Observations of a GX 301-2 Apastron Flare with the X-Calibur Hard X-Ray Polarimeter Supported by NICER, the Swift XRT and BAT, and Fermi GBM
| Autor: | Nagomi Uchida, James Lanzi, Brian Rauch, Lindsey Lisalda, Logan Press, Jon M. Miller, Paul Dowkontt, Henric Krawczynski, Fabian Kislat, C. Malacaria, Andrew West, Colleen A. Wilson-Hodge, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Takao Kitaguchi, Jason Tang, Matthew G. Baring, Matthias Beilicke, Banafsheh Beheshtipour, Shaorui Li, Quincy Abarr, Victor Guarino, Manel Errando, Mark Pearce, P. A. Jenke, G. De Geronimo, David Stuchlik, A. Y. Lien, Nirmal Iyer, Mózsi Kiss, Takashi Okajima, Hans A. Krimm |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena X-ray detector FOS: Physical sciences Astrophysics 01 natural sciences High Energy Physics - Experiment law.invention High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) Pulsar law 0103 physical sciences Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 010303 astronomy & astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Physics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) X-ray Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Astronomy and Astrophysics Polarimeter Neutron star Space and Planetary Science Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Gamma-ray burst Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Flare |
| Zdroj: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Popis: | The accretion-powered X-ray pulsar GX 301-2 was observed with the balloon-borne X-Calibur hard X-ray polarimeter during late December 2018, with contiguous observations by the NICER X-ray telescope, the Swift X-ray Telescope and Burst Alert Telescope, and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor spanning several months. The observations detected the pulsar in a rare apastron flaring state coinciding with a significant spin-up of the pulsar discovered with the Fermi GBM. The X-Calibur, NICER, and Swift observations reveal a pulse profile strongly dominated by one main peak, and the NICER and Swift data show strong variation of the profile from pulse to pulse. The X-Calibur observations constrain for the first time the linear polarization of the 15-35 keV emission from a highly magnetized accreting neutron star, indicating a polarization degree of (27+38-27)% (90% confidence limit) averaged over all pulse phases. We discuss the spin-up and the X-ray spectral and polarimetric results in the context of theoretical predictions. We conclude with a discussion of the scientific potential of future observations of highly magnetized neutron stars with the more sensitive follow-up mission XL-Calibur. Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 20 pages, 19 figures, 4 tables |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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