Observational constraints on the magnetic field of the bright transient Be/X-ray pulsar SXP 4.78




Andrey N Semena, Alexander A Lutovinov, Ilya A Mereminskiy, Sergey S Tsygankov, Andrey E Shtykovsky, Sergey V Molkov, Juri Poutanen

PublisherOXFORD UNIV PRESS

2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

MON NOT R ASTRON SOC

490

3

3355

3364

10

0035-8711

1365-2966

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2722

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/44996196



We report results of the spectral and timing analysis of the Be/X-ray pulsar SXP 4.78 using the data obtained during its recent outburst with NuSTAR, Swift, Chandra, and NICER observatories. Using an overall evolution of the system luminosity, spectral analysis, and variability power spectrum we obtain constraints on the neutron star magnetic field strength. We found a rapid evolution of the variability power spectrum during the rise of the outburst, and absence of the significant changes during the flux decay. Several low frequency quasiperiodic oscillation features are found to emerge on the different stages of the outburst, but no clear clues on their origin were found in the energy spectrum and overall flux behaviour. We use several indirect methods to estimate the magnetic field strength on the neutron star surface and found that most of them suggest magnetic field B less than or similar to 2 x 10(12) G. The strictest upper limit comes from the absence of the cyclotron absorption features in the energy spectra and suggests relatively weak magnetic field B < 6 x 10(11) G.)

Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 18:10