Spin and Spectral Variations of Peculiar High-Mass X-ray Binary 4U 2206+54

TL;DR

This study analyzes the long-term spin and spectral variations of the high-mass X-ray binary 4U 2206+54, revealing a very slow pulsar with a long-term spin-down trend and spectral changes indicative of a highly obscured system, possibly an accreting magnetar.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed long-term monitoring of 4U 2206+54's spin evolution and spectral behavior, suggesting it as a potential new class of accreting magnetars.

Findings

The neutron star's spin period varies from ~5558 s to 5588 s over 6 years.

The average spin-down rate is approximately 5×10^{-7} s s^{-1}.

Spectral properties show anti-correlation between luminosity and both hydrogen column density and photon index.

Abstract

Spin properties and spectral variations of high mass X-ray binary 4U 2206+54 are studied with long-term hard X-ray monitoring observations by INTEGRAL. A long-period X-ray pulsar of P_spin\sim 5558 s has been identified in 4U 2206+54. The spin evolution of the neutron star in 4U 2206+54 is detected with the INTEGRAL/IBIS data. From 2005 to 2011, the spin period of the neutron star in 4U 2206+54 varies from \sim 5558 s to 5588 s. The average spin-down rate in the last 20 years is derived as \sim 5\times 10^{-7} s s^{-1}. 4U 2206+54 is a variable source with luminosities of \sim 10^{35} - 10^{36} erg s^{-1} in the range of 3 -- 100 keV. Its spectrum can be described by an absorbed power-law model with exponential rolloff. The hydrogen column density and photon index show the anti-correlations with hard X-ray luminosity: low column density and small photon index at maximum of luminosity. This spectral variation pattern suggests that 4U 2206+54 would be a highly obscured binary system. Furthermore, the possible cyclotron line features are searched for in the spectra of different luminosities. The possible cyclotron absorption feature around 30 keV is not confirmed in our work. The physical origin and evolutional track of this very slow pulsation neutron star are still unclear. We suggest that 4U 2206+54 would be a young system with the long-term spin-down trend, would evolve to a longer spin period range and transit to the spin-up phase similar to 2S 0114+65. These very slow pulsation X-ray pulsars would belong to a new class of compact objects -- accreting magnetars.