English

Ionized Reflection Spectra from Accretion Disks Illuminated by X-ray Pulsars

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2015-06-04 v2

Abstract

X-ray reflection signatures are observed around multiple classes of accreting compact objects. Modelling these features yield important constraints on the physics of accretion disks, motivating the development of X-ray reflection models appropriate for a variety of systems and illumination conditions. Here, constant density ionized X-ray reflection models are presented for a disk irradiated with a very hard power-law X-ray spectrum (\Gamma < 1) and a variable high-energy cutoff. These models are then applied to the Suzaku data of the accreting X-ray pulsar LMC X-4, where very good fits are obtained with a highly ionized reflector responsible for both the broad Fe K line and the soft excess. The ionized reflector shows strong evidence for significant Doppler broadening and is redshifted by ~10^4 km/s. These features indicate that the reflecting material is associated with the complex dynamics occurring at the inner region of the magnetically-truncated accretion disk. Thus, reflection studies of X-ray pulsar spectra may give important insights into the accretion physics at the magnetospheric radius.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1202.2311,
  title  = {Ionized Reflection Spectra from Accretion Disks Illuminated by X-ray Pulsars},
  author = {D. R. Ballantyne and J. D. Purvis and R. G. Strausbaugh and R. C. Hickox},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.2311},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters. The table model used in this paper is available from http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xanadu/xspec/models/coplrefl.html