Magnetic field strength of a neutron-star-powered ultraluminous X-ray source

被引：111

作者：

Brightman, M. ^{[1
]}

Harrison, F. A. ^{[1
]}

Furst, F. ^{[2
]}

Middleton, M. J. ^{[3
]}

Walton, D. J. ^{[4
]}

Stern, D. ^{[5
]}

Fabian, A. C. ^{[4
]}

Heida, M. ^{[1
]}

Barret, D. ^{[6
,7
]}

Bachetti, M. ^{[8
]}

机构：

[1] CALTECH, Cahill Ctr Astrophys, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA

[2] European Space Astron Ctr, Sci Operat Dept, Madrid, Spain

[3] Univ Southampton, Dept Phys & Astron, Southampton, Hants, England

[4] Univ Cambridge, Inst Astron, Cambridge, England

[5] CALTECH, Jet Prop Lab, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA

[6] CNRS, Ctr Etud Spatiale Rayonnement, Toulouse, France

[7] Univ Toulouse 3, Paul Sabatier Observ Midipyrenees, Ctr Etud Spatiale Rayonnements, Toulouse, France

[8] Ist Nazl Astrofis, Osservatorio Astron Cagliari, Selargius, Italy

来源：

NATURE ASTRONOMY | 2018年 / 2卷 / 04期

基金：

美国国家航空航天局; 英国科学技术设施理事会;

关键词：

CYCLOTRON LINE; PULSAR; DISCOVERY; FEATURES; SPECTRA;

D O I：

10.1038/s41550-018-0391-6

中图分类号：

P1 [天文学];

学科分类号：

0704 ;

摘要：

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are bright X-ray sources in nearby galaxies not associated with the central supermassive black hole. Their luminosities imply they are powered by either an extreme accretion rate onto a compact stellar remnant, or an intermediate mass (similar to 100-10(5) M-circle dot) black hole(1). Recently detected coherent pulsations coming from three bright ULXs(2-5) demonstrate that some of these sources are powered by accretion onto a neutron star, implying accretion rates significantly in excess of the Eddington limit, a high degree of geometric beaming, or both. The physical challenges associated with the high implied accretion rates can be mitigated if the neutron star surface field is very high (10(14)G)(6), since this suppresses the electron scattering cross-section, reducing the radiation pressure that chokes off accretion for high luminosities. Surface magnetic field strengths can be determined through cyclotron resonance scattering features(7,8) produced by the transition of charged particles between quantized Landau levels. Here, we present the detection at a significance of 3.8 sigma of an absorption line at 4.5 keV in the Chandra spectrum of a ULX in M51. This feature is likely to be a cyclotron resonance scattering feature produced by the strong magnetic field of a neutron star. Assuming scattering off electrons, the magnetic field strength is implied to be similar to 10(11) G, while protons would imply a magnetic field of B similar to 10(15) G.

引用

页码：312 / 316

页数：5

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