English

Kinematically Resolving the Fe K Complex in Her X-1: The Accretion Disk and Ionized Wind Across X-ray Eclipses

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2026-08-06 v1 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Abstract

We present XRISM/Resolve spectroscopy of Her X-1 across three X-ray eclipses observed in September 2024, resolving its iron K complex through the ingress, mid-eclipse, and egress phases. The 5 eV high energy resolution of Resolve enabled us to disentangle and detect all primary components of the iron K complex: neutral iron fluorescence (Fe Kα\alpha and Kβ\beta), highly ionized emission lines (Fe XXV Heα\alpha and Fe XXVI Lyα\alpha). The neutral Fe Kα\alpha emission is not significantly detected during mid-eclipse, indicating a compact origin near the neutron star. At ingress and egress, the line centroid exhibits red- and blue-shifts of 200\sim 200 km s1^{-1} after correcting for the systemic velocity and the neutron star's orbital motion. This residual shift corresponds to Keplerian rotation at a characteristic radius of rdisk6.6×106r_{\rm disk} \sim 6.6\times10^{6} km, suggesting an association with the outer accretion disk. In contrast, the highly ionized Fe XXV Heα\alpha and Fe XXVI Lyα\alpha lines remain visible during eclipses, indicating an extended origin. Photoionization modeling (SPEX pion model) yields log10(ξ/ergcms1)3.4\log_{10}(\xi/{\rm erg\,cm\,s^{-1}}) \sim 3.4 and NH3.1×1022N_{\rm H} \sim 3.1\times10^{22} cm2^{-2} consistent with the ionized disk wind of Her X-1. Flux-ratio diagnostics constrain the geometric inner boundary of the clumpy disk wind to Rin=32+5×1010R_{\rm in} = 3^{+5}_{-2} \times 10^{10} cm (1σ1\sigma), consistent with the Compton-heated thermal winds. The inferred mass outflow rate is M˙out3.2×109M\dot{M}_{\rm out} \approx 3.2 \times 10^{-9}\,M_{\odot} yr1^{-1} (half the supplied mass), consistent with absorption line measurements of the disk wind obtained out of eclipse.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2608.05719,
  title  = {Kinematically Resolving the Fe K Complex in Her X-1: The Accretion Disk and Ionized Wind Across X-ray Eclipses},
  author = {Koh Sakamoto and Teruaki Enoto and Peter Kosec and Takeshi GO Tsuru and Takuto Narita and Daijiro Hitotsuyanagi and Laura Brenneman and Ruediger Staubert and Jon M. Miller and Andrew Fabian and Daniele Rogantini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.05719},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

12 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal