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Register a new userLuminosity dependence of the cyclotron line and evidence for the accretion regime transition in V 0332+53
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We report on the analysis of NuSTAR observations of the Be-transient X-ray pulsar V 0332+53 during the giant outburst in 2015 and another minor outburst in 2016. We confirm the cyclotron-line energy-luminosity correlation previously reported in the source and the line energy decrease during the giant outburst. Based on 2016 observations, we find that a year later the line energy has increased again essentially reaching the pre-outburst values. We discuss this behaviour and conclude that it is likely caused by a change of the emission region geometry rather than previously suggested accretion-induced decay of the neutron stars magnetic field. At lower luminosities, we find for the first time a hint of departure from the anticorrelation of line energy with flux, which we interpret as a transition from super- to sub-critical accretion associated with the disappearance of the accretion column. Finally, we confirm and briefly discuss the orbital modulation observed in the outburst light curve of the source.
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Be/X-ray binary systems provide an excellent opportunity to study the physics around neutron stars through the study of the behaviour of matter around them. Intermediate and low-luminosity type outbursts are interesting because they provide relatively clean environments around neutron stars. In these conditions the physics of the magnetosphere around the neutron star can be better studied without being very disturbed by other phenomena regarding the transfer of matter between the two components of the Be/X-ray binary system. A recent study presents the optical longterm evolution of the Be/X-ray binary V 0332+53 plus the X-ray emission mainly during the intermediate-luminosity outburst on 2008. In this paper we comment on the context of these observations and on the properties that can be derived through the analysis of them.
We present results of observations of the transient X-ray pulsar V0332+53 performed during a very powerful outburst in Dec, 2004 -- Feb, 2005 with the INTEGRAL and RXTE observatories in a wide (3-100 keV) energy band. A cyclotron resonance scattering line at an energy of ~26 keV has been detected in the source spectrum together with its two higher harmonics at ~50 and ~73 keV, respectively. We show that the energy of the line is not constant but linearly changes with the source luminosity. Strong pulse profile variations, especially near the cyclotron line, are revealed for different levels of the source intensity. We discuss the obtained results in terms of the theoretical models of X-ray pulsars.
We present the results of the monitoring programmes performed with the Swift/XRT telescope and aimed specifically to detect an abrupt decrease of the observed flux associated with a transition to the propeller regime in two well known X-ray pulsars 4U 0115+63 and V 0332+53 during their giant outbursts in 2015. Such transitions were detected at the threshold luminosities of $(1.4pm0.4)times10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and $(2.0pm0.4)times10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$ for 4U 0115+63 and V 0332+53, respectively. Spectra of the sources are shown to be significantly softer during the low state. In both sources, the accretion at rates close to the aforementioned threshold values briefly resumes during the periastron passage following the transition into propeller regime. The strength of the dipole component of the magnetic field required to inhibit the accretion agrees well with estimates based on the position of the cyclotron lines in their spectra, thus excluding presence of a strong multipole component of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the neutron star.
We report on a detailed spectral analysis of the transient X-ray pulsar 1A~0535+262, which underwent the brightest giant outburst ever recorded for this source from November to December 2020 with a peak luminosity of $1.2$ $times10^{38} rm erg s^{-1}$. Thanks to the unprecedented energy coverage and high cadence observations provided by Insight-HXMT, we were able to find for the first time evidence for a transition of the accretion regime. At high luminosity, above the critical luminosity $6.7times10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$, the cyclotron absorption line energy anti-correlates with luminosity. Below the critical luminosity, a positive correlation is observed. The 1A~0535+262 becomes, therefore, the second source after V~0332+53, which clearly shows an anti-correlation above and transition between correlation and anti-correlation around the critical luminosity. The evolution of both the observed CRSF line energy and broadband X-ray continuum spectrum throughout the outburst exhibits significant differences during the rising and fading phases: that is, for a similar luminosity the spectral parameters take different values which results in hysteresis patterns for several spectral parameters including the cyclotron line energy. We argue that, similarly to V~0332+53, these changes might be related to different geometry of the emission region in rising and declining parts of the outburst, probably due to changes in the accretion disk structure and its interaction with the magnetosphere of the neutron star.
X-ray spectra of accreting pulsars are generally observed to vary with their X-ray luminosity. In particular, the hardness of the X-ray continuum is found to depend on luminosity. In a few sources, the correlation between the energy of the cyclotron resonance scattering feature (CRSF) and the luminosity is clear. Different types (signs) of the correlation are believed to reflect different accretion modes. We analyse two NuSTAR observations of the transient accreting pulsar Cep X-4 during its 2014 outburst. Our analysis is focused on a detailed investigation of the dependence of the CRSF energy and of the spectral hardness on X-ray luminosity, especially on short timescales. To investigate the spectral changes as a function of luminosity within each of the two observations, we used the intrinsic variability of the source on the timescale of individual pulse cycles (tens of seconds), the so-called pulse-to-pulse variability. We find that the NuSTAR spectrum of Cep X-4 contains two CRSFs: the fundamental line at ~30 keV and its harmonic at ~55 keV. We find for the first time that the energy of the fundamental CRSF increases and the continuum becomes harder with increasing X-ray luminosity not only between the two observations, that is, on the long timescale, but also within an individual observation, on the timescale of a few tens of seconds. We investigate these dependencies in detail including their non-linearity. We discuss a possible physical interpretation of the observed behaviour in the frame of a simple one-dimensional model of the polar emitting region with a collisionless shock formed in the infalling plasma near the neutron star surface. With this model, we are able to reproduce the observed variations of the continuum hardness ratio and of the CRSF energy with luminosity.
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