Chandra-Hetgs Characterization of an Outflowing Wind in the Accreting Millisecond Pulsar Igr J17591−2342
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Draft version February 27, 2019 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX61 CHANDRA-HETGS CHARACTERIZATION OF AN OUTFLOWING WIND IN THE ACCRETING MILLISECOND PULSAR IGR J17591−2342 Michael A. Nowak,1 Adamantia Paizis,2 Gaurava Kumar Jaisawal,3 Jer´ ome^ Chenevez,3 Sylvain Chaty,4 Francis Fortin,4 Jer´ ome^ Rodriguez,4 andJ orn¨ Wilms5 1Physics Dept., CB 1105, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 2Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, INAF-IASF, Via Alfonso Corti 12, I-20133 Milano, Italy 3National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327-328, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark 4AIM, CEA, CNRS, Universit´eParis-Saclay, Universit´eParis-Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cit´e,F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France 5Dr. Karl Remeis-Observatory & ECAP, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Sternwartstr. 7, 96049 Bamberg, Germany (Received 2019 January; Accepted 2019 February) Submitted to ApJ ABSTRACT IGR J17591−2342 is an accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar discovered in 2018 August in scans of the Galactic bulge and center by the INTEGRAL X-ray and gamma-ray observatory. It exhibited an unusual outburst profile with multiple peaks in the X-ray, as observed by several X-ray satellites over three months. Here we present observations of this source performed in the X-ray/gamma-ray and near infrared domains, and focus on a simultaneous observation performed with the Chandra-High Energy Transmission Gratings Spectrometer (HETGS) and the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). HETGS provides high resolution spectra of the Si-edge region, which yield clues as to the source's distance and reveal evidence (at 99.999% significance) of an outflow with a velocity of 2 800 km s−1. We demonstrate good agreement between the NICER and HETGS continua, provided that one properly accounts for the differing manners in which these instruments view the dust scattering halo in the source's foreground. Unusually, we find a possible set of Ca lines in the HETGS spectra (with significances ranging from 97.0% to 99.7%). We hypothesize that IGR J17591−2342 is a neutron star low mass X-ray binary at a distance of the Galactic bulge or beyond that may have formed from the collapse of a white dwarf system in a rare, calcium rich Type Ib supernova explosion. Keywords: accretion, accretion disks stars: low-mass pulsars: general stars: neutron X-rays: binaries arXiv:1902.09577v1 [astro-ph.HE] 25 Feb 2019 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], jro- [email protected], [email protected] 2 Nowak et al. 1. INTRODUCTION Lewis 2018); however, radio observations showed a coun- Accreting msec X-ray pulsars (AMXPs) are a peculiar terpart with a flux of 1:09 ± 0:02 mJy at αJ2000:0 = 17 : 00 subclass of Neutron Star (NS) Low Mass X-ray Binaries 59 : 02:86, δJ2000:0 = −23 : 43 : 08:0 (0.6 uncertainty), 00 (LMXBs). In general, no X-ray pulsations are detected which is within 2.1 of the Swift position (Russell et al. in classical NS LMXBs: the magnetic field of the NS is 2018a). 9 Joint Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer believed to be too faint (∼<10 G) to channel the accret- ing matter | provided by the low mass companion star (NICER)/NuSTAR observations demonstrated that | and it ends up being buried in the accretion flow, pro- this radio and X-ray source was in fact an accret- ducing a `spot-less' accretion on the NS surface. In some ing millisecond X-ray pulsar with a spin frequency of cases, however, an X-ray pulsation is detected: it can 527 Hz and an 8.8 hr orbital period with a likely com- be hundreds of seconds (e.g., ∼120 s, spinning down to panion mass > 0:42 M (Ferrigno et al. 2018; Sanna ∼180 s over 40 years in the case of GX 1+4; see Jaisawal et al. 2018). The pulsar spin was detected in both et al. 2018) down to the millisecond domain, in the range instruments. The 3{30 keV NuSTAR absorbed flux −10 −2 −1 of 1.7{9.5 ms (e.g., Patruno & Watts 2012; Campana & was 4:2 × 10 erg cm s and the extrapolated 0.1{ −10 −2 −1 Di Salvo 2018), the so-called accreting msec X-ray pul- 10 keV NICER flux was 1:3 × 10 erg cm s . It sars. Currently 21 such systems are known (Campana was further noted that the radio flux reported by Rus- & Di Salvo 2018). The fast pulsations are believed to be sell et al.