Bibcode
Homan, J.; Fridriksson, Joel K.; Wijnands, Rudy; Cackett, Edward M.; Degenaar, Nathalie; Linares, M.; Lin, Dacheng; Remillard, Ronald A.
Referencia bibliográfica
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 795, Issue 2, article id. 131, 12 pp. (2014).
Fecha de publicación:
11
2014
Revista
Número de citas
51
Número de citas referidas
48
Descripción
We present Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Swift observations of the quiescent
neutron star in the transient low-mass X-ray binary MAXI J0556-332.
Observations of the source made during outburst (with the Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer) reveal tracks in its X-ray color-color and
hardness-intensity diagrams that closely resemble those of the
neutron-star Z sources, suggesting that MAXI J0556-332 had near- or
super-Eddington luminosities for a large part of its ~16 month outburst.
A comparison of these diagrams with those of other Z sources suggests a
source distance of 46 ± 15 kpc. Fits to the quiescent spectra of
MAXI J0556-332 with a neutron-star atmosphere model (with or without a
power-law component) result in distance estimates of 45 ± 3 kpc,
for a neutron-star radius of 10 km and a mass of 1.4 M
☉. The spectra show the effective surface temperature
of the neutron star decreasing monotonically over the first ~500 days of
quiescence, except for two observations that were likely affected by
enhanced low-level accretion. The temperatures we obtain for the fits
that include a power law (kT_eff∞ = 184-308 eV) are
much higher than those seen for any other neutron star heated by
accretion, while the inferred cooling (e-folding) timescale (~200 days)
is similar to other sources. Fits without a power law yield higher
temperatures (kT_eff∞ = 190-336 eV) and a shorter
e-folding time (~160 days). Our results suggest that the heating of the
neutron-star crust in MAXI J0556-332 was considerably more efficient
than for other systems, possibly indicating additional or more efficient
shallow heat sources in its crust.
Proyectos relacionados
Agujeros negros, estrellas de neutrones, enanas blancas y su entorno local
Los agujeros negros y estrellas de neutrones en binarias de rayos-X son laboratorios únicos para explorar la física de estos objetos compactos. No solo permiten confirmar la existencia de agujeros negros de origen estelar a través de mediciones dinámicas de sus masas, sino que también permiten investigar el comportamiento de la materia y la
Montserrat
Armas Padilla