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NuSTAR observations of the Dwarf Nova GK Persei in 2015: comparison between outburst and quiescent phases

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 نشر من قبل Yuuki Wada
 تاريخ النشر 2016
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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We report on NuSTAR observations of the Intermediate Polar GK Persei which also behaves as a Dwarf Nova. It exhibited a Dwarf Nova outburst in 2015 March-April. The object was observed in 3-79 keV X-rays with NuSTAR, once at the outburst peak, and again in 2015 September during quiescence. The 5-50 keV flux during the outburst was 26 times higher than that during the quiescence. With a multi-temperature emission model and a reflection model, we derived the post-shock temperature as 19.2 +/- 0.7 keV in the outburst, and 38.5 +4.1/-3.6 keV in the quiescence. This temperature difference is considered to reflect changes in the radius at which the accreting matter, forming an accretion disk, is captured by the magnetosphere of the white dwarf (WD). Assuming that this radius scales as the power of -2/7 of the mass accretion rate, and utilizing the two temperature measurements, as well as the standard mass-radius relation of WDs, we determined the WD mass in GK Persei as 0.90 +/- 0.06 solar masses. The magnetic field is estimated as 4*10^5 G.



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We report on X-ray observations of the Dwarf Nova GK Persei performed by {it NuSTAR} in 2015. GK Persei, behaving also as an Intermediate Polar, exhibited a Dwarf Nova outburst in 2015 March--April. The object was observed with {sl NuSTAR} during the outburst state, and again in a quiescent state wherein the 15--50 keV flux was 33 times lower. Using a multi-temperature plasma emission and reflection model, the highest plasma temperature in the accretion column was measured as $19.7^{+1.3}_{-1.0}$~keV in outburst and $36.2^{+3.5}_{-3.2}$~keV in quiescence. The significant change of the maximum temperature is considered to reflect an accretion-induced decrease of the inner-disk radius $R_{rm in}$, where accreting gas is captured by the magnetosphere. Assuming this radius scales as $R_{rm in} propto dot{M}^{-2/7}$ where $dot{M}$ is the mass accretion rate, we obtain $R_{rm in} = 1.9 ^{+0.4}_{-0.2}~R_{rm WD}$ and $R_{rm in} = 7.4^{+2.1}_{-1.2}~R_{rm WD}$ in outburst and quiescence respectively, where $R_{rm WD}$ is the white-dwarf radius of this system. Utilising the measured temperatures and fluxes, as well as the standard mass-radius relation of white dwarfs, we estimate the white-dwarf mass as $M_{rm WD} = 0.87~pm~0.08~M_{rm odot}$ including typical systematic uncertainties by 7%. The surface magnetic field is also measured as $B sim 5 times 10^{5}$~G. These results exemplify a new X-ray method of estimating $M_{rm WD}$ and $B$ of white dwarfs by using large changes in $dot{M}$.
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