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High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the stellar wind in Vela X-1 during a flare

Journal Article · · Astronomy and Astrophysics
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [8]
  1. Univ. College London (United Kingdom); ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk (Netherlands)
  2. Eberhard Karls Univ. Tuebingen (Germany)
  3. ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk (Netherlands)
  4. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  5. Univ. degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome (Italy)
  6. Univ. Erlangen-Nurnberg, Bamberg (Germany)
  7. European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Madrid (Spain)
  8. Univ. de Alicante (Spain)
  9. Univ. de Cantabria, Santander (Spain). Inst. de Fisica de Cantabria

In this work, we present a ~130 ks observation of the prototypical wind-accreting, high-mass X-ray binary Vela X-1 collected with XMM-Newton at orbital phases between 0.12 and 0.28. A strong flare took place during the observation that allows us to investigate the reaction of the clumpy stellar wind to the increased X-ray irradiation. To examine the wind’s reaction to the flare, we performed both time-averaged and time-resolved analyses of the RGS spectrum and examined potential spectral changes. We focused on the high-resolution XMM-Newton RGS spectra and divided the observation into pre-flare, flare, and post-flare phases. We modeled the time-averaged and time-resolved spectra with phenomenological components and with the self-consistent photoionization models calculated via CLOUDY and XSTAR in the pre-flare phase, where strong emission lines due to resonant transitions of highly ionized ions are seen. In the spectra, we find emission lines corresponding to K-shell transitions in highly charged ions of oxygen, neon, magnesium, and silicon as well as radiative recombination continua (RRC) of oxygen. Additionally, we observe potential absorption lines of magnesium at a lower ionization stage and features identified as iron L lines. The, CLOUDY and XSTAR photoionization models provide contradictory results, either pointing towards uncertainties in theory or possibly a more complex multi-phase plasma, or both. We are able to demonstrate the existence of a plethora of variable narrow features, including the firm detection of oxygen lines and RRC that RGS enables to observe in this source for the first time. We show that Vela X-1 is an ideal source for future high-resolution missions, such as XRISM and Athena.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); MCIU; FEDER; Italian Space Agency
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1756722
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL--805671; 1010838
Journal Information:
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Journal Name: Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 641; ISSN 0004-6361
Publisher:
EDP SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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