MAPPING THE SURFACE OF THE MAGNETAR 1E 1048.1–5937 IN OUTBURST AND QUIESCENCE THROUGH PHASE-RESOLVED X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY
- Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Science Faculty, Istanbul University, Beyazıt 34119, Istanbul (Turkey)
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabancı University, Orhanlı Tuzla 34956, Istanbul (Turkey)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
We model the pulse profiles and the phase-resolved spectra of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 1048.1–5937 obtained with XMM-Newton to map its surface temperature distribution during an active and a quiescent epoch. We develop and apply a model that takes into account the relevant physical and geometrical effects on the neutron star surface, magnetosphere, and spacetime. Using this model, we determine the observables at infinity as a function of pulse phase for different numbers and sizes of hot spots on the surface. We show that the pulse profiles extracted from both observations can be modeled with a single hot spot and an antipodal cool component. The size of the hot spot changes from ≈80° in 2007, three months after the onset of a dramatic flux increase, to ≈30° during the quiescent observation in 2011, when the pulsed fraction returned to the pre-outburst ≈65% level. For the 2007 observation, we also find that a model consisting of a single 0.4 keV hot spot with a magnetic field strength of 1.8 × 10{sup 14} G accounts for the spectra obtained at three different pulse phases but underpredicts the flux at the pulse minimum, where the contribution to the emission from the cooler component is non-negligible. The inferred temperature of the spot stays approximately constant between different pulse phases, in agreement with a uniform temperature, single hot spot model. These results suggest that the emitting area grows significantly during outbursts but returns to its persistent and significantly smaller size within a timescale of a few years.
- OSTI ID:
- 22522035
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 801, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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