We present a freely available xspec model for the modulations seen in the long-term light curves of multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). By incorporating the physics of multiple electron ...scatterings (ray traced with a Monte Carlo routine), we go beyond analytical predictions and show that the geometrical beaming of radiation in the conical outflow can be more than a factor of 100 for opening angles smaller than 10 degree . We apply our new model to the long-term, well-sampled Swift light curve of the recently confirmed ULX pulsar NGC 5907 X-1 with an established period of 78 d. Our results suggest that geometrical beaming together with a slight precession of the conical wind can describe the light curve with a consistent set of parameters for the wind. The small opening angle of roughly 10 degree -13 degree implies a highly supercritical flow and boosting factors of the order of B=60-90 that would yield a fairly low surface magnetic field strength of 2 x 10 super( 10) G.
The eROSITA X-ray telescope on SRG Predehl, P.; Andritschke, R.; Arefiev, V. ...
Astronomy & astrophysics,
03/2021, Letnik:
647, Številka:
A1
Journal Article
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eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) is the primary instrument on the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, which was successfully launched on July 13, 2019, from the ...Baikonour cosmodrome. After the commissioning of the instrument and a subsequent calibration and performance verification phase, eROSITA started a survey of the entire sky on December 13, 2019. By the end of 2023, eight complete scans of the celestial sphere will have been performed, each lasting six months. At the end of this program, the eROSITA all-sky survey in the soft X-ray band (0.2–2.3 keV) will be about 25 times more sensitive than the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, while in the hard band (2.3–8 keV) it will provide the first ever true imaging survey of the sky. The eROSITA design driving science is the detection of large samples of galaxy clusters up to redshifts
z
> 1 in order to study the large-scale structure of the universe and test cosmological models including Dark Energy. In addition, eROSITA is expected to yield a sample of a few million AGNs, including obscured objects, revolutionizing our view of the evolution of supermassive black holes. The survey will also provide new insights into a wide range of astrophysical phenomena, including X-ray binaries, active stars, and diffuse emission within the Galaxy. Results from early observations, some of which are presented here, confirm that the performance of the instrument is able to fulfil its scientific promise. With this paper, we aim to give a concise description of the instrument, its performance as measured on ground, its operation in space, and also the first results from in-orbit measurements.
The ultra-soft narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0707−495 is a well-known and highly variable active galactic nucleus (AGN), with a complex, steep X-ray spectrum, and has been studied extensively with
...XMM-Newton
. 1H 0707−495 was observed with the extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array (eROSITA) aboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission on October 11, 2019, for about 60 000 s as one of the first calibration and pointed verification phase (CalPV) observations. The eROSITA light curves show significant variability in the form of a flux decrease by a factor of 58 with a 1
σ
error confidence interval between 31 and 235. This variability is primarily in the soft band, and is much less extreme in the hard band. No strong ultraviolet variability has been detected in simultaneous
XMM-Newton
Optical Monitor observations. The UV emission is
L
UV
≈ 10
44
erg s
−1
, close to the Eddington limit. 1H 0707−495 entered the lowest hard flux state seen in 20 yr of
XMM-Newton
observations. In the eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS) observations taken in April 2020, the X-ray light curve is still more variable in the ultra-soft band, but with increased soft and hard band count rates more similar to previously observed flux states. A model including relativistic reflection and a variable partial covering absorber is able to fit the spectra and provides a possible explanation for the extreme light-curve behaviour. The absorber is probably ionised and therefore more transparent to soft X-rays. This leaks soft X-rays in varying amounts, leading to large-amplitude soft-X-ray variability.
Because of their inherently high flux allowing the detection of clear signals, black hole x-ray binaries are interesting candidates for polarization studies, even if no polarization signals have been ...observed from them before. Such measurements would provide further detailed insight into these sources' emission mechanisms. We measured the polarization of the gamma-ray emission from the black hole binary system Cygnus X-1 with the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory Imager on Board the Integral Satellite (INTEGRAL/IBIS) telescope. Spectral modeling of the data reveals two emission mechanisms: The 250- to 400-keV (kilo-electron volt) data are consistent with emission dominated by Compton scattering on thermal electrons and are weakly polarized. The second spectral component seen in the 400-keV to 2-MeV band is by contrast strongly polarized, revealing that the MeV emission is probably related to the jet first detected in the radio band.
