Spectral analysis of LMC X-2 with XMM/Newton: unveiling the emission process in the extragalactic Z-source

TL;DR

This study analyzes XMM/Newton data of LMC X-2, revealing spectral features and emission processes, and clarifies its position and spectral state, providing new insights into extragalactic Z-sources.

Contribution

First high-precision spectral analysis of LMC X-2 with XMM/Newton, identifying emission lines and proposing a physical emission model for the source.

Findings

Detection of O VIII Lyman alpha emission line.

Spectrum fitted with blackbody and disk blackbody components.

Source likely in the normal branch of its X-ray color-color diagram.

Abstract

We present the results of the analysis of an archival observation of LMC X-2 performed with XMM/Newton. The spectra taken by high-precision instruments have never been analyzed before. We find an X-ray position for the source that is inconsistent with the one obtained by ROSAT, but in agreement with the Einstein position and that of the optical counterpart. The correlated spectral and timing behaviour of the source suggests that the source is probably in the normal branch of its X-ray color-color diagram. The spectrum of the source can be fitted with a blackbody with a temperature 1.5 keV plus a disk blackbody at 0.8 keV. Photoelectric absorption from neutral matter has an equivalent hydrogen column of 4 x 10^{20} cm^{-2}. An emission line, which we identify as the O VIII Lyman alpha line, is detected, while no feature due to iron is detected in the spectrum. We argue that the emission of this source can be straightforwardly interpreted as a sum of the emission from a boundary layer between the NS and the disc and a blackbody component coming from the disc itself. Other canonical models that are used to fit Z-sources do not give a satisfactory fit to the data. The detection of the O VIII emission line (and the lack of detection of lines in the iron region) can be due to the fact that the source lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud.