{Double-peaked X-Ray Lines from the Oxygen/Neon-rich Accretion Disk in 4U 1626-67}

Citation:

{Schulz} N  S, {Chakrabarty} D, {Marshall} H  L, {Canizares} C  R, {Lee} J  C, {Houck} J. {Double-peaked X-Ray Lines from the Oxygen/Neon-rich Accretion Disk in 4U 1626-67}. \apj. 2001;563 :941-949.

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Abstract:

{We report on a 39 ks observation of the 7.7 s low-mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U 1626-67 with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. This ultracompact system consists of a disk-accreting magnetic neutron star and a very low mass, hydrogen-depleted companion in a 42 minute binary. We have resolved the previously reported Ne/O emission line complex near 1 keV into Doppler pairs of broadened (\~{}2500 km s$^{-1}$ FWHM) lines from highly ionized Ne and O. In most cases, the blue and red line components are of comparable strength, with blueshifts of 1550-2610 km s$^{-1}$ and redshifts of 770-1900 km s$^{-1}$. The lines appear to originate in hot (\~{}10⁶ K), dense material just below the X-ray-heated skin of the outer Keplerian accretion disk, or else possibly in a disk wind driven from the pulsar's magnetopause. The observed photoelectric absorption edges of Ne and O appear nearly an order of magnitude stronger than expected from interstellar material and are likely formed in cool, metal-rich material local to the source. Based on the inferred local abundance ratios, we argue that the mass donor in this binary is probably the 0.02 M$_{solar}$ chemically fractionated core of a C-O-Ne or O-Ne-Mg white dwarf which has previously crystallized. }

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