A dataset provided by the European Space Agency

Name: Is RX J0720.4-3125 a freely precessing neutron star?
Published: 2008-12-05T00:00:00Z

Proposal ID	050271
Title	Is RX J0720.4-3125 a freely precessing neutron star?
Download Data Associated to the proposal	https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0502710201 https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0502710301
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-9inzk53
Principal Investigator, PI	Dr Jacco Vink
Abstract	RX J0720.4-3125 belongs to a group of radio-quiet isolated neutron stars, whoseX-ray spectra consist of broad absorption feature(s) superimposed on a blackbodycontinuum. It is unique in that its spectrum and flux are time variable. Thecause for this is unclear, but one possibility is free precession of twodifferent hot spots at the star surface. Free precession can reveal importantinformation on the stars interior structure. However, the last observationshows that the spectral evolution does not follow the prediction of a simplesinusoidal model. Continued monitoring of the spectral and timing properties isneeded to reveal whether this is due to a complex and patchy surface thermal mapor whether the variation is caused by effects different from precession.
Publications	XMM-Newton RGS spectrum of RX J0720.4-3125: an absorption feature at 0.57 keV \|Hambaryan V. Neuhauser R. et al. \| A&A \| 497-9 \| 2009 \| 2009A&A...497L...9H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2009A&A...497L...9H Updated phase coherent timing solution of the isolated neutron star RX J0720.4-3125 using recent XMM-Newton and Chandra observations \|Hohle M. M. Haberl F. et al. \| A&A \| 521-11 \| 2010 \| 2010A&A...521A..11H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2010A&A...521A..11H Narrow absorption features in the co-added XMM-Newton RGS spectra of isolated neutron stars \|Hohle M. M. Haberl F. et al. \| MNRAS \| 419-1525 \| 2012 \| 2012MNRAS.419.1525H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2012MNRAS.419.1525H The XMM Cluster Survey: optical analysis methodology and the first data release \|Mehrtens Nicola Romer A. Kathy et al. \| MNRAS \| 423-1024 \| 2012 \| 2012MNRAS.423.1024M \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2012MNRAS.423.1024M The continued spectral and temporal evolution of RX J0720.4-3125 \|Hohle M. M. Haberl F. et al. \| MNRAS \| 423-1194 \| 2012 \| 2012MNRAS.423.1194H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2012MNRAS.423.1194H Spectral and temporal variations of the isolated neutron star RX J0720.4-3125: new XMM-Newton observations \|Hohle M. M. Haberl F. et al. \| A&A \| 498-811 \| 2009 \| 2009A&A...498..811H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2009A&A...498..811H An All-Sky Atlas of Radio/X-ray Associations \|Flesch E. \| PASA \| 27-283 \| 2010 \| 2010PASA...27..283F \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2010PASA...27..283F The XMM Cluster Survey: X-ray analysis methodology \|Lloyd-Davies E. J. Romer A. Kathy et al. \| MNRAS \| 418-14 \| 2011 \| 2011MNRAS.418...14L \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2011MNRAS.418...14L Exospheric solar wind charge exchange as seen by XMM-Newton \|Carter J. A. Semba S. \| AN \| 333-313 \| 2012 \| 2012AN....333..313C \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2012AN....333..313C Classification of X-Ray Sources in the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalog \|Lin Dacheng Webb Natalie A. \| ApJ \| 756-27 \| 2012 \| 2012ApJ...756...27L \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2012ApJ...756...27L An XMM-Newton Survey of the Soft X-Ray Background. II. An All-Sky Catalog of Diffuse O VII and O VIII Emission Intensities \|Henley David B. Shelton Robin L. \| ApJS \| 202-14 \| 2012 \| 2012ApJS..202...14H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2012ApJS..202...14H Automatic Classification of Time-variable X-Ray Sources \|Lo Kitty K. Farrell Sean et al. \| ApJ \| 786-20 \| 2014 \| 2014ApJ...786...20L \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2014ApJ...786...20L The diversity of quasars unified by accretion and orientation \|Shen Yue Ho Luis C. \| Natur \| 513-210 \| 2014 \| 2014Natur.513..210S \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2014Natur.513..210S Serendipitous UV source catalogues for 10 years of XMM and 5 years of Swift \|Yershov V. N. \| Ap&SS \| 354-97 \| 2014 \| 2014Ap&SS.354...97Y \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2014Ap&SS.354...97Y Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect or not? Detecting the main foreground effect of most galaxy clusters \|Xiao Weike Chen Chen et al. \| MNRAS \| 432-41 \| 2013 \| 2013MNRAS.432L..41X \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2013MNRAS.432L..41X Discovery of a Strongly Phase-variable Spectral Feature in the Isolated Neutron Star RX J0720.4-3125 \|Borghese A. Rea N. et al. \| ApJ \| 807-20 \| 2015 \| 2015ApJ...807L..20B \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2015ApJ...807L..20B The Interaction of the Fermi Bubbles with the Milky Ways Hot Gas Halo \|Miller Matthew J. Bregman Joel N. \| ApJ \| 829-9 \| 2016 \| 2016ApJ...829....9M \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2016ApJ...829....9M The Million