arXiv subjects

M. Revnivtsev

Publications and source records attributed to M. Revnivtsev.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Diagnostics of the black hole candidate SS433 with the RXTE

We present our analysis of the extensive monitoring of SS433 by the RXTE observatory collected over the period 1996-2005. The difference between energy spectra taken at different precessional and orbital phases shows the presence of strong photoabsorption (N_H>10^{23}cm^{-2}) near the optical star, probably due to its powerful, dense wind. Therefore the size of the secondary deduced from analysis of X-ray orbital eclipses might be significantly larger than its Roche lobe size, which must be taken into account when evaluating the mass ratio from analysis of X-ray eclipses. Assuming that a precessing accretion disk is geometrically thick, we recover the temperature profile in the X-ray emitting jet that best fits the observed precessional variations in the X-ray emission temperature. The hottest visible part of the X-ray jet is located at a distance of l_0/a~0.06-0.09, or ~2-3*10^{11}cm from the central compact object, and has a temperature of about T_{max}~30 keV. We discovered appreciable orbital X-ray eclipses at the ``crossover'' precessional phases (jets are in the plane of the sky, disk is edge-on), which under model assumptions put a lower limit on the size of the optical component R/a>0.5 and an upper limit on a mass ratio of binary companions q=M_x/M_{opt}<0.3-0.35, if the X-ray opaque size of the star is not larger than 1.2R_{Roche, secondary}.

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arXiv2006

Diagnostics of SS433 with the RXTE

We present analysis of extensive monitoring of SS433 by the RXTE observatory collected over the period 1996-2005. The difference between energy spectra taken at different precessional and orbital phases shows the presence of a strong photoabsorption near the optical star, probably due to its powerful dense wind. Assuming that a precessing accretion disk is thick, we recover the temperature profile in the X-ray emitting jet that best fits the observed precessional variations of the X-ray emission temperature. The hottest visible part of the X-ray jet is located at a distance of $l_0/a\sim0.06-0.09$, or $\sim2-3\times10^{11}$cm from the central compact object and has a temperature of about $T_{\rm max}\sim30$ keV. We discovered appreciable orbital X-ray eclipses at the ``crossover'' precessional phases (jets are in the plane of the sky, disk is edge-on) which put a lower limit on the size of the optical component $R/a\ga0.5$ and an upper limit on a mass ratio of binary companions $q=M_{\rm x}/M_{\rm opt}\la0.3-0.35$. The size of the eclipsing region can be larger than secondary's Roche lobe because of substantial photoabsorption by dense stellar wind. This must be taken into account when evaluating the mass ratio from analysis of X-ray eclipses.

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arXiv2006

Map of the Galaxy in the 6.7 keV emission line

We study the two dimensional surface brightness distribution of the Galactic X-ray background emission outside the central degree around Sgr A* in the 6.7 keV line as measured by the PCA spectrometer of the RXTE observatory. The use of the emission line instead of continuum (3-20 keV) radiation and application of time variability filtering to the long data set allows us to strongly suppress the contamination of the GRXE map by bright point sources. The surface brightness in the 6.7 keV line demonstrates very good correspondence with the near-infrared surface brightness over the whole Galaxy, supporting the notion that the GRXE consists mostly of integrated emission from weak Galactic X-ray sources. We find compatible linear correlations between near-infrared and 6.7 keV surface brightness for the bulge and disk of the Galaxy. This indicates that the populations of weak X-ray sources making up the GRXE in the disk and bulge are not significantly different.

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arXiv2006

Hard X-ray emission from the Galactic ridge

We present results of a study of the Galactic ridge X-ray emission (GRXE) in hard X-rays performed with the IBIS telescope aboard INTEGRAL. The imaging capabilities of this coding aperture telescope make it possible to account for the flux from bright Galactic point sources whereas the wide field of view permits to collect large flux from the underlying GRXE. Extensive study of the IBIS/ISGRI detector background allowed us to construct a model that predicts the detector count rate with $\sim1-2$% accuracy in the energy band 17-60 keV. The derived longitude and latitude profiles of the ridge emission are in good agreement with the Galactic distribution of stars obtained from infrared observations. This, along with the measured hard X-ray spectrum of the Galactic ridge emission strongly indicates its stellar origin. The derived unit stellar mass emissivity of the ridge in the energy band 17-60 keV, $(0.9 - 1.2)\times 10^{27}$\lummass (assuming a bulge mass of $1-1.3 \times 10^{10} M_\odot$) agrees with that of local (in the Solar neigborhood) accreting magnetic white dwarf binaries - dominant contributors to the GRXE at these energies. In addition, the shape of the obtained GRXE spectrum can be used to determine the average mass of white dwarfs in such systems in the Galaxy as $\sim0.5 M_{\sun}$. The total hard X-ray luminosity of the GRXE is $L_{\rm 17-60 keV} =(3.7\pm0.2)\times10^{37}$\lum in the 17--60 keV band. At energies 70--200 keV no additional contribution to the total emission of the Galaxy apart from the detected point sources is seen.

