Chandra-HETGS Characterization of an Outflowing Wind in the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar IGR J17591-2342

Nowak MA, Paizis A, Jaisawal GK, Chenevez J, Chaty S, Fortin F, Rodriguez J, Wilms J (2019)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

Book Volume: 874

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab0a71

Abstract

An accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar, IGR J17591-2342 was discovered in 2018 August in scans of the Galactic bulge and center by the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory X-ray and gamma-ray observatory. It exhibited an unusual outburst profile with multiple peaks in the X-ray, as observed by several X-ray satellites over 3 months. Here we present observations of this source performed in the X-ray / gamma-ray and near-infrared domains and focus on a simultaneous observation performed with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Gratings Spectrometer (HETGS) and the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). The HETGS provides high-resolution spectra of the Si edge region that yield clues as to the source's distance and reveal evidence (at 99.999% significance) of an outflow with a velocity of 2800 km s(-1). We demonstrate good agreement between the NICER and HETGS continua, provided that one properly accounts for the differing manners in which these instruments view the dust-scattering halo in the source's foreground. Unusually, we find a possible set of Ca lines in the HETGS spectra (with significances ranging from 97.0% to 99.7%). We hypothesize that IGR. J17591-2342 is a neutron star low-mass X-ray binary at the distance of the Galactic bulge or beyond that may have formed from the collapse of a white dwarf system in a rare, calcium-rich Type Ib supernova explosion.

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APA:

Nowak, M.A., Paizis, A., Jaisawal, G.K., Chenevez, J., Chaty, S., Fortin, F.,... Wilms, J. (2019). Chandra-HETGS Characterization of an Outflowing Wind in the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar IGR J17591-2342. Astrophysical Journal, 874(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab0a71

MLA:

Nowak, Michael A., et al. "Chandra-HETGS Characterization of an Outflowing Wind in the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar IGR J17591-2342." Astrophysical Journal 874.1 (2019).

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