NinjaSat monitoring of Type-I X-ray bursts from the clocked burster SRGA J144459.2$-$604207

TL;DR

This study used the NinjaSat CubeSat to monitor a newly discovered X-ray burster, observing 12 Type-I bursts, analyzing their properties, and demonstrating CubeSat's effectiveness for X-ray astronomy.

Contribution

First long-term observation of SRGA J144459.2$-$604207 with NinjaSat, revealing burst characteristics and their relation to persistent flux, highlighting CubeSat's utility in X-ray monitoring.

Findings

Detected 12 Type-I X-ray bursts with short durations.

Observed changes in burst morphology as persistent flux declined.

Established a relation between burst recurrence time and persistent flux.

Abstract

The CubeSat X-ray observatory NinjaSat was launched on 2023 November 11 and has provided opportunities for agile and flexible monitoring of bright X-ray sources. On 2024 February 23, the NinjaSat team started long-term observation of the new X-ray source SRGA J144459.2$-$604207 as the first scientific target, which was discovered on 2024 February 21 and recognized as the sixth clocked X-ray burster. Our 25-day observation covered almost the entire decay of this outburst from two days after the peak at $\sim$100 mCrab on February 23 until March 18 at a few mCrab level. The Gas Multiplier Counter onboard NinjaSat successfully detected 12 Type-I X-ray bursts with a typical burst duration of $\sim$20 s, shorter than other clocked burster systems. As the persistent X-ray emission declined by a factor of five, X-ray bursts showed a notable change in its morphology: the rise time became shorter from 4.4(7) s to 0.3(3) s (1$\sigma$ errors), and the peak amplitude increased by 44%. The burst recurrence time $\Delta t_{\rm rec}$ also became longer from 2 hr to 10 hr, following the relation of $\Delta t_{\rm rec} \propto F_{\rm per}^{-0.84}$, where $F_{\rm per}$ is the persistent X-ray flux, by applying a Markov chain Monte Carlo method. The short duration of bursts is explained by the He-enhanced composition of accretion matter and the relation between $\Delta t_{\textrm{rec}}$ and $F_{\rm per}$ by a massive neutron star. This study demonstrated that CubeSat pointing observations can provide valuable astronomical X-ray data.