2016/02/08 by N. La Palombara, L. Sidoli, F. Pintore +4
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Emission spectrum #Galaxy #Ion #Ionization #Luminosity #Optics #Physics #Power law #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Pulse (music) #Spectral line #Spectral shape analysis #Swift #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slw020
5 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters
arxiv created 2016/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2016/02/10 · arxiv updated 2016/03/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract We report on the results of XMM–Newton and Swift observations of SMC X-2 during its last outburst in 2015 October, the first one since 2000. The source reached a very high luminosity (L ∼ 1038 erg s−1), which allowed us to perform a detailed analysis of its timing and spectral properties. We obtained a pulse period Pspin = 2.372267(5) s and a characterization of the pulse profile also at low energies. The main spectral component is a hard (Γ ≃ 0) power-law model with an exponential cut-off, but at low energies we detected also a soft (with kT ≃ 0.15 keV) thermal component. Several emission lines are present in the spectrum. Their identification with the transition lines of highly ionized N, O, Ne, Si, and Fe suggests the presence of photoionized matter around the accreting source.