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arXiv2006

Boundary layer emission and Z-track in the color-color diagram of luminous LMXBs

We demonstrate that Fourier-frequency resolved spectra of atoll and Z- sources are identical, despite significant difference in their average spectra and luminosity (by a factor of ~10-20). This result fits in the picture we suggested earlier, namely that the f> 1 Hz variability in luminous LMXBs is primarily due to variations of the boundary layer luminosity. In this picture the frequency resolved spectrum equals the boundary layer spectrum, which therefore can be straightforwardly determnined from the data. The obtained so boundary layer spectrum is well approximated by the saturated Comptonization model, its high energy cut-off follows kT~2.4 keV black body. Its independence on the global mass accretion rate lends support to the theoretical suggestion by Inogamov &Sunyaev (1999) that the boundary layer is radiation pressure supported. With this assumption we constrain the gravity on the neutron star surface and its mass and radius. Equipped with the knowledge of the boundary layer spectrum we attempt to relate the motion along the Z-track to changes of physically meaningful parameters. Our results suggest that the contribution of the boundary layer to the observed emission decreases along the Z-track from conventional ~50% on the horizontal branch to a rather small number on the normal branch. This decrease can be caused, for example, by obscuration of the boundary layer by the geometrically thick accretion disk at Mdot ~ Mdot_Edd. Alternatively, this can indicate significant change of the structure of the accretion flow at Mdot ~ Mdot_ Edd and disappearance of the boundary layer as a distinct region of the significant energy release associated with the neutron star surface.

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arXiv2006

Identification of 8 INTEGRAL hard X-ray sources with Chandra

We report the results of identification of 8 hard X-ray sources discovered by the INTEGRAL observatory during the ongoing all-sky survey. These sources have been observed by Chandra. In 6 cases a bright X-ray source was found within the INTEGRAL localization region, which permitted to unambigously identify 5 of the objects with nearby galaxies, implying that they have an active galactic nucleus (AGN), whereas one source is likely an X-ray binary in LMC. 4 of the 5 newly discovered AGNs have measured redshifts in the range 0.025-0.055. The X-ray spectra reveal the presence of significant amounts of absorbing gas (NH in the range 10^22-10^24 cm^-2) in all 5 AGNs, demonstrating that INTEGRAL is starting to fill in the sample of nearby obscured AGNs.

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arXiv2005

X-ray luminosity function of faint point sources in the Milky Way

We assess the contribution to the X-ray (above 2 keV) luminosity of the Milky Way from different classes of low-mass binary systems and single stars. We begin by using the RXTE Slew Survey of the sky at |b|>10 to construct an X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of nearby X-ray sources in the range 10^30<Lx(erg/s)<10^34 (where Lx is the luminosity over 2-10 keV), occupied by coronally active binaries (ABs) and cataclysmic variables (CVs). We then extend this XLF down to Lx~10^27.5 erg/s using the Rosat All-Sky Survey in soft X-rays and available information on the 0.1-10 keV spectra of typical sources. We find that the local cumulative X-ray (2-10 keV) emissivities (per unit stellar mass) of ABs and CVs are (2.0+/-0.8)x10^27 and (1.1+/-0.3)x10^27 erg/s/Msol, respectively. In addition to ABs and CVs, representing old stellar populations, young stars emit locally (1.5+/-0.4)x10^27 erg/s/Msol. We finally attach to the XLF of ABs and CVs a high luminosity branch (up to ~10^39 erg/s) composed of neutron-star and black-hole low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), derived in previous work. The combined XLF covers ~12 orders of magnitude in luminosity. The estimated combined contribution of ABs and CVs to the 2-10 keV luminosity of the Milky Way is ~2x10^38 erg/s, or ~3% of the integral luminosity of LMXBs (averaged over nearby galaxies). The XLF obtained in this work is used elsewhere (Revnivtsev et al.) to assess the contribution of point sources to the Galactic ridge X-ray emission.

