429 research outputs found
X-ray burst induced spectral variability in 4U 1728-34
Aims. INTEGRAL has been monitoring the Galactic center region for more than a
decade. Over this time INTEGRAL has detected hundreds of type-I X-ray bursts
from the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1728-34, a.k.a. "the slow
burster". Our aim is to study the connection between the persistent X-ray
spectra and the X-ray burst spectra in a broad spectral range. Methods. We
performed spectral modeling of the persistent emission and the X-ray burst
emission of 4U 1728-34 using data from the INTEGRAL JEM-X and IBIS/ISGRI
instruments. Results. We constructed a hardness intensity diagram to track
spectral state variations. In the soft state the energy spectra are
characterized by two thermal components - likely from the accretion disc and
the boundary/spreading layer - together with a weak hard X-ray tail that we
detect in 4U 1728-34 for the first time in the 40 to 80 keV range. In the hard
state the source is detected up to 200 keV and the spectrum can be described by
a thermal Comptonization model plus an additional component: either a powerlaw
tail or reflection. By stacking 123 X-ray bursts in the hard state, we detect
emission up to 80 keV during the X-ray bursts. We find that during the bursts
the emission above 40 keV decreases by a factor of about three with respect to
the persistent emission level. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the
enhanced X-ray burst emission changes the spectral properties of the accretion
disc in the hard state. The likely cause is an X-ray burst induced cooling of
the electrons in the inner hot flow near the neutron star.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in A&
The origin of seed photons for Comptonization in the black hole binary Swift J1753.5-0127
Aims. The black hole binary SWIFT J1753.5-0127 is providing a unique data set
to study accretion flows. Various investigations of this system and of other
black holes have not, however, led to an agreement on the accretion flow
geometry or on the seed photon source for Comptonization during different
stages of X-ray outbursts. We place constraints on these accretion flow
properties by studying long-term spectral variations of this source. Methods.
We performed phenomenological and self-consistent broad band spectral modeling
of Swift J1753.5-0127 using quasi-simultaneous archived data from
INTEGRAL/ISGRI, Swift/UVOT/XRT/BAT, RXTE/PCA/HEXTE and MAXI/GSC instruments.
Results. We identify a critical flux limit, F \sim 1.5 \times 10^{-8}
erg/cm^2/s, and show that the spectral properties of SWIFT J1753.5-0127 are
markedly different above and below this value. Above the limit, during the
outburst peak, the hot medium seems to intercept roughly 50 percent of the disk
emission. Below it, in the outburst tail, the contribution of the disk photons
reduces significantly and the entire spectrum from the optical to X-rays can be
produced by a synchrotron-self-Compton mechanism. The long-term variations in
the hard X-ray spectra are caused by erratic changes of the electron
temperatures in the hot medium. Thermal Comptonization models indicate
unreasonably low hot medium optical depths during the short incursions into the
soft state after 2010, suggesting that non-thermal electrons produce the
Comptonized tail in this state. The soft X-ray excess, likely produced by the
accretion disk, shows peculiarly stable temperatures for over an order of
magnitude changes in flux. Conclusions. The long-term spectral trends of SWIFT
J1753.5-0127 are likely set by variations of the truncation radius and a
formation of a hot, quasi-spherical inner flow in the vicinity of the black
hole. (abridged)Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, published in A&
Models of neutron star atmospheres enriched with nuclear burning ashes
Low-mass X-ray binaries hosting neutron stars (NS) exhibit thermonuclear
(type-I) X-ray bursts, which are powered by unstable nuclear burning of helium
and/or hydrogen into heavier elements deep in the NS "ocean". In some cases the
burning ashes may rise from the burning depths up to the NS photosphere by
convection, leading to the appearance of the metal absorption edges in the
spectra, which then force the emergent X-ray burst spectra to shift toward
lower energies. These effects may have a substantial impact on the color
correction factor and the dilution factor , the parameters of the
diluted blackbody model that is commonly used
to describe the emergent spectra from NSs. The aim of this paper is to quantify
how much the metal enrichment can change these factors. We have developed a new
NS atmosphere modeling code, which has a few important improvements compared to
our previous code required by inclusion of the metals. The opacities and the
internal partition functions (used in the ionization fraction calculations) are
now taken into account for all atomic species. In addition, the code is now
parallelized to counter the increased computational load. We compute a detailed
grid of atmosphere models with different exotic chemical compositions that
mimic the presence of the burning ashes. From the emerging model spectra we
compute the color correction factors and the dilution factors that
can then be compared to the observations. We find that the metals may change
by up to about 40%, which is enough to explain the scatter seen in the
blackbody radius measurements. The presented models open up the possibility for
determining NS mass and radii more accurately, and may also act as a tool to
probe the nuclear burning mechanisms of X-ray bursts.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, to be published in A&
The Magellanic system X-ray sources
Using archival X-ray data from the second XMM-Newton serendipitous source
catalogue, we present comparative analysis of the overall population of X-ray
sources in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. We see a difference between
the characteristics of the brighter sources in the two populations in the X-ray
band. Utilising flux measurements in different energy bands we are able to sort
the X-ray sources based on similarities to other previously identified and
classified objects. In this manner we are able to identify the probable nature
of some of the unknown objects, identifying a number of possible X-ray binaries
and Super Soft Sources.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Poster to appear in proceedings of IAU Symposium
256, The Magellanic System: Stars, Gas, and Galaxies. Keele Univeristy, U
Neutron star mass and radius measurements from atmospheric model fits to X-ray burst cooling tail spectra
Observations of thermonuclear X-ray bursts from accreting neutron stars (NSs)
in low-mass X-ray binary systems can be used to constrain NS masses and radii.
