A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

SRG/ART-XC, Swift, NICER, and NuSTAR study of different states of the transient X-ray pulsar MAXI J0903-531




AuthorsTsygankov Sergey S, Molkov Sergey V, Doroshenko Victor, Mushtukov Alexander A, Mereminskiy Ilya A, Semena Andrei N, Thalhammer Philipp, Wilms Jörn, Lutovinov Alexander A

PublisherEDP Sciences

Publication year2022

JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics

Journal name in sourceASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Journal acronymASTRON ASTROPHYS

Article number A45

Volume661

Number of pages8

ISSN0004-6361

eISSN1432-0746

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141821

Web address https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141821

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/176226645


Abstract

The results of the broadband spectral and timing study of the recently discovered transient X-ray pulsar MAXI J0903-531 in a wide range of luminosities that differ by a factor of ~30 are reported. The observed X-ray spectrum in both states can be described as a classical pulsar-like spectrum consisting of a power law with a high-energy cutoff. We argue that the absence of the spectrum transformation to the two-hump structure that is expected at low fluxes indicates that the magnetic field of the neutron star is relatively weak below (2-3) x 1012 G. This estimate is consistent with other indirect constraints and non-detection of any absorption features that might be interpreted as a cyclotron absorption line. The timing analysis of the NuSTAR data revealed only slight variations of a single-peaked pulse profile of the source as a function of the energy band and mass accretion rate. In both intensity states, the pulsed fraction increases from 40% to roughly 80% with the energy. Finally, we were also able to obtain the orbital solution for the binary system using data from the Fermi/GBM, NICER, and NuSTAR instruments.


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