The TeV binary HESS J0632+057 in the low and high X-ray state

We report on a 40ks Chandra observation of the TeV emitting high mass X-ray binary HESS J0632+057 performed in February 2011 during a high-state of X-ray and TeV activity. We have used the ACIS-S camera in Continuos Clocking mode to search for a possible X-ray pulsar in this system. Furthermore, we compare the emission of the source during this high state, with its X-ray properties during a low state of emission, caught by a 47ks XMM-Newton observation on September 2007. We did not find any periodic or quasi-periodic signal in any of the two observations. We derived an average pulsed fraction 3sigma upper limit for the presence of a periodic signal of ~35% and 25% during the low and high emission state, respectively (although this limit is strongly dependent on the frequency and the energy band). Using the best X-ray spectra derived to date for HESS J0632+057, we found evidence for a significant spectral change between the low and high X-ray emission states, with the absorption value and the photon index varying between Nh ~ 2.1-4.3x10^{21} cm^{-2} and Gamma ~ 1.18-1.61. At variance with what observed in other TeV binaries, it seems that in this source the higher the flux the softer the X-ray spectrum.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; ApJ Letter in pres

Deep Chandra observations of TeV binaries II: LS 5039

We report on Chandra observations of the TeV emitting High Mass X-ray Binary LS 5039, for a total exposure of ~70ks, using the ACIS-S camera in Continuos Clocking mode to search for a possible X-ray pulsar in this system. We did not find any periodic or quasi-periodic signal in the 0.3-0.4 and 0.75-0.9 orbital phases, and in a frequency range of 0.005-175 Hz. We derived an average pulsed fraction 3sigma upper limit for the presence of a periodic signal of ~15% (depending on the frequency and the energy band), the deepest limit ever reached for this object. If the X-ray emission of LS 5039 is due (at least in part) to a rotational powered pulsar, the latter is either spinning faster than ~5.6 ms, or having a beam pointing away from our line of sight, or contributing to ~15% of the total X-ray emission of the system in the orbital phases we observed.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS in pres