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تسجيل مستخدم جديدCyclotron resonant scattering feature simulations. II. Description of the CRSF simulation process
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تأليف
F.-W. Schwarm
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Cyclotron resonant scattering features (CRSFs) are formed by scattering of X-ray photons off quantized plasma electrons in the strong magnetic field (of the order 10^12 G) close to the surface of an accreting X-ray pulsar. The line profiles of CRSFs cannot be described by an analytic expression. Numerical methods such as Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of the scattering processes are required in order to predict precise line shapes for a given physical setup, which can be compared to observations to gain information about the underlying physics in these systems. A versatile simulation code is needed for the generation of synthetic cyclotron lines. Sophisticated geometries should be investigatable by making their simulation possible for the first time. The simulation utilizes the mean free path tables described in the first paper of this series for the fast interpolation of propagation lengths. The code is parallelized to make the very time consuming simulations possible on convenient time scales. Furthermore, it can generate responses to mono-energetic photon injections, producing Greens functions, which can be used later to generate spectra for arbitrary continua. We develop a new simulation code to generate synthetic cyclotron lines for complex scenarios, allowing for unprecedented physical interpretation of the observed data. An associated XSPEC model implementation is used to fit synthetic line profiles to NuSTAR data of Cep X-4. The code has been developed with the main goal of overcoming previous geometrical constraints in MC simulations of CRSFs. By applying this code also to more simple, classic geometries used in previous works, we furthermore address issues of code verification and cross-comparison of various models. The XSPEC model and the Greens function tables are available online at http://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/research/cyclo .
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Electron cyclotron resonant scattering features (CRSFs) are observed as absorption-like lines in the spectra of X-ray pulsars. A significant fraction of the computing time for Monte Carlo simulations of these quantum mechanical features is spent on t
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Based on phase-resolved broadband spectroscopy using $XMM$-$Newton$ and $NuSTAR$, we report on a potential cyclotron resonant scattering feature at $E sim 13$ keV in the pulsed spectrum of the recently discoverd ULX pulsar NGC 300 ULX1. If this inter
pretation is correct, the implied magnetic field of the central neutron star is $B sim 10^{12}$ G (assuming scattering off electrons), similar to that estimated from the observed spin-up of the star, and also similar to known Galactic X-ray pulsars. We discuss the implications of this result for the connection between NGC 300 ULX1 and the other known ULX pulsars, particularly in light of the recent discovery of a likely proton Cyclotron line in another ULX, M51 ULX-8.
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We present timing and broad-band spectral studies of the high mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U 1909+07 using data from Suzaku observation during 2010 November 2-3. The pulse period of the pulsar is estimated to be 604.11+/-0.14 s. Pulsations are seen in t
he X-ray light curve up to ~70 keV. The pulse profile is found to be strongly energy-dependent: a complex, multi-peaked structure at low energy that becomes a simple single peak at higher energy. We found that the 1-70 keV pulse averaged continuum can be fitted by the sum of a black body and a partial covering Negative and Positive power-law with EXponential cutoff (NPEX) model. A weak iron fluorescence emission line at 6.4 keV was detected in the spectrum. An absorption like feature at ~44 keV was clearly seen in the residue of the spectral fitting, independent of the continuum model adopted. To check the possible presence of a CRSF in the spectrum, we normalized the pulsar spectrum with the spectrum of the Crab Nebula. The resulting Crab ratio also showed a clear dip centered at ~44 keV. We performed statistical tests on the residue of the spectral fitting and also on the Crab spectral ratio to determine the significance of the absorption like feature and identified it as a CRSF of the pulsar. We estimated the corresponding surface magnetic field of the pulsar to be 3.8 x 10^12 Gauss.
We present analysis of 4U 1626-67, a 7.7 s pulsar in a low-mass X-ray binary system, observed with the hard X-ray detector of the Japanese X-ray satellite Suzaku in March 2006 for a net exposure of sim88 ks. The source was detected at an average 10-6
0 keV flux of sim4 x10^-10 erg cm^-2 s^-1. The phase-averaged spectrum is reproduced well by combining a negative and positive power-law times exponential cutoff (NPEX) model modified at sim 37 keV by a cyclotron resonance scattering feature (CRSF). The phase-resolved analysis shows that the spectra at the bright phases are well fit by the NPEX with CRSF model. On the other hand, the spectrum in the dim phase lacks the NPEX high-energy cutoff component, and the CRSF can be reproduced by either an emission or an absorption profile. When fitting the dim phase spectrum with the NPEX plus Gaussian model, we find that the feature is better described in terms of an emission rather than an absorption profile. The statistical significance of this result, evaluated by means of an F-test, is between 2.91 x 10^-3 and 1.53 x 10^-5, taking into account the systematic errors in the background evaluation of HXD-PIN. We find that, the emission profile is more feasible than the absorption one for comparing the physical parameters in other phases. Therefore, we have possibly detected an emission line at the cyclotron resonance energy in the dim phase.
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