arXiv subjects

S. Molkov

Publications and source records attributed to S. Molkov.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Peculiarities in the orbital and precessional variability of SS433 from INTEGRAL observations

Based on multiyear INTEGRAL observations of SS433, a composite IBIS/ISGRI 18-60 keV orbital light curve is constructed around zero precessional phase $ψ_{pr}= 0$. It shows a peculiar shape characterized by a significant excess near the orbital phase $ϕ_{orb}= 0.25$, which is not seen in the softer 2-10 keV energy band. Such a shape is likely to be due to a complex asymmetric structure of the funnel in a supercritical accretion disk in SS433. The orbital light curve at 40-60 keV demonstrates two almost equal bumps at phases $\sim 0.25$ and $\sim 0.75$, most likely due to nutation effects of the accretion disk. The change of the off-eclipse 18-60 keV X-ray flux with the precessional phase shows a double-wave form with strong primary maximum at $ψ_{pr}= 0$ and weak but significant secondary maximum at $ψ_{pr}= 0.6$. A weak variability of the 18-60 keV flux in the middle of the orbital eclipse correlated with the disk precessional phase is also observed. The joint analysis of the broadband (18-60 keV) orbital and precessional light curves obtained by INTEGRAL confirms the presence of a hot extended corona in the central parts of the supercritical accretion disk and constrain the binary mass ratio in SS433 in the range $0.5\gtrsim q\gtrsim 0.3$, confirming the black hole nature of the compact object. Orbital and precessional light curves in the hardest X-ray band 40-60 keV, which is free from emission from thermal X-ray jets, are also best fitted by the same geometrical model with hot extended corona at $q\sim 0.3$, stressing the conclusions of the modeling of the broad-band X-ray orbital and precessional light curves.

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arXiv2012

Superorbital modulation of X-ray emission from gamma-ray binary LSI +61 303

We report the discovery of a systematic constant time lag between the X-ray and radio flares of the gamma-ray binary LSI +61 303, persistent over long, multi-year, time scale. Using the data of monitoring of the system by RXTE we show that the orbital phase of X-ray flares from the source varies from $ϕ_X\simeq 0.35$ to $ϕ_X\simeq 0.75$ on the superorbital 4.6 yr time scale. Simultaneous radio observations show that periodic radio flares always lag the X-ray flare by $Δϕ_{X-R}\simeq 0.2$. We propose that the constant phase lag corresponds to the time of flight of the high-energy particle filled plasma blobs from inside the binary to the radio emission region at the distance ~10 times the binary separation distance. We put forward a hypothesis that the X-ray bursts correspond to the moments of formation of plasma blobs inside the binary system.

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arXiv2009

Absolute timing of the Crab pulsar with the INTEGRAL/SPI telescope

We have investigated the pulse shape evolution of the Crab pulsar emission in the hard X-ray domain of the electromagnetic spectrum. In particular, we have studied the alignment of the Crab pulsar phase profiles measured in the hard X-rays and in other wavebands. To obtain the hard X-ray pulse profiles, we have used six year (2003-2009, with a total exposure of about 4 Ms) of publicly available data of the SPI telescope on-board of the INTEGRAL observatory, folded with the pulsar time solution derived from the Jodrell Bank Crab Pulsar Monthly Ephemeris. We found that the main pulse in the hard X-ray 20-100 keV energy band is leading the radio one by $8.18\pm0.46$ milliperiods in phase, or $275\pm15 μs$ in time. Quoted errors represent only statistical uncertainties.Our systematic error is estimated to be $\sim 40 μs$ and is mainly caused by the radio measurement uncertainties. In hard X-rays, the average distance between the main pulse and interpulse on the phase plane is $0.3989\pm0.0009$. To compare our findings in hard X-rays with the soft 2-20 keV X-ray band, we have used data of quasi-simultaneous Crab observations with the PCA monitor on-board the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) mission. The time lag and the pulses separation values measured in the 3-20 keV band are $0.00933\pm0.00016$ (corresponding to $310\pm6 μs$) and $0.40016\pm0.00028$ parts of the cycle, respectively. While the pulse separation values measured in soft X-rays and hard X-rays agree, the time lags are statistically different. Additional analysis show that the delay between the radio and X-ray signals varies with energy in the 2 - 300 keV energy range. We explain such a behaviour as due to the superposition of two independent components responsible for the Crab pulsed emission in this energy band.

