X-ray Spectroscopy of the High Mass X-ray Binary Pulsar Centaurus X-3 over its Binary Orbit

Abstract

We present a comprehensive spectral analysis of the high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) pulsar Centaurus X-3 with the Suzaku observatory covering nearly one orbital period. The light curve shows the presence of extended dips which are rarely seen in HMXBs. These dips are seen up to as high as ~40 keV. The pulsar spectra during the eclipse, out-of-eclipse, and dips are found to be well described by a partial covering power-law model with high energy cut-off and three Gaussian functions for 6.4 keV, 6.7 keV, and 6.97 keV iron emission lines. The dips in the light curve can be explained by the presence of an additional absorption component with high column density and covering fraction, the values of which are not significant during the rest of the orbital phases. The iron line parameters during the dips and eclipse are significantly different compared to those during the rest of the observation. During the dips, the iron line intensities are found to be lesser by a factor of 2--3 with significant increase in the line equivalent widths. However, the continuum flux at the corresponding orbital phase is estimated to be lesser by more than an order of magnitude. Similarities in the changes in the iron line flux and equivalent widths during the dips and eclipse segments suggests the dipping activity in Cen X-3 is caused by obscuration of the neutron star by dense matter, probably structures in the outer region of the accretion disk, as in case of dipping low mass X-ray binaries.

10 Pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (8)

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• Pulse phase resolved analysis of the HMXB Cen X-3 over two binary orbits
• BeppoSAX observations of the accretion-powered X-ray pulsar SMC X-1
• Quasiperiodic oscillations in Cen X-3 and the long term intensity variations
• Suzaku observation of the transient X-ray pulsar GRO J1008-57
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