Observations of a GX 301−2 Apastron Flare with the X-Calibur Hard X-Ray Polarimeter Supported by NICER, the Swift XRT and BAT, and Fermi GBM
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2020-01-13
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Abarr Q, Baring M, Beheshtipour B, Beilicke M, de Geronimo G, Dowkontt P, Errando M, Guarino V, Iyer N, Kislat F, Kiss M, Kitaguchi T, Krawczynski H, Lanzi J, Li S, Lisalda L, Okajima T, Pearce M, Press L, Rauch B, Stuchlik D, Takahashi H, Tang J, Uchida N, West A, Jenke P, Krimm H, Lien A, Malacaria C, Miller J.M, Wilson-Hodge C, Jan 13 2020, Observations of a GX 301−2 Apastron Flare with the X-Calibur Hard X-Ray Polarimeter Supported by NICER, the Swift XRT and BAT, and Fermi GBM,https://arxiv.org/pdf/2001.03581.pdf
Rights
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Public Domain Mark 1.0
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain Mark 1.0
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Subjects
Abstract
The accretion-powered X-ray pulsar GX301−2 was observed with the balloon-borne X-Calibur hard X-ray polarimeter during late December 2018, with contiguous observations by the NICER X-ray telescope, the Swift X-ray Telescope and Burst Alert Telescope, and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor spanning several months. The observations detected the pulsar in a rare apastron flaring state coinciding with a significant spin-up of the pulsar discovered with the Fermi GBM. The XCalibur, NICER, and Swift observations reveal a pulse profile strongly dominated by one main peak, and the NICER and Swift data show strong variation of the profile from pulse to pulse. The X-Calibur observations constrain for the first time the linear polarization of the 15-35keV emission from a highly magnetized accreting neutron star, indicating a polarization degree of (27⁺³⁸₋₂₇ )% (90% confidence limit) averaged over all pulse phases. We discuss the spin-up and the X-ray spectral and polarimetric results in the context of theoretical predictions. We conclude with a discussion of the scientific potential of future observations of highly magnetized neutron stars with the more sensitive follow-up mission XL-Calibur.