A new symbiotic low mass X-ray binary system: 4U 1954+319

Abstract

4U 1954+319 was discovered 25 years ago, but only recently has a clear picture of its nature begun to emerge. We present for the first time a broad-band spectrum of the source and a detailed timing study using more than one year of monitoring data. The timing and spectral analysis was done using publicly available Swift, INTEGRAL, BeppoSAX, and RXTE/ASM data in the 0.7-150 keV energy band. The source spectrum is described well by a highly absorbed (N_H~10^23 cm^-2) power law with a high-energy exponential cutoff around 15 keV. An additional black body component is needed below 3 keV to account for a soft excess. The derived ~5 hr periodicity, with a spin-up timescale of ~25 years, could be identified as the neutron star spin period. The spectral and timing characteristics indicate that we are dealing both with the slowest established wind-accreting X-ray pulsar and with the second confirmed member of the emerging class dubbed "symbiotic low mass X-ray binaries" to host a neutron star.

5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letters

References in corpus (11)

• The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift MIDEX Mission
• ISGRI: the INTEGRAL Soft Gamma-Ray Imager
• First Results from the All-Sky Monitor on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
• Origin of the Soft Excess in X-ray Pulsars
• A long-period, violently-variable X-ray source in a young SNR
• The Symbiotic Neutron Star Binary GX 1+4/V2116 Ophiuchi
• M-type giants as optical counterparts of X-ray sources 4U 1700+24 and 4U 1954+319
• X-ray and optical monitoring of the peculiar source 4U 1700+24/V934 Her
• Disk Accretion onto Magnetized Neutron Stars: The Inner Disk Radius and Fastness Parameter
• Discovery of a redshifted X-ray emission line in the symbiotic neutron star binary 4U 1700+24
• High resolution X-ray spectrum of the accreting binary X-ray pulsar GX 1+4

Cited by in corpus (21)

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• A catalogue of high-mass X-ray binaries in the Galaxy: from the INTEGRAL to the Gaia era
• A Comparison of the Variability of the Symbiotic X-ray Binaries GX 1+4, 4U 1954+31, and 4U 1700+24 from Swift/BAT and RXTE/ASM Observations
• A Detailed Study of 2S 0114+650 with the RXTE
• Discovery of slow X-ray pulsations in the high-mass X-ray binary 4U 2206+54
• Spectral and Timing Nature of the Symbiotic X-ray Binary 4U 1954+319: The Slowest Rotating Neutron Star in an X-ray Binary System
• The M Supergiant High Mass X-Ray Binary 4U 1954+31
• X-ray broad-band study of the symbiotic X-ray binary 4U 1954+31
• Periodic signals from the Circinus region: two new cataclysmic variables and the ultraluminous X-ray source candidate GC X-1
• K-band spectroscopy of IGR J16358-4726 and IGR J16393-4643: two new symbiotic X-ray binaries
• The Symbiotic System SS73 17 Seen with Suzaku
• The 5 hr pulse period and broadband spectrum of the Symbiotic X-ray Binary 3A 1954+319
• An XMM-Newton Spectral and Timing Study of IGR J16207-5129: An Obscured and Non-Pulsating HMXB
• INTEGRAL long-term monitoring of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient XTE J1739-302
• XMM-Newton and Swift observations of XTE J1743-363
• Long-term Hard X-ray Monitoring of 2S 0114+65 with INTEGRAL/IBIS
• A New 626 s Periodic X-ray Source in the Direction of the Galactic Center
• Accretion of a clumped wind from a red supergiant donor onto a magnetar is suggested by the analysis of the XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the X-ray binary 3A 1954+319
• Hunting the nature of IGR J17497-2821 with X-ray and NIR observations
• The puzzling symbiotic X-ray system 4U1700+24