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arXiv2008

Peculiar nature of hard X-ray eclipse in SS433 from INTEGRAL observations

The analysis of INTEGRAL observations (2003-2008) of superaccreting galactic microquasar SS433 at precessional phases with the maximum disk opening angle is carried out. The shape and width of the primary X-ray eclipse is found to be strongly variable suggesting additional absorption in dense stellar wind and gas outflows from the optical A7I-component. The joint modeling of X-ray eclipse and precessional X-ray variability by a geometrical model suggests the binary mass ratio q=m_x/m_v=0.3, allowing an explnation of peculiarities of the optical variability of SS433, in particular, the substantial precessional variability at the primary optical eclipse minimum. For the mass function of the optical star f_v=0.268 M_\odot as derived from Hillwig and Gies (2008) data, the obtained q yields the masses of the components m_x=5 M_\odot, m_v=15 M_\odot, confirming the black hole nature of the relativistic object in SS433. The independence of the observed hard X-ray spectrum on the precession phase suggests that hard X-ray emission is formed in an extended hot corona. The Monte-Carlo simulations of the broadband X-ray spectrum of SS433 at the maximum disk opening precessional phases allowed us to determine physical parameters of the corona (temperature T_{cor}=20 keV, Thomson optical depth τ=0.2), and to estimate the jet mass outflow rate \dot M_j=3\times 10^{19} g/s yielding the kinetic power of the jets \sim 10^{39} erg/s.

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arXiv2007

Large-scale variations of the cosmic X-ray background and the X-ray emissivity of the local Universe

We study the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) intensity variations on large angular scales using slew data of the RXTE observatory. We detect intensity variations up to ~2% on angular scales of 20--40deg. These variations are partly correlated with the local large-scale structure, which allowed us to estimate the emissivity of the local Universe in the energy band 2--10 keV at 9+/-4 x 10^{38} ers/sec/Mpc^{3}. The spectral energy distribution of the large-angular-scale variations is hard and is compatible with that of the CXB, which implies that normal galaxies and clusters of galaxies, whose spectra are typically much softer, do not contribute more than 15% to the total X-ray emissivity of the local Universe. Most of the observed CXB anisotropy (after exclusion of point sources with fluxes >10^{-11} erg/s/cm^2) can be attributed to low-luminosity AGNs

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arXiv2007

GRB 070311: a direct link between the prompt emission and the afterglow

We present prompt gamma-ray, early NIR/optical, late optical and X-ray observations of the peculiar GRB 070311 discovered by INTEGRAL, in order to gain clues on the mechanisms responsible for the prompt gamma-ray pulse as well as for the early and late multi-band afterglow of GRB 070311. We fitted with empirical functions the gamma-ray and optical light curves and scaled the result to the late time X-rays. The H-band light curve taken by REM shows two pulses peaking 80 and 140 s after the peak of the gamma-ray burst and possibly accompanied by a faint gamma-ray tail. Remarkably, the late optical and X-ray afterglow underwent a major rebrightening between 3x10^4 and 2x10^5 s after the burst with an X-ray fluence comparable with that of the prompt emission extrapolated in the same band. Notably, the time profile of the late rebrightening can be described as the combination of a time-rescaled version of the prompt gamma-ray pulse and an underlying power law. This result supports a common origin for both prompt and late X-ray/optical afterglow rebrightening of GRB 070311 within the external shock scenario. The main fireball would be responsible for the prompt emission, while a second shell would produce the rebrightening when impacting the leading blastwave in a refreshed shock (abridged).

