Abstract
Abstract We present new reflection models specifically tailored to model the X-ray radiation reprocessed in accretion disks around neutron stars, in which the primary continuum is characterized by a single-temperature blackbody spectrum, emitted either at the surface of the star or at the boundary layer. These models differ significantly from those with a standard power-law continuum, typically observed in most accreting black holes. We show comparisons with earlier reflection models and test their performance in the NuSTAR observation of the neutron star 4U 1705−44. Simulations of upcoming missions such as XRISM-Resolve and Athena X-IFU are shown to highlight the diagnostic potential of these models for high-resolution X-ray reflection spectroscopy. These new reflection models xillverNS, and their relativistic counterpart relxillNS, are made publicly available to the community as an additional flavor in the relxill suite of reflection models.
Highlights
Studying X-ray reflection of high-energy photons emitted near a compact object and reprocessed and reflected off an accretion disk, has traditionally been focused in the case of accreting black holes, both of stellar-mass in binary systems and supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei
We present new reflection models tailored to model the X-ray radiation reprocessed in accretion disks around neutron stars, in which the primary continuum is characterized by a single temperature blackbody spectrum, emitted either at the surface of the star, or at the boundary layer
In this paper we present a new flavor of the relxill models tailored to describe the X-ray radiation reprocessed in accretion disks around neutron stars, in which the primary continuum is characterized and dominated by a blackbody spectrum, rather than the standard power-law continuum typically observed in most accreting black holes
Summary
Studying X-ray reflection of high-energy photons emitted near a compact object and reprocessed and reflected off an accretion disk, has traditionally been focused in the case of accreting black holes, both of stellar-mass in binary systems and supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. In this paper we present a new flavor of the relxill models tailored to describe the X-ray radiation reprocessed in accretion disks around neutron stars, in which the primary continuum is characterized and dominated by a blackbody spectrum, rather than the standard power-law continuum typically observed in most accreting black holes. Preliminary versions of these models, referred to as relxillNS, have been already tested and implemented to analyze data for several neutron star X-ray binaries observed with the NuSTAR and NICER observatories (e.g., Serpens X-1, GX 3+1, and 4U 1735−44; Ludlam et al 2018, 2019a, 2020, respectively). Like other flavors of the relxill suite, these models are made publicly available to the community for they use in any of the traditional Xray fitting packages, such as xspec (Arnaud 1996), isis (Houck & Denicola 2000), sherpa (Freeman et al 2001), and spex (Kaastra et al 1996)
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