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Register a new userSearching for narrow absorption and emission lines in XMM-Newton spectra of gamma-ray bursts
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S. Campana
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We present the results of a spectroscopic search for narrow emission and absorption features in the X-ray spectra of long gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. Using XMM-Newton data, both EPIC and RGS spectra, of six bright (fluence >10^{-7} erg cm^{-2}) and relatively nearby (z=0.54-1.41) GRBs, we performed a blind search for emission or absorption lines that could be related to a high cloud density or metal-rich gas in the environ close to the GRBs. We detected five emission features in four of the six GRBs with an overall statistical significance, assessed through Monte Carlo simulations, of <3.0 sigma. Most of the lines are detected around the observed energy of the oxygen edge at ~0.5 keV, suggesting that they are not related to the GRB environment but are most likely of Galactic origin. No significant absorption features were detected. A spectral fitting with a free Galactic column density (N_H) testing different models for the Galactic absorption confirms this origin because we found an indication of an excess of Galactic N_H in these four GRBs with respect to the tabulated values.
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The detection of X-ray narrow spectral features in the 5-7 keV band is becoming increasingly more common in AGN observations, thanks to the capabilities of current X-ray satellites. Such lines, both in emission and in absorption, are mostly interpreted as arising from Iron atoms. When observed with some displacement from their rest frame position, these lines carry the potential to study the motion of circumnuclear gas in AGN, providing a diagnostic of the effects of the gravitational field of the central black hole. These narrow features have been often found with marginal statistical significance. We are carrying on a systematic search for narrow features using spectra of bright type 1 AGNs available in the XMM-Newton archive. The aim of this work is to characterise the occurrence of the narrow features phenomenon on a large sample of objects and to estimate the significance of the features through Monte Carlo simulations. The project and preliminary results are presented.
Analysis of observations with XMM-Newton have made a significant contribution to the study of Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) X-ray afterglows. The effective area, bandpass and resolution of the EPIC instrument permit the study of a wide variety of spectral features. In particular, strong, time-dependent, soft X-ray emission lines have been discovered in some bursts. The emission mechanism and energy source for these lines pose major problems for the current generation of GRB models. Other GRBs have intrinsic absorption, possibly related to the environment around the progenitor, or possible iron emission lines similar to those seen in GRBs observed with BeppoSAX. Further XMM-Newton observations of GRBs discovered by the Swift satellite should help unlock the origin of the GRB phenomenon over the next few years.
We co-added the available XMM-Newton RGS spectra for each of the isolated X-ray pulsars RX,J0720.4$-$3125, RX,J1308.6+2127 (RBS,1223), RX,J1605.3+3249 and RX,J1856.4$-$3754 (four members of the Magnificent Seven) and the Three Musketeers Geminga, PSR,B0656+14 and PSR,B1055-52. We confirm the detection of a narrow absorption feature at 0.57 keV in the co-added RGS spectra of RX,J0720.4$-$3125 and RX,J1605.3+3249 (including most recent observations). In addition we found similar absorption features in the spectra of RX,J1308.6+2127 (at 0.53 keV) and maybe PSR,B1055-52 (at 0.56 keV). The absorption feature in the spectra of RX,J1308.6+2127 is broader than the feature e.g. in RX,J0720.4$-$3125. The narrow absorption features are detected with 2$sigma$ to 5.6$sigma$ significance. Although very bright and frequently observed, there are no absorption features visible in the spectra of RX,J1856.4$-$3754 and PSR,B0656+14, while the co-added XMM-Newton RGS spectrum of Geminga has not enough counts to detect such a feature. We discuss a possible origin of these absorption features as lines caused by the presence of highly ionised oxygen (in particular OVII and/or OVI at 0.57 keV) in the interstellar medium and absorption in the neutron star atmosphere, namely the absorption features at 0.57 keV as gravitational redshifted ($g_{r}$=1.17) OVIII.
We report the discovery of narrow X-ray absorption lines from the low-mass X-ray binary MXB1659-298 during an XMM-Newton observation in 2001 February. The 7.1 hr orbital cycle is clearly evident with narrow X-ray eclipses preceded by intense dipping activity. A sinusoid-like OM $B$-band modulation with a peak-to-peak modulation of 0.5 magnitude and a minimum coincident with the X-ray eclipse is visible. EPIC and RGS spectra reveal the presence of narrow resonant absorption features identified with OVIII 1s-2p, 1s-3p and 1s-4p, NeX 1s-2p, FeXXV 1s-2p, and FeXXVI 1s-2p transitions, together with a broad Fe emission feature at ~6.5 keV. The EWs of the Fe absorption features show no obvious dependence on orbital phase, even during dipping intervals. Previously, the only X-ray binaries known to exhibit narrow X-ray absorption lines were two superluminal jet sources and it had been suggested that these features are related to the jet formation mechanism. This now appears unlikely, and instead their presence may be related to the viewing angle of the system. The MXB1659-298 0.6--12 keV continuum is modeled using absorbed cutoff power-law and blackbody components. During dips the blackbody is more strongly absorbed than the power-law. The spectral shape of the 3.6% of 0.5--10 keV emission that remains during eclipses is consistent with that during non-dipping intervals.
Neutron star mergers produce a substantial amount of fast-moving ejecta, expanding outwardly for years after the merger. The interaction of these ejecta with the surrounding medium may produce a weak isotropic radio remnant, detectable in relatively nearby events. We use late-time radio observations of short duration gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) to constrain this model. Two samples of events were studied: four sGRBs that are possibly in the local (<200 Mpc) universe were selected to constrain the remnant non-thermal emission from the sub-relativistic ejecta, whereas 17 sGRBs at cosmological distances were used to constrain the presence of a proto-magnetar central engine, possibly re-energezing the merger ejecta. We consider the case of GRB~170817A/GW170817, and find that in this case the early radio emission may be quenched by the jet blast-wave. In all cases, for ejecta mass range of M_ej lesssim 10^{-2} (5 * 10^{-2}) M_sun, we can rule out very energetic merger ejecta E_ej gtrsim 5 * 10^{52}(10^{53}) erg, thus excluding the presence of a powerful magnetar as a merger remnant.
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