We present spectral and timing analysis of NuSTAR observations of the accreting X-ray pulsar 2RXP J130159.6-635806. The source was serendipitously observed during a campaign focused on the gamma-ray binary PSR B1259-63 and was later targeted for a de
dicated observation. The spectrum has a typical shape for accreting X-ray pulsars, consisting of a simple power law with an exponential cutoff starting at ~7 keV with a folding energy of E_fold=~18 keV. There is also an indication of the presence of a 6.4 keV iron line in the spectrum at the ~3 sigma significance level. NuSTAR measurements of the pulsation period reveal that the pulsar has undergone a strong and steady spin-up for the last 20 years. The pulsed fraction is estimated to be ~80%, and is constant with energy up to 40 keV. The power density spectrum shows a break towards higher frequencies relative to the current spin period. This, together with steady persistent luminosity, points to a long-term mass accretion rate high enough to bring the pulsar out of spin equilibrium.
We study properties of luminous X-ray pulsars using a simplified model of the accretion column. The maximal possible luminosity is calculated as a function of the neutron star (NS) magnetic field and spin period. It is shown that the luminosity can r
each values of the order of $10^{40},{rm erg/s}$ for the magnetar-like magnetic field ($Bgtrsim 10^{14},{rm G}$) and long spin periods ($Pgtrsim 1.5,{rm s}$). The relative narrowness of an area of feasible NS parameters which are able to provide higher luminosities leads to the conclusion that $Lsimeq 10^{40},,{rm erg/s}$ is a good estimate for the limiting accretion luminosity of a NS. Because this luminosity coincides with the cut-off observed in the high mass X-ray binaries luminosity function which otherwise does not show any features at lower luminosities, we can conclude that a substantial part of ultra-luminous X-ray sources are accreting neutron stars in binary systems.
We present results of all sky survey, performed with data acquired by the IBIS telescope onboard the INTEGRAL observatory over eleven years of operation, at energies above 100 keV. A catalogue of detected sources includes 132 objects. The statistical
sample detected on the time-averaged 100-150 keV map at a significance above 5 sigma contains 88 sources: 28 AGNs, 38 LMXBs, 10 HMXBs and 12 rotation-powered young X-ray pulsars. The catalogue includes also 15 persistent sources, which were registered with the significance 4 sigma < S/N < 5 in hard X-rays, but at the same time were firmly detected (>12 sigma) in the 17-60 keV energy band. All sources from these two groups are known X-ray emitters, that means that the catalogue has 100% purity in respect to them. Additionally, 29 sources were found in different time intervals. In the context of the survey we present a hardness ratio of galactic and extragalactic sources, a LMXBs longitudinal asymmetry and a number-flux relation for non-blazar AGNs. At higher energies, in the 150-300 keV energy band, 25 sources have been detected with a signal-to-noise ratio S/N > 5 sigma, including 7 AGNs, 13 LMXBs, 3 HMXBs, and 2 rotation-powered pulsars. Among LMXBs and HMXBs we identified 12 black hole candidates (BHC) and 4 neutron star (NS) binaries.
The accretion flow around X-ray pulsars with a strong magnetic field is funnelled by the field to relatively small regions close to the magnetic poles of the neutron star (NS), the hotspots. During strong outbursts regularly observed from some X-ray
pulsars, the X-ray luminosity can be so high, that the emerging radiation is able to stop the accreting matter above the surface via radiation-dominated shock, and the accretion column begins to rise. This border luminosity is usually called the critical luminosity. Here we calculate the critical luminosity as a function of the NS magnetic field strength $B$ using exact Compton scattering cross section in strong magnetic field. Influence of the resonant scattering and photon polarization is taken into account for the first time. We show that the critical luminosity is not a monotonic function of the B-field. It reaches a minimum of a few 10^{36} erg s^{-1} when the cyclotron energy is about 10 keV and a considerable amount of photons from a hotspot have energy close to the cyclotron resonance. For small B, this luminosity is about 10^{37} erg s^{-1}, nearly independent of the parameters. It grows for the B-field in excess of 10^{12} G because of the drop in the effective cross-section of interaction below the cyclotron energy. We investigate how different types of the accretion flow and geometries of the accretion channel affect the results and demonstrate that the general behaviour of the critical luminosity on B-field is very robust. The obtained results are shown to be in a good agreement with the available observational data and provide a necessary ground for the interpretation of upcoming high quality data from the currently operating and planned X-ray telescopes.
We study hard X-ray emission of the brightest accreting neutron star Sco X-1 with INTEGRAL observatory. Up to now INTEGRAL have collected ~4 Msec of deadtime corrected exposure on this source. We show that hard X-ray tail in time average spectrum of
Sco X-1 has a power law shape without cutoff up to energies ~200-300 keV. An absence of the high energy cutoff does not agree with the predictions of a model, in which the tail is formed as a result of Comptonization of soft seed photons on bulk motion of matter near the compact object. The amplitude of the tail varies with time with factor more than ten with the faintest tail at the top of the so-called flaring branch of its color-color diagram. We show that the minimal amplitude of the power law tail is recorded when the component, corresponding to the innermost part of optically thick accretion disk, disappears from the emission spectrum. Therefore we show that the presence of the hard X-ray tail may be related with the existence of the inner part of the optically thick disk. We estimate cooling time for these energetic electrons and show that they can not be thermal. We propose that the hard X-ray tail emission originates as a Compton upscattering of soft seed photons on electrons, which might have initial non-thermal distribution.
