NICER Observes a Secondary Peak in the Decay of a Thermonuclear Burst from 4U 1608–52

Gaurava K. Jaisawal; Jérôme Chenevez; Peter Bult; Jean J. M. in’t Zand; Duncan K. Galloway; Tod E. Strohmayer; Tolga Güver; Phillip Adkins; Diego Altamirano; Zaven Arzoumanian; Deepto Chakrabarty; Jonathan Coopersmith; Keith C. Gendreau; Sebastien Guillot; Laurens Keek; Renee M. Ludlam; Christian Malacaria

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a37

NICER Observes a Secondary Peak in the Decay of a Thermonuclear Burst from 4U 1608–52

Gaurava K. Jaisawal^*, Jérôme Chenevez, Peter Bult, Jean J. M. in’t Zand, Duncan K. Galloway, Tod E. Strohmayer, Tolga Güver, Phillip Adkins, Diego Altamirano, Zaven Arzoumanian, Deepto Chakrabarty, Jonathan Coopersmith, Keith C. Gendreau, Sebastien Guillot, Laurens Keek, Renee M. Ludlam, Christian Malacaria

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

We report for the first time below 1.5 keV, the detection of a secondary peak in an Eddington-limited thermonuclear X-ray burst observed by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) from the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1608–52. Our time-resolved spectroscopy of the burst is consistent with a model consisting of a varying-temperature blackbody, and an evolving persistent flux contribution, likely attributed to the accretion process. The dip in the burst intensity before the secondary peak is also visible in the bolometric flux. Prior to the dip, the blackbody temperature reached a maximum of ≈3 keV. Our analysis suggests that the dip and secondary peak are not related to photospheric expansion, varying circumstellar absorption, or scattering. Instead, we discuss the observation in the context of hydrodynamical instabilities, thermonuclear flame spreading models, and reburning in the cooling tail of the burst.

Original language	English
Article number	61
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Volume	883
Issue number	1
Number of pages	7
ISSN	0067-0049
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a37
Publication status	Published - 2019

Keywords

Accretion
Accretion disks
Stars: individual (4U 1608-52)
Stars: neutron
X-rays: binaries
X-rays: bursts

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Jaisawal, G. K., Chenevez, J., Bult, P., in’t Zand, J. J. M., Galloway, D. K., Strohmayer, T. E., Güver, T., Adkins, P., Altamirano, D., Arzoumanian, Z., Chakrabarty, D., Coopersmith, J., Gendreau, K. C., Guillot, S., Keek, L., Ludlam, R. M., & Malacaria, C. (2019). NICER Observes a Secondary Peak in the Decay of a Thermonuclear Burst from 4U 1608–52. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 883(1), Article 61. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a37

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title = "NICER Observes a Secondary Peak in the Decay of a Thermonuclear Burst from 4U 1608–52",

abstract = "We report for the first time below 1.5 keV, the detection of a secondary peak in an Eddington-limited thermonuclear X-ray burst observed by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) from the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1608–52. Our time-resolved spectroscopy of the burst is consistent with a model consisting of a varying-temperature blackbody, and an evolving persistent flux contribution, likely attributed to the accretion process. The dip in the burst intensity before the secondary peak is also visible in the bolometric flux. Prior to the dip, the blackbody temperature reached a maximum of ≈3 keV. Our analysis suggests that the dip and secondary peak are not related to photospheric expansion, varying circumstellar absorption, or scattering. Instead, we discuss the observation in the context of hydrodynamical instabilities, thermonuclear flame spreading models, and reburning in the cooling tail of the burst.",

keywords = "Accretion, Accretion disks, Stars: individual (4U 1608-52), Stars: neutron, X-rays: binaries, X-rays: bursts",

author = "Jaisawal, {Gaurava K.} and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Chenevez and Peter Bult and {in{\textquoteright}t Zand}, {Jean J. M.} and Galloway, {Duncan K.} and Strohmayer, {Tod E.} and Tolga G{\"u}ver and Phillip Adkins and Diego Altamirano and Zaven Arzoumanian and Deepto Chakrabarty and Jonathan Coopersmith and Gendreau, {Keith C.} and Sebastien Guillot and Laurens Keek and Ludlam, {Renee M.} and Christian Malacaria",

year = "2019",

doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a37",

language = "English",

volume = "883",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series",

issn = "0067-0049",

publisher = "IOP Publishing",

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Jaisawal, GK , Chenevez, J, Bult, P, in’t Zand, JJM, Galloway, DK, Strohmayer, TE, Güver, T, Adkins, P, Altamirano, D, Arzoumanian, Z, Chakrabarty, D, Coopersmith, J, Gendreau, KC, Guillot, S, Keek, L, Ludlam, RM & Malacaria, C 2019, 'NICER Observes a Secondary Peak in the Decay of a Thermonuclear Burst from 4U 1608–52', Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, vol. 883, no. 1, 61. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a37

TY - JOUR

T1 - NICER Observes a Secondary Peak in the Decay of a Thermonuclear Burst from 4U 1608–52

AU - Jaisawal, Gaurava K.

AU - Chenevez, Jérôme

AU - Bult, Peter

AU - in’t Zand, Jean J. M.

AU - Galloway, Duncan K.

AU - Strohmayer, Tod E.

AU - Güver, Tolga

AU - Adkins, Phillip

AU - Altamirano, Diego

AU - Arzoumanian, Zaven

AU - Chakrabarty, Deepto

AU - Coopersmith, Jonathan

AU - Gendreau, Keith C.

AU - Guillot, Sebastien

AU - Keek, Laurens

AU - Ludlam, Renee M.

AU - Malacaria, Christian

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - We report for the first time below 1.5 keV, the detection of a secondary peak in an Eddington-limited thermonuclear X-ray burst observed by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) from the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1608–52. Our time-resolved spectroscopy of the burst is consistent with a model consisting of a varying-temperature blackbody, and an evolving persistent flux contribution, likely attributed to the accretion process. The dip in the burst intensity before the secondary peak is also visible in the bolometric flux. Prior to the dip, the blackbody temperature reached a maximum of ≈3 keV. Our analysis suggests that the dip and secondary peak are not related to photospheric expansion, varying circumstellar absorption, or scattering. Instead, we discuss the observation in the context of hydrodynamical instabilities, thermonuclear flame spreading models, and reburning in the cooling tail of the burst.

AB - We report for the first time below 1.5 keV, the detection of a secondary peak in an Eddington-limited thermonuclear X-ray burst observed by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) from the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1608–52. Our time-resolved spectroscopy of the burst is consistent with a model consisting of a varying-temperature blackbody, and an evolving persistent flux contribution, likely attributed to the accretion process. The dip in the burst intensity before the secondary peak is also visible in the bolometric flux. Prior to the dip, the blackbody temperature reached a maximum of ≈3 keV. Our analysis suggests that the dip and secondary peak are not related to photospheric expansion, varying circumstellar absorption, or scattering. Instead, we discuss the observation in the context of hydrodynamical instabilities, thermonuclear flame spreading models, and reburning in the cooling tail of the burst.

KW - Accretion

KW - Accretion disks

KW - Stars: individual (4U 1608-52)

KW - Stars: neutron

KW - X-rays: binaries

KW - X-rays: bursts

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a37

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a37

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0067-0049

VL - 883

JO - Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

JF - Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

IS - 1

M1 - 61

ER -

NICER Observes a Secondary Peak in the Decay of a Thermonuclear Burst from 4U 1608–52

Abstract

Keywords

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