An Ultra-Fast X-ray Disk Wind in the Neutron Star Binary GX 340+0

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a fast, ionized disk wind in the neutron star binary GX 340+0, characterized by high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy revealing a significant absorption feature and modeling indicating a high-velocity outflow.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectral analysis of a fast disk wind in a neutron star binary using Chandra data, suggesting radiation pressure as the driving mechanism.

Findings

Detection of a 6.9 keV absorption line at 5 sigma significance.

Evidence of a disk wind with an outflow speed of 0.04c.

Estimated mass outflow rate over 10^-5 Msun/year and kinetic power near 10^39 erg/s.

Abstract

We present a spectral analysis of a brief Chandra/HETG observation of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary GX~340+0. The high-resolution spectrum reveals evidence of ionized absorption in the Fe K band. The strongest feature, an absorption line at approximately 6.9 keV, is required at the 5 sigma level of confidence via an F-test. Photoionization modeling with XSTAR grids suggests that the line is the most prominent part of a disk wind with an apparent outflow speed of v = 0.04c. This interpretation is preferred at the 4 sigma level over a scenario in which the line is H-like Fe XXVI at a modest red-shift. The wind may achieve this speed owing to its relatively low ionization, enabling driving by radiation pressure on lines; in this sense, the wind in GX 340+0 may be the stellar-mass equivalent of the flows in broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs). If the gas has a unity volume filling factor, the mass ouflow rate in the wind is over 10^-5 Msun/year, and the kinetic power is nearly 10^39 erg/s (or, 5-6 times the radiative Eddington limit for a neutron star). However, geometrical considerations - including a small volume filling factor and low covering factor - likely greatly reduce these values.