Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-16T10:52:13.204Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Changes in Cyclotron line energy with luminosity in Accreting X-ray pulsars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2013

Osamu Nishimura*
Affiliation:
Nagano National College of Technology716 Tokuma Nagano, Japan email: nishi@nagano-nct.ac.jp
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

I model changes in cyclotron line energy with luminosity, considering the effect of polar cap dimensions and changes in beam pattern as well as shock height. Cyclotron lines are calculated by a superposition of a large number of cyclotron lines formed in different heights of an accretion column. Cyclotron line energy has been observed to change with luminosity in a number of accreting X-ray pulsars. In X0115+63 and V0332+53, the fundamental cyclotron line energy has been observed to decrease with increasing luminosity. This phenomenon has been interpreted as a change in shock height with luminosity. However, the rate of the change seems to be very different, in which the line energy in V0332+53 seems to vary slowly with luminosity compared with that in X0115+63. I found that the changes in the cyclotron line energies with luminosity can be explained by changes in beam pattern and the size of a polar cap rather than a shock height.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013

References

Becker, P. A. 1998, ApJ, 498, 790Google Scholar
Becker, P. A. & Wolff, M. T. 2007, ApJ, 654, 435Google Scholar
Nakajima, M., Mihara, T., Makishima, K., & Niko, H. 2006, ApJ, 646, 1125CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsygankov, S. S., Lutovinov, A. A., & Serber, A. V. 2010, MNRAS, 401, 1628CrossRefGoogle Scholar