INTEGRAL study of temporal properties of bright flares in Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients

We have characterized the typical temporal behaviour of the bright X-ray flares detected from the three Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients showing the most extreme transient behaviour (XTEJ1739-302, IGRJ17544-2619, SAXJ1818.6-1703). We focus here on the cumulative distributions of the waiting-time (time interval between two consecutive X-ray flares), and the duration of the hard X-ray activity (duration of the brightest phase of an SFXT outburst), as observed by INTEGRAL/IBIS in the energy band 17-50 keV. Adopting the cumulative distribution of waiting-times, it is possible to identify the typical timescale that clearly separates different outbursts, each composed by several single flares at ks timescale. This allowed us to measure the duration of the brightest phase of the outbursts from these three targets, finding that they show heavy-tailed cumulative distributions. We observe a correlation between the total energy emitted during SFXT outbursts and the time interval covered by the outbursts (defined as the elapsed time between the first and the last flare belonging to the same outburst as observed by INTEGRAL). We show that temporal properties of flares and outbursts of the sources, which share common properties regardless different orbital parameters, can be interpreted in the model of magnetized stellar winds with fractal structure from the OB-supergiant stars.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (Accepted 2016 January 26. Received 2016 January 25 ; in original form 2015 December 15

Wide band observations of the X-ray burster GS 1826-238

GS 1826-238 is a well-studied X-ray bursting neutron star in a low mass binary system. Thermal Comptonisation by a hot electron cloud is a widely accepted mechanism accounting for its high energy emission, while the nature of most of its soft X-ray output is not completely understood. A further low energy component is typically needed to model the observed spectra: pure blackbody and Comptonisation-modified blackbody radiation by a lower temperature (a few keV) electron plasma were suggested to explain the low energy data. We studied the steady emission of GS 1826-238 by means of broad band (X to soft Gamma-rays) measurements obtained by the INTEGRAL observatory in 2003 and 2006. The newly developed, up-to-date Comptonisation model CompTB is applied for the first time to study effectively the low-hard state variability of a low-luminosity neutron star in a low-mass X-ray binary system. We confirm that the 3-200 keV emission of \GS is characterised by Comptonisation of soft seed photons by a hot electron plasma. A single spectral component is sufficient to model the observed spectra. At lower energies, no direct blackbody emission is observed and there is no need to postulate a low temperature Compton region. Compared to the 2003 measurements, the plasma temperature decreased from 20 to 14 keV in 2006, together with the seed photons temperature. The source intensity was also found to be 30% lower in 2006, whilst the average recurrence frequency of the X-ray bursts significantly increased. Possible explanations for this apparent deviation from the typical limit-cycle behaviour of this burster are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

XMM-Newton and NuSTAR simultaneous X-ray observations of IGR J11215-5952

We report the results of an XMM-Newton and NuSTAR coordinated observation of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient (SFXT) IGRJ11215-5952, performed on February 14, 2016, during the expected peak of its brief outburst, which repeats every about 165 days. Timing and spectral analysis were performed simultaneously in the energy band 0.4-78 keV. A spin period of 187.0 +/- 0.4 s was measured, consistent with previous observations performed in 2007. The X-ray intensity shows a large variability (more than one order of magnitude) on timescales longer than the spin period, with several luminous X-ray flares which repeat every 2-2.5 ks, some of which simultaneously observed by both satellites. The broad-band (0.4-78 keV) time-averaged spectrum was well deconvolved with a double-component model (a blackbody plus a power-law with a high energy cutoff) together with a weak iron line in emission at 6.4 keV (equivalent width, EW, of 40+/-10 eV). Alternatively, a partial covering model also resulted in an adequate description of the data. The source time-averaged X-ray luminosity was 1E36 erg/s (0.1-100 keV; assuming 7 kpc). We discuss the results of these observations in the framework of the different models proposed to explain SFXTs, supporting a quasi-spherical settling accretion regime, although alternative possibilities (e.g. centrifugal barrier) cannot be ruled out.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication on The Astrophysical Journa

Chandra deep X-ray observation on the Galactic plane

Using the Chandra ACIS-I instruments, we have carried out the deepest X-ray observation on a typical Galactic plane region at l 28.5 deg, where no discrete X-ray sources have been known previously. We have detected, as well as strong diffuse emission, 275 new point X-ray sources (4 sigma confidence) within two partially overlapping fields (~250 arcmin^2 in total) down to ~3 x 10^{-15} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} (2 -- 10 keV) or ~ 7 x 10^{-16} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} (0.5 -- 2 keV). We have studied spectral distribution of these point sources, and found that very soft sources detected only below ~ 3 keV are more numerous than hard sources detected only above ~ 3 keV. Only small number of sources are detected both in the soft and hard bands. Surface density of the hard sources is almost consistent with that at high Galactic regions, thus most of the hard sources are considered to be Active Galactic Nuclei seen through the milky way. On the other hand, some of the bright hard X-ray sources which show extremely flat spectra and iron line or edge features are considered to be Galactic, presumably quiescent dwarf novae. The soft sources show thermal spectra and small interstellar hydrogen column densities, and some of them exhibit X-ray flares. Therefore, most of the soft sources are probably X-ray active nearby late type stars.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the "New Visions of the X-Ray Universe in the XMM-Newton and Chandra Era" symposium at ESTEC, The Netherlands. 26-30 Nov. 200

The nature of the X-ray binary IGR J19294+1816 from INTEGRAL, RXTE, and Swift observations

We report the results of a high-energy multi-instrumental campaign with INTEGRAL, RXTE, and Swift of the recently discovered INTEGRAL source IGR J19294+1816. The Swift/XRT data allow us to refine the position of the source to RA= 19h 29m 55.9s Dec=+18deg 18' 38.4" (+- 3.5"), which in turn permits us to identify a candidate infrared counterpart. The Swift and RXTE spectra are well fitted with absorbed power laws with hard (Gamma ~ 1) photon indices. During the longest Swift observation, we obtained evidence of absorption in true excess to the Galactic value, which may indicate some intrinsic absorption in this source. We detected a strong (P=40%) pulsation at 12.43781 (+-0.00003) s that we interpret as the spin period of a pulsar. All these results, coupled with the possible 117 day orbital period, point to IGR J19294+1816 being an HMXB with a Be companion star. However, while the long-term INTEGRAL/IBIS/ISGRI 18--40 keV light curve shows that the source spends most of its time in an undetectable state, we detect occurrences of short (~2000-3000 s) and intense flares that are more typical of supergiant fast X-ray transients. We therefore cannot make firm conclusions on the type of system, and we discuss the possible implications of IGR J19294+1816 being an SFXT.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&