It is assumed that the radioactive decay of Ti-44 powers the infrared, optical and UV emission of supernova remnants after the complete decay of Co-56 and Co-57 (the isotopes that dominated the energy balance during the first three to four years afte
r the explosion) until the beginning of active interaction of the ejecta with the surrounding matter. Simulations show that the initial mass of Ti-44 synthesized in core-collapse supernovae is (0.02-2.5) x 10^{-4} solar masses (M_sun). Hard X-rays and gamma-rays from the decay of this Ti-44 have been unambiguously observed from Cassiopeia A only, leading to the suggestion that the values of the initial mass of Ti-44 near the upper bound of the predictions occur only in exceptional cases. For the remnant of supernova 1987A, an upper limit to the initial mass of Ti-44 of < 10^{-3} M_sun has been obtained from direct X-ray observations, and an estimate of (1-2) x 10^{-4} M_sun has been made from infrared light curves and ultraviolet spectra by complex model-dependent computations. Here we report observations of hard X-rays from the remnant of supernova 1987A in the narrow band containing two direct-escape lines of Ti-44 at 67.9 and 78.4 keV. The measured line fluxes imply that this decay provided sufficient energy to power the remnant at late times. We estimate that the initial mass of Ti-44 was (3.1+/-0.8) x 10^{-4} M_sun, which is near the upper bound of theoretical predictions.
In 2003-2012, the INTEGRAL observatory has performed long-term observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). At present, this is one of the deepest hard X-ray (20-60 keV) surveys of extragalactic fields in which more than 20 sources of different
natures have been detected. We present the results of a statistical analysis of the population of high-mass X-ray binaries in the LMC and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) observed in its direction. The hard X-ray luminosity function of high-mass X-ray binaries is shown to be described by a power law with a slope alpha~1.8, that in agreement with the luminosity function measurements both in the LMC itself, but made in the soft X-ray energy band, and in other galaxies. At the same time, the number of detected AGNs toward the LMC turns out to be considerably smaller than the number of AGNs registered in other directions, in particular, toward the source 3C 273. The latter confirms the previously made assumption that the distribution of matter in the local Universe is nonuniform.
Context. The INTEGRAL observatory operating in a hard X-ray/gamma domain has gathered a large observational data set over nine years starting in 2003. Most of the observing time was dedicated to the Galactic source population study, making possible t
he deepest Galactic survey in hard X-rays ever compiled. Aims. We aim to perform a Galactic survey that can be used as the basis of Galactic source population studies, and perform mapping of the Milky Way in hard X-rays over the maximum exposure available at |b|<17.5 deg. Methods. We used sky reconstruction algorithms especially developed for the high quality imaging of INTEGRAL/IBIS data. Results. We present sky images, sensitivity maps, and catalogs of detected sources in the three energy bands 17-60, 17-35, and 35-80 keV in the Galactic plane at |b|<17.5 deg. The total number of sources in the reference 17-60 keV band includes 402 objects exceeding a 4.7 sigma detection threshold on the nine-year time-averaged map. Among the identified sources with known and tentatively identified natures, 253 are Galactic objects (108 low-mass X-ray binaries, 82 high-mass X-ray binaries, 36 cataclysmic variables, and 27 are of other types), and 115 are extragalactic objects, including 112 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and 3 galaxy clusters. The sample of Galactic sources with S/N>4.7 sigma has an identification completeness of ~92%, which is valuable for population studies. Since the survey is based on the nine-year sky maps, it is optimized for persistent sources and may be biased against finding transients.
We present results of a study of the Galactic ridge X-ray emission (GRXE) in hard X-rays with the IBIS telescope on board INTEGRAL in the region near the Galactic Anticenter (GA) at l=155 deg. We assumed a conservative 2 sigma upper limit on the flux
from the GA in the 25-60 keV energy band of 1.25E-10 erg/s/cm^2 (12.8 mCrab) per IBIS field of view, or 6.6E-12 erg/s/cm^2 (0.7 mCrab) per degree longitude in the 135 deg. < l < 175 deg. region. This upper limit exceeds the expected GRXE intensity in the GA direction by an order of magnitude, given the near-infrared (NIR) surface brightness of the Milky Way in this region and the standard hard X-ray-to-NIR intensity ratio for the GRXE, assuming stellar origin. Based on the CGRO/EGRET surface brightness of the Galaxy above 100 MeV as a tracer of the cosmic-ray (CR) induced gamma-ray background, the expected GRXE flux in GA exceeds the measured 2 sigma upper limit by a factor of 4. Therefore, the non-detection of hard X-ray emission from the GA does not contradict the stellar nature of the GRXE, but is inconsistent with CR origin.
This paper is the second in a series devoted to the hard X-ray (17-60 keV) whole sky survey performed by the INTEGRAL observatory over seven years. Here we present a catalog of detected sources which includes 521 objects, 449 of which exceed a 5 sigm
a detection threshold on the time-averaged map of the sky, and 53 were detected in various subsamples of exposures. Among the identified sources with known and suspected nature, 262 are Galactic (101 low-mass X-ray binaries, 95 high-mass X-ray binaries, 36 cataclysmic variables, and 30 of other types) and 219 are extragalactic, including 214 active galactic nuclei (AGNs), 4 galaxy clusters, and galaxy ESO 389-G 002. The extragalactic (|b|>5 deg) and Galactic (|b|<5 deg) persistently detected source samples are of high identification completeness (respectively ~96% and ~94%) and valuable for population studies.
