Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006apj...648.1139m&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 648, Issue 2, pp. 1139-1155.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
17
Atomic Processes, Stars: Individual (1E1207.4-5209), Stars: Magnetic Fields, Stars: Neutron
Scientific paper
We present a comprehensive investigation of the two broad absorption features observed in the X-ray spectrum of the neutron star 1E1207.4-5209 based on a recent analysis of the 260 ks XMM-Newton data by Mori et al. Expanding on earlier work by Hailey & Mori, we have examined all previously proposed atmospheric models for 1E1207.4-5209. Using our atomic code, which rapidly solves Schrödinger's equation for arbitrary ions in strong magnetic field, we have systematically constructed atmospheric models by calculating polarization-dependent LTE opacities and addressed all the physics relevant to strongly magnetized plasmas. We have been able to rule out virtually all atmospheric models because they either do not sustain an ionization balance consistent with the claimed atmosphere composition or because they predict line strengths and line widths that are inconsistent with the data. Only oxygen or neon atmospheres at B~1012 G provide self-consistent atmospheric solutions of the appropriate ionization balance that also have line widths, strengths, and energies consistent with the observations. The observed features are likely composed of several bound-bound transition lines from highly ionized oxygen/neon, and they are broadened primarily by motional Stark effects and magnetic field variation over the line-emitting region. Further considerations of plausible mechanisms for the formation of a mid-Z atmosphere likely rule out neon atmospheres and have important implications for the fallback mechanism in supernova ejecta. Future high-resolution spectroscopy missions such as Constellation-X will be able to resolve predicted substructure in the absorption features and will measure magnetic field strength and gravitational redshift independently to better than 10% accuracy.
Hailey Charles J.
Mori Kaya
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