THE HARD X-RAY BEHAVIOR OF AQL X-1 DURING TYPE-I BURSTS

Journal Article · Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/777/1/L9· OSTI ID:22215394

Chen, Yu-Peng; Zhang, Shu; Zhang, Shuang-Nan; Ji, Long; Li, Jian; Wang, Jian-Min ^[1]; Torres, Diego F. ^[2]; Kretschmar, Peter ^[3]

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1. Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19B Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049 (China)
2. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), E-08010 Barcelona (Spain)
3. European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA/ESAC), Science Operations Department, Villanueva de la Canñada (Madrid) (Spain)

We report the discovery of an anti-correlation between the soft and hard X-ray light curves of the X-ray binary Aql X-1 when bursting. This behavior may indicate that the corona is cooled by the soft X-ray shower fed by the type-I X-ray bursts, and that this process happens within a few seconds. Stacking the Aql X-1 light curves of type-I bursts, we find a shortage in the 40-50 keV band, delayed by 4.5 ± 1.4 s with respect to the soft X-rays. The photospheric radius expansion bursts are different in that neither a shortage nor an excess shows up in the hard X-ray light curve.

• OSTI ID: 22215394
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 777, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COSMIC X-RAY BURSTS
DIAGRAMS
HARD X RADIATION
NEUTRONS
SHOWERS
SOFT X RADIATION
STARS
VISIBLE RADIATION