Meta-analysis of electron cyclotron resonance absorption features detected in high-mass X-ray binaries

Using recent compilations of detailed X-ray observations and spectral models of exceptional quality, we record the electron cyclotron resonance absorption(ECRA) features that have been detected in 45 pulsating high-mass X-ray binaries(HMXBs) and ultraluminous X-ray(ULX) sources harboring neutron stars, although seven of these detections are still questionable and another 21 are single and/or not independently confirmed. From the comprehensive catalogs of Jaisawal & Naik and Staubert et al.and from several additional recent observations, we produce two lists of HMXB ECRA sources: a list of 17 sources in which multiple ECRA lines or single very low-energy lines are seen, in which we can reasonably assume that the lowest energy reveals the fundamental cyclotron level for each source;and a"contaminated" list of 38 sources including the 21 detections of single ECRA lines that may(not) be higherlevel harmonics. Both lists confirm a previous result that we have obtained independently by modeling the propeller lines of Magellanic HMXB pulsars: the surface dipolar magnetic fields B*of HMXB neutron stars are segregated around five distinct values with B*= 0.28 ± 0.08, 0.55 ± 0.11, 1.3 ± 0.37, 3.0 ± 0.68 and 7.9 ± 3.1, in units of TG. However, an explanation of this phenomenon is currently lacking. We have found no correlation between these B*values and the corresponding observed spin periods, spin period derivatives, orbital periods, maximum X-ray luminosities, neutron star masses or companion star masses.

The Great Pretenders Among the ULX Class

The recent discoveries of pulsed X-ray emission from three ultraluminous X-ray （ULX） sources have finally enabled us to recognize a subclass within the ULX class： the great pretenders, neutron stars （NSs） that appear to emit X-ray radiation at isotropic luminosities Lx = 7 × 10^39 erg s-1 _ 1 ×10^41 erg s-i only because their emissions are strongly beamed toward our direction and our sight lines are offset by only a few degrees from their magnetic-dipole axes. The three known pretenders appear to be stronger emitters than the presumed black holes of the ULX class, such as Holmberg II ＆ IX X-1, IC10 X-1 and NGC 300 X-1. For these three NSs, we have adopted a single reasonable assumption, that their brightest observed outbursts unfold at the Eddington rate, and we have calculated both their propeller states and their surface magnetic-field magnitudes. We find that the results are not at all different from those recently obtained for the Magellanic Be/X-ray pulsars： the three NSs reveal modest magnetic fields of about 0.3-0.4TG and beamed propeller-line X-ray luminosities of 1036 - 1037 erg s-1, substantially below the Eddington limit.

Determination of the magnetic fields of Magellanic X-ray pulsars

The 80 high-mass X-ray binary （HMXB） pulsars that are known to reside in the Magellanic Clouds （MCs） have been observed by the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray telescopes on a regular basis for 15 years, and the XMM-Newton and Chandra archives contain nearly complete information about the duty cycles of the sources with spin periods Ps 〈 100 s. We have reprocessed the archival data from both observatories and we combined the output products with all the published observations of 31 MC pulsars with Ps 〈 100 s in an attempt to investigate the faintest X-ray emission states of these objects that occur when accretion to the polar caps proceeds at the smallest possible rates. These states determine the so-called propeller lines of the accreting pulsars and yield information about the magnitudes of their surface magnetic fields. We have found that the faintest states of the pulsars segregate into five discrete groups which obey to a high degree of accuracy the theoretical relation between spin period and X-ray luminosity. So the entire population of these pulsars can be described by just five propeller lines and the five corresponding magnetic moments （0.29, 0.53, 1.2, 2.9 and 7.3, in units of 1030 G cma）.