Different mechanisms may power the quiescent emission of soft X--ray transients,impacting on the physics of fast spinning, weakly magnetic neutron stars subjectto low mass inflow rates: a) the accretion regime; b) the propeller regime; c)the radio pulsar regime. The emission location and spectrum should be: close tothe neutron star and soft in cases a) and b); from an extended shock andpower-law like in case c). Additional soft emission may originate from neutronstar cooling. We propose an 80 ks observation of the eclipsing system X1658-298,covering 3 orbits. This will yield the source quiescent spectrum and exploit theX-ray eclipses to determine where the emission components originate. OnlyXMM-Newton has the sensitivity and throughput to carry out this study.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2005-03-19T12:05:27Z/2005-03-20T04:30:39Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Prof LUIGI STELLA, 2006, 'X1658-298: UNVEILING THE EMISSION MECHANISMopenParSclosePar OF QUIESCENT SOFT X-RAY TRANSIENT', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-e2huyri
