Detection of fundamental and first harmonic cyclotron line in X-ray pulsar Cep X-4

Abstract

Abstract We report the broad-band spectral properties of the X-ray pulsar Cep X-4 by using a Suzaku observation in 2014 July. The 0.8–70 keV spectrum was found to be well described by three continuum models – Negative and Positive power-law with Exponential cut-off (NPEX), high-energy cut-off power-law and CompTT models. Additional components such as a cyclotron line at ∼28 keV and two Gaussian components for iron lines at 6.4 and 6.9 keV were required in the spectral fitting. Apart from these, an additional absorption feature at ∼45 keV was clearly detected in residuals obtained from the spectral fitting. This additional feature at ∼45 keV was clearly seen in phase-resolved spectra of the pulsar. We identified this feature as the first harmonic of the fundamental cyclotron line at ∼28 keV. The ratio between the first harmonic and fundamental line energies (1.7) was found to be in disagreement with the conventional factor of 2, indicating that the heights of line-forming regions are different or viewed at larger angles. The phase-resolved spectroscopy of the fundamental and first harmonic cyclotron lines shows significant pulse-phase variation of the line parameters. This can be interpreted as the effect of viewing angle or the role of complicated magnetic field of the pulsar.