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Main Authors: Peng, Zhijiao, Li, Zhaosheng, Pan, Yuanyue, Fu, Tao, Yu, Wenhui, Chen, Yupeng, Zhang, Shu, Falanga, Maurizio, Zhang, Shuang-Nan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.05785
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author Peng, Zhijiao
Li, Zhaosheng
Pan, Yuanyue
Fu, Tao
Yu, Wenhui
Chen, Yupeng
Zhang, Shu
Falanga, Maurizio
Zhang, Shuang-Nan
author_facet Peng, Zhijiao
Li, Zhaosheng
Pan, Yuanyue
Fu, Tao
Yu, Wenhui
Chen, Yupeng
Zhang, Shu
Falanga, Maurizio
Zhang, Shuang-Nan
contents We report the superburst from 4U 1820--30 in 2021 observed by the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image and Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). During the tail of the superburst, we found that the NICER light curve unexpectedly increased from 1080 to 2204 ${\rm counts~s^{-1}}$ over 6.89 hr. From the time-resolved superburst spectra, we estimated the burst decay time of $\approx2.5$ hr, the ignition column depth of $\approx0.3\times 10^{12}~{\rm g ~cm^{-2}}$, the energy release per unit mass of $\approx2.4\times 10^{17}~{\rm erg~g^{-1}}$, the fluence of $\approx4.1\times 10^{-4}~{\rm erg~cm^{-2}}$, and the total energy release of $\approx3.5\times10^{42}$ erg. Notably, we found a gradual increase in the Componization flux from $8.9\times 10^{-10}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}~cm^{-2}}$ to the preburst level during the superburst. This increase can be interpreted as a consequence of superburst radiation depleting the inner accretion disk, leading to a near-complete quenching of the persistent emission. As the burst radiation decayed, the inner accretion disk gradually returned to its preburst state, as evidenced by the best-fit spectral parameters. Additionally, we observed a prominent absorption line that exhibited a gravitational redshift, shifting from 4.15 to 3.62 keV during the recovery phase of persistent emission. This absorption feature likely originates from the inner accretion disk rather than from burst emission on the neutron star (NS) surface. The observed changes in the absorption line energy suggest that the inner disk approached the NS to a distance as close as $\approx17$ km.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_05785
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quenching and recovery of persistent X-ray emission during a superburst in 4U 1820$-$30
Peng, Zhijiao
Li, Zhaosheng
Pan, Yuanyue
Fu, Tao
Yu, Wenhui
Chen, Yupeng
Zhang, Shu
Falanga, Maurizio
Zhang, Shuang-Nan
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We report the superburst from 4U 1820--30 in 2021 observed by the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image and Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). During the tail of the superburst, we found that the NICER light curve unexpectedly increased from 1080 to 2204 ${\rm counts~s^{-1}}$ over 6.89 hr. From the time-resolved superburst spectra, we estimated the burst decay time of $\approx2.5$ hr, the ignition column depth of $\approx0.3\times 10^{12}~{\rm g ~cm^{-2}}$, the energy release per unit mass of $\approx2.4\times 10^{17}~{\rm erg~g^{-1}}$, the fluence of $\approx4.1\times 10^{-4}~{\rm erg~cm^{-2}}$, and the total energy release of $\approx3.5\times10^{42}$ erg. Notably, we found a gradual increase in the Componization flux from $8.9\times 10^{-10}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}~cm^{-2}}$ to the preburst level during the superburst. This increase can be interpreted as a consequence of superburst radiation depleting the inner accretion disk, leading to a near-complete quenching of the persistent emission. As the burst radiation decayed, the inner accretion disk gradually returned to its preburst state, as evidenced by the best-fit spectral parameters. Additionally, we observed a prominent absorption line that exhibited a gravitational redshift, shifting from 4.15 to 3.62 keV during the recovery phase of persistent emission. This absorption feature likely originates from the inner accretion disk rather than from burst emission on the neutron star (NS) surface. The observed changes in the absorption line energy suggest that the inner disk approached the NS to a distance as close as $\approx17$ km.
title Quenching and recovery of persistent X-ray emission during a superburst in 4U 1820$-$30
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.05785