A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Propeller effect in the transient x-ray pulsar SMC X-2
Authors: Alexander A. Lutovinov, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roman A. Krivonos, Sergey V. Molkov, Juri Poutanen
Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Publication year: 2017
Journal: Astrophysical Journal
Journal name in source: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Journal acronym: ASTROPHYS J
Article number: 209
Volume: 834
Issue: 2
Number of pages: 5
ISSN: 0004-637X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/834/2/209
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/22409328
We report the results of the monitoring campaign of the transient X-ray pulsar SMC X-2 performed with the Swift/XRT telescope over the period of 2015 September-2016 January during the Type II outburst. During this event, the bolometric luminosity of the source ranged from similar or equal to 10(39) down to several x 10(34) erg s(-1). Moreover, we discovered its dramatic drop by a factor of more than 100 below the limiting value of L-lim similar or equal to 4 x 10(36) erg s(-1), which can be interpreted as a transition to the propeller regime. These measurements make SMC X-2 the sixth pulsating X-ray source where such a transition is observed and allow us to estimate the magnetic field of the neutron star in the system B similar or equal to 3 x 10(12) G, which is in agreement with independent results of the spectral analysis.
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