A study of the long term evolution of quasi periodic oscillations in the accretion powered X-ray pulsar 4U 1626-67

TL;DR

This paper investigates the long-term evolution of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the unique accreting X-ray pulsar 4U 1626-67, revealing a change from increasing to decreasing QPO frequency over 22 years and linking it to accretion disk dynamics.

Contribution

It provides the first long-term QPO history for an accreting X-ray pulsar, connecting QPO evolution with accretion disk changes and torque reversal events.

Findings

QPO frequency decreased during the spin-down era.

QPO frequency increased during the earlier spin-up era.

Simple Keplerian and Beat Frequency Models cannot fully explain the QPO evolution.

Abstract

We report here a study of the long term properties of Quasi Periodic Oscillations (QPO) in an unusual accreting X-ray pulsar, 4U 1626--67. This is a unique accretion powered X-ray pulsar in which we have found the QPOs to be present during all sufficiently long X-ray observations with a wide range of X-ray observatories. In the present spin-down era of this source, the QPO central frequency is found to be decreasing. In the earlier spin-up era of this source, there are only two reports of QPO detections, in 1983 with EXOSAT and 1988 with GINGA with an increasing trend. The QPO frequency evolution in 4U 1626--67 during the last 22 years changed from a positive to a negative trend, somewhat coincident with the torque reversal in this source. In the accretion powered X-ray pulsars, the QPO frequency is directly related to the inner radius of the accretion disk, as per Keplerian Frequency Model (KFM) and Beat Frequency Model (BFM). A gradual depletion of accretion disk is reported earlier from the X-ray spectral, flux and pulse profile measurements. The present QPO frequency evolution study shows that X-ray flux and mass accretion rate may not change by the same factor, hence the simple KFM and BFM are not able to explain the QPO evolution in this source. This is the only X-ray pulsar to show persistent QPOs and is also the first accreting X-ray pulsar in which the QPO history is reported for a long time scale relating it with the long term evolution of the accretion disk.