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Timing and Spectroscopy of Accreting X-ray Pulsars : the State of Cyclotron Line Studies
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Coburn, Wayne Staubert, R. Udiger Wilms, Joern Kreykenbohm, Ingo Kretschmar, Peter |
| Copyright Year | 2004 |
| Abstract | A great deal of emphasis on timing in the RXTEera has been on pushing toward higher and higher frequency phenomena, particularly kHz QPOs. However, the large areas of the RXTEpointed instruments provide another capability which is key for the understanding of accreting X-ray pulsar s – the ability to accumulate high quality spectra in a limite d observing time. For the accreting X-ray pulsars, with their r latively modest spin frequencies, this translates into a ability to study broad band spectra as a function of pulse phase. This is a critical tool, as pulsar spectra are strong functions of the geometry of the “accretion mound” and the observers’ vie wing angle to the∼1012 G magnetic field. In particular, the appearance of “cyclotron lines” is sensitively dependent o n the viewing geometry, which must change with the rotation o f the star. These spectral features, seen in only a handful of obje cts, are quite important, as they give us our only direct meas ure of neutron star magnetic fields. Furthermore, they carry a grea t d l of information as to the geometry and physical conditi ons in the accretion mound. In this paper, we review the status of cyclotron line studies with theRXTE. We present an overview of phase-averaged results and give examples of observation s which illustrate the power of phase-resolved spectroscop y. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0403197v1.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Cyclotrons Diagnostic radiologic examination Display resolution GUCY2C protein, human Instrument - device Kilohertz Magnetic Fields Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Neutrons X-Ray (Amazon Kindle) |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