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arXiv2007

INTEGRAL observations of the cosmic X-ray background in the 5-100 keV range via occultation by the Earth

We study the spectrum of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) in energy range $\sim$5-100 keV. Early in 2006 the INTEGRAL observatory performed a series of four 30ksec observations with the Earth disk crossing the field of view of the instruments. The modulation of the aperture flux due to occultation of extragalactic objects by the Earth disk was used to obtain the spectrum of the Cosmic X-ray Background(CXB). Various sources of contamination were evaluated, including compact sources, Galactic Ridge emission, CXB reflection by the Earth atmosphere, cosmic ray induced emission by the Earth atmosphere and the Earth auroral emission. The spectrum of the cosmic X-ray background in the energy band 5-100 keV is obtained. The shape of the spectrum is consistent with that obtained previously by the HEAO-1 observatory, while the normalization is $\sim$10% higher. This difference in normalization can (at least partly) be traced to the different assumptions on the absolute flux from the Crab Nebulae. The increase relative to the earlier adopted value of the absolute flux of the CXB near the energy of maximum luminosity (20-50 keV) has direct implications for the energy release of supermassive black holes in the Universe and their growth at the epoch of the CXB origin.

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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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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

Two years of INTEGRAL monitoring of the Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater SGR 1806-20: from quiescence to frenzy

SGR 1806-20 has been observed for more than 2 years with the INTEGRAL satellite. In this period the source went from a quiescent state into a very active one culminating in a giant flare on December 27 2004. Here we report on the properties of all the short bursts detected with INTEGRAL before the giant flare. We derive their number-intensity distribution and confirm the hardness-intensity correlation for the bursts found by Gotz et al. (2004a). Our sample includes a very bright outburst that occurred on October 5 2004, during which over one hundred bursts were emitted in 10 minutes, involving an energy release of 3 x 1E42 erg. We present a detailed analysis of it and discuss our results in the framework of the magnetar model.

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arXiv2005

Extragalactic source counts in the 20-50 keV energy band from the deep observation of the Coma region by INTEGRAL/IBIS

We present the analysis of serendipitous sources in a deep, 500 ksec, hard X-ray observation of the Coma cluster region with the IBIS instrument onboard INTEGRAL. In addition to the Coma cluster, the final 20-50 keV image contains 12 serendipitous sources with statistical significance >4sigma. We use these data (after correcting for expected number of false detections) to extend the extragalactic source counts in the 20-50 keV energy band down to a limiting flux of 1.0e-11 erg/s/cm^2 (~ 1mCrab). This is a more than a factor of 10 improvement in sensitivity compared to the previous results in this energy band obtained with the HEAO-1 A4 instrument. The derived source counts are consistent with the Euclidean relation, N(>f) ~ f**(-3/2). A large fraction of identified serendipitous sources are low-redshift, z<0.02, AGNs, mostly of Seyfert 1 type. The surface density of hard X-ray sources is 0.014 +- 0.005 per square degree above a flux threshold of 1e-11 erg/s/cm^2. These sources directly account for ~3% of the cosmic X-ray background in the 20-50 keV energy band. Given the low redshift depth of our sample, we expect that similar sources at higher redshifts account for a significant fraction of the hard X-ray background. Our field covers only 3% of the sky; a systematic analysis of other extragalactic INTEGRAL observations can produce much larger source samples and is, therefore, critically important.

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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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arXiv2004

INTEGRAL observations of five sources in the Galactic Center region

A number of new X-ray sources (IGR J17091-3624, IGR/XTE J17391-3021, IGR J17464-3213 (= XTE J17464-3213 = H 1743-322), IGR J17597-2201, SAX/IGR J18027-2017) have been observed with the INTEGRAL observatory during ultra deep exposure of the Galactic Center region in August-September 2003. Most of them were permanently visible by the INTEGRAL at energies higher than $\sim 20$ keV, but IGR/XTE J17391-3021 was observed only during its flaring activity with a flux maximum of $\sim120$ mCrab. IGR J17091-3624, IGR J17464-3213 and IGR J17597-2201 were detected up to $\sim 100$-150 keV. In this paper we present the analysis of INTEGRAL observations of these sources to determine the nature of these objects. We conclude that all of them have a galactic origin. Two sources are black hole candidates (IGR J17091-3624 and IGR J17464-3213), one is an LMXB neutron star binary (presumably an X-ray burster) and two other sources (IGR J17597-2201 and SAX/IGR J18027-2017) are neutron stars in high mass binaries; one of them (SAX/IGR J18027-2017) is an accreting X-ray pulsar.

