Gazing at the ultraslow magnetar in RCW 103 with NuSTAR and Swift
Date Issued
2018
Author(s)
Borghese, A.
•
Coti Zelati, F.
•
Esposito, P.
•
Rea, N.
•
•
•
•
Perna, R.
•
Pons, J. A.
Abstract
We report on a new NuSTAR observation and on the ongoing Swift X-Ray Telescope monitoring campaign of the peculiar source 1E 161348-5055, located at the centre of the supernova remnant RCW 103, which is recovering from its last outburst in 2016 June. The X-ray spectrum at the epoch of the NuSTAR observation can be described by either two absorbed blackbodies (kT_BB_1 ∼ 0.5 keV, kT_BB_2 ∼ 1.2 keV) or an absorbed blackbody plus a power law (kT_BB_1 ∼ 0.6 keV, Γ ∼ 3.9). The observed flux was ∼9 × 10-12 erg s-1 cm-2, ∼3 times lower than what observed at the outburst onset, but about one order of magnitude higher than the historical quiescent level. A periodic modulation was detected at the known 6.67 h periodicity. The spectral decomposition and evolution along the outburst decay are consistent with 1E 161348-5055 being a magnetar, the slowest ever detected.
Volume
478
Issue
1
Start page
741
Issn Identifier
0035-8711
Ads BibCode
2018MNRAS.478..741B
Rights
open.access
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