MAXI GSC X-ray LCs of the ULX Swift J0243.6+6124 Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Sugizaki M.
  2. Oeda M.
  3. Kawai N.
  4. Mihara T.
  5. Makishima K.
  6. Nakajima M.
  7. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

This paper reports on the X-ray emission evolution of the ultraluminous Galactic X-ray pulsar Swift J0243.6+6124 during the giant outburst from 2017 October to 2018 January as observed by the MAXI GSC all-sky survey. The 2-30keV light curve and the energy spectra confirm the source luminosity LX assuming an isotropic emission reached 2.5x10^39^erg/s, 10 times higher than the Eddington limit for a 1.4M_{sun}_ neutron star. When the source was luminous with L_X_>~0.9x10^38^erg/s, it generally exhibited a negative correlation on a hardness-intensity diagram. However, two hardness ratios, a soft color (=4-10keV/2-4keV) and a hard color (=10-20keV/4-10keV), showed somewhat different behavior across a characteristic luminosity of L_c_~5x10^38^erg/s. The soft color changed more than the hard color when L_X_<L_c_, whereas the opposite was observed above Lc. The spectral change above Lc was represented by a broad enhanced feature at ~6keV on top of the canonical cutoff power-law continuum. The pulse profiles, derived daily, made the transition from a single-peak to a double-peak as the source brightened across Lc. These spectral and pulse-shape properties can be interpreted by a scenario in which the accretion columns on the neutron-star surface, producing the Comptonized X-ray emission, gradually became taller as LX increases. The broad 6keV enhancement could be a result of cyclotron-resonance absorption at ~10keV, corresponding to a surface magnetic field B_s_~1.1x10^12^G. The spin-frequency derivatives calculated with the Fermi GBM data showed a smooth positive correlation with LX up to the outburst peak, and its linear coefficient is comparable to those of typical Be binary pulsars whose B_s_ are (1-8)x10^12^G. These results suggest that the B_s_ of Swift J0243.6+6124 is a few times 10^12^G.

Keywords
  1. pulsars
  2. x-ray-binary-stars
  3. x-ray-sources
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2020ApJ...896..124S
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/896/124
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/896/124
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.18960124

Access

Web browser access HTML
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/896/124
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/896/124
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/896/124
IVOA Table Access TAP
https://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).

History

2021-11-30T07:30:31Z
Resource record created
2021-11-30T07:30:31Z
Created
2021-12-03T13:33:27Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr