Understanding Cyclotron Lines in the Spectra of Accreting Neutron Stars

Date

2010-02

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Abstract

Cyclotron lines are formed through transitions of electrons between discrete Landau levels in the accretion columns of accreting neutron stars with strong (B ∼ 10¹² G) magnetic fields. We summarize recent results on the formation of the spectral continuum of such systems, describe recent advances in the mod-eling of the lines based on a modification of the commonly used Monte Carlo approach, and discuss new results on the dependence of the measured cyclotron line energy from the luminosity of transient neutron star systems.