Iron lines have now been detected in about half a dozen neutron-star accretingX-ray binaries. These lines can be used to set tight constrains on the accretiondisk geometry and on the radius of the neutron star. We have recently shown thatsimultaneous XMM-Newton/RXTE and Chandra/RXTE observations appear to contradictprevious works. Here we propose to observe a NS with XMM-Newton seven times for25virgulks, simultaneously with some of those RXTE observations. Our program willsample a wide range of inner disk radii. This program requires both XMM-Newtonand RXTE observations. Since 2009 may be the last year of operations of RXTE,this program can only be done now.
Instrument
EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2009-03-14T14:50:30Z/2009-09-11T16:01:56Z
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, Dr DIEGO ALTAMIRANO, 2010, 'A deep look at accretion disks: Fe lines comma kHz QPOs and spectral states.', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-prj8otg
