English

Physics of 1 keV line in X-ray binaries

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2026-03-23 v2

Abstract

X-ray binaries (XRBs) often exhibit spectral residuals in the 0.5 to 2 keV range, known as the ``1 keV residual/1 keV feature", with variable centroid and intensity across different systems. Yet a comprehensive scientific explanation of the variability of the 1 keV feature has remained largely elusive. In this paper, we explain for the first time the origin and variability of the 1 keV feature in XRBs using the spectral synthesis code \textsc{Cloudy}. We constructed line blends for the emission and absorption lines and study the variability of these blends with ionization parameters, temperature, and column density. We conducted a sample study involving five XRBs including two ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs): NGC 247 ULX-1, NGC 1313 X-1, a binary X-ray pulsar : Hercules X-1, and two typical low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs): Cygnus X-2, and Serpens X-1. Our analysis establishes a self-consistent framework explaining the variability of the 1 keV spectral feature, attributing its diversity to differences in spectral energy distribution, ionization parameter, temperature, column density, and disk reflection properties. This framework provides a comprehensive explanation for the observed 1 keV feature across these diverse XRB systems, offering insights into the underlying physical mechanisms at play.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.02360,
  title  = {Physics of 1 keV line in X-ray binaries},
  author = {Priyanka Chakraborty and Gary Ferland and Andrew Fabian and Arnab Sarkar and Renee Ludlam and Stefano Bianchi and Hayden Hall and Peter Kosec},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.02360},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

33 pages, 13 figures, Submitted to ApJ