Relation of cyclotron resonant energy and luminosity in a strongly magnetized neutron star GRO J1008-57 observed by Insight-HXMT

TL;DR

This paper reports on the observation of a unique relation between cyclotron line energy and luminosity in the neutron star GRO J1008-57, revealing a switch from negative to positive correlation during an outburst, suggesting changes in accretion geometry.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed analysis of the variable cyclotron line energy-luminosity relation in GRO J1008-57, highlighting a peculiar transition during an outburst.

Findings

Negative correlation between cyclotron line energy and luminosity at lower luminosities.

Positive correlation between cyclotron line energy and luminosity at higher luminosities.

Cyclotron line energy observed at the highest energies in XRPs, up to 90 keV.

Abstract

Cyclotron line scattering features are detected in a few tens of X-ray pulsars (XRPs) and used as direct indicators of a strong magnetic field at the surface of accreting neutron stars (NSs). In a few cases, cyclotron lines are known to be variable with accretion luminosity of XRPs. It is accepted that the observed variations of cyclotron line scattering features are related to variations of geometry and dynamics of accretion flow above the magnetic poles of a NS. A positive correlation between the line centroid energy and luminosity is typical for sub-critical XRPs, where the accretion results in hot spots at the magnetic poles. The negative correlation was proposed to be a specific feature of bright super-critical XRPs, where radiation pressure supports accretion columns above the stellar surface. Cyclotron line in spectra of Be-transient X-ray pulsar GRO J1008-57 is detected at energies from $\sim 75 -90$ keV, the highest observed energy of cyclotron line feature in XRPs. We report the peculiar relation of cyclotron line centroid energies with luminosity in GRO J1008-57 during the Type II outburst in August 2017 observed by Insight-HXMT. The cyclotron line energy was detected to be negatively correlated with the luminosity at $3.2\times 10^{37}\,\ergs<L<4.2\times 10^{37}\,\ergs$, and positively correlated at $L\gtrsim 5\times 10^{37}\,\ergs$. We speculate that the observed peculiar behavior of a cyclotron line would be due to variations of accretion channel geometry.