The X-ray spectrum of RX J1914.4+2456 revisited

Abstract

It has been proposed that RX J1914.4+2456 is a stellar binary system with an orbital period of 9.5 mins. As such it shares many similar properties with RX J0806.3+1527 (5.4 mins). However, while the X-ray spectrum of RX J0806.3+1527 can be modelled using a simple absorbed blackbody, the X-ray spectrum of RX J1914.4+2456 has proved difficult to fit using a physically plausible model. In this paper we re-examine the available X-ray spectra of RX J1914.4+2456 taken using XMM-Newton. We find that the X-ray spectra can be fitted using a simple blackbody and an absorption component which has a significant enhancement of neon compared to the solar value. We propose that the material in the inter-binary system is significantly enhanced with neon. This makes its intrinsic X-ray spectrum virtually identical to RX J0806.3+1527. We re-access the X-ray luminosity of RX J1914.4+2456 and the implications of these results.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (4)

• The Magnificent Seven: Magnetic fields and surface temperature distributions
• The complex X-ray spectrum of the isolated neutron star RBS1223
• ULTRACAM Photometry of the ultracompact binaries V407 Vul and HM Cnc
• GEMINI spectroscopy of the ultra-compact binary candidate V407 Vul

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