Bibcode
Bianchi, S.; Ponti, G.; Muñoz-Darias, T.; Petrucci, P.-O.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 472, Issue 2, p.2454-2461
Advertised on:
12
2017
Citations
22
Refereed citations
20
Description
AX J1745.6-2901 is a low-mass X-ray binary with an accreting neutron
star, showing clear evidence for highly ionized absorption. Strong
ionized Fe Kα and Kβ absorption lines are always observed
during the soft state, whereas they disappear during the hard state. We
computed photoionization stability curves for the hard and the soft
states, under different assumptions on the adopted spectral energy
distributions and the physical parameters of the plasma. We observe that
the ionized absorber always lies on a stable branch of the
photoionization stability curve during the soft state, while it becomes
unstable during the hard state. This suggests that photoionization
instability plays a key role in defining the observable properties of
the ionized absorber. The same process might explain the disappearance
of the high ionization absorber/wind during the hard state in other
accreting neutron stars and black holes.
Related projects
Black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs and their local environment
Accreting black-holes and neutron stars in X-ray binaries provide an ideal laboratory for exploring the physics of compact objects, yielding not only confirmation of the existence of stellar mass black holes via dynamical mass measurements, but also the best opportunity for probing high-gravity environments and the physics of accretion; the most
Montserrat
Armas Padilla