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Register a new userA Study of the X-Ray Dust Scattering Halo of Cyg X-1 with a Cross-Correlation Method
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X-ray photons scattered by the interstellar medium carry information about dust distribution, dust grain model, scattering cross section, and the distance of the source; they also take longer time than unscattered photons to reach the observer. Using a cross-correlation method, we study the light curves of the X-ray dust scattering halo of Cyg X-1, observed with the textit{Chandra X-ray Observatory}. Significant time lags are found between the light curves of the point source and its halo. This time lag increases with the angular distance from Cyg X-1, implying a dust concentration at a distance along the line of sight (LOS) of 2.0 kpc $times$ (0.876 $pm$ 0.002) from the Earth. By fitting the observed light curves of the halo at different radii with simulated light curves, we obtain a width of $mathit{Delta L}=33_{-13}^{+18}$ pc of this dust concentration. The origin of this dust concentration is still not clearly known. The advantage of our method is that we need no assumption of scattering cross section, dust grain model, or dust distribution along the LOS. Combining the derived dust distribution from the cross-correlation study with the surface brightness distribution of the halo, we conclude that the two commonly accepted models of dust grain size distribution need to be modified significantly.
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This paper has been withdrawn temporarily by the authors, because we are waiting for referee report of the paper submitted to ApJ.
Using a cross-correlation method, we study the X-ray halo of Cyg X-3. Two components of dust distributions are needed to explain the time lags derived by the cross-correlation method. Assuming the distance as 1.7 kpc for Cygnus OB2 association (a richest OB association in the local Galaxy) and another uniform dust distribution, we get a distance of $7.2^{+0.3}_{-0.5}$ kpc (68$%$ confidence level) for Cyg X-3. When using the distance estimation of Cygnus OB2 as 1.38 kpc or 1.82 kpc, the inferred distance for Cyg X-3 is $3.4^{+0.2}_{-0.2}$ kpc or $9.3^{+0.6}_{-0.4}$ kpc respectively. The distance estimation uncertainty of Cyg X-3 is mainly related to the distance of the Cygnus OB2, which may be improved in the future with high precision astrometric measurements. The advantage of this method is that the result depends weakly on the photon energy, dust grain radius, scattering cross-section and so on.
We present a detailed study of the X-ray dust scattering halo of the black hole candidate cygx1 based on two chandra HETGS observations. Using 18 different dust models, including one modified by us (dubbed XLNW), we probe the interstellar medium between us and this source. A consistent description of the cloud properties along the line of sight that describes at the same time the halo radial profile, the halo lightcurves, and the column density from source spectroscopy is best achieved with a small subset of these models. Combining the studies of the halo radial profile and the halo lightcurves, we favor a geometric distance to cygx1 of $d=1.81pm{0.09}$,kpc. Our study also shows that there is a dense cloud, which contributes $sim$50% of the dust grains along the line of sight to cygx1, located at $sim1.6$ kpc from us. The remainder of the dust along the line of sight is close to the black hole binary.
X-ray shots of Cyg X-1 in different energy bands and spectral states have been studied with PCA/RXTE observations. The detailed shot structure is obtained by superposing many shots with one millisecond time bin through aligning their peaks with an improved algorithm. In general, the shots are composed of a slow rise and fast decay. The shot structures in the different states are different. The duration of shot in the high state is shorter than that in the low and transition states. The shot profile in the high energy band is more asymmetric and narrower than that in the low energy band. The average hardness of shot is lower than that of steady emission in the transition and low states but higher than that in the high state. The time lags between the shots in higher and lower energy bands have been found in the different states. In transition states, the time lag is the largest among the different states of Cyg X-1, and it is the smallest in the low state. The implications of the observed shot features for shot models are discussed.
We improve the method proposed by Yao emph{et al} (2003) to resolve the X-ray dust scattering halos of point sources. Using this method we re-analyze the Cygnus X-1 data observed with {it Chandra} (ObsID 1511) and derive the halo radial profile in different energy bands and the fractional halo intensity (FHI) as $I(E)=0.402times E_{{rm keV}}^{-2}$. We also apply the method to the Cygnus X-3 data ({it Chandra} ObsID 425) and derive the halo radial profile from the first order data with the {it Chandra} ACIS+HETG. It is found that the halo radial profile could be fit by the halo model MRN (Mathis, Rumpl $&$ Nordsieck, 1977) and WD01 (Weingartner $&$ Draine, 2001); the dust clouds should be located at between 1/2 to 1 of the distance to Cygnus X-1 and between 1/6 to 3/4 (from MRN model) or 1/6 to 2/3 (from WD01 model) of the distance to Cygnus X-3, respectively.
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