arXiv subjects

L. S. Ootes

Publications and source records attributed to L. S. Ootes.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Recurrent low-level luminosity behaviour after a giant outburst in the Be/X-ray transient 4U 0115+63

In 2017, the Be/X-ray transient 4U 0115+63 exhibited a new type-II outburst that was two times fainter than its 2015 giant outburst (in the Swift/BAT count rates). Despite this difference between the two bright events, the source displayed similar X-ray behaviour after these periods. Once the outbursts ceased, the source did not transit towards quiescence directly, but was detected about a factor of 10 above its known quiescent level. It eventually decayed back to quiescence over time scales of months. In this paper we present the results of our Swift monitoring campaign, and an XMM-Newton observation of 4U 0115+63 during the decay of the 2017 type-II outburst, and its subsequent low-luminosity behaviour. We discuss the possible origin of the decaying source emission at this low-level luminosity, which has now been shown as a recurrent phenomenon, in the framework of the two proposed scenarios to explain this faint state: cooling from an accretion-heated neutron-star crust or continuous low-level accretion. In addition, we compare the outcome of our study with the results we obtained from the 2015/2016 monitoring campaign on this source.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Unexpected late-time temperature increase observed in two neutron star crust cooling sources -- XTE~J1701-462 and EXO~0748-676

Transient LMXBs that host neutron stars (NSs) provide excellent laboratories for probing the dense matter physics present in NS crusts. During accretion outbursts in LMXBs, exothermic reactions may heat the NS crust, disrupting the crust-core equilibrium. When the outburst ceases, the crust cools to restore thermal equilibrium with the core. Monitoring this evolution allows us to probe the dense matter physics in the crust. Properties of the deeper crustal layers can be probed at later times after the end of the outburst. We report on the unexpected late-time temperature evolution (>2000 days after the end of their outbursts) of two NSs in LMXBs, XTE J1701-462 and EXO 0748-676. Although both these sources exhibited very different outbursts (in terms of duration and the average accretion rate), they exhibit an unusually steep decay of ~7 eV in the observed effective temperature (occurring in a time span of ~700 days) around ~2000 days after the end of their outbursts. Furthermore, they both showed an even more unexpected rise of ~3 eV in temperature (over a time period of ~500-2000 days) after this steep decay. This rise was significant at the 2.4σ and 8.5σ level for XTE J1701-462 and EXO 0748-676, respectively. The physical explanation for such behaviour is unknown and cannot be straightforwardly be explained within the cooling hypothesis. In addition, this observed evolution cannot be well explained by low-level accretion either without invoking many assumptions. We investigate the potential pathways in the theoretical heating and cooling models that could reproduce this unusual behaviour, which so far has been observed in two crust-cooling sources. Such a temperature increase has not been observed in the other NS crust-cooling sources at similarly late times, although it cannot be excluded that this might be a result of the inadequate sampling obtained at such late times.

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arXiv2019

Long-term temperature evolution of neutron stars undergoing episodic accretion outbursts

Transient neutron star (NS) LMXBs undergo episodes of accretion, alternated with quiescent periods. During an accretion outburst, the NS heats up due to exothermic accretion-induced processes taking place in the crust. Besides the long-known deep crustal heating of nuclear origin, a likely non-nuclear source of heat, dubbed 'shallow heating', is present at lower densities. Most of the accretion-induced heat slowly diffuses into the core on a timescale of years. Over many outburst cycles, a state of equilibrium is reached when the core temperature is high enough that the heating and cooling (photon and neutrino emission) processes are in balance. We investigate how stellar characteristics and outburst properties affect the long-term temperature evolution of a transiently accreting NS. For the first time the effects of crustal properties are considered, particularly that of shallow heating. Using our code NSCool, we tracked the thermal evolution of a NS undergoing outbursts over a period of $10^5$ yr. The outburst sequence is based on the regular outbursts observed from Aql X-1. For each model, we calculated the timescale over which equilibrium was reached and we present these timescales along with the temperature and luminosity parameters of the equilibrium state. We find that shallow heating significantly contributes to the equilibrium state. Increasing its strength raises the equilibrium core temperature. We find that if deep crustal heating is replaced by shallow heating alone, the core would still heat up, reaching only a 2% lower equilibrium core temperature. Deep crustal heating may therefore not be vital to the heating of the core. Additionally, shallow heating can increase the quiescent luminosity to values higher than previously expected.

