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Title: 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:
 [1]; ;  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Einstein Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, WI, 53706 (United States)
  2. McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 2A7 (Canada)
  3. MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139 (United States)
  4. Huntingdon Institute for X-ray Astronomy, 10677 Franks Road Huntingdon, PA, 16652 (United States)
  5. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA (United Kingdom)
  6. 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}
}