Discovery of a new supergiant fast X-ray transient MAXI J0709-159 associated with the Be star LY CMa

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a new supergiant fast X-ray transient, MAXI J0709-159, associated with the Be star LY CMa, revealing rapid X-ray variability and complex circumstellar environment.

Contribution

It presents the first identification of MAXI J0709-159 as an SFXT associated with LY CMa, highlighting its unique X-ray activity and optical characteristics.

Findings

Detected rapid X-ray flares with flux up to 5×10^{-9} erg cm^{-2} s^{-1}

Observed spectral changes indicating increased absorption during flares

Optical spectroscopy shows a broad Hα emission line suggesting a Be star with a circumstellar disk

Abstract

We report on the discovery of a new supergiant fast X-ray transient (SFXT), MAXI J0709$-$159, and its identification with LY CMa (also known as HD 54786). On 2022 January 25, a new flaring X-ray object named MAXI J0709$-$159, was detected by Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI). Two flaring activities were observed in the two scans of $\sim 3$ hours apart, where the 2-10 keV flux reached $5\times 10^{-9}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. During the period, the source exhibited a large spectral change suggesting that the absorption column density $N_\mathrm{H}$ increased from $10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ to $10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$. NuSTAR follow-up observation on January 29 identified a new X-ray source with a flux of $6\times 10^{-13}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ at the position consistent with LY CMa, which has been identified as B supergiant as well as Be star, located at the 3 kpc distance. The observed X-ray activity characterized by the short ($\lesssim$ several hours) duration, the rapid ($\lesssim$ a few seconds) variabilities accompanied with spectral changes, and the large luminosity swing ($10^{32}$-$10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$) agree with those of SFXT. On the other hand, optical spectroscopic observations of LY CMa revealed a broad $H\alpha$ emission line, which may indicate the existence of a Be circumstellar disk. These obtained results suggest that the optical companion, LY CMa, certainly has a complex circumstellar medium including dense clumps.