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Discovery of X-ray cyclotron absorption lines measures the magnetic field of an isolated neutron star | | G.F. Bignami
; P.A. Caraveo
; A. De Luca
; S. Mereghetti
; | | Date: |
10 Jun 2003 | | Subject: | astro-ph | | Affiliation: | 1,2), P.A. Caraveo , A. De Luca (3,4), S. Mereghetti ( CESR, Toulouse, France; Universita’ di Pavia, Pavia, Italy; IASF, Milano, Italy; Universita’ di Milano Bicocca, Milano, Italy | | Abstract: | Isolated neutron stars are higly magnetized, fast rotating end points of stellar evolution. They are now becoming directly observable through X-ray astronomy, owing to their high surface temperatures. In particular, features in their X-ray spectra could reveal the presence of atmospheres, or gauge their unknown magnetic fields through the cyclotron process, as in the classic case of X-ray binaries. All isolated neutron stars spectra observed so far, however, appear as featureless thermal continua. The unique exception is 1E 1207.4-5209. In its spectrum, previous observations had detected two deep absorption features, still too undefined for any unambiguous interpretation. Here we report on a much longer X-ray observation, in which the star’s spectrum shows three distinct features, regularly spaced at 0.7, 1.4 and 2.1 keV, plus a fourth, lower significance one, at 2.8 keV. Such features vary in phase with the star rotation. Cyclotron resonant absorption is their logical interpretation, yielding a magnetic field strenght of 8x10^10 Gauss in the case of electrons. This is the first direct measure of an isolated neutron star magnetic field. | | Source: | arXiv, astro-ph/0306189 | | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites | |
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