A bright thermonuclear X-ray burst simultaneously observed with Chandra and RXTE
J. J. M. in t Zand (SRON), D. K. Galloway (Monash Univ.), H. L., Marshall (MIT), D. R. Ballantyne (Georgia Tech), P. G. Jonker (SRON, Radboud, Univ., CfA), F. B. S. Paerels (Columbia Univ.), D. M. Palmer (LANL), A., Patruno (UvA), and N. N. Weinberg (MIT)

TL;DR
This study reports the observation of the brightest thermonuclear X-ray burst from SAX J1808.4-3658 using Chandra and RXTE, revealing spectral excesses and suggesting scattering in the accretion disk corona.
Contribution
First simultaneous high-resolution broad-band observations of a thermonuclear X-ray burst from a millisecond pulsar, highlighting spectral features and disk interactions.
Findings
Detected the brightest X-ray burst from the source to date.
Observed spectral excesses at high and low energies during the burst.
Suggested scattering in the accretion disk corona as a possible explanation.
Abstract
The prototypical accretion-powered millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658 was observed simultaneously with Chandra-LETGS and RXTE-PCA near the peak of a transient outburst in November 2011. A single thermonuclear (type-I) burst was detected, the brightest yet observed by Chandra from any source, and the second-brightest observed by RXTE. We found no evidence for discrete spectral features during the burst; absorption edges have been predicted to be present in such bursts, but may require a greater degree of photospheric expansion than the rather moderate expansion seen in this event (a factor of a few). These observations provide a unique data set to study an X-ray burst over a broad bandpass and at high spectral resolution (lambda/delta-lambda=200-400). We find a significant excess of photons at high and low energies compared to the standard black body spectrum. This excess is well…
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