| Proposal ID | 082205 |
| Title | RX J0812.4 3114: The Coolest Be X-ray Pulsar in Quiescence |
| Download Data Associated to the proposal | https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0822050101 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-4sct426 |
| Principal Investigator, PI | Dr Yue Zhao |
| Abstract | Be/X-ray pulsars in quiescence emit X-rays that may include thermal emissionfrom the hot NS surface, nonthermal emission from continued accretion, or X-raysfrom the hot winds of their optical companions. RX J0812.4 3114 is a Be X-raypulsar observed in quiescence by Chandra for 4.6 ks, with only a few photons. Abest-fit thermal NS atmosphere model to the Chandra data revealed an unusuallylow temperature and much larger inferred emission region radius compared toother quiescent systems of the same kind; however, the very low countingstatistics make it hard to robustly characterize the spectrum. We, therefore,propose an XMM observation to discriminate between a NS atmosphere model vs. athermal plasma model, search for pulsations, and unveil the nature of the X-ray emission. |
| Publications |
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| Instrument | EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2 |
| Temporal Coverage | 2018-10-09T06:53:56Z/2018-10-10T03:00:36Z |
| Version | 21.51_20241115_1113 |
| 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 | 2019-10-29T23:00:00Z |
| Last Update | 2026-07-09 |
| Keywords | "hot ns surface", "low temperature", "J0812.4", "x ray pulsars", "rx j0812", "chandra data", "3114 \:", "XMM", "ns atmosphere model", "thermal emission", "quiescence emit xray", "low counting statistics", "continued accretion", "quiescent systems", "nonthermal emission", "optical companions", "hot winds", "thermal plasma model", "xray pulsar", "xray emission" |
| Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
| Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, Dr Yue Zhao, 2019, 'RX J0812.4 3114: The Coolest Be X-ray Pulsar in Quiescence', 21.51_20241115_1113, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-4sct426 |
| Rights | Data hosted in the ESA Space Science Archives are distributed under the CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO license. |