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Register a new userThe X-ray properties of Eta Carinae during its 2020 X-ray minimum
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The massive binary system Eta Carinae is characterized by intense colliding winds that form shocks and emit X-rays. The system is highly eccentric ($esimeq0.9$), resulting in modulated X-ray emission during its 5.54 year orbit. The X-ray flux increases in the months prior to periastron passage, exhibiting strong flares, then rapidly declines to a flat minimum lasting a few weeks, followed by a gradual recovery. We present Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope spectra obtained before, during, and after the 2020 X-ray minimum, and perform spectral analysis to establish the temporal behavior of X-ray flux and X-ray-absorbing column density ($N_{rm H}(t)$) for the 2-10 keV and 5-10 keV energy ranges. The latter range is dominated by the stellar wind collision region and, therefore, these spectral parameters - in particular, $N_{rm H}(t)$ - serves as a potentially stringent constraint on the binary orientation. We compare the observed $N_{rm H}(t)$ results to the behavior predicted by a simple geometrical model in an attempt to ascertain which star is closer to us at periastron: the more massive primary ($omega simeq 240$-$270^circ$), or the secondary ($omega simeq 90^circ$). We find that the variations in column density, both far from periastron and around periastron passage, support the latter configuration ($omega simeq 90^circ$). The 2020 X-ray minimum showed the fastest recovery among the last five minima, providing additional evidence for a recent weakening of the primary stars wind.
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The Suzaku X-ray observatory monitored the supermassive binary system Eta Carinae 10 times during the whole 5.5 year orbital cycle between 2005-2011. This series of observations presents the first long-term monitoring of this enigmatic system in the extremely hard X-ray band between 15-40 keV. During most of the orbit, the 15-25 keV emission varied similarly to the 2-10 keV emission, indicating an origin in the hard energy tail of the kT ~4 keV wind-wind collision (WWC) plasma. However, the 15-25 keV emission declined only by a factor of 3 around periastron when the 2-10 keV emission dropped by two orders of magnitude due probably to an eclipse of the WWC plasma. The observed minimum in the 15-25 keV emission occurred after the 2-10 keV flux had already recovered by a factor of ~3. This may mean that the WWC activity was strong, but hidden behind the thick primary stellar wind during the eclipse. The 25-40 keV flux was rather constant through the orbital cycle, at the level measured with INTEGRAL in 2004. This result may suggest a connection of this flux component to the gamma-ray source detected in this field. The Helium-like Fe Kalpha line complex at ~6.7 keV became strongly distorted toward periastron as seen in the previous cycle. The 5-9 keV spectra can be reproduced well with a two-component spectral model, which includes plasma in collision equilibrium (CE) and a plasma in non-equilibrium ionization (NEI) with tau ~1e11 cm-3 s-1. The NEI plasma increases in importance toward periastron.
We observed the massive binary stellar system of Eta Carinae in the 0.3-10 keV energy range with the X-ray Telescope onboard the Swift satellite during the period 15 December 2008 - 11 March 2009, i.e. 1 month before to 2 months after the X-ray drop from maximum to minimum, thought to be associated with the periastron encounter of the primary star by the hot companion. Beginning a few months before eclipse, the interaction between the winds of the two stars intensifies and the X-ray flux reaches maximum. The flux drops dramatically thereafter, subsiding in about 20 days to a level that is at least a factor 10 lower than the high state, i.e. the X-ray emission state of the system during the largest fraction of its 5.52 yr orbit (~e-11 erg/s/cm2). Unlike in previous cycles, when the low state lasted about 2.5 months, observations with RXTE showed that the X-ray flux started its recovery to normal level about 1.5 months after the minimum. We suggest that this early recovery may be due to the fact that the companion wind reaches terminal velocity before encountering the shock.
The binary system $eta$ Carinae is a unique laboratory in which to study particle acceleration to high energies under a wide range of conditions, including extremely high densities around periastron. To date, no consensus has emerged as to the origin of the GeV $gamma$-ray emission in this important system. With a re-analysis of the full Fermi-LAT dataset for $eta$ Carinae we show that the spectrum is consistent with a pion decay origin. A single population leptonic model connecting the X-ray to $gamma$-ray emission can be ruled out. Here, we revisit the physical model of Ohm et al. (2015), based on two acceleration zones associated to the termination shocks in the winds of both stars. We conclude that inverse-Compton emission from in-situ accelerated electrons dominates the hard X-ray emission detected with NuSTAR at all phases away from periastron, and pion-decay from shock accelerated protons is the source of the $gamma$-ray emission. Very close to periastron there is a pronounced dip in the hard X-ray emission, concomitant with the repeated disappearance of the thermal X-ray emission, which we interpret as being due to the suppression of significant electron acceleration in the system. Within our model, the residual emission seen by NuSTAR at this phase can be accounted for with secondary electrons produced in interactions of accelerated protons, in agreement with the variation in pion-decay $gamma$-ray emission. Future observations with H.E.S.S., CTA and NuSTAR should confirm or refute this scenario.
Eta Carinae is the nearest example of a supermassive, superluminous, unstable star. Mass loss from the system is critical in shaping its circumstellar medium and in determining its ultimate fate. Eta Car currently loses mass via a dense, slow stellar wind and possesses one of the largest mass loss rates known. It is prone to episodes of extreme mass ejection via eruptions from some as-yet unspecified cause; the best examples of this are the large-scale eruptions which occurred in 19th century. Eta Car is a colliding wind binary in which strong variations in X-ray emission and in other wavebands are driven by the violent collision of the wind of eta Car-A and the fast, less dense wind of an otherwise hidden companion star. X-ray variations are the simplest diagnostic we have to study the wind-wind collision and allow us to measure the state of the stellar mass loss from both stars. We present the X-ray lightcurve over the last 20 years from ROSAT observations and monitoring with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and the X-ray Telescope on the Swift satellite. We compare and contrast the behavior of the X-ray emission from the system over that timespan, including surprising variations during the 2014 X-ray minimum.
We report on variations in important X-ray emission lines in a series of Chandra grating spectra of the supermassive colliding wind binary star Eta Carinae, including key phases around the X-ray minimum/periastron passage in 2003.5. The X-rays arise from the collision of the slow, dense wind of Eta Car with the fast, low-density wind of an otherwise hidden companion star. The X-ray emission lines provide the only direct measure of the flow dynamics of the companions wind along the wind-wind collision zone. We concentrate here on the silicon and sulfur lines, which are the strongest and best resolved lines in the X-ray spectra. Most of the line profiles can be adequately fit with symmetric Gaussians with little significant skewness. Both the silicon and sulfur lines show significant velocity shifts and correlated increases in line widths through the observations. The R = forbidden-to-intercombination ratio from the Si XIII and S XV triplets is near or above the low-density limit in all observations, suggesting that the line-forming region is >1.6 stellar radii from the companion star. We show that simple geometrical models cannot simultaneously fit both the observed centroid variations and changes in line width as a function of phase. We show that the observed profiles can be fitted with synthetic profiles with a reasonable model of the emissivity along the wind-wind collision boundary. We use this analysis to help constrain the line formation region as a function of orbital phase, and the orbital geometry.
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