Study of the accreting pulsar 4U 0115+634 with a bulk and thermal Comptonization model

TL;DR

This study models the X-ray spectral emission of pulsar 4U 0115+634 using physical thermal and bulk Comptonization models, revealing the emission's origin and magnetic field interactions during a giant outburst.

Contribution

It introduces a physically motivated two-component Comptonization model to analyze the spectral energy distribution of a high-mass X-ray binary pulsar.

Findings

Cyclotron emission originates ~1.7 km above the stellar surface.

Spectrum dominated by reprocessed cyclotron radiation.

Emission features linked to magnetic field interactions.

Abstract

Highly magnetized pulsars accreting matter in a binary system are bright sources in the X-ray band (0.1-100 keV). Despite the early comprehension of the basic emission mechanism, their spectral energy distribution is generally described by phenomenological or simplified models. We propose a study of the spectral emission from the high mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U 0115+634 by means of thermal and bulk Comptonization models based on the physical properties of such objects. For this purpose, we analyze the BeppoSAX data in the energy range 0.7-100 keV of the 1999 giant outburst, 12 days after the maximum. We model the spectral energy distribution of the system using a two-component continuum. At higher energy, above ~7 keV, the emission is due to thermal and bulk Comptonization of the seed photons produced by cyclotron cooling of the accretion column, and at lower energy, the emission is due to thermal Comptonization of a blackbody source in a diffuse halo close to the stellar surface. From the best fit parameters, we argue that the cyclotron emission is produced ~1.7 km above the stellar surface, and escapes from the column near its base, where the absorption features are generated by the interaction with the magnetic field in a surrounding halo. We find that in 4U 0115+634, the observed spectrum is dominated by reprocessed cyclotron radiation, whereas in other bright sources with stronger magnetic fields such as Her X-1, the spectrum is dominated by reprocessed bremsstrahlung.