Propeller effect in the transient x-ray pulsar SMC X-2



: Alexander A. Lutovinov, Sergey S. Tsygankov, Roman A. Krivonos, Sergey V. Molkov, Juri Poutanen

Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD

: 2017

: Astrophysical Journal

: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

: ASTROPHYS J

: 209

: 834

: 2

: 5

: 0004-637X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/834/2/209

: 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.

Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 12:49