Decade‐long X‐ray observations of HESS J0632+057

Abstract

AbstractWe present the results of a decade of X‐ray observations of the gamma ray loud binary HESS J0632+057 and interpret the available broadband data in view of the system geometry and emission mechanisms. We have performed an analysis of all X‐ray data available to date from Swift, XMM‐Newton, Chandra, NuSTAR, and Suzaku. We refine the orbital period of the system to be days (95% c.l.), consistent with previous studies but measured with significantly better accuracy. We report on a hydrogen column density and spectral slope variation along the orbit. We argue that the observed variability can be explained within an “inclined disk” model in which the orbit of the compact object is inclined to the disk of the Be star. We show that the observed X‐ray to TeV emissions can originate from a broken cut‐off power‐law population of electrons and describe a way in which future X‐ray/TeV observations can distinguish between the proposed model and the alternative flip‐flop emission scenario of this system.