NuSTAR observations of the supergiant X-ray pulsar IGR J18027-2016: accretion from the stellar wind and possible cyclotron absorption line

TL;DR

This study presents NuSTAR observations of the supergiant X-ray pulsar IGR J18027-2016, revealing pulsations, a constant luminosity over years, wind accretion behavior, and a potential cyclotron line indicating a magnetic field of about 3×10^{12} G.

Contribution

First detailed spectral analysis above 10 keV of IGR J18027-2016, identifying a possible cyclotron absorption line and providing insights into its magnetic field and accretion behavior.

Findings

Detected pulsations with a period of 139.866 seconds.

Observed a constant X-ray luminosity over more than a decade.

Identified a potential cyclotron absorption feature at ~23 keV.

Abstract

We report on the first focused hard X-ray view of the absorbed supergiant system IGRJ18027-2016 performed with the NuSTAR observatory. The pulsations are clearly detected with a period of $P_{spin}=139.866(1)$ s and a pulse fraction of about 50-60% at energies from 3 to 80 keV. The source demonstrates an approximately constant X-ray luminosity on a time scale of more than dozen years with an average spin-down rate of $dP/dt\simeq6\times10^{-10}$ s/s. This behaviour of the pulsar can be explained in terms of the wind accretion model in the settling regime. The detailed spectral analysis at energies above 10 keV was performed for the first time and revealed a possible cyclotron absorption feature at energy ~23 keV. This energy corresponds to the magnetic field $B\simeq3\times10^{12}$ G at the surface of the neutron star, which is typical for X-ray pulsars.