1 keV. We discuss various possible interpretations of the absorption features and exclude some of them. A likely interpretation is that the features are associated with atomic transitions of once-ionized helium in the neutron star atmosphere with a strong magnetic field. The first clear detection of absorption features in the spectrum of an isolated neutron star provides an opportunity to measure the mass-to-radius ratio and constrain the equation of state of the superdense matter.
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 2018
AbstarctUltra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are off-nuclear point sources in nearby galaxies with luminosities well exceeding the Eddington limit for stellar-mass objects. It has been recognized after the discovery of pulsating ULXs (PULXs) that a fraction of these sources could be accreting neutron stars in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) though the majority of ULXs are lacking in coherent pulsations. The earliest stage of some HMXBs may harbor rapidly rotating neutron stars propelling out the matter transferred by the massive companion. The spin-down power transferred by the neutron-star magnetosphere to the accretion disk at this stage can well exceed the Eddington luminosities and the system appears as a non-pulsating ULX. In this picture, PULXs appear as super-critical mass-accreting descendants of non-pulsating ULXs. We present this evolutionary scenario within a self-consistent model of magnetosphere-disk interaction and discuss the implications of our results on the spin an...
2016
Supergiant High Mass X-ray Binary systems (sgHMXBs) consist of a massive, late type, star and a neutron star. The massive stars exhibits strong, radiatively driven, stellar winds. Wind accretion onto compact object triggers X-ray emission, which alters the stellar wind significantly. Hydrodynamic simulation has been used to study the neutron star-stellar wind interaction it two sgHMXBs: i) A heavily obscured sgHMXB (IGR J17252 − 3616) discovered by INTEGRAL. To account for observable quantities (i.e., absorbing column density) we have to assume a very slow wind terminal velocity of about 500 km/s and a rather massive neutron star. If confirmed in other obscured systems, this could provide a completely new stellar wind diagnostics. ii) A classical sgHMXB (Vela X-1) has been studied in depth to understand the origin of the off-states observed in this system. Among many models used to account for this observed behavior (clumpy wind, gating mechanism) we propose that self-organized criticality of the accretion stream is the likely reason for the observed behavior. In conclusion, the neutron star, in these two examples, acts very efficiently as a probe to study stellar winds.
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2020
Context. Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are those X-ray sources located away from the centre of their host galaxy with luminosities exceeding the Eddington limit of a stellar-mass black hole (LX > 1039 erg s−1). Observed X-ray variability suggests that ULXs are X-ray binary systems. The discovery of X-ray pulsations in some of these objects (e.g. M82 X-2) suggests that a certain fraction of the ULX population may have a neutron star as the accretor. Aims. We present systematic modelling of low- and intermediate-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs and IMXBs; donor-star mass range 0.92–8.0 M⊙ and neutron-star accretors) to explain the formation of this sub-population of ULXs. Methods. Using MESA, we explored the allowed initial parameter space of binary systems consisting of a neutron star and a low- or intermediate-mass donor star that could explain the observed properties of ULXs. These donors are transferring mass at super-Eddington rates while the accretion is limited locally in t...
Broad iron line in the fast spinning neutron-star system 4U 1636-53
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2013
We analysed the X-ray spectra of six observations, simultaneously taken with XMM-Newton and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53. The observations cover several states of the source, and therefore a large range of inferred mass accretion rate. These six observations show a broad emission line in the spectrum at around 6.5 keV, likely due to iron. We fitted this line with a set of phenomenological models of a relativistically broadened line, plus a model that accounts for relativistically smeared and ionised reflection from the accretion disc. The latter model includes the incident emission from both the neutronstar surface or boundary layer and the corona that is responsible for the high-energy emission in these systems. From the fits with the reflection model we found that in four out of the six observations the main contribution to the reflected spectrum comes from the neutron-star surface or boundary layer, whereas in the other two observations the main contribution to the reflected spectrum comes from the corona. We found that the relative contribution of these two components is not correlated to the state of the source. From the phenomenological models we found that the iron line profile is better described by a symmetric, albeit broad, profile. The width of the line cannot be explained only by Compton broadening, and we therefore explored the case of relativistic broadening. We further found that the direct emission from the disc, boundary layer, and corona generally evolved in a manner consistent with the standard accretion disc model, with the disc and boundary layer becoming hotter and the disc moving inwards as the source changed from the hard in to the soft state. The iron line, however, did not appear to follow the same trend.
2013
Non-solar composition of the donor star in ultra-compact X-ray binaries may have a pronounced effect on the fluorescent lines appearing in their spectra due to reprocessing of primary radiation by the accretion disk and the white dwarf surface. We show that the most dramatic and easily observable consequence of the anomalous C/O abundance, is the significant, by more than an order of magnitude, attenuation of the Ka line of iron. It is caused by screening of the presence of iron by oxygen - in the C/O dominated material the main interaction process for a E ~ 7keV photon is absorption by oxygen rather than by iron, contrary to the solar composition case. Ionization of oxygen at high mass accretion rates adds a luminosity dependence to this behavior - the iron line is significantly suppressed only at low luminosity, log(LX) less than 37-37.5, and should recover its nominal strength at higher luminosity. The increase of the EW of the Ka lines of carbon and oxygen, on the other hand, saturates at rather moderate values. Screening by He is less important, due to its low ionization threshold and because in the accretion disk it is mostly ionized. Consequently, in the case of the He-rich donor, the iron line strength remains close to its nominal value, determined by the iron abundance in the accretion disk. This opens the possibility of constraining the nature of donor stars in UCXBs by means of X-ray spectroscopy with moderate energy resolution.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 2012
RX J0822−4300 is the central compact object associated with the Puppis A supernova remnant. Previous X-ray observations suggested RX J0822−4300 to be a young neutron star with a weak dipole field and a peculiar surface temperature distribution dominated by two antipodal spots with different temperatures and sizes. An emission line at 0.8 keV was also detected. We performed a very deep (130-ks) observation with XMM-Newton, which allowed us to study in detail the phase-resolved properties of RX J0822−4300. Our new data confirm the existence of a narrow spectral feature, best modelled as an emission line, only seen in the 'soft'-phase interval -when the cooler region is best aligned to the line of sight. Surprisingly, comparison of our recent observations to the older ones yields evidence for a variation in the emissionline component, which can be modelled as a decrease in the central energy from ∼0.80 keV in 2001 to ∼0.73 keV in 2009-10. The line could be generated via cyclotron scattering of thermal photons in an optically-thin layer of gas, or, alternatively, it could originate in low-rate accretion by a debris disc. In any case, a variation in energy, pointing to a variation of the magnetic field in the line-emitting region, cannot be easily accounted for.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
The low luminosity, X-ray flaring activity, of the sub-class of high-mass X-ray binaries called Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients, has been investigated using XMM–Newton public observations, taking advantage of the products made publicly available by the EXTraS project. One of the goals of EXTraS was to extract from the XMM–Newton public archive information on the aperiodic variability of all sources observed in the soft X-ray range with EPIC (0.2–12 keV). Adopting a Bayesian block decomposition of the X-ray light curves of a sample of SFXTs, we picked out 144 X-ray flares, covering a large range of soft X-ray luminosities (1032–1036 erg s−1). We measured temporal quantities, like the rise time to and the decay time from the peak of the flares, their duration and the time interval between adjacent flares. We also estimated the peak luminosity, average accretion rate, and energy release in the flares. The observed soft X-ray properties of low-luminosity flaring activity from SFXTs is ...