2,460 research outputs found
Spectral Transition and Torque Reversal in X-ray Pulsar 4U 1626-67
The accretion-powered, X-ray pulsar 4U 1626-67 has recently shown an abrupt
torque reversal accompanied by a dramatic spectral transition and a relatively
small luminosity change. The time-averaged X-ray spectrum during spin-down is
considerably harder than during spin-up. The observed torque reversal can be
explained by an accretion flow transition triggered by a gradual change in the
mass accretion rate. The sudden transition to spin-down is caused by a change
in the accretion flow rotation from Keplerian to sub-Keplerian. 4U 1626-67 is
estimated to be near spin equilibrium with a mass accretion rate Mdot~2x10**16
g/s, Mdot decreasing at a rate ~6x10**14 g/s/yr, and a polar surface magnetic
field of ~2b_p**{-1/2} 10^**12G where b_p is the magnetic pitch. During
spin-up, the Keplerian flow remains geometrically thin and cool. During
spin-down, the sub-Keplerian flow becomes geometrically thick and hot. Soft
photons from near the stellar surface are Compton up-scattered by the hot
accretion flow during spin-down while during spin-up such scattering is
unlikely due to the small scale-height and low temperature of the flow. This
mechanism accounts for the observed spectral hardening and small luminosity
change. The scattering occurs in a hot radially falling column of material with
a scattering depth ~0.3 and a temperature ~10^9K. The X-ray luminosity at
energies >5keV could be a poor indicator of the mass accretion rate. We briefly
discuss the possible application of this mechanism to GX 1+4, although there
are indications that this system is significantly different from other
torque-reversal systems.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, ApJ
Resistively detected nuclear magnetic resonance via a single InSb two-dimensional electron gas at high temperature
We report on the demonstration of the resistively detected nuclear magnetic
resonance (RDNMR) of a single InSb two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at
elevated temperatures up to 4 K. The RDNMR signal of 115In in the simplest
pseudospin quantum Hall ferromagnet triggered by a large direct current shows a
peak-dip line shape, where the nuclear relaxation time T1 at the peak and the
dip is different but almost temperature independent. The large Zeeman,
cyclotron, and exchange energy scales of the InSb 2DEG contribute to the
persistence of the RDNMR signal at high temperatures.Comment: 11pages,3figure
Resolving the Fe xxv Triplet with Chandra in Cen X-3
We present the results of a 45 ks Chandra observation of the high-mass X-ray
binary Cen X--3 at orbital phases between 0.13 and 0.40 (in the eclipse
post-egress phases). Here we concentrate on the study of discrete features in
the energy spectrum at energies between 6 and 7 keV, i.e. on the iron
K line region, using the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer
on board the Chandra satellite. We clearly see a K neutral iron line
at keV and were able to distinguish the three lines of the
\ion{Fe}{25} triplet at 6.61 keV, 6.67 keV, and 6.72 keV, with an equivalent
width of 6 eV, 9 eV, and 5 eV, respectively. The equivalent width of the
K neutral iron line is 13 eV, an order of magnitude lower than
previous measures. We discuss the possibility that the small equivalent width
is due to a decrease of the solid angle subtended by the reflector.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, To appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letter
A search for cyclotron resonance features with INTEGRAL
We present an INTEGRAL observation of the Cen-Crux region in order to search
the electron cyclotron resonance scattering features from the X-ray binary
pulsars. During the AO1 200ks observation, we clearly detected 4 bright X-ray
binaries, 1 Seyfert Galaxy, and 4 new sources in the field of view. Especially
from GX301-2, the cyclotron resonance feature is detected at about 37 keV, and
width of 3--4 keV. In addition, the depth of the resonance feature strongly
depends on the X-ray luminosity. This is the first detection of luminosity
dependence of the resonance depth. The cyclotron resonance feature is
marginally detected from 1E1145.1-6141. Cen X-3 was very dim during the
observation and poor statistics disable us to detect the resonance
features.These are first INTEGRAL results of searching for the cyclotron
resonance feature.Comment: 4pages, 8figures, To be published in the Proceedings of the 5th
INTEGRAL Workshop: "The INTEGRAL Universe", February 16-20, 2004, Munic
Experimental ancilla-assisted qubit transmission against correlated noise using quantum parity checking
We report the experimental demonstration of a transmission scheme of photonic
qubits over unstabilized optical fibers, which has the plug-and-play feature as
well as the ability to transmit any state of a qubit, regardless of whether it
is known, unknown, or entangled to other systems. A high fidelity to the
noiseless quantum channel was achieved by adding an ancilla photon after the
signal photon within the correlation time of the fiber noise and by performing
quantum parity checking. Simplicity, maintenance-free feature and robustness
against path-length mismatches among the nodes make our scheme suitable for
multi-user quantum communication networks.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; published in New J. Phys. and selected in IOP
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