Published July 1, 2015 | Version v1
Journal article

Deep NuSTAR and Swift monitoring observations of the magnetar 1E 1841−045

  • 1. Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8 (Canada)
  • 2. Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States)
  • 3. ASTRON, The Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA, Dwingeloo (Netherlands)
  • 4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE17RH (United Kingdom)
  • 5. Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
  • 6. DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327, DK-2800 Lyngby (Denmark)
  • 7. Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
  • 8. Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
  • 9. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Lab, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
  • 10. Space Science Office, ZP12, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 (United States)
  • 11. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
  • 12. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

Description

We report on a 350 ks NuSTAR observation of the magnetar 1E 1841–045 taken in 2013 September. During the observation, NuSTAR detected six bursts of short duration, with T90 ≲ 1 s. An elevated level of emission tail is detected after the brightest burst, persisting for ∼1 ks. The emission showed a power-law decay with a temporal index of 0.5 before returning to the persistent emission level. The long observation also provided detailed phase-resolved spectra of the persistent X-ray emission of the source. By comparing the persistent spectrum with that previously reported, we find that the source hard-band emission has been stable for over approximately 10 yr. The persistent hard-X-ray emission is well fitted by a coronal outflow model, where e± pairs in the magnetosphere upscatter thermal X-rays. Our fit of phase-resolved spectra allowed us to estimate the angle between the rotational and magnetic dipole axes of the magnetar, α m a g = 0.25, the twisted magnetic flux, 2.5 × 1026 G cm2, and the power released in the twisted magnetosphere, L j = 6 × 1036 erg s−1. Assuming this model for the hard-X-ray spectrum, the soft-X-ray component is well fit by a two-blackbody model, with the hotter blackbody consistent with the footprint of the twisted magnetic field lines on the star. We also report on the 3 yr Swift monitoring observations obtained since 2011 July. The soft-X-ray spectrum remained stable during this period, and the timing behavior was noisy, with large timing residuals.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/807/1/93

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
807
Journal Issue
1
Series
Since 2009, the country of publication for this journal is the UK.
Journal Page Range
[16 p.]
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOAB

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
51045189
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; EMISSION; HARD X RADIATION; MAGNETIC DIPOLES; MAGNETIC FIELDS; MAGNETIC FLUX; NEUTRON STARS; PULSARS; SOFT X RADIATION; X-RAY SPECTRA
Descriptors DEC
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; DIPOLES; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; EVALUATION; IONIZING RADIATIONS; MULTIPOLES; RADIATIONS; SPECTRA; STARS; X RADIATION