The IceCube Collaboration has published four years of data and the observed neutrino flux is significantly in excess of the expected atmospheric background. Due to the steeply falling atmospheric ...background spectrum, events at the highest energies are most likely extraterrestrial. In our previous approach we have studied blazars as the possible origin of the High-Energy Starting Events (HESE) neutrino events at PeV energies. In this work we extend our study to include all HESE neutrinos (which does not include IC 170922A) at or above a reconstructed energy of 100 TeV, but below 1 PeV. We study the X-ray and γ-ray data of all (∼200) 3LAC blazars that are positionally consistent with the neutrino events above 100 TeV to determine the maximum neutrino flux from these sources. This larger sample allows us to better constrain the scaling factor between the observed and maximum number of neutrino events. We find that when we consider a realistic neutrino spectrum and other factors, the number of neutrinos is in good agreement with the detected number of IceCube HESE events. We also show that there is no direct correlation between Fermi/LAT γ-ray flux and the IceCube neutrino flux and that the expected number of neutrinos is consistent with the non-detection of individual bright blazars.
We report the discovery of a giant dust scattering ring around the Black Hole transient MAXI J1348−630 with SRG/eROSITA during its first X-ray all-sky survey. During the discovery observation in ...February 2020, the ring had an outer diameter of 1.3 deg, growing to 1.6 deg by the time of the second all-sky survey scan in August 2020. This makes the new dust ring by far the largest X-ray scattering ring observed so far. Dust scattering halos, in particular the rings found around transient sources, provide an opportunity to make precise distance measurements towards the original X-ray sources. We combine data from SRG/eROSITA,
XMM-Newton
, MAXI, and
Gaia
to measure the geometrical distance of MAXI J1348−630. The
Gaia
data place the scattering dust at a distance of 2050 pc. Based on the measured time lags and the geometry of the ring we find MAXI J1348−630 at a distance of 3390 pc with a statistical uncertainty of only 1.1% and a systematic uncertainty of 10% caused mainly by the parallax offset of
Gaia
. This result makes MAXI J1348−630 one of the black hole transients with the most accurately determined distances. The new distance leads to a revised mass estimate for the black hole of 11 ± 2
M
⊙
. The transition to the soft state during the outburst occurred when the bolometric luminosity of MAXI J1348−630 reached 1.7% of its Eddington luminosity.
X-ray irradiation of the accretion disc leads to strong reflection features, which are then broadened and distorted by relativistic effects. We present a detailed, general relativistic approach to ...model this irradiation for different geometries of the primary X-ray source. These geometries include the standard point source on the rotational axis as well as more jet-like sources, which are radially elongated and accelerating. Incorporating this code in the relline model for relativistic line emission, the line shape for any configuration can be predicted. We study how different irradiation geometries affect the determination of the spin of the black hole. Broad emission lines are produced only for compact irradiating sources situated close to the black hole. This is the only case where the black hole spin can be unambiguously determined. In all other cases the line shape is narrower, which could either be explained by a low spin or an elongated source. We conclude that in those cases and independent of the quality of the data no unique solution for the spin exists and therefore only a lower limit of the spin value can be given.
It is a common belief that for magnetic fields typical of accreting neutron stars in high-mass X-ray binaries vacuum polarization only affects the propagation of polarized emission in the neutron ...star magnetosphere. We show that vacuum resonances can significantly alter the emission from the poles of accreting neutron stars. The effect is similar to vacuum polarization in the atmospheres of isolated neutron stars and can result in suppression of the continuum and the cyclotron lines. It is enhanced by magnetic Comptonization in the hot plasma and proximity to the electron cyclotron resonance. We present several models to illustrate the vacuum polarization effect for various optically thick media and discuss how the choice of polarization modes affects the properties of the emergent radiation by simulating polarized energy- and angle-dependent radiative transfer. Polarization effects, including vacuum polarization, crucially alter the emission properties. Together with strongly angle- and energy-dependent magnetic Comptonization, they result in a complex spectral shape, which can be described by dips and humps on top of a power-law-like continuum with high-energy cutoff. These effects provide a possible explanation for the common necessity of additional broad Gaussian components and two-component Comptonization models that are used to describe spectra of accreting X-ray pulsars. We also demonstrate the character of depolarization introduced by the radiation field’s propagation inside the inhomogeneous emission region.
Recent observations of Her X-1 with NuSTAR and INTEGRAL in 2016 have provided evidence that the 20-year decay of the cyclotron line energy found between 1996 and 2015 has ended and that an inversion ...with a new increase, possibly similar to the one observed around 1990–1993, has started. We consider this a strong motivation for further observations and for enhanced efforts to significantly improve our theoretical understanding of the accretion process in binary X-ray pulsars. We speculate about the physics behind the long-term decay and its inversion, a possible cyclic behavior, and correlations with other variable observables.
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