X-ray Reflection and An Exceptionally Long Thermonuclear Helium Burst from IGR J17062-6143

TL;DR

This study analyzes a rare, long-lasting thermonuclear helium burst from IGR J17062-6143, revealing insights into accretion physics, burst ignition, and disk behavior during the event.

Contribution

It provides detailed spectral analysis of a unique long-duration helium burst, linking burst properties to accretion disk dynamics and neutron star surface phenomena.

Findings

Burst lasted over a day with a decay following F~t^-1.15.

Inner accretion disk was truncated at ~100 gravitational radii before the burst.

The burst likely ignited in a deep helium layer on the neutron star.

Abstract

Thermonuclear X-ray bursts from accreting neutron stars power brief but strong irradiation of their surroundings, providing a unique way to study accretion physics. We analyze MAXI/GSC and Swift/XRT spectra of a day-long flash observed from IGR J17062-6143 in 2015. It is a rare case of recurring bursts at a low accretion luminosity of 0.15% Eddington. Spectra from MAXI, Chandra, and NuSTAR observations taken between the 2015 burst and the previous one in 2012 are used to determine the accretion column. We find it to be consistent with the burst ignition column of 5x10^10 g cm^-2, which indicates that it is likely powered by burning in a deep helium layer. The burst flux is observed for over a day, and decays as a straight power law: F~t^-1.15. The burst and persistent spectra are well described by thermal emission from the neutron star, Comptonization of this emission in a hot optically thin medium surrounding the star, and reflection off the photoionized accretion disk. At the burst peak, the Comptonized component disappears, when the burst may dissipate the Comptonizing gas, and it returns in the burst tail. The reflection signal suggests that the inner disk is truncated at ~100 gravitational radii before the burst, but may move closer to the star during the burst. At the end of the burst, the flux drops below the burst cooling trend for 2 days, before returning to the pre-burst level.