Spectral and timing analysis of the mHz QPOs in the neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53

Abstract

We investigate the spectral and timing properties of the millihertz quasi-periodic oscillations (mHz QPOs) in neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53 using XMM-Newton and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations. The mHz QPOs in the XMM-Newton/RXTE observations show significant frequency variation and disappear right before type I X-ray bursts. We find no significant correlation between the mHz QPO frequency and the temperature of the neutron-star surface, which is different from theoretical predictions. For the first time we observed the full lifetime of a mHz QPO lasting 19 ks. Besides, we also measure a frequency drift timescale around 15 ks, we speculate that this is the cooling timescale of a layer deeper than the burning depth, possibly heated by the previous burst. Moreover, the analysis of all X-ray bursts in this source shows that all type I X-ray bursts associated with the mHz QPOs are short, bright and energetic, suggesting a potential connection between mHz QPOs and He-rich X-ray bursts.

18 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (6)

• Thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
• The Effects of Variations in Nuclear Processes on Type I X-Ray Burst Nucleosynthesis
• Millihertz Oscillation Frequency Drift Predicts the Occurrence of Type I X-ray Bursts
• Reaction Rate and Composition Dependence of the Stability of Thermonuclear Burning on Accreting Neutron Stars
• Iron-line and continuum variations in the XMM-Newton and Suzaku spectra of the neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53
• Discovery of a correlation between the frequency of the mHz quasi-periodic oscillations and the neutron-star temperature in the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53

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