NuSTAR and XMM-Newton Observations of 1E1743.1-2843: Indications of a Neutron Star LMXB Nature of the Compact Object
Journal
Date Issued
2016
Author(s)
•
•
Mori, Kaya
•
Baganoff, Frederick K.
•
Boggs, Steven E.
•
Christensen, Finn E.
•
Craig, William W.
•
Hailey, Charles J.
•
Harrison, Fiona A.
•
Hong, Jaesub
•
Krivonos, Roman A.
•
Rahoui, Farid
•
Stern, Daniel
•
Tomsick, John A.
•
Zhang, Shuo
•
Zhang, William W.
Abstract
We report on the results of NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the persistent X-ray source 1E1743.1-2843, located in the Galactic Center region. The source was observed between 2012 September and October by NuSTAR and XMM-Newton, providing almost simultaneous observations in the hard and soft X-ray bands. The high X-ray luminosity points to the presence of an accreting compact object. We analyze the possibilities of this accreting compact object being either a neutron star (NS) or a black hole, and conclude that the joint XMM-Newton and NuSTAR spectrum from 0.3 to 40 keV fits a blackbody spectrum with {kT}∼ 1.8 {keV} emitted from a hot spot or an equatorial strip on an NS surface. This spectrum is thermally Comptonized by electrons with {{kT}}e∼ 4.6 {keV}. Accepting this NS hypothesis, we probe the low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) or high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) nature of the source. While the lack of Type-I bursts can be explained in the LMXB scenario, the absence of pulsations in the 2 mHz-49 Hz frequency range, the lack of eclipses and of an IR companion, and the lack of a {K}α line from neutral or moderately ionized iron strongly disfavor interpreting this source as a HMXB. We therefore conclude that 1E1743.1-2843 is most likely an NS-LMXB located beyond the Galactic Center. There is weak statistical evidence for a soft X-ray excess which may indicate thermal emission from an accretion disk. However, the disk normalization remains unconstrained due to the high hydrogen column density ({N}{{H}}∼ 1.6× {10}23 {{cm}}-2).
Volume
822
Issue
1
Start page
57
Issn Identifier
0004-637X
Ads BibCode
2016ApJ...822...57L
Rights
open.access
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the 1E1743.1-2843 source.pdf
Description
pdf editoriale
Size
1.7 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
c0a407995c273f3d42ea1ceac0febfeb
Loading...
Name
1603.02016.pdf
Description
preprint
Size
1.81 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1ebd92ce1d4340b80a4d0d8ba0618dec