Submitting Campus

Prescott

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Document Type

Article

Publication/Presentation Date

9-1-2023

Abstract/Description

We present the first set of broad-band spectral and timing studies of two transient X-ray pulsars, MXB 0656 −072 and MAXI J1409 −619 using NuSTAR observations conducted during quiescence. Despite being captured at one of their lowest luminosity states, both these targets show signs of ongoing low-level accretion. Results from the time-averaged spectral analysis indicate for the first time, the presence of a strong soft power-law component along with thermal emission from the neutron star hotspots. For both targets, the quiescent thermal X-ray emission is consistent with the deep crustal heating model. In MXB 0656 −072, we do not detect any pulsation or indication of a cyclotron line during quiescence. Ho we ver, in MAXI J1409 −619 we detect strong pulsations at 502 s with a pulsed fraction of ∼66 per cent, which adds this pulsar to the list of a handful of quiescent-state pulsating systems.

Publication Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stad2577

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Additional Information

Please access the version-of-record published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society here.

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