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arXiv2004

INTEGRAL detection of a long powerful burst from SLX1735-269

We present results of analysis of a bursting behavior of a low mass X-ray binary system SLX 1735-269 during INTEGRAL observations of the Galactic Center region in 2003. There were detected 6 type I X-ray bursts in total, with one being much longer and more powerful then others. A strong dependence of the bursts recurrence time on the mass accretion rate is observed, that is likely caused by the change in the burning regime. The long burst demonstrated a photospheric radius expansion. We discuss possible scenarios of this long burst and show that it is unlikely a carbon burning flash and rather a burst of large pile of hydrogen and helium accelerated by electron capture processes in a dense accumulated layer.

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arXiv2004

Variability of X-ray pulsars in a hard energy band observed with INTEGRAL

We present the first results of the observations of the X-ray pulsars LMC X-4, 4U0352+309 and EXO1722-363 performed with the INTEGRAL observatory. The LMC X-4 was investigated during the whole superorbital cycle ($\sim$30 days) and it was found that its period was not stable at this time scale. We detected a variable X-ray flux (18-60 keV) from the pulsar EXO1722-363, which could be connected with the orbital motion in the binary system. A more accurate position and the estimate of the orbital period for this source are reported. We also investigated a hard X-ray spectrum of 4U0352+309 (X Persei) measured with INTEGRAL and report the detection of the cyclotron absorption line at about 29 keV.

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arXiv2004

INTEGRAL and RXTE observations of broad-line radio galaxy 3C 111

3C 111 is an X-ray bright broad-line radio galaxy which is classified as a Fanaroff-Riley type II source with a double-lobe/single jet morphology, and reported superluminal motion. It is a well-known X-ray source, and was observed by every major X-ray observatory since HEAO-1. In this paper we present the results of the RXTE and INTEGRAL data analysis and compare them with the results of the previous observations.

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arXiv2003

First results from TOO observations of the Aql X-1 field with INTEGRAL

We present results of observations of the Aql X-1 field performed in March-April 2003 with the INTEGRAL observatory. This TOO (Target Of Opportunity) INTEGRAL observations was initiated upon receiving an indication from the ASM/RXTE that the source started an outburst. Thirteen X-ray sources were detected by the INTEGRAL imagers, JEM-X and IBIS, during these observations. We present a preliminary spectral and timing analysis for several bright sources in the field, Aql X-1, X1901+03, 4U1907+097, XTE J1908+094 and X1908+075. We also detected two X-ray bursts from Aql X-1 near the end of the general outburst episode.

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arXiv2003

Boundary layer, accretion disk and X-ray variability in luminous LMXBs

Using Fourier frequency resolved X-ray spectroscopy we study short term spectral variability in luminous LMXBs. With RXTE/PCA observations of 4U1608--52 and GX340+0 on the horizontal/normal branch of the color-intensity diagram we show that aperiodic and quasiperiodic variability on ~ sec-msec time scales is caused primarily by variations of the luminosity of the boundary layer. The emission of the accretion disk is less variable on these time scales and its power density spectrum follows Pdisk(f) ~ 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, i.e. independent of the nature of the "clock", the actual luminosity modulation takes place on the neutron star surface, The boundary layer spectrum remains nearly constant in the course of the luminosity variations and is represented to certain accuracy by the Fourier frequency resolved spectrum. In the considered range 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 (in the distant observer's frame). The spectrum of the accretion disk emission is significantly softer and in the 3--20 keV range is reasonably well described by a relativistic disk model with a mass accretion rate consistent with the value inferred from the observed X-ray flux.

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