Physical conditions in a gas corona around the outer rim of the Hercules X-1 accretion disk

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Accretion Disks, Pulsars, Stellar Coronas, X Ray Binaries, Emission Spectra, Ionized Gases, Radiation Absorption, Stellar Radiation, Thermodynamic Equilibrium, Thomson Scattering

Scientific paper

Recent discovery of X-ray scintillations from Her X-1 during X-ray dips and analysis of the 'clock mechanism' of their appearance suggests the existence of a hot (about 25,000,000 K) corona with a density of n(e) = (5-7) X 10 to the 11th per cu cm around the outer parts of the accretion disk (at a distance of about 2 X 10 to the 11th cm from the neutron star). The corona reaches a height of 10 to the 11th cm above the plane of the disk. A corona with these parameters is shown to be in thermal and ionization equilibrium in the X-ray emission field of the neutron star. Elements up to and including argon are mainly in a state of bare nuclei and those up to Fe and Ni are in the form of hydrogen- and helium-like ions. The corona is transparent to X-rays both with respect to Thomson scattering and photoelectic absorption. The corona manifests itself during 'off' states of X-ray flux: scattering the neutron star radiation yields the observed level of X-ray flux of Her X-1, provides a smooth ingress and egress during X-ray eclipses, is seen by its soft X-ray emission, produces part of the flux in the 7-keV iron line, and obscures the pulses of the X-ray pulsar.

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