Rapid quasi-periodic reconfiguration of the accretion column in pulsar 1A 0535+262
Fuente:
arXiv
Enregistré dans:
| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
|
| Sujets: | |
| Accès en ligne: | |
| Tags: |
Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
|
| _version_ | 1866911739260436480 |
|---|---|
| author | Kong, Lingda Dai, Xiaohang Santangelo, Andrea Ji, Long Suleimanov, Valery F. Mushtukov, Alexander A. Ducci, Lorenzo Zhang, Shu Shui, Qingcang Zhang, Shuang-Nan Feng, Hua Tsygankov, Sergey S. Liu, Honghui Wang, Pengju Liu, Qi |
| author_facet | Kong, Lingda Dai, Xiaohang Santangelo, Andrea Ji, Long Suleimanov, Valery F. Mushtukov, Alexander A. Ducci, Lorenzo Zhang, Shu Shui, Qingcang Zhang, Shuang-Nan Feng, Hua Tsygankov, Sergey S. Liu, Honghui Wang, Pengju Liu, Qi |
| contents | Accretion onto strongly magnetized neutron stars is commonly interpreted using quasi-steady models, in which the accretion-column structure adjusts smoothly to the mass inflow rate. The cyclotron line in the X-ray spectrum, whose centroid energy traces the magnetic field strength and thus the height of the line-forming region, provides a key diagnostic of this structure. Whether this simple quasi-steady description remains valid on short dynamical timescales has remained uncertain. Here we show that, during a giant outburst of the X-ray pulsar 1A~0535+262, quasi-periodic hard X-ray flux variations are accompanied by synchronized oscillations of the cyclotron line energy, with amplitudes exceeding those expected from simple accretion-rate fluctuations. The anti-correlation between cyclotron energy and apparent flux provides direct spectral-timing evidence for rapid changes in the line-forming region, which we interpret as geometric reconfiguration of the accretion column. The variability emerges in the luminosity regime where radiation pressure becomes dynamically important. These results reveal limitations of a simple quasi-steady interpretation for this source and suggest that radiation-supported columns can enter intrinsically dynamical states in high-luminosity accreting pulsars. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2606_01625 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Rapid quasi-periodic reconfiguration of the accretion column in pulsar 1A 0535+262 Kong, Lingda Dai, Xiaohang Santangelo, Andrea Ji, Long Suleimanov, Valery F. Mushtukov, Alexander A. Ducci, Lorenzo Zhang, Shu Shui, Qingcang Zhang, Shuang-Nan Feng, Hua Tsygankov, Sergey S. Liu, Honghui Wang, Pengju Liu, Qi High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Accretion onto strongly magnetized neutron stars is commonly interpreted using quasi-steady models, in which the accretion-column structure adjusts smoothly to the mass inflow rate. The cyclotron line in the X-ray spectrum, whose centroid energy traces the magnetic field strength and thus the height of the line-forming region, provides a key diagnostic of this structure. Whether this simple quasi-steady description remains valid on short dynamical timescales has remained uncertain. Here we show that, during a giant outburst of the X-ray pulsar 1A~0535+262, quasi-periodic hard X-ray flux variations are accompanied by synchronized oscillations of the cyclotron line energy, with amplitudes exceeding those expected from simple accretion-rate fluctuations. The anti-correlation between cyclotron energy and apparent flux provides direct spectral-timing evidence for rapid changes in the line-forming region, which we interpret as geometric reconfiguration of the accretion column. The variability emerges in the luminosity regime where radiation pressure becomes dynamically important. These results reveal limitations of a simple quasi-steady interpretation for this source and suggest that radiation-supported columns can enter intrinsically dynamical states in high-luminosity accreting pulsars. |
| title | Rapid quasi-periodic reconfiguration of the accretion column in pulsar 1A 0535+262 |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.01625 |