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arXiv2005

Boundary layer emission in luminous LMXBs

We show that aperiodic and quasiperiodic variability of bright LMXBs - atoll and Z- sources, on ~sec - msec time scales is caused primarily by variations of the boundary layer luminosity. The accretion disk emission is less variable on these time scales and its power density follows 1/f law, contributing to observed flux variation at low frequencies and low energies only. The kHz QPOs have the same origin as variability at lower frequencies - independent of the nature of the "clock", the actual luminosity modulation takes place on the NS surface. The boundary layer spectrum remains nearly constant during luminosity variations and can be represented by the Fourier frequency resolved spectrum. In the range of Mdot~(0.1-1)*Mdot_Edd it depends weakly on the global mass accretion rate and in the limit Mdot~Mdot_Edd is close to Wien spectrum with kT~2.4 keV. Its independence on the Mdot lends support to the suggestion by Inogamov & Sunyaev (1999) that the boundary layer is radiation pressure supported. Based on the knowledge of the boundary layer spectrum we attempt to relate the motion along the Z-track to changes of physically meaningful parameters. Our results suggest that the contribution of the boundary layer to the observed emission decreases along the Z-track from conventional ~50% on the horizontal branch to a rather small number on the normal branch. This decrease can be caused, for example, by obscuration of the boundary layer by the geometrically thickened accretion disk at Mdot~Mdot_Edd. Alternatively, this can indicate significant change of the structure of the accretion flow at Mdot~Mdot_Edd and disappearance of the boundary layer as a distinct region of the significant energy release associated with the NS surface.

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arXiv2005

Identification of four RXTE Slew Survey sources with nearby luminous active galactic nuclei

Based on RXTE scans and observations with the SWIFT/XRT telescope and INTEGRAL observatory, we report the identification of four X-ray sources discovered during the RXTE Slew Survey of the |b|>10deg sky with nearby (z ~ 0.017-0.098) luminous (log L_2-10keV ~ 42.7-44 erg/s) active galactic nuclei. Two of the objects exhibit heavily intrinsically absorbed X-ray spectra (NHL~10^23 cm^-2).

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arXiv2005

Origin of the Galactic ridge X-ray emission

We analyze a map of the Galactic ridge X-ray emission (GRXE) constructed in the 3-20 keV energy band from RXTE/PCA scan and slew observations. We show that the GRXE intensity closely follows the Galactic near-infrared surface brightness and thus traces the Galactic stellar mass distribution. The GRXE consists of two spatial components which can be identified with the bulge/bar and the disk of the Galaxy. The parameters of these components determined from X-ray data are compatible with those derived from near-infrared data. The inferred ratio of X-ray to near-infrared surface brightness I(3-20 keV) (1e-11 erg/s/cm2/deg2)/I_(3.5micron)(MJy/sr)=0.26+/-0.05, and the ratio of X-ray to near-infrared luminosity L_(3-20 keV)/L_(3-4 micron)=(4.1+/-0.3)e-5. The corresponding ratio of the 3-20 keV luminosity to the stellar mass is L_x/M_Sun= (3.5\pm0.5) 10^{27} erg/s, which agrees within the uncertainties with the cumulative emissivity per unit stellar mass of point X-ray sources in the Solar neighborhood, determined in an accompanying paper (Sazonov et al.). This suggests that the bulk of the GRXE is composed of weak X-ray sources, mostly cataclysmic variables and coronally active binaries. The fractional contributions of these classes of sources to the total X-ray emissivity determined from the Solar neighborhood data can also explain the GRXE energy spectrum. Based on the luminosity function of local X-ray sources we predict that in order to resolve 90% of the GRXE into discrete sources a sensitivity limit of ~10^{-16} erg/s/cm2 (2--10 keV) will need to be reached in future observations.

