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The Reawakening of the Sleeping X-ray Pulsar XTE J1946+274We report on a series of outbursts of the high mass X-ray binary XTE 11946+274 in 2010/2011 as observed with INTEGRAL, RXTE, and Swift. We discuss possible mechanisms resulting in the extraordinary outburst behavior of this source. The X-ray spectra can be described by standard phenomenological models, enhanced by an absorption feature of unknown origin at about 10 keV and a narrow iron K alpha fluorescence line at 6.4keV, which are variable in flux and pulse phase. We find possible evidence for the presence of a cyclotron resonance scattering feature at about 25 keV at the 93% level. The presence of a strong cyclotron line at 35 keV seen in data from the source's 1998 outburst and confirmed by a reanalysis of these data can be excluded. This result indicates that the cyclotron line feature in XTE 11946+274 is variable between individual outbursts.
Document ID
20120016555
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Mueller, Sebastian (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Mueller, Sebastian (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Kuechnel, Matthias (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Fuerst, Felix (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Kreykenbohm, Ingo (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Sagredo, Macarena (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Obst, Maria (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Wilms, Joern (Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ. Bamberg, Germany)
Caballero, Isabel (Paris Univ. Gif sur Y vette, France)
Potttschmidt, Katja (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Ferrigno, Carlo (Geneva Univ. Geneva, Switzerland)
Rothschild, Richard E. (California Univ., San Diego La Jolla, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 26, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2012
Subject Category
Astronomy
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.7366.2012
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: DLR 50 OR 1113
CONTRACT_GRANT: DLR 50 OR 0808
CONTRACT_GRANT: DLR 50 OR 0905
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG06EO90A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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