No Arabic abstract
Photometric and spectroscopic results are presented for the Be star X Per/HD 24534 from near-infrared monitoring in 2010-2011. The star is one of a sample of selected Be/X-ray binaries being monitored by us in the near-IR to study correlations between their X ray and near-IR behaviour. Comparison of the stars present near-IR magnitudes with earlier records shows the star to be currently in a prominently bright state with mean J, H, K magnitudes of 5.49, 5.33 and 5.06 respectively. The JHK spectra are dominated by emission lines of HeI and Paschen and Brackett lines of HI. Lines of OI 1.1287 and 1.3165 micron are also present and their relative strength indicates, since OI 1.1287 is stronger among the two lines, that Lyman beta fluorescence plays an important role in their excitation. Recombination analysis of the HI lines is done which shows that the Paschen and Brackett line strengths deviate considerably from case B predictions. These deviations are attributed to the lines being optically thick and this supposition is verified by calculating the line center optical depths predicted by recombination theory. Similar calculations indicate that the Pfund and Humphrey series lines should also be expected to be optically thick which is found to be consistent with observations reported in other studies. The spectral energy distribution of the star is constructed and shown to have an infrared excess. Based on the magnitude of the IR excess, which is modeled using a free-free contribution from the disc, the electron density in the disc is estimated and shown to be within the range of values expected in Be star discs.
We present multi-epoch photometric and spectroscopic near-infrared observations of the Be star X Persei in the JHK bands covering the wavelength range 1.08 to 2.35 micron. Combining results from our earlier studies with the present observations, it is shown that the equivalent widths and line fluxes of the prominent HI and HeI lines anti-correlate with the strength of the adjacent continuum. That is, during the span of the observations, the JHK broad band fluxes increase while the emission equivalent width values of the HI and HeI lines decrease (the lines under consideration being the Paschen and Brackett lines of hydrogen and the 1.7002 micron and 2.058 micron lines of helium). Such an anti-correlation effect is not commonly observed in Be stars in the optical; in the infrared this may possibly be the first reported case of such behavior. We examine different mechanisms that could possibly cause it and suggest that it could originate due to a radiatively warped, precessing circumstellar disk. It is also shown that during the course of our studies X Per evolved to an unprecedented state of high near-IR brightness with J, H, K magnitudes of 5.20, 5.05 and 4.84 respectively.
We present the optical spectroscopic observations of X Per from 1999 to 2013 with the 2.16m telescope at Xinglong Station and the 2.4m telescope at Lijiang station, National Astronomical Observatories of China. Combining with the public optical photometric data, we find certain epochs of anti-correlations between the optical brightness and the intensity of the H{alpha} and HeI 6678 lines, which may be attributed to the mass ejections from the Be star. Alternative explanations are however also possible. The variability of FeII 6317 line in the spectra of X Per might be also caused by the shocked waves formed after the mass ejections from the Be star. The X-ray activities of the system might also be connected with the mass ejection events from the Be star. When the ejected materials were transported from the surface of the Be star to the orbit of neutron star, an X-ray flare could be observed in its X-ray light curves. We use the neutron star as a probe to constrain the motion of the ejected material in the circumstellar disk. With the diffusion time of the ejected material from the surface of Be star to the orbit of neutron star, the viscosity parameter {alpha} of the circumstellar disk is estimated to be 0.39 and 0.28 for the different time, indicating that the disk around Be star may be truncated by the neutron star at the 2:1 resonance radius and Type I X-ray outburst is unlikely to be observed in X Per.
We present an analysis of the near-infrared continuum emission from the circumstellar gas disks of Be stars using a radiative transfer code for a parametrized version of the viscous decretion disk model. This isothermal gas model creates predicted images that we use to estimate the HWHM emission radius along the major axis of the projected disk and the spatially integrated flux excess at wavelengths of 1.7, 2.1, 4.8, 9, and 18 ?m. We discuss in detail the effect of the disk base density, inclination angle, stellar effective temperature, and other physical parameters on the derived disk sizes and color excesses. We calculate color excess estimates relative to the stellar V -band flux for a sample of 130 Be stars using photometry from 2MASS and the AKARI infrared camera all-sky survey. The color excess relations from our models make a good match of the observed color excesses of Be stars. We also present our results on the projected size of the disk as a function of wavelength for the classical Be star ? Tauri, and we show that the model predictions are consistent with interferometric observations in the H, K, and 12 mu m bands.
During normal Type I outbursts, the pulse profiles of Be/X-ray binary pulsars are found to be complex in soft X-ray energy ranges. The profiles in soft X-ray energy ranges are characterized by the presence of narrow absorption dips or dip-like features at several pulse phases. However, in hard X-ray energy ranges, the pulse profiles are rather smooth and single-peaked. Pulse phase-averaged spectroscopy of the these pulsars had been carried out during Type I outbursts. The broad-band spectrum of these pulsars were well described by partial covering high energy cutoff power-law model with interstellar absorption and Iron K_alpha emission line at 6.4 keV. Phase-resolved spectroscopy revealed that the presence of additional matter at certain pulse phases that partially obscured the emitted radiation giving rise to dips in the pulse profiles. The additional absorption is understood to be taking place by matter in the accretion streams that are phase locked with the neutron star. Optical/infrared observations of the companion Be star during these Type I outbursts showed that the increase in the X-ray intensity of the pulsar is coupled with the decrease in the optical/infrared flux of the companion star. There are also several changes in the IR/optical emission line profiles during these X-ray outbursts. The X-ray properties of these pulsars during Type I outbursts and corresponding changes in optical/infrared wavebands are discussed in this paper.
We present multiwavelength optical linear polarimetric observations of 69 stars toward the young open cluster Be 59. The observations reveal the presence of three dust layers located at the distances of sim300, sim500 and sim700 pc. The dust layers produce a total polarization Pv sim 5.5 per cent. The mean values of polarization and polarization angles due to the dust layers are found to increase systematically with distance. We show that polarimetry in combination with the (U - B) - (B - V) colour-colour diagram yields a better identification of cluster members. The polarization measurements suggest that the polarization due the intra-cluster medium is sim 2.2 per cent. An anomalous reddening law exists for the cluster region, indicating a relatively larger grain size than that in the diffuse ISM. The spatial variation of the polarization and E(B - V) is found to increase with radial distance from the cluster center, whereas the {theta}v and {lambda}max are found to decrease with increasing radial distance from the cluster center. About 40 per cent of cluster members show the signatures of either intrinsic polarization or rotation in their polarization angles. There is an indication that the star light of the cluster members might have been depolarized because of non-uniform alignment of dust grains in the foreground dust layers and in the intra-cluster medium.