Suzaku observations of cyclotron resonances in binary X-ray pulsars

Abstract

Since the typical magnetic field strengths of neutron stars reach 10 12 Gauss, the cyclotron resonance produced by a transition between Landau levels appears in the X-ray band. Systematic measurements of cyclotron absorption features in bright sources have been carried out extensively with Ginga, RXTE, BeppoSAX, and INTEGRAL. The cyclotron resonance phenomena can now be studied with a higher sensitivity over a wider hard X-ray band than before, thanks to the Hard X-ray Detector onboard the fifth Japanese X-ray satellite, Suzaku, launched in July, 2005. Suzaku observed Hercules X-1 mainly for calibration purposes, and successfully confirmed its well-known cyclotron absorption feature. Furthermore, the transient pulsar A0535+262 was observed with Suzaku on 14 September, 2005, in the decay phase of its minor outburst (Finger, M.F. Renewed Activity from A0535+26. The Astronomer’s Telegram, vol. 595, 2005). The cyclotron resonance of A0535+262 was successfully detected in absorption at about 45 keV (Inoue, H., Kunieda, H., White, N., Kelley, R., Mihara, T., Terada, Y., Takahashi, H., Kokubun, M., Makishima, K. Suzaku detection of cyclotron line near 50 keV for A0535+26. The Astronomer’s Telegram vol. 595, 2005; Terada, Y., Mihara, T., Nakajima, M., et al. Cyclotron resonance energies at a low X-ray luminosity: A0535+262 observed with Suzaku. ApJL 648, L139–L142, 2006), even though the object was as dim as 30 mCrab at 20 keV. Compared with previous measurements of the same feature achieved at much brighter phases (e.g., Kretschmar, P., Kreykenbohm, I., Pottschmidt, et al. Integral observes possible cyclotron line at 47 keV for 1A0535+262. The Astronomer’s Telegram, vol. 601, 2005; Wilson, C.A., Finger, M.H. RXTE confirms cyclotron line near 50 keV for A0535+26. The Astronomer’s Telegram 605, 2005), the Suzaku results give a new constraint to luminosity-related changes in the resonance energy that are observed in other binary pulsars (Nakajima, M., Mihara, T., Makishima, K., Niko, H. A further study of the luminosity-dependent cyclotron resonance energies of the binary X-ray pulsar 4U 0115+63 with the Rossi X-ray timing explorer. ApJ 646, 1125–1138, 2006).