Optical spectroscopy and Doppler tomography of Cygnus X-2

TL;DR

This study uses optical spectroscopy and Doppler tomography to analyze Cygnus X-2, deriving a revised mass function and revealing emission origins, with implications for interpreting similar systems.

Contribution

It provides the first Doppler tomography showing the Bowen blend dominated by the gas stream impact region, and offers revised mass estimates for Cygnus X-2.

Findings

Derived a lower mass function of 0.51 Msun, about 30% less than previous estimates.

Identified the origin of He II emission on the irradiated face of the donor star.

First to show Bowen blend emission dominated by the gas stream impact region.

Abstract

We present phase resolved optical spectroscopy and Doppler tomography of V1341 Cygni, the optical counterpart to the neutron star low mass X-ray binary Cygnus X-2. We derive a radial velocity curve for the secondary star, finding a projected radial velocity semi-amplitude of K2 = 79 +/- 3 km/s, leading to a mass function of 0.51 +/- 0.06 Msun, ~30% lower than the previous estimate. We tentatively attribute the lower value of K2 (compared to that obtained by other authors) to variations in the X-ray irradiation of the secondary star at different epochs of observations. The limited phase coverage and/or longer timebase of previous observations may also contribute to the difference in K2. Our value for the mass function implies a primary mass of 1.5 +/- 0.3 Msun, somewhat lower than previous dynamical estimates, but consistent with the value found by analysis of type-I X-ray bursts from this system. Our Doppler tomography of the broad He II 4686 line reveals that most of the emission from this line is produced on the irradiated face of the donor star, with little emission from the accretion disc. In contrast, the Doppler tomogram of the N III 4640.64 Bowen blend line shows bright emission from near the gas stream/accretion disc impact region, with fainter emission from the gas stream and secondary star. This is the first LMXB for which the Bowen blend is dominated by emission from the gas stream/accretion disc impact region, without comparable emission from the secondary star. This has implications for the interpretation of Bowen blend Doppler tomograms of other LMXBs for which the ephemeris may not be accurately known.