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arXiv2019

Crust cooling of the neutron star in Aql X-1: Different depth and magnitude of shallow heating during similar accretion outbursts

The structure and composition of the crust of neutron stars plays an important role in their thermal and magnetic evolution, hence in setting their observational properties. One way to study the crust properties is to measure how it cools after it has been heated during an accretion outburst in a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB). Such studies have shown that there is a tantalizing source of heat, of currently unknown origin, that is located in the outer layers of the crust and has a strength that varies between different sources and different outbursts. With the aim of understanding the mechanism behind this "shallow heating", we present Chandra and Swift observations of the neutron star LMXB Aql X-1, obtained after its bright 2016 outburst. We find that the neutron star temperature was initially much lower, and started to decrease at much later time, than observed after the 2013 outburst of the source, despite the fact that the properties of the two outbursts were very similar. Comparing our data to thermal evolution simulations, we infer that the depth and magnitude of shallow heating must have been much larger during the 2016 outburst than during the 2013 one. This implies that basic neutron star parameters that do not change between outbursts, do not play a strong role in shallow heating. Furthermore, it suggests that outbursts with a similar accretion morphology can give rise to very different shallow heating. We also discuss alternative explanations for the difference in quiescent evolution after the 2016 outburst.

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arXiv2019

Quiescent X-ray variability in the neutron star Be/X-ray transient GRO J1750-27

The Be/X-ray transient GRO J1750-27 exhibited a type-II (giant) outburst in 2015. After the source transited to quiescence, we triggered our multi-year Chandra monitoring programme to study its quiescent behaviour. The programme was designed to follow the cooling of a potentially heated neutron-star crust due to accretion of matter during the preceding outburst, similar to what we potentially have observed before in two other Be/X-ray transients, namely 4U 0115+63 and V 0332+53. However, unlike for these other two systems, we do not find any strong evidence that the neutron-star crust in GRO J1750-27 was indeed heated during the accretion phase. We detected the source at a rather low X-ray luminosity (~10^33 erg/s) during only three of our five observations. When the source was not detected it had very low-luminosity upper limits (<10^32 erg/s; depending on assumed spectral model). We interpret these detections and the variability observed as emission likely due to very low-level accretion onto the neutron star. We also discuss why the neutron-star crust in GRO J1750-27 might not have been heated while the ones in 4U 0115+63 and V 0332+53 possibly were.

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arXiv2019

Continued cooling of the accretion-heated neutron star crust in the X-ray transient IGR J17480-2446 located in the globular cluster Terzan 5

We present a new Chandra observation (performed in July 2016) of the neutron star X-ray transient IGR J17480-2446, located in the globular cluster Terzan 5. We study the continued cooling of the neutron star crust in this system that was heated during the 2010 outburst of the source. This new observation was performed two years after the last observation of IGR J17480-2446, hence, significantly extending the cooling baseline. We reanalysed all available Chandra observations of the source (but excluding observations during which one of the known transients in Terzan 5 was in outburst) and fitted the obtained cooling curve with our cooling code NSCool, which allows for much improved modelling than what was previously performed for the source. The data and our fit models indicate that the crust was still cooling ~5.5 years after the outburst ended. The neutron star crust has likely not reached crust-core thermal equilibrium yet, and further cooling is predicted (which can be confirmed with additional Chandra observations in >5 years). Intriguingly, we find indications that the thermal conductivity might be relatively low in part of the crust compared to what has been inferred for other crust-cooling sources and tentatively suggest that this layer might be located around the neutron drip. The reason for this difference is unclear, but might be related to the fact that IGR J17480-2446 harbours a relatively slowly rotating neutron star (with a spin of 11 Hz) that has a relatively strong inferred surface magnetic field ($10^{9-10}$ Gauss) compared to what is known or typically assumed for other cooling sources.

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arXiv2018

Consistent accretion-induced heating of the neutron-star crust in MXB 1659-29 during two different outbursts

Monitoring the cooling of neutron-star crusts heated during accretion outbursts allows us to infer the physics of the dense matter present in the crust. We examine the crust cooling evolution of the low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1659-29 up to ~505 days after the end of its 2015 outburst (hereafter outburst II) and compare it with what we observed after its previous 1999 outburst (hereafter outburst I) using data obtained from the Swift, XMM-Newton, and Chandra observatories. The observed effective surface temperature of the neutron star in MXB 1659-29 dropped from ~92 eV to ~56 eV from ~12 days to ~505 days after the end of outburst II. The most recently performed observation after outburst II suggests that the crust is close to returning to thermal equilibrium with the core. We model the crust heating and cooling for both its outbursts collectively to understand the effect of parameters that may change for every outburst (e.g., the average accretion rate, the length of outburst, the envelope composition of the neutron star at the end of the outburst) and those which can be assumed to remain the same during these two outbursts (e.g., the neutron star mass, its radius). Our modelling indicates that all parameters were consistent between the two outbursts with no need for any significant changes. In particular, the strength and the depth of the shallow heating mechanism at work (in the crust) were inferred to be the same during both outbursts, contrary to what has been found when modelling the cooling curves after multiple outburst of another source, MAXI J0556-332. This difference in source behaviour is not understood. We discuss our results in the context of our current understanding of cooling of accretion-heated neutron-star crusts, and in particular with respect to the unexplained shallow heating mechanism.

