Study of timing and spectral properties of the X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 during the giant outburst in 2020 November-December

TL;DR

This study analyzes the timing and spectral behavior of the X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 during its 2020 giant outburst, revealing a transition from subcritical to supercritical accretion, spectral features, and magnetic field insights.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the spectral and timing properties of 1A 0535+262 during a giant outburst, including CRSF behavior and accretion regime transition.

Findings

Detected CRSF at ~44 keV indicating magnetic field strength of ~4.9×10^{12} G.

Observed a shift of CRSF energy to lower values in the supercritical regime.

Identified a critical luminosity of ~6×10^{37} erg s^{-1} for state transition.

Abstract

We made a detailed study of the timing and spectral properties of the X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 during the recent giant outburst in 2020 November and December. The flux of the pulsar reached a record value of $\sim$12.5 Crab as observed by Swift/BAT (15--50 keV) and the corresponding mass accretion rate was $\sim6.67\times10^{17}$ g s$^{-1}$ near the peak of the outburst. There was a transition from the subcritical to the supercritical accretion regime which allows exploring different properties of the source in the supercritical regime. A q-like feature was detected in the hardness-intensity diagram during the outburst. We observed high variability and strong energy dependence of pulse profiles during the outburst. Cyclotron Resonant Scattering Feature (CRSF) was detected at $\sim44$ keV from the NuSTAR energy spectrum in the subcritical regime and the corresponding magnetic field was $B\simeq4.9\times10^{12}$ G. The energy of the CRSF was shifted towards lower energy in the supercritical regime. The luminosity dependence of the CRSF was studied and during the supercritical regime, a negative correlation was observed between the line energy and luminosity. The critical luminosity was $\sim6\times10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$ above which a state transition occurred. A reversal of correlation between the photon index and luminosity was observed near the critical luminosity. The NuSTAR spectra can be described by a composite model with two continuum components, a blackbody emission, cut-off power law, and a discrete component to account for the iron emission line at 6.4 keV. An additional cyclotron absorption feature was included in the model.