On the Geometry of the X-ray emission from pulsars a consistent inclination and beaming solution for the Be/X-ray pulsar SXP 1062
Author(s) -
Rigel Cappallo,
S. Laycock,
Dimitris M. Christodoulou,
Ankur Roy,
Sayantan Bhattacharya,
M. J. Coe,
A. Zezas
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-8711
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1093/mnras/staa1320
Subject(s) - physics , pulsar , astrophysics , luminosity , small magellanic cloud , x ray pulsar , pulse (music) , astronomy , phase (matter) , optics , stars , galaxy , detector , quantum mechanics
SXP 1062 is a long-period X-ray pulsar with a Be optical companion located in the Small Magellanic Cloud. First discovered in 2010 from XMM-Newton data, it has been the target of multiple observational campaigns due to the seeming incongruity between its long spin period and recent birth. In our continuing modelling efforts to determine the inclination angle (i) and magnetic axis angle (θ) of X-ray pulsars, we have fitted 19 pulse profiles from SXP 1062 with our pulsar model, Polestar, including three consecutive Chandra observations taken during the trailing end of a Type I outburst. These fittings have resulted in most-likely values of i = 76◦ ± 2◦ and θ = 40◦ ± 9◦. SXP 1062 mostly displays a stable double-peaked pulse profile with the peaks separated by roughly a third of a phase, but recently the pulsar has spun up and widened to a spacing of roughly half of a phase, yet the Polestar fits for i and θ remain constant. Additionally we note a possible correlation between the X-ray luminosity and the separation of the peaks in the pulse profiles corresponding to the highest-luminosity states.
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