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arXiv2005

INTEGRAL insight into the inner parts of the Galaxy. High mass X-ray binaries

Since its launch INTEGRAL has devoted a significant fraction of its observing time to the Galactic plane region. We present the results of INTEGRAL observations of the inner spiral arms of the Galaxy (Norma, Scutum and Sagittarius) with attention to high mass X-ray binaries. The increased sensitivity of the survey and possibility to detect absorbed sources significantly enlarged our sample of HMXBs in comparison with previous studies. For some absorbed sources we present for the first time high quality broadband (1-100 keV) energy spectra. We confirm pulsations of the X-ray flux of IGR J16358-4726, discovered by CHANDRA, and report discovery of pulsations with a period of $228\pm6$ sec from IGR J16465-4507. We confirm that the Galactic high mass X-ray binary distribution is significantly different from the distribution of low mass X-ray binaries concentrated in the Galactic Center. A large fraction of detected high mass X-ray binaries are absorbed sources.

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arXiv2005

Discovery and study of the accreting pulsar 2RXP J130159.6-635806

We report on analysis of the poorly studied source 2RXP J130159.6-635806 at different epochs with ASCA, Beppo-SAX, XMM-Newton, and INTEGRAL. The source shows coherent X-ray pulsations at a period ~700s with an average spin up rate of about dnu/dt ~ 2x10^{-13} Hz/s. A broad band (1-60 keV) spectral analysis of 2RXP J130159.6-635806 based on almost simultaneous XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL data demonstrates that the source has a spectrum typical of an accretion powered X-ray pulsar, i.e. an absorbed power law with a high energy cut-off with a photon index Gamma ~ 0.5-1.0 and a cut-off energy of ~25 keV. The long term behaviour of the source, its spectral and timing properties, tend to indicate a high mass X-ray binary with Be companion. We also report on the identification of the likely infrared counterpart to 2RXP J130159.6-635806. The interstellar reddening does not allow us to strongly constrain the spectral type of the counterpart. The latter is, however, consistent with a Be star, the kind of which is often observed in accretion powered X-ray pulsars.

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arXiv2005

Intensity of the cosmic X-ray backgound from HEAO1/A2 experiment

We reanalyze data of HEAO1/A2 -- Cosmic X-ray Experiment -- in order to repeat the measurements of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) intensity and accurately compare this value with other measurements of the CXB. We used the data of MED, HED1 and HED3 detectors in scan mode, that allowed us to measure effective solid angles and effective areas of detectors self consistently, in the same mode as the CXB intensity was measured. We obtained the average value of the CXB intensity is 1.96+/-0.10 x10^{-11} erg/s/cm2/deg2 in the energy band 2-10 keV, or 9.7+/-0.5 phot/s/cm2/sr at 1 keV assuming the power law spectral shape with photon index Gamma=1.4 in this energy band. We compare the obtained measurements with those obtained by different instruments over last decades.

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arXiv2005

Discovery of X-ray pulsations from IGR J16320-4751 = AX J1631.9-4752

We report a discovery of strong modulations of the X-ray flux detected from IGR J16320-4751 = AX J1631.9-4752 with a period of P~1300 sec. We reanalyzed the data of an XMM-Newton ToO performed soon after the discovery of the source by INTEGRAL and found the modulation at a period of P=1309+/-40 sec with a high significance. Modulations of the source flux with two possible periods of ~1300 and ~1500 sec were identified in the ASCA archival data. It is very likely that the modulation can be interpreted as X-ray pulsations, favouring a pulsar as the compact object in IGR/AX J16320-4752. Thus for the moment this source became the fourth source from a new class of highly absorbed binary systems for which the pulsations are observed.

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arXiv2005

Broad band variability of SS433: Accretion disk at work?

We present broad band power spectra of variations of SS433 in radio, optical and X-ray spectral bands. We show that at frequencies lower than 1e-5 Hz the source demonstrates the same variability pattern in all these bands. The broad band power spectrum can be fitted by one power law down to frequencies ~1e-7 Hz with flattening afterwards. Such a flattening means that on time scales longer than ~1e7 sec the source variability becomes uncorrelated. This naturally leads to the appearance of quasi-poissonian flares in the source light curve, which have been regularly observed in radio and optical spectral bands. The radio flux power spectrum appears to have a second break at Fourier frequencies ~1e-5 Hz which can be caused by the smearing of the intrinsic radio variability on timescale of the light-crossing time of the radio emitting region. We find a correlation of the radio and optical fluxes of SS433 and the radio flux is delayed by about ~2 days with respect to the optical one. Power spectra of optical and X-ray variabilities continue with the same power law from 1e-7 Hz up to ~0.01-0.05 Hz. The broad band power spectrum of SS433 can be interpreted in terms of self-similar accretion rate modulations in the accretion disk proposed by Lyubarskii (1997) and elaborated by Churazov et al. (2001). We discuss a viscous time-scale in the accretion disk of SS433 in implication to the observed broad band power spectrum.