(2018a) was approximately three times larger the result of long-lasting mass transfer from an evolved than for other observed AMXP (cf. Tudor et al. 2017). companion via Roche lobe overflow, resulting in a spin Near-infrared (NIR) observations with the High Acu- up of the NS (the recycling scenario; Alpar et al. 1982). ity Wide-field K-Band Imager (HAWK-I) on the Very These sources are very important because they provide Large Telescope (VLT) further refined the position the evolutionary link between accreting LMXBs and the of IGR J17591−2342 to αJ2000:0 = 17 : 59 : 02:87, 00 rotation powered millisecond radio pulsars (MSP). In- δJ2000:0 = −23 : 43 : 08:2 (0.03 uncertainty; Shaw deed, such a link has been recently observed in a few et al. 2018). The source was found to be faint in the systems where a transition from the radio MSP phase NIR (H = 19:56 ± 0:07 mag and Ks = 18:37 ± 0:07 mag, (rotation powered) to the X-ray AMXP phase (accretion Shaw et al. 2018; see also x2.4 below). powered) has been detected (transitional MSP; Papitto Starting at 2018 August 23, UTC 17:53 (MJD 2016, and references therein). 58353.74), we used the Chandra X-ray observatory IGR J17591−2342 was discovered by INTEGRAL (Weisskopf et al. 2002) to perform a 20 ks long Target of during monitoring observations of the Galactic Cen- Opportunity observation of IGR J17591−2342 employ- tre (PI J. Wilms) and bulge (PI E. Kuulkers1). The ing the High Energy Transmission Gratings Spectrome- source was detected in a 20{40 keV IBIS/ISGRI (15 keV ter (HETGS; Canizares et al. 2005). As we previously { 1 MeV; Lebrun et al. 2003) mosaic image spanning have reported (Nowak et al. 2018, and see x2.1 below), 2018 August 10{11 (MJD 58340{58341) at a significance our best determined position for IGR J17591−2342 is of approximately 9 σ with a positional uncertainty of αJ2000:0 = 17 : 59 : 02:83, δJ2000:0 = −23 : 43 : 08:0 00 3 arcmin (Ducci et al. 2018). IGR J17591−2342 was lo- (0.6 accuracy, 90% confidence limit). This position is cated at the rim of the field of view of the co-aligned, consistent with the radio, NIR, and Swift determined smaller field of view instrument JEM-X (3{35 keV, Lund positions (see Figure3, x2.4 below). et al. 2003), and hence was not detected in this lower Bracketing the times of our Chandra observation, pro- energy bandpass field. prietary deep INTEGRAL Target of Opportunity obser- Subsequent observations with the Neil Gehrels Swift vations (August 17{19 and August 25{27, MJD 58347{ satellite refined the position to within a 3.600 uncer- 58349 and 58355{58357, PI Tsygankov; Kuiper et al. tainty (90% confidence level) and gave a preliminary 2018) significantly detected the source up to 150 keV. estimate of the source's absorbed 0.3{10 keV X-ray flux The source exhibited a powerlaw spectrum with Γ = of (2:6 ± 0:2) × 10−10 erg cm−2 s−1 (Bozzo et al. 2018). 1:92 ± 0:05 in the second observation period, and its The spectrum was consistent with a highly absorbed 1.9 ms pulsation was detected in the 20{150 keV band 22 −2 at 5.2 σ (Kuiper et al. 2018). powerlaw (NH = (4:2 ± 0:8) × 10 cm , Γ = 1:7 ± 0:3). Optical follow up observations did not definitively reveal An examination of archival Neil Gehrels Swift data any counterpart within the Swift error circle (Russell & showed that the initial brightening of IGR J17591−2342 occurred as early as 2018 July 22 (MJD 58321) and peaked on 2018 July 25, predating the INTEGRAL dis- 1 http://integral.esac.esa.int/BULGE/ covery (Krimm 2018). Further INTEGRAL observa- Chandra-HETGS Characterization of IGR J17591−2342 3 Here we describe observations of IGR J17591−2342 3×10−10 ) performed in several different energy bands with a vari- 2 − cm ety of instruments. Although the primary discovery was 1 Chandra − INTEGRAL obtained by INTEGRAL (x1), our main focus will be NIR Observation 2×10−10 observations obtained with Chandra (x2.1) and the Neu- tron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER; x2.2) observatories. After describing the observations per- 10−10 formed with Chandra and NICER, we briefly describe observations obtained with INTEGRAL (x2.3) and dis- 9 keV Absorbed flux (erg s − 1 cuss our follow up optical and IR observations (x2.4). 5.834×104 5.836×104 5.838×104 5.84×104 Time (MJD) 2.1. Chandra-HETGS Observations Figure 1. Lightcurve showing the absorbed 1{9 keV flux The HETGS consists of two sets of gratings, the High as determined by NICER observations (observation IDs Energy Gratings (HEG, with bandpass ≈ 0:7{9 keV and 1200310101{1200310137). Times of the INTEGRAL discov- spectral resolution E=∆E ≈ 1 300 at 1 keV) and the ery and our Chandra and NIR observations are also high- Medium Energy Gratings (MEG, with bandpass ≈ 0:5{ lighted.