English

X-ray mapping of the stellar wind in the binary PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2017-12-27 v1

Abstract

PSR J2032+4127 is a young and rapidly rotating pulsar on a highly eccentric orbit around the high-mass Be star MT91 213. X-ray monitoring of the binary system over a \sim4000 day period with Swift has revealed an increase of the X-ray luminosity which we attribute to the synchrotron emission of the shocked pulsar wind. We use Swift X-ray observations to infer a clumpy stellar wind with r2r^{-2} density profile and constrain the Lorentz factor of the pulsar wind to 105<γw<10610^5<\gamma_w<10^6. We investigate the effects of an axisymmetric stellar wind with polar gradient on the X-ray emission. Comparison of the X-ray light curve hundreds of days before and after the periastron can be used to explore the polar structure of the wind.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1710.05042,
  title  = {X-ray mapping of the stellar wind in the binary PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213},
  author = {M. Petropoulou and G. Vasilopoulos and I. M. Christie and D. Giannios and M. J. Coe},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1710.05042},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

5 pages, submitted to MNRAS Letters