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arXiv2004

Positron annihilation spectrum from the Galactic Center region observed by SPI/INTEGRAL

The electron-positron annihilation spectrum observed by SPI/INTEGRAL during deep Galactic Center region exposure is reported. The line energy (510.954$\pm$0.075 keV) is consistent with the unshifted annihilation line. The width of the annihilation line is 2.37$\pm$0.25 keV (FWHM), while the strength of the ortho-positronium continuum suggests that the dominant fraction of positrons (94$\pm$6%) form positronium before annihilation. Compared to the previous missions these deep INTEGRAL observations provide the most stringent constraints on the line energy and width. Under the assumption of an annihilation in a single-phase medium these spectral parameters can be explained by a warm $T_e\sim 7000-4~10^4$ K gas with the degree of ionization larger than a few $10^{-2}$. One of the wide-spread ISM phases - warm ($T_e \sim 8000$ K) and weakly ionized (degree of ionization $\sim$ 0.1) medium satisfies these criteria. Other single-phase solutions are also formally allowed by the data (e.g. cold, but substantially ionized ISM), but such solutions are believed to be astrophysically unimportant. The observed spectrum can also be explained by the annihilation in a multi-phase ISM. The fraction of positrons annihilating in a very hot ($T_e \ge 10^6$ K) phase is constrained to be less than $\sim$8%. Neither a moderately hot ($T_e \ge 10^5$ K) ionized medium nor a very cold ($T_e \le 10^3$ K) neutral medium can make a dominant contribution to the observed annihilation spectrum. However, a combination of cold/neutral, warm/neutral and warm/ionized phases in comparable proportions could also be consistent with the data.

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arXiv2004

Statistical properties of local active galactic nuclei inferred from the RXTE 3-20 keV all-sky survey

We compiled a sample of 95 AGNs serendipitously detected in the 3-20 keV band at Galactic latitude |b|>10 during the RXTE slew survey (XSS, Revnivtsev et al.), and utilize it to study the statistical properties of the local population of AGNs, including X-ray luminosity function and absorption distribution. We find that among low X-ray luminosity (Lx < 10^43.5 erg/s) AGNs, the ratio of absorbed (characterized by intrinsic absorption in the range 10^22 cm^-2 < NH < 10^24 cm^-2) and unabsorbed (NH < 10^22 cm^-2) objects is 2:1, while this ratio drops to less than 1:5 for higher luminosity AGNs. The summed X-ray output of AGNs with Lx > 10^41 erg/s estimated here is smaller than the earlier estimated total X-ray volume emissivity in the local Universe, suggesting that a comparable X-ray flux may be produced together by lower luminosity AGNs, non-active galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Finally, we present a sample of 35 AGN candidates, composed of the unidentified XSS sources.

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arXiv2004

The broad-band spectrum of the persistent emission from SGR1806-20

We present the results of an analysis of the quiescent X-ray emission from the Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater SGR1806-20, taken during an INTEGRAL ultra-deep survey of the Galactic Center region in autumn 2003. The total effective exposure time spent on the source by the IBIS telescope during these observations exceeded 1.5 million seconds. Combining the INTEGRAL results with results from the XMM-Newton observatory, we present the broad band (1-200 keV) spectrum of the quiescent emission from this source. This is the first spectrum of the persistent emission from an SGR in the broad energy range up to 200 keV. The luminosity of SGR1806-20 in this range was 3.6E36 ergs/s for an assumed distance of 15 kpc. We show that weak undetected bursts should not contribute significantly to the quiescent emission. The spectrum of the source is very hard and has a power law shape without any trace of a high energy cutoff up to \~160 keV. No strong cyclotron line was detected in the persistent spectrum in the previously reported 4-6 keV band. During our next observations in the autumn 2004 source went to active phase and its avereged flux between powerful bursts was 2-3 times higher than in 2003. During these observations two other SGR candidates, SGR1801-23 and SGR1808-20, were in the field of view. Neither persistent hard X-ray emission nor bursts were detected from them. The upper limit on the persistent flux from each of them in the energy band 18-100 keV is about 4E-11 erg/s/cm2.

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