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The clumpy absorber in the high-mass X-ray binary Vela X-1

Journal Article · · Astronomy and Astrophysics
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [7];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [6];  [8];  [9];  [8]
  1. ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk (Netherlands)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Catholic Univ. of Leuven (KU Leuven) (Belgium). Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics. Dept. of Mathematics
  4. Villanova Univ., PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  5. Univ. of Potsdam (Germany). Inst. of Physics and Astronomy
  6. Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics. Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology (CRESST); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  7. ESA European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Madrid (Spain). Science Operations Dept.
  8. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Astrophysics and Space Research
  9. Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Bamberg (Germany). Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte. Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP)
  10. CSIC Univ. of Cantabria, Santander (Spain). Inst. of Physics of Cantabria
  11. Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Bamberg (Germany). Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte. Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China). Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
+ Show Author Affiliations
Bright and eclipsing, the high-mass X-ray binary Vela X-1 offers a unique opportunity to study accretion onto a neutron star from clumpy winds of O/B stars and to disentangle the complex accretion geometry of these systems. In Chandra-HETGS spectroscopy at orbital phase ~0.25, when our line of sight towards the source does not pass through the large-scale accretion structure such as the accretion wake, we observe changes in overall spectral shape on timescales of a few kiloseconds. This spectral variability is, at least in part, caused by changes in overall absorption and we show that such strongly variable absorption cannot be caused by unperturbed clumpy winds of O/B stars. We detect line features from high and low ionization species of silicon, magnesium, and neon whose strengths and presence depend on the overall level of absorption. Finally, these features imply a co-existence of cool and hot gas phases in the system, which we interpret as a highly variable, structured accretion flow close to the compact object such as has been recently seen in simulations of wind accretion in high-mass X-ray binaries.
Research Organization:
Catholic Univ. of Leuven (KU Leuven) (Belgium); ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk (Netherlands); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Bamberg (Germany); Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Union (EU); German Research Foundation (DFG); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (United States); Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (Belgium); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1438665
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL--737837
Journal Information:
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Journal Name: Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 608; ISSN 0004-6361
Publisher:
EDP SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (8)

Advances in Understanding High-Mass X-ray Binaries with INTEGRAL and Future Directions text January 2020
Highly charged ions in a new era of high resolution X‐ray astrophysics journal April 2019
Clumpy wind accretion in Supergiant X-ray Binaries journal August 2018
Chandra reveals a possible ultrafast outflow in the super-Eddington Be/X-ray binary Swift J0243.6+6124 journal June 2019
New Constraints on the Geometry and Kinematics of Matter Surrounding the Accretion Flow in X-Ray Binaries from Chandra High-energy Transmission Grating X-Ray Spectroscopy journal March 2018
A Comprehensive Chandra Study of the Disk Wind in the Black Hole Candidate 4U 1630-472 journal November 2019
Chandra reveals a possible ultra-fast outflow in the super-Eddington Be/X-ray binary Swift J0243.6+6124 text January 2019
A Comprehensive Chandra Study of the Disk Wind in the Black Hole Candidate 4U 1630-472 text January 2019

Figures / Tables (22)

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Vela X-1
binary x-rays
massive stars
outflows
stars
winds
x-rays