CONSTRAINTS ON THE NEUTRON STAR AND INNER ACCRETION FLOW IN SERPENS X-1 USING NuSTAR
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1046 (United States)
- Institute of Astronomy, The University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA (United Kingdom)
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- Universite de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Toulouse (France)
- Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
- Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
- Danish Technical University, Lyngby (Denmark)
- Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory and Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027 (United States)
- Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (INAF), Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma I-00133 (Italy)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
We report on an observation of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Serpens X-1, made with NuSTAR. The extraordinary sensitivity afforded by NuSTAR facilitated the detection of a clear, robust, relativistic Fe K emission line from the inner disk. A relativistic profile is required over a single Gaussian line from any charge state of Fe at the 5σ level of confidence, and any two Gaussians of equal width at the same confidence. The Compton back-scattering ''hump'' peaking in the 10-20 keV band is detected for the first time in a neutron star X-ray binary. Fits with relativistically blurred disk reflection models suggest that the disk likely extends close to the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) or stellar surface. The best-fit blurred reflection models constrain the gravitational redshift from the stellar surface to be z {sub NS} ≥ 0.16. The data are broadly compatible with the disk extending to the ISCO; in that case, z {sub NS} ≥ 0.22 and R {sub NS} ≤ 12.6 km (assuming M {sub NS} = 1.4 M {sub ☉} and a = 0, where a = cJ/GM {sup 2}). If the star is as large or larger than its ISCO, or if the effective reflecting disk leaks across the ISCO to the surface, the redshift constraints become measurements. We discuss our results in the context of efforts to measure fundamental properties of neutron stars, and models for accretion onto compact objects.
- OSTI ID:
- 22364102
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 779, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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