X-ray reprocessing in accreting pulsar GX 301-2 observed with Insight-HXMT
Abstract
We investigate the absorption and emission features in observations of GX 301-2 detected with Insight-HXMT/LE in 2017-2019. At different orbital phases, we found prominent Fe Kalpha, Kbeta and Ni Kalpha lines, as well as Compton shoulders and Fe K-shell absorption edges. These features are due to the X-ray reprocessing caused by the interaction between the radiation from the source and surrounding accretion material. According to the ratio of iron lines Kalpha and Kbeta, we infer the accretion material is in a low ionisation state. We find an orbital-dependent local absorption column density, which has a large value and strong variability around the periastron. We explain its variability as a result of inhomogeneities of the accretion environment and/or instabilities of accretion processes. In addition, the variable local column density is correlated with the equivalent width of the iron Kalpha lines throughout the orbit, which suggests that the accretion material near the neutron star is spherically distributed.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2012.02556,
title = {X-ray reprocessing in accreting pulsar GX 301-2 observed with Insight-HXMT},
author = {L. Ji and V. Doroshenko and V. Suleimanov and A. Santangelo and M. Orlandini and J. Liu and L. Ducci and S. N. Zhang and A. Nabizadeh and D. Gavran and S. Zhang and M. Y. Ge and X. B. Li and L. Tao and Q. C. Bu and J. L. Qu and F. J. Lu and L. Chen and L. M. Song and T. P. Li and Y. P. Xu and X. L. Cao and Y. Chen and C. Z. Liu and C. Cai and Z. Chang and T. X. Chen and Y. P. Chen and W. W. Cui and Y. Y. Du and G. H. Gao and H. Gao and Y. D. Gu and J. Guan and C. C. Guo and D. W. Han and Y. Huang and J. Huo and S. M. Jia and W. C. Jiang and J. Jin and L. D. Kong and B. Li and C. K. Li and G. Li and W. Li and X. Li and X. F. Li and Z. W. Li and X. H. Liang and J. Y. Liao and B. S. Liu and H. X. Liu and H. W. Liu and X. J. Liu and X. F. Lu and Q. Luo and T. Luo and R. C. Ma and X. Ma and B. Meng and Y. Nang and J. Y. Nie and G. Ou and X. Q. Ren and N. Sai and X. Y. Song and L. Sun and Y. Tan and Y. L. Tuo and C. Wang and L. J. Wang and P. J. Wang and W. S. Wang and Y. S. Wang and X. Y. Wen and B. Y. Wu and B. B. Wu and M. Wu and G. C. Xiao and S. Xiao and S. L. Xiong and R. J. Yang and S. Yang and Yan-Ji Yang and Yi-Jung Yang and Q. B. Yi and Q. Q. Yin and Y. You and F. Zhang and H. M. Zhang and J. Zhang and P. Zhang and W. Zhang and W. C. Zhang and Yi Zhang and Y. F. Zhang and Y. H. Zhang and H. S. Zhao and X. F. Zhao and S. J. Zheng and Y. G. Zheng and D. K. Zhou},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.02556},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS