Back to Search
Start Over
Discovery of a 0.42-s pulsar in the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 7793 P13.
- Source :
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters; 2017, Vol. 466 Issue 1, pL8-L52, 5p, 2 Charts, 5 Graphs
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- NGC 7793 P13 is a variable (luminosity range ∼100) ultraluminous X-ray source proposed to host a stellar-mass black hole of less than 15 M<subscript>⊙</subscript> in a binary system with orbital period of 64 d and a 18–23 M<subscript>⊙</subscript> B9Ia companion. Within the EXTraS (Exploring the X-ray Transient and variable Sky) project, we discovered pulsations at a period of ∼0.42 s in two XMM–Newton observations of NGC 7793 P13, during which the source was detected at L<subscript>X</subscript> ∼ 2.1 × 10<superscript>39</superscript> and 5 × 10<superscript>39</superscript> erg s<superscript>−1</superscript> (0.3–10 keV band). These findings unambiguously demonstrate that the compact object in NGC 7793 P13 is a neutron star accreting at super-Eddington rates. While standard accretion models face difficulties accounting for the pulsar X-ray luminosity, the presence of a multipolar magnetic field with B ∼ few × 10<superscript>13</superscript> G close to the base of the accretion column appears to be in agreement with the properties of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17453925
- Volume :
- 466
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 124285308
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slw218