No Arabic abstract
In re-analyzing the archival Chandra data of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, we have detected a new diffuse X-ray emission feature within the half-mass radius of the cluster. The spectrum of the diffuse emission can be described by a power-law model plus a plasma component with photon index $Gammasim1.0$ and plasma temperature $kTsim0.2$ keV. While the thermal component is apparently uniform, the non-thermal contribution falls off exponentially from the core. The observed properties could possibly be explained in the context of multiple shocks resulted from the collisions among the stellar wind in the cluster and the inverse Compton scattering between the pulsar wind and the relic photons.
We combined Chandra ACIS observations of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae (hereafter, 47 Tuc) from 2000, 2002, and 2014-15 to create a deeper X-ray source list, and study some of the faint radio millisecond pulsars (MSPs) present in this cluster. We have detected 370 X-ray sources within the half-mass radius (2$$.79) of the cluster, 81 of which are newly identified, by including new data and using improved source detection techniques. The majority of the newly identified sources are in the crowded core region, indicating cluster membership. We associate five of the new X-ray sources with chromospherically active BY Dra or W UMa variables identified by Albrow et al. (2001). We present alternative positions derived from two methods, centroiding and image reconstruction, for faint, crowded sources. We are able to extract X-ray spectra of the recently discovered MSPs 47 Tuc aa, 47 Tuc ab, the newly timed MSP 47 Tuc Z, and the newly resolved MSPs 47 Tuc S and 47 Tuc F. Generally, they are well fit by black body or neutron star atmosphere models, with temperatures, luminosities and emitting radii similar to those of other known MSPs in 47 Tuc, though 47 Tuc aa and 47 Tuc ab reach lower X-ray luminosities. We limit X-ray emission from the full surface of the rapidly spinning (542 Hz) MSP 47 Tuc aa, and use this limit to put an upper bound for amplitude of r-mode oscillations in this pulsar as $alpha<2.5times 10^{-9}$ and constrain the shape of the r-mode instability window.
We report the detection of ionized intracluster gas in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Pulsars in this cluster with a negative period derivative, which must lie in the distant half of the cluster, have significantly higher measured integrated electron column densities than the pulsars with a positive period derivative. We derive the plasma density within the central few pc of the cluster using two different methods which yield consistent values. Our best estimate of n_e = (0.067+-0.015)/cm^3 is about 100 times the free electron density of the ISM in the vicinity of 47 Tucanae, and the ionized gas is probably the dominant component of the intracluster medium.
We have used the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope to obtain deep far-UV (1620 Angstrom), 40 diameter images of the prototypical metal-rich globular cluster 47 Tucanae. We find a population of about 20 hot (Teff > 9000 K) objects near or above the predicted UV luminosity of the hot horizontal branch (HB) and lying within two half-light radii of the cluster center. We believe these are normal hot HB or post-HB objects rather than interacting binaries or blue stragglers. IUE spectra of two are consistent with post-HB phases. These observations, and recent HST photometry of two other metal-rich clusters, demonstrate that populations with rich, cool HBs can nonetheless produce hot HB and post-HB stars. The cluster center also contains an unusual diffuse far-UV source which is more extended than its V-band light. It is possible that this is associated with an intracluster medium, for which there was earlier infrared and X-ray evidence, and is produced by C IV emission or scattered light from grains.
We present the results of the analysis of five observations of the globular clutser 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc) with eROSITA (extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) on board Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (Spektr-RG, SRG). The aim of the work is the study of the X-ray population in the field of one of the most massive globular clusters in our Milky Way. We focused on the classification of point-like sources in the field of 47 Tuc. The unresolved dense core of 47~Tuc (1.7 radius) and also the sources, which show extended emission are excluded in this study. We applied different methods of X-ray spectral and timing analysis together with multi wavelength studies for the classification of the X-rays sources in the field of 47 Tuc. We detected 888 point-like sources in the energy range of 0.2-5.0 keV. We identified 92 background AGNs and 26 foreground stars. One of the foreground stars is classified as a variable M~dwarf. We also classified 23 X-ray sources as members of 47 Tuc, including 13 symbiotic stars, 3 quiescent low mass X-ray binaries, one millisecond pulsar candidate, and one cataclysmic variable. There are also 4 X-ray sources, which can be either a cataclysmic variable or a contact binary. Moreover, we calculated the X-ray luminosity function of 47 Tuc X-ray sources within a radius of 18.8. It shows that the main population of X-ray sources in 47 Tuc has a luminosity <10$^{32}$erg s$^{-1}$ in the energy range of 0.5-2.0 keV. These sources can mainly be candidates for quiescent low mass X-ray binaries and different types of accreting white dwarfs, especially symbiotic stars.
We present 22 new (+3 confirmed) cataclysmic variables (CVs) in the non core-collapsed globular cluster 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc). The total number of CVs in the cluster is now 43, the largest sample in any globular cluster so far. For the identifications we used near-ultraviolet (NUV) and optical images from the Hubble Space Telescope, in combination with X-ray results from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This allowed us to build the deepest NUV CV luminosity function of the cluster to date. We found that the CVs in 47 Tuc are more concentrated towards the cluster center than the main sequence turnoff stars. We compared our results to the CV populations of the core-collapsed globular clusters NGC 6397 and NGC 6752. We found that 47 Tuc has fewer bright CVs per unit mass than those two other clusters. That suggests that dynamical interactions in core-collapsed clusters play a major role creating new CVs. In 47 Tuc, the CV population is probably dominated by primordial and old dynamically formed systems. We estimated that the CVs in 47 Tuc have total masses of approx. 1.4 M_sun. We also found that the X-ray luminosity function of the CVs in the three clusters is bimodal. Additionally, we discuss a possible double degenerate system and an intriguing/unclassified object. Finally, we present four systems that could be millisecond pulsar companions given their X-ray and NUV/optical colors. For one of them we present very strong evidence for being an ablated companion. The other three could be CO- or He-WDs.