A Possible Magnetar Nature for IGR J16358-4726

S. K. Patel; J. Zurita; M. Del Santo; M. Finger; C. Kouveliotou; D. Eichler; E. Gogus; P. Ubertini; R. Walter; P. Woods; C. A. Wilson; S. Wachter; A. Bazzano

doi:10.1086/510374

arXiv · astro-ph/0610768

A Possible Magnetar Nature for IGR J16358-4726

S. K. Patel·J. Zurita·M. Del Santo·M. Finger·C. Kouveliotou·D. Eichler·E. Gogus·P. Ubertini·R. Walter·P. Woods·C. A. Wilson·S. Wachter·A. Bazzano

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Abstract

We present detailed spectral and timing analysis of the hard x-ray transient IGR J16358-4726 using multi-satellite archival observations. A study of the source flux time history over 6 years, suggests that lower luminosity transient outbursts can be occuring in intervals of at most 1 year. Joint spectral fits of the higher luminosity outburst using simultaneous Chandra/ACIS and INTEGRAL/ISGRI data reveal a spectrum well described by an absorbed power law model with a high energy cut-off plus an Fe line. We detected the 1.6 hour pulsations initially reported using Chandra/ACIS also in the INTEGRAL/ISGRI light curve and in subsequent XMM-Newton observations. Using the INTEGRAL data we identified a spin up of 94 s (dP/dt = 1.6E-4), which strongly points to a neutron star nature for IGR J16358-4726. Assuming that the spin up is due to disc accretion, we estimate that the source magnetic field ranges between 10^13 - 10^15 G, depending on its distance, possibly supporting a magnetar nature for IGR J16358-4726.

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S. K. Patel, J. Zurita, M. Del Santo, M. Finger, C. Kouveliotou, D. Eichler, E. Gogus, P. Ubertini, R. Walter, P. Woods, C. A. Wilson, S. Wachter, A. Bazzano. 2006-10-26. A Possible Magnetar Nature for IGR J16358-4726. https://doi.org/10.1086/510374

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