The Chandra Dust-scattering Halo of Galactic Center Transient Swift J174540.7–290015
Abstract
We report the detection of a dust-scattering halo around a recently discovered X-ray transient, Swift J174540.7–290015, which in early 2016 February underwent one of the brightest outbursts ( F {sub X} ≈ 5 × 10{sup −10} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}) observed from a compact object in the Galactic Center field. We analyze four Chandra images that were taken as follow-up observations to Swift discoveries of new Galactic Center transients. After adjusting our spectral extraction for the effects of detector pile-up, we construct a point-spread function for each observation and compare it to the GC field before the outburst. We find residual surface brightness around Swift J174540.7–290015, which has a shape and temporal evolution consistent with the behavior expected from X-rays scattered by foreground dust. We examine the spectral properties of the source, which shows evidence that the object transitioned from a soft to hard spectral state as it faded below L {sub X} ∼ 10{sup 36} erg s{sup −1}. This behavior is consistent with the hypothesis that the object is a low-mass X-ray binary in the Galactic Center.
- Authors:
-
- Einstein Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, WI, 53706 (United States)
- McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 2A7 (Canada)
- MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139 (United States)
- Huntingdon Institute for X-ray Astronomy, 10677 Franks Road Huntingdon, PA, 16652 (United States)
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA (United Kingdom)
- University of Michigan, 1085 S. University, 311 West Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
- Publication Date:
- OSTI Identifier:
- 22663700
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- Astrophysical Journal
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 839; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; BRIGHTNESS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; COSMIC X-RAY BURSTS; DETECTION; DUSTS; EVOLUTION; EXTRACTION; GALAXIES; HYPOTHESIS; MASS; SCATTERING; SURFACES; X RADIATION
Citation Formats
Corrales, L. R., Mon, B., Haggard, D., Baganoff, F. K., Garmire, G., Degenaar, N., and Reynolds, M. The Chandra Dust-scattering Halo of Galactic Center Transient Swift J174540.7–290015. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/AA68DD.
Corrales, L. R., Mon, B., Haggard, D., Baganoff, F. K., Garmire, G., Degenaar, N., & Reynolds, M. The Chandra Dust-scattering Halo of Galactic Center Transient Swift J174540.7–290015. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/AA68DD
Corrales, L. R., Mon, B., Haggard, D., Baganoff, F. K., Garmire, G., Degenaar, N., and Reynolds, M. 2017.
"The Chandra Dust-scattering Halo of Galactic Center Transient Swift J174540.7–290015". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/AA68DD.
@article{osti_22663700,
title = {The Chandra Dust-scattering Halo of Galactic Center Transient Swift J174540.7–290015},
author = {Corrales, L. R. and Mon, B. and Haggard, D. and Baganoff, F. K. and Garmire, G. and Degenaar, N. and Reynolds, M.},
abstractNote = {We report the detection of a dust-scattering halo around a recently discovered X-ray transient, Swift J174540.7–290015, which in early 2016 February underwent one of the brightest outbursts ( F {sub X} ≈ 5 × 10{sup −10} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}) observed from a compact object in the Galactic Center field. We analyze four Chandra images that were taken as follow-up observations to Swift discoveries of new Galactic Center transients. After adjusting our spectral extraction for the effects of detector pile-up, we construct a point-spread function for each observation and compare it to the GC field before the outburst. We find residual surface brightness around Swift J174540.7–290015, which has a shape and temporal evolution consistent with the behavior expected from X-rays scattered by foreground dust. We examine the spectral properties of the source, which shows evidence that the object transitioned from a soft to hard spectral state as it faded below L {sub X} ∼ 10{sup 36} erg s{sup −1}. This behavior is consistent with the hypothesis that the object is a low-mass X-ray binary in the Galactic Center.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/AA68DD},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22663700},
journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 2,
volume = 839,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Apr 20 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Thu Apr 20 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}