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Register a new userIron line emission from X-ray pulsars: physical conditions and geometry of the system
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We present here the preliminary results of the study of the fluorescent iron line emission from X-ray pulsars with Be companions. We propose to use properties of this emission to investigate the spatial distribution and physical conditions of the matter around the compact object as well as in the binary system as a whole. Using data of the RXTE observatory the iron line behavior in the transient X-ray pulsar V 0332+53 spectrum was studied during the powerful type II outburst in 2004-2005. Particularly, we investigated a variability of the iron line equivalent width on different time scales (pulse period, orbital period, outburst phase) and searched for its correlation with the continuum flux, spectral parameters, etc.
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We present a detailed, photoionization modeling analysis of XMM-Newton/Reflection Grating Spectrometer observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068. The spectrum, previously analyzed by Kinkhabwala et al. (2002), reveals a myriad of soft-Xray emission lines, including those from H- and He-like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and neon, and M- and L-shell iron. As noted in the earlier analysis, based on the narrowness of the radiative recombination continua, the electron temperatures in the emission-line gas are consistent with photoionization, rather than collisional ionization. The strengths of the carbon and nitrogen emission lines, relative to those of oxygen, suggest unusual elemental abundances, which we attribute to star-formation history of the host galaxy. Overall, the emission-lines are blue-shifted with respect to systemic, with radial velocities ~ 160 km/s, similar to that of [O III] 5007, and thus consistent with the kinematics and orientation of the optical emission-line gas and, hence, likely part of an AGN-driven outflow. We were able to achieve an acceptable fit to most of the strong emission-lines with a two-component photoionization model, generated with Cloudy. The two components have ionization parameters and column densities of logU = -0.05 and 1.22, and logN(H) = 20.85 and 21.2, and covering factors of 0.35 and 0.84, respectively. The total mass of the X-ray gas is roughly of an order of magnitude greater than the mass of ionized gas determined from optical and near-IR spectroscopy, which indicates that it may be the dominant component of the narrow line region. Furthermore, we suggest that the medium which produces the scattered/polarized optical emission in NGC~1068 possesses similar physical characteristics to those of the more highly-ionized of the X-ray model components.
The Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission (GRXE) spectrum has strong iron emission lines at 6.4, 6.7, and 7.0~keV, each corresponding to the neutral (or low-ionized), He-like, and H-like iron ions. The 6.4~keV fluorescence line is due to irradiation of neutral (or low ionized) material (iron) by hard X-ray sources, indicating uniform presence of the cold matter in the Galactic plane. In order to resolve origin of the cold fluorescent matter, we examined the contribution of the 6.4~keV line emission from white dwarf surfaces in the hard X-ray emitting symbiotic stars (hSSs) and magnetic cataclysmic variables (mCVs) to the GRXE. In our spectral analysis of 4~hSSs and 19~mCVs observed with Suzaku, we were able to resolve the three iron emission lines. We found that the equivalent-widths (EWs) of the 6.4~keV lines of hSSs are systematically higher than those of mCVs, such that the average EWs of hSSs and mCVs are $179_{-11}^{+46}$~eV and $93_{-3}^{+20}$~eV, respectively. The EW of hSSs compares favorably with the typical EWs of the 6.4~keV line in the GRXE of 90--300~eV depending on Galactic positions. Average 6.4~keV line luminosities of the hSSs and mCVs are $9.2times 10^{39}$ and $1.6times 10^{39}$~photons~s$^{-1}$, respectively, indicating that hSSs are intrinsically more efficient 6.4~keV line emitters than mCVs. We compare expected contribution of the 6.4 keV lines from mCVs with the observed GRXE 6.4 keV line flux in the direction of $(l,b) approx (28.5arcdeg, 0arcdeg$). We conclude that almost all the 6.4 keV line flux in GRXE may be explained by mCVs within current undertainties of the stellar number densities, while contribution from hSSs may not be negligible.
Electrons/positrons produced in a pulsar magnetosphere emit synchrotron radiation, which is widely believed as the origin of the non-thermal X-ray emission detected from pulsars. Particles are produced by curvature photons emitted from accelerated particles in the magnetosphere. These curvature photons are detected as pulsed $gamma$-ray emissions from pulsars with age $lesssim10^6$ yr. Using $gamma$-ray observations and analytical model, we impose severe constraints on the synchrotron radiation as a mechanism of the non-thermal X-ray emission. In most middle-aged pulsars ($sim10^5-10^6$ yr) which photon-photon pair production is less efficient in their magnetosphere, we find that the synchrotron radiation model is difficult to explain the observed non-thermal X-ray emission.
We present a detailed X-ray spectral analysis of the Circinus Galaxy using archival data obtained with the ASCA satellite. The spectrum shows numerous emission lines in the soft X-ray band from highly ionized ions, as well as Compton reflection and fluorescent lines from neutral or near-neutral matter. We analyze the spectrum in the context of a self-consistent recombination cascade model and find that a nearly flat differential emission measure (DEM) distribution in ionization parameter fits the data. For a fixed solid angle distribution of matter surrounding a point source, this corresponds to a run of electron density of the form, n(r) ~ r^(-3/2), which is suggestive of Bondi accretion onto a central compact mass. Using this density profile and comparing the resulting emission spectra with the ASCA data, the size of the X-ray emission line region is estimated to be < 1 kpc. We also show that the derived density as a function of radius is compatible with the X-ray recombination line emission region being the confining medium of the coronal line regions.
The analysis of distributions of some parameters of radio pulsars emitting X-ray radiation was carried out. The majority of such pulsars has short spin periods with the average value $< P >$ = 133 msec. The distribution of period derivatives reveals a bimodality, dividing millisecond ($< log dfrac{dP}{dt}>$ = -19.69) and normal ($< log dfrac{dP}{dt}> $ = -13.29) pulsars. Magnetic fields at the surface of the neutron star are characterized by the bimodal distribution as well. The mean values of $<log B_s>$ are $8.48$ and $12.41$ for millisecond pulsars and normal ones, respectively. The distribution of magnetic fields near the light cylinder, it does not show the noticeable bimodality. The median value of $log B_{lc}$ = 4.43 is almost three orders higher comparing with this quantity ($<log B_{lc}>$ = 1.75) for radio pulsars without registered X-ray emission. Losses of rotational energy ($<log dfrac{dE}{dt}>$ = 35.24) are also three orders higher than corresponding values for normal pulsars. There is the strong correlation between X-ray luminosities and losses of rotational energies. The dependence of the X-ray luminosity on the magnetic field at the light cylinder has been detected. It shows that the generation of the non-thermal X-ray emission takes place at the periphery of the magnetosphere and is caused by the synchrotron mechanism. We detected the positive correlations between luminosities in radio, X-ray and gamma -ray ranges. Such correlations give the possibility to carry out a purposeful search for pulsars in one of these ranges if they radiate in other one.
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