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Astrophysics > High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

arXiv:1606.00595 (astro-ph)
[Submitted on 2 Jun 2016]

Title:Evidence of spreading layer emission in thermonuclear superbursts

Authors:K. I. I. Koljonen, J. J. E. Kajava, E. Kuulkers
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Abstract:When a neutron star accretes matter from a companion star in a low-mass X-ray binary, the accreted gas settles onto the stellar surface through a boundary/spreading layer. On rare occasions the accumulated gas undergoes a powerful thermonuclear superburst powered by carbon burning deep below the neutron star atmosphere. In this paper, we apply the non-negative matrix factorization spectral decomposition technique to show that the spectral variations during a superburst from 4U 1636-536 can be explained by two distinct components: 1) the superburst emission characterized by a variable temperature black body radiation component, and 2) a quasi-Planckian component with a constant, $\sim$2.5 keV, temperature varying by a factor of $\sim$15 in flux. The spectrum of the quasi-Planckian component is identical in shape and characteristics to the frequency-resolved spectra observed in the accretion/persistent spectrum of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries, and agrees well with the predictions of the spreading layer model by Inogamov & Sunyaev (1999). Our result is yet another observational evidence that superbursts - and possibly also normal X-ray bursts - induce changes in the disc-star boundary.
Comments: 8 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Subjects: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
Cite as: arXiv:1606.00595 [astro-ph.HE]
  (or arXiv:1606.00595v1 [astro-ph.HE] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1606.00595
Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/829/2/91

Submission history

From: Karri Koljonen [view email]
[v1] Thu, 2 Jun 2016 09:32:28 UTC (834 KB)
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