Insight-HXMT observations on thermonuclear X-ray bursts from 4U~1608--52 in the low/hard state: the energy-dependant hard X-ray deficit and cooling saturation of the corona

TL;DR

Insight-HXMT observations of 4U 1608-52 during thermonuclear bursts reveal a significant hard X-ray deficit at energies above 30 keV, with saturation suggesting a layered corona structure affected differently by burst emission.

Contribution

This study provides the first clear detection of the hard X-ray deficit in 4U 1608-52 and proposes a layered corona model to explain the energy-dependent cooling during bursts.

Findings

Hard X-ray deficit observed during bursts at >30 keV.

Deficit fraction saturates at 50%, indicating partial corona cooling.

Evidence supports a layered, possibly multi-component, corona structure.

Abstract

During thermonuclear bursts, it is suspected that {\bf the cooling of the corona by the burst emission} may be the cause of hard X-ray {\bf deficits}. Although this {\bf deficit} has been observed in nine sources, it has not been observed {\bf from} 4U~1608--52, a nearby prolific burster. Therefore, the authenticity and universality of the hard X-ray {\bf deficit} may be in question. To investigate this suspicion, Insight-HXMT performed cadence observations during the low/hard state of 4U~1608--52 in September 2022 and detected 10 thermonuclear X-ray bursts. Two of these bursts show a double-peaked structure in the soft X-ray band, which could be caused by the high temperature of the burst emission and a marginal photospheric radius expansion (PRE) around the burst peak time. This is indicated by their peak fluxes being up to the Eddington limit and having a large color factor at the peak of the bursts. The hard X-ray deficit is significantly observed during bursts at $>$ 30 keV. Furthermore, the fraction of this deficit shows saturation at 50\% for the first 8 bursts. This saturation may indicate that the corona is layered and only a part of the corona is cooled by the bursts. For example, the part close to the NS surface is cooled while the rest remains intact during bursts. This result provides a clue to the geometry of the corona, e.g., a possible scenario is that the corona has two forms: a quasi-spheric corona between the NS and the disk, and a disk-corona on both surfaces of the disk.