Iron line emission from X-ray pulsars: physical conditions and geometry of the system

TL;DR

This study investigates the properties and variability of iron line emission in X-ray pulsars with Be companions to understand the physical conditions and geometry of matter around the neutron star during outbursts.

Contribution

It introduces a method to use iron line emission characteristics to probe the spatial distribution and physical state of matter in X-ray pulsar systems.

Findings

Iron line equivalent width varies on multiple time scales.

Correlation found between iron line features and continuum flux.

Analysis of V 0332+53 during a major outburst.

Abstract

We present here the preliminary results of the study of the fluorescent iron line emission from X-ray pulsars with Be companions. We propose to use properties of this emission to investigate the spatial distribution and physical conditions of the matter around the compact object as well as in the binary system as a whole. Using data of the RXTE observatory the iron line behavior in the transient X-ray pulsar V 0332+53 spectrum was studied during the powerful type II outburst in 2004-2005. Particularly, we investigated a variability of the iron line equivalent width on different time scales (pulse period, orbital period, outburst phase) and searched for its correlation with the continuum flux, spectral parameters, etc.