Optical - Radio/X-ray Associations (MORX) Catalogue \|Flesch Eric W. \| PASA \| 33-52 \| 2016 \| 2016PASA...33...52F \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2016PASA...33...52F The Optical/UV Excess of X-Ray-dim Isolated Neutron Stars. I. Bremsstrahlung Emission from a Strangeon Star Atmosphere \|Wang Weiyang Lu Jiguang et al. \| ApJ \| 837-81 \| 2017 \| 2017ApJ...837...81W \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2017ApJ...837...81W The compactness of the isolated neutron star RX J0720.4-3125 \|Hambaryan V. Suleimanov V. et al. \| A&A \| 601-108 \| 2017 \| 2017A&A...601A.108H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2017A&A...601A.108H Anisotropy of the galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity-temperature relation \|Migkas Konstantinos Reiprich Thomas H. \| A&A \| 611-50 \| 2018 \| 2018A&A...611A..50M \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2018A&A...611A..50M The XMM Cluster Survey: Present status and latest results \|Viana P. T. P. Mehrtens N. et al. \| AN \| 334-462 \| 2013 \| 2013AN....334..462V \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2013AN....334..462V The optical/UV excess of X-ray-dim isolated neutron star II. Nonuniformity of plasma on a strangeon star surface \|Wang Wei-Yang Feng Yi et al. \| RAA \| 18-82 \| 2018 \| 2018RAA....18...82W \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2018RAA....18...82W Universal detection of high-temperature emission in X-ray isolated neutron stars \|Yoneyama Tomokage Hayashida Kiyoshi et al. \| PASJ \| 71-17 \| 2019 \| 2019PASJ...71...17Y \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2019PASJ...71...17Y Testing emergent gravity on galaxy cluster scales \|Tamosiunas Andrius Bacon David et al. \| JCAP \| 5-53 \| 2019 \| 2019JCAP...05..053T \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2019JCAP...05..053T Chandra Follow-up of the SDSS DR8 Redmapper Catalog Using the MATCha Pipeline \|Hollowood Devon L. Jeltema Tesla et al. \| ApJS \| 244-22 \| 2019 \| 2019ApJS..244...22H \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2019ApJS..244...22H Stellar mass as a galaxy cluster mass proxy: application to the Dark Energy Survey redMaPPer clusters \|Palmese A. Annis J. et al. \| MNRAS \| 493-4591 \| 2020 \| 2020MNRAS.493.4591P \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020MNRAS.493.4591P Hard X-Ray Excess from the Magnificent Seven Neutron Stars \|Dessert Christopher Foster Joshua W. \| ApJ \| 904-42 \| 2020 \| 2020ApJ...904...42D \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2020ApJ...904...42D An X-Ray- and SZ-bright Diffuse Source toward M31: A Local Hot Bridge \|Qu Zhijie Huang Rui et al. \| ApJ \| 907-14 \| 2021 \| 2021ApJ...907...14Q \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2021ApJ...907...14Q Axion Emission Can Explain a New Hard X-Ray Excess from Nearby Isolated Neutron Stars \|Buschmann Malte Co Raymond T. et al. \| PhRvL \| 126-21102 \| 2021 \| 2021PhRvL.126b1102B \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2021PhRvL.126b1102B Classification of 4XMM-DR9 sources by machine learning \|Zhang Yanxia Zhao Yongheng \| MNRAS \| 503-5263 \| 2021 \| 2021MNRAS.503.5263Z \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2021MNRAS.503.5263Z The Solar Cycle Temporal Variation of the Solar Wind Charge Exchange X-Ray Lines \|Qu Zhijie Koutroumpa Dimitra et al. \| ApJ \| 930-21 \| 2022 \| 2022ApJ...930...21Q \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2022ApJ...930...21Q The XMM-Newton Line Emission Analysis Program (X-LEAP). I. Emission-line Survey of O VII O VIII and Fe L-shell Transitions \|Pan Zeyang Qu Zhijie et al. \| ApJS \| 271-62 \| 2024 \| 2024ApJS..271...62P \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2024ApJS..271...62P Robust constraints on feebly interacting particles using XMM-Newton \|Luque Pedro De la Torre Balaji Shyam \| PhRvD \| 109-L101305 \| 2024 \| 2024PhRvD.109j1305L \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2024PhRvD.109j1305L Multimessenger search for electrophilic feebly interacting particles from supernovae \|Luque Pedro De la Torre Balaji Shyam \| PhRvD \| 109-103028 \| 2024 \| 2024PhRvD.109j3028L \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2024PhRvD.109j3028L Importance of Cosmic-Ray Propagation on Sub-GeV Dark Matter Constraints \|De la Torre Luque Pedro Balaji Shyam \| ApJ \| 968-46 \| 2024 \| 2024ApJ...968...46D \| http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2024ApJ...968...46D
Instrument	EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage	2007-05-05T17:01:25Z/2007-11-17T12:09:53Z
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.
Creator Contact	https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk
Date Published	2008-12-05T00:00:00Z
Last Update	2025-01-27
Keywords	"3125 belongs", "hot spots", "rx j0720", "spectral evolution", "xray spectra consist", "time variable", "star surface", "interior structure", "simple sinusoidal model", "broad absorption", "J0720.4", "blackbody continuum", "free precession"
Publisher And Registrant	European Space Agency
Credit Guidelines	European Space Agency, Dr Jacco Vink, 2008, 'Is RX J0720.4-3125 a freely precessing neutron star?', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-9inzk53