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arXiv · 0805.2294

XMM-Newton observations of CXOU J010043.1-721134: the first deep look at the soft X-ray emission of a magnetar

A. Tiengo·P. Esposito·S. Mereghetti
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Abstract

We present the analysis of six XMM-Newton observations of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar CXOU J010043.1-721134, the magnetar candidate characterized by the lowest interstellar absorption. In contrast with all the other magnetar candidates, its X-ray spectrum cannot be fit by an absorbed power-law plus blackbody model. The sum of two (absorbed) blackbody components with kT1=0.30 keV and kT2=0.7 keV gives an acceptable fit, and the radii of the corresponding blackbody emission regions are R1=12.1 km and R2=1.7 km. The former value is consistent with emission from a large fraction of a neutron star surface and, given the well known distance of CXOU J010043.1-721134, that is located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, it provides the most constraining lower limit to a magnetar radius ever obtained. A more physical model, where resonant cyclotron scattering in the magnetar magnetosphere is taken into account, has also been successfully applied to this source.

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A. Tiengo, P. Esposito, S. Mereghetti. 2008-05-15. XMM-Newton observations of CXOU J010043.1-721134: the first deep look at the soft X-ray emission of a magnetar. https://doi.org/10.1086/590078

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