Most previous work of this type has set these constraints using Planck function
fits as a proxy: both the models and the data are fit with diluted blackbody
functions to yield normalizations and temperatures which are then compared
against each other. Here, for the first time, we fit atmosphere models of X-ray
bursting NSs directly to the observed spectra. We present a hierarchical
Bayesian fitting framework that uses state-of-the-art X-ray bursting NS
atmosphere models with realistic opacities and relativistic exact Compton
scattering kernels as a model for the surface emission. We test our approach
against synthetic data, and find that for data that are well-described by our
model we can obtain robust radius, mass, distance, and composition
measurements. We then apply our technique to Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
observations of five hard-state X-ray bursts from 4U 1702-429. Our joint fit to
all five bursts shows that the theoretical atmosphere models describe the data
well but there are still some unmodeled features in the spectrum corresponding
to a relative error of 1-5% of the energy flux. After marginalizing over this
intrinsic scatter, we find that at 68% credibility the circumferential radius
of the NS in 4U 1702-429 is R = 12.4+-0.4 km, the gravitational mass is
M=1.9+-0.3 Msun, the distance is 5.1 < D/kpc < 6.2, and the hydrogen mass
fraction is X < 0.09.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, submitted to A&
Searching for X-ray sources in nearby late-type galaxies with low star formation rates
Late type non-starburst galaxies have been shown to contain X-ray emitting
objects, some being ultraluminous X-ray sources. We report on XMM-Newton
observations of 11 nearby, late-type galaxies previously observed with the
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in order to find such objects. We found 18 X-ray
sources in or near the optical extent of the galaxies, most being point-like.
If associated with the corresponding galaxies, the source luminosities range
from erg s to erg s. We
found one ultraluminous X-ray source, which is in the galaxy IC 5052, and one
source coincident with the galaxy IC 4662 with a blackbody temperature of
keV that could be a quasi-soft source or a quiescent neutron
star X-ray binary in the Milky Way. One X-ray source, XMMU J205206.0691316,
is extended and coincident with a galaxy cluster visible on an HST image. The
X-ray spectrum of the cluster reveals a redshift of and a
temperature of 3.60.4 keV. The redshift was mainly determined by a cluster
of Fe XXIV lines between the observed energy range keV.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in MNRA
The 2015 outburst of the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17511-3057 as seen by INTEGRAL, Swift and XMM-Newton
We report on INTEGRAL, Swift and XMM-Newton observations of IGR J17511-3057
performed during the outburst that occurred between March 23 and April 25,
2015. The source reached a peak flux of 0.7(2)E-9 erg/cm/s and decayed to
quiescence in approximately a month. The X-ray spectrum was dominated by a
power-law with photon index between 1.6 and 1.8, which we interpreted as
thermal Comptonization in an electron cloud with temperature > 20 keV . A broad
({\sigma} ~ 1 keV) emission line was detected at an energy (E =
6.9 keV) compatible with the K{\alpha} transition of ionized
Fe, suggesting an origin in the inner regions of the accretion disk. The
outburst flux and spectral properties shown during this outburst were
remarkably similar to those observed during the previous accretion event
detected from the source in 2009. Coherent pulsations at the pulsar spin period
were detected in the XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL data, at a frequency compatible
with the value observed in 2009. Assuming that the source spun up during the
2015 outburst at the same rate observed during the previous outburst, we derive
a conservative upper limit on the spin down rate during quiescence of 3.5E-15
Hz/s. Interpreting this value in terms of electromagnetic spin down yields an
upper limit of 3.6E26 G/cm to the pulsar magnetic dipole (assuming a
magnetic inclination angle of 30{\deg}). We also report on the detection of
five type-I X-ray bursts (three in the XMM-Newton data, two in the INTEGRAL
data), none of which indicated photospheric radius expansion.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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