X-ray Spectroscopy of Her X-1 and the Detection of CNO-processed Material

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

X-ray line emission from photon-ionized gas is detected in Her X-1 with the XMM-Newton RGS. The N/O abundance ratio is 7 to 10 times the solar value, while C/O is 0.6 times solar, a result of extensive CNO processing in HZ Her, which constrains the age and evolution of this binary system. A new abundance determination technique is used to account for atomic, geometric and plasma equilibrium effects. The variation of the X-ray spectrum with 35 day phase provides further evidence for disk precession. In the low and short-on states, there is narrow line emission resembling that of an accretion disk corona source, from radii 10^11 cm. We measure the temperature of this narrow line region, and we set limits on its density, size, and geometry. In the main-on state, O VII and N VII lines have a 3200+-700 km/s broadening, which if due to orbital motion, yields radii 5 x 10^8 cm. This is near the expected transition region between the disk and the pulsar magnetosphere, based on cyclotron line measurements.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

X-ray Spectroscopy of Her X-1 and the Detection of CNO-processed Material does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with X-ray Spectroscopy of Her X-1 and the Detection of CNO-processed Material, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and X-ray Spectroscopy of Her X-1 and the Detection of CNO-processed Material will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1538630

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.