Study of the cyclotron feature in MXB 0656-072

Abstract

We have monitored a Type II outburst of the Be/X-ray binary MXB 0656-072 in a series of pointed RXTE observations during October through December 2003. The source spectrum shows a cyclotron resonance scattering feature at 32.8 +/- 0.5 keV, corresponding to a magnetic field strength of (3.67 +/- 0.06) x 10^12 G and is stable through the outburst and over the pulsar spin phase. The pulsar, with an average pulse period of 160.4 +/- 0.4 s, shows a spin-up of 0.45 s over the duration of the outburst. From optical data, the source distance is estimated to be 3.9 +/- 0.1 kpc and this is used to estimate the X-ray luminosity and a theoretical prediction of the pulsar spin-up during the outburst.

7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Patterns of variability in Be/X-ray pulsars during giant outbursts
• Pulse phase resolved analysis of the HMXB Cen X-3 over two binary orbits
• A catalogue of high-mass X-ray binaries in the Galaxy: from the INTEGRAL to the Gaia era
• On the dependence of the X-ray continuum variations with luminosity in accreting X-ray pulsars
• Distances to Galactic X-ray Binaries with Gaia DR2
• Magnetic fields of neutron stars in X-ray binaries
• Accretion regimes in the X-ray pulsar 4U 1901+03
• Correlation between the luminosity and spin-period changes during outbursts of 12 Be binary pulsars observed by the MAXI/GSC and the Fermi/GBM
• Continuum, cyclotron line, and absorption variability in the high-mass X-ray binary Vela X-1
• Evidence for a resonant cyclotron line in IGR J16493-4348 from the Swift-BAT hard X-ray survey
• Constraining compactness and magnetic field geometry of X-ray pulsars from the statistics of their pulse profiles
• Catalog of the Galactic population of X-ray pulsars in High-mass X-ray binary systems
• Evolution implications of neutron star magnetic fields: inferred from pulsars and cyclotron lines of HMXBs
• Kinematic distinction of the two subpopulations of X-ray pulsars
• Further evidence for natal kick segregation by spectral type in high-mass X-ray binaries
• Pulse frequency variations and timing noise of MXB 0656-072 during the 2007-2008 type I outbursts and implications for its magnetic field
• Constraints on the magnetic field structure in accreting compact objects from aperiodic variability