No Arabic abstract
We analyzed RXTE-PCA observations of a recent outburst of the X-ray pulsar XMMU J054134.7$-$682550. We calculated the pulse frequency history of the source. We found no sign of a binary companion. The source spins up when the X-ray flux is higher, with a correlation between the spin-up rate and X-ray flux, which may be interpreted as a sign of an accretion disk. On the other hand, the source was found to have an almost constant spin frequency when the X-ray flux is lower without any clear sign of a spin-down episode. The decrease in pulsed fraction with decreasing X-ray flux was intrepreted as a sign of accretion geometry change, but we did not find any evidence of a transition from accretor to propeller regimes. The source was found to have variable pulse profiles. Two peaks in pulse profiles were usually observed. We studied the X-ray spectral evolution of the source throughout the observation. Pulse phase resolved analysis does not provide any further evidence for a cyclotron line, but may suggest a slight variation of intensity and width of the 6.4 keV iron line with phase.
We present timing and spectral analysis of RXTE-PCA observations of SMC X-1 between January 1996 and December 2003. From observations around 30 August 1996 with a time span of $sim 6$ days, we obtain a precise timing solution for the source and resolve the eccentricity as 0.00089(6). We find an orbital decay rate of $dot P_{orb}/P_{orb} =-3.402(7) times 10^{-6}$ yr$^{-1}$ which is close to the previous results. Using our timing analysis and the previous studies, we construct a $sim 30$ year long pulse period history of the source. We show that frequency derivative shows long (i.e. more than a few years) and short (i.e. order of days) term fluctuations. From the spectral analysis, we found that all spectral parameters except Hydrogen column density showed no significant variation with time and X-ray flux. Hydrogen column density is found to be higher as X-ray flux gets lower. This may be due to the increase in soft absorption when the pulsar is partially obscured as in Her X-1 or may just be an artifact of the tail of a soft excess in energy spectrum.
We derive the second and most stringent limit to date of the X-ray/radio flux ratio (F_x/F_R) for the radio bursts associated with the recently identified source class, the Rotating Radio Transients (RRATs). We analyze 20.1 hr of rxte/PCA observations of RRAT J1819-1458 -- a period during which 350ppm23 RRAT radio bursts occurred, based on the previously observed average radio burst rate. No X-ray bursts were detected, implying an upper-limit on the X-ray flux for RRAT-bursts of <1.5e-8 ergs cm-2 s-1 (2-10 keV) or a luminosity <2.3e37 (d/3.6kpc)^2 ergs s-1. The time-average burst flux is <2e-13 ergs cm-2 s-1 (0.5-8 keV) -- a factor of 10 below that of the previously identified persistent X-ray counterpart. Thus, X-ray bursts from the RRAT are energetically unimportant compared with the persistent X-ray emission. From the previously observed burst radio flux, we derive an upper-limit F_x/F_R< 4.2e-12 erg cm-2 s-1 mJy-1 for the radio bursts from this RRAT, the most stringent to date, due to the high radio flux of bursts from this source. The F_x/F_R ratio is a factor approximately 80 larger than that of the millisecond pulsar PSR B1821-24; thus emission processes of X-ray/radio efficiency comparable to MSP pulses cannot be ruled out. However, if the RRAT burst emission mechanism is identical to the msec bursts of magnetars, then the msec bursts of magnetars should be easily detected with radio instrumentation; yet none have been reported to date.
We have analyzed the new Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Proportional Counter Array data of the atoll neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) system XB 1254-690. The colour-colour diagram shows that the source was in the high-intensity banana state. We have found two low-frequency candidate peaks with single trial significances of ~ 2.65 X 10^{-8} and ~ 7.39 X 10^{-8} in the power spectra. After taking into account the number of trials, the joint probability of appearance of these two peaks in the data set only by chance is ~ 4.5 X 10^{-4}, and hence a low-frequency QPO can be considered to be detected with a significance of ~ 4.5 X 10^{-4}, or, ~ 3.5sigma for the first time from this source. We have also done the first systematic X-ray spectral study of XB 1254-690, and found that, while one-component models are inadequate, three-component models are not required by the data. We have concluded that a combined broken-powerlaw and Comptonization model best describes the source continuum spectrum among 19 two-component models. The plasma temperature (~ 3 keV) and the optical depth (~ 7) of the Comptonization component are consistent with the previously reported values for other sources. However, the use of a broken-powerlaw component to describe NS LMXB spectra has recently been started, and we have used this component for XB 1254-690 for the first time. We have attempted to determine the relative energy budgets of the accretion disc and the boundary layer using the best-fit spectral model, and concluded that a reliable estimation of these budgets requires correlations among time variations of spectral properties in different wavelengths.
We report RXTE/PCA observations of 4U 1608-52 on March 15, 18 and 22 immediately after the outburst in early 1996. The persistent count rates ranged from 190 to 450 cps (1-60 keV). During this period of time, 4U 1608-52 was in the island state. We detected QPO features in the power density spectra (PDS) at 567-800 Hz on March 15 and 22, with source fractional root-mean-square (rms) amplitude of 13%-17% and widths of 78-180 Hz. The average rms amplitude of these QPO features is positively correlated with the energy. Our results imply that the neutron star spin frequency is possibly between 300 Hz and 365 Hz.
We present timing and spectral analysis of emph{Swift}$-$XRT and emph{RXTE}$-$PCA observations of the transient Be/X-ray pulsar SWIFT J0513.4--6547 during its outburst in 2009 and its rebrightening in 2014. From 2009 observations, short term spin-up rate of the source after the peak of the outburst is found to have about half of the value measured at the peak of the outburst by Coe et al. When the source is quiescent between 2009 and 2014, average spin-down rate of the source is measured to be $sim 1.52 times 10^{-12}$ Hz s$^{-1}$ indicating a surface dipole magnetic field of $sim 1.5 times 10^{13}$ Gauss assuming a propeller state. From 2014 observations, short term spin-down rate of the source is measured to be about two orders smaller than this long-term spin-down rate. The orbit of the source is found to be circular which is atypical for transient Be/X-ray binary systems. Hardness ratios of the source correlate with the X-ray luminosity up to $8.4times 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in 3-10 keV band, whereas for higher luminosities hardness ratios remain constant. Pulsed fractions are found to be correlated with the source flux. Overall emph{Swift}$-$XRT and emph{RXTE}$-$PCA energy spectrum of the source fit equally well to a model consisting of blackbody and power law, and a model consisting of a power law with high energy cut-off. From the pulse phase resolved spectra and pulse phase resolved hardness ratios obtained using emph{RXTE}$-$PCA, it is shown that spectrum is softer for the phases between the two peaks of the pulse.