Spectral and timing properties of the accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar IGR J17511-3057

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the spectral and timing properties of the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17511-3057 during its outburst, revealing stable spectral features, pulsation behavior up to 120 keV, and insights into burst composition and accretion dynamics.

Contribution

It provides detailed spectral and timing analysis of IGR J17511-3057, including spectral stability, pulsation characteristics, and burst composition, advancing understanding of accreting millisecond pulsars.

Findings

Spectral stability with plasma temperature ~25 keV during outburst

Pulsation period of 4.08 ms detected up to 120 keV

Burst profiles suggest hydrogen-poor material or high metallicity

Abstract

IGR J17511-3057 is the second X-ray transient accreting millisecond pulsar discovered by INTEGRAL. It was in outburst for about a month from September 13, 2009. The broad-band average spectrum is well described by thermal Comptonization with an electron temperature of kT_e ~ 25 keV, soft seed photons of kT_bb ~ 0.6 keV, and Thomson optical depth \tau_T ~ 2 in a slab geometry. During the outburst the spectrum stays remarkably stable with plasma and soft seed photon temperatures and scattering optical depth being constant within errors. We fitted the outburst profile with the exponential model, and using the disk instability model we inferred the outer disk radius to be (4.8 - 5.4) \times 1010 cm. The INTEGRAL and RXTE data reveal the X-ray pulsation at a period of 4.08 milliseconds up to ~ 120 keV. The pulsed fraction is shown to decrease from ~22% at 3 keV to a constant pulsed fraction of ~17-18% between 7-30 keV, and then to decrease again down to ~13% at 60 keV. The nearly sinusoidal pulses show soft lags monotonically increasing with energy to about 0.2 ms at 10-20 keV similar to those observed in other accreting pulsars. The short burst profiles indicate hydrogen-poor material at ignition, which suggests either that the accreted material is hydrogen-deficient, or that the CNO metallicity is up to a factor of 2 times solar. However, the variation of burst recurrence time as a function of m (inferred from the X-ray flux) is much smaller than predicted by helium-ignition models.