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arXiv2017

A window into the neutron star: Modelling the cooling of accretion heated neutron star crusts

In accreting neutron star X-ray transients, the neutron star crust can be substantially heated out of thermal equilibrium with the core during an accretion outburst. The observed subsequent cooling in quiescence (when accretion has halted) offers a unique opportunity to study the structure and thermal properties of the crust. Initially crust cooling modelling studies focussed on transient X-ray binaries with prolonged accretion outbursts (> 1 year) such that the crust would be significantly heated for the cooling to be detectable. Here we present the results of applying a theoretical model to the observed cooling curve after a short accretion outburst of only ~10 weeks. In our study we use the 2010 outburst of the transiently accreting 11 Hz X-ray pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5. Observationally it was found that the crust in this source was still hot more than 4 years after the end of its short accretion outburst. From our modelling we found that such a long-lived hot crust implies some unusual crustal properties such as a very low thermal conductivity (> 10 times lower than determined for the other crust cooling sources). In addition, we present our preliminary results of the modelling of the ongoing cooling of the neutron star in MXB 1659-298. This transient X-ray source went back into quiescence in March 2017 after an accretion phase of ~1.8 years. We compare our predictions for the cooling curve after this outburst with the cooling curve of the same source obtained after its previous outburst which ended in 2001.

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arXiv2017

Different accretion heating of the neutron star crust during multiple outbursts in MAXI J0556-332

The transient neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binary MAXI J0556$-$332 provides a rare opportunity to study NS crust heating and subsequent cooling for multiple outbursts of the same source. We examine {\it MAXI}, {\it Swift}, {\it Chandra}, and {\it XMM-Newton} data of MAXI J0556$-$332 obtained during and after three accretion outbursts of different durations and brightness. We report on new data obtained after outburst III. The source has been tracked up to $\sim$1800 d after the end of outburst I. Outburst I heated the crust strongly, but no significant reheating was observed during outburst II. Cooling from $\sim$333 eV to $\sim$146 eV was observed during the first $\sim$1200 d. Outburst III reheated the crust up to $\sim$167 eV, after which the crust cooled again to $\sim$131 eV in $\sim$350 d. We model the thermal evolution of the crust and find that this source required a different strength and depth of shallow heating during each of the three outbursts. The shallow heating released during outburst I was $\sim$17 MeV nucleon$^{-1}$ and outburst III required $\sim$0.3 MeV nucleon$^{-1}$. These cooling observations could not be explained without shallow heating. The shallow heating for outburst II was not well constrained and could vary from $\sim$0--2.2 MeV nucleon$^{-1}$, i.e., this outburst could in principle be explained without invoking shallow heating. We discuss the nature of the shallow heating and why it may occur at different strengths and depths during different outbursts.

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arXiv2016

A cold neutron star in the transient low-mass X-ray binary HETE J1900.1-2455 after 10 years of active accretion

The neutron star low-mass X-ray binary and intermittent millisecond X-ray pulsar HETE J1900.1-2455 returned to quiescence in late 2015, after a prolonged accretion outburst of ~10 yr. Using a Chandra observation taken ~180 d into quiescence we detect the source at a luminosity of ~4.5E31 (D/4.7 kpc)^2 erg/s (0.5-10 keV). The X-ray spectrum can be described by a neutron star atmosphere model with a temperature of ~54 eV for an observer at infinity. We perform thermal evolution calculations based on the 2016 quiescent data and a <98 eV temperature upper limit inferred from a Swift observation taken during an unusually brief (<2 weeks) quiescent episode in 2007. We find no evidence in the present data that the thermal properties of the crust, such as the heating rate and thermal conductivity, are different than those of non-pulsating neutron stars. Finding this neutron star so cold after its long outburst imposes interesting constraints on the heat capacity of the stellar core; these become even stronger if further cooling were to occur.

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