From outburst to quiescence: the decay of the transient Anomalous X-ray Pulsar XTE J1810-197

Abstract

XTE J1810-197 is the first transient Anomalous X-ray Pulsar ever discovered. Its highly variable X-ray flux allowed us to study the timing and spectral emission properties of a magnetar candidate over a flux range of about two orders of magnitude. We analyzed nine XMM-Newton observations of XTE J1810-197 collected over a four years baseline (September 2003 - September 2007). EPIC PN and MOS data were reduced and used for detailed timing and spectral analysis. Pulse phase spectroscopic studies were also carried out for observations with sufficiently high signal to noise. We find that: (i) a three blackbodies model reproduces the spectral properties of the source over the entire outburst statistically better than the two blackbodies model previously used in the literature, (ii) the coldest blackbody is consistent with the thermal emission from the whole surface, and has temperature and radius similar to those inferred from ROSAT observations before the outburst onset, (iii) there is a spectral feature around 1.1 keV during six consecutive observations (since March 2005); if due to proton resonant cyclotron scattering, it would imply a magnetic field of around 2E14 G. This is in a very good agreement with the value from the spin period measurements.

16 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication on A&A on 10/1/2009

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• Spectral features in isolated neutron stars induced by inhomogeneous surface temperatures
• Radio and X-ray observations of giant pulses from XTE J1810-197
• X-ray and radio observations of the magnetar Swift J1834.9-0846 and its dust-scattering halo
• The X-ray evolution and geometry of the 2018 outburst of XTE J1810-197
• Pulse Phase-coherent Timing and Spectroscopy of CXOU J164710.2-45521 Outbursts
• Pair Plasma in Super-QED Magnetic Fields and the Hard X-ray/Optical Emission of Magnetars
• Long term radio and X-ray evolution of the magnetar Swift J1818.0-1607
• Swift J2218.4+1925: a new hard X-ray selected Polar observed with XMM-Newton
• More than meets the eye: magnetars in disguise
• On the X-ray Outbursts of Transient Anomalous X-ray Pulsars and Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters
• X-Ray Observations of Magnetar SGR 0501+4516 from Outburst to Quiescence
• X-ray Perspective of the Twisted Magnetospheres of Magnetars
• Long-term XMM-Newton view of magnetar CXOU J010043.1$-$721134: Comprehensive spectral and temporal results
• The short bursts in SGR 1806-20, 1E 1048-5937 and SGR 0501+4516
• NICER Observations of the 2018 Outburst of XTE J1810-197