Timing and Spectral Analysis of the Black Hole X-Ray Binary MAXI J1803-298 with Insight-HXMT Data

We present a comprehensive analysis of the 2021 outburst of MAXI J1803–298 utilizing observations of the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope(Insight-HXMT)spanning from the low hard state to the high soft state.Within the Insight-HXMT data set,compared to the previous work,we identify a more prolonged presence of typeC quasi-periodic oscillations(QPOs)with centroid frequencies ranging from~0.16 to 6.3 Hz,which present correlations with the hardness ratio and the photon index of the Comptonized component.For QPO frequencies less than~2 Hz,the QPO phase lags are hard(photons of 10–19 keV arrive later than those of 1–4 keV),while at higher frequencies,the lags become soft at and above~4 Hz.Furthermore,the spectra in all Insight-HXMT observations consist of a multi-color blackbody component and a Comptonized component,as commonly observed in classical black hole X-ray binaries.We analyze state transitions and the evolution of accretion geometry in this work.The fitted inner disk radius increases abnormally during the low hard state,hypothesized to result from the corona condensing onto the inner disk.Additionally,two significant drops in flux are observed during the soft intermediate state,maybe implying changes in the corona/jet and the disk,respectively.

Analysis of X-Ray Emission from OB Stars. IV. About X-Ray Emission from Inhomogeneous Winds of OB Stars

We study the origin of X-ray emission from OB stars due to collisions of stellar winds and/or inhomogeneities in the winds. The low-resolution X-ray spectra of a big sample of OB stars were fitted by both the stationary APEC/MEKAL models and by this model with an additional PSHOCK component describing the nonstationary X-ray emission. These spectra were also described by two-temperature PSHOCK models. More than ~50% of considered spectra can be described by the above-mentioned model combinations including the PSHOCK model and the quality of the fits appears to be better for O stars. The plasma temperature of the PSHOCK component is about 1–5 keV with the ionization timescale τ_(u)~ 10^(8)–10^(13)s cm^(-3). The temperature of the PSHOCK component increases with the momentum and kinetic energy of the stellar wind by a power law with an index ~0.12–0.14.Such dependencies were not revealed through modeling by the stationary APEC/MEKAL models only. At the same time the X-ray luminosity of OB stars depends on momentum and kinetic energy of their winds similarly either for stationary or for nonstationary models. We conclude that many O stars and some B stars can be sources of the nonstationary X-rays formed in their inhomogeneous stellar wind.

Analysis of the X-ray emission from OB stars Ⅲ: low-resolution spectra of OB stars

This paper is the third in our series of papers devoted to the investigation of X-ray emission from OB stars.In our two previous papers,we study the high-resolution X-ray spectra of 32 O stars and 25 B stars to investigate the correlations between the properties of X-ray emission and stellar parameters.We checked if the X-ray hardness and post-shock plasma temperature grow with increasing stellar magnetic field,mass loss rate and terminal wind velocity.Our previous analysis of high-resolution spectra showed that the correlations are weak or even absent.In the present paper,we analyzed low-resolution X-ray spectra,using model-independent X-ray hardness values for checking the above mentioned dependencies.We establish that X-ray luminosities LX weakly depend on the stellar magnetic field.At the same time,Lx ∝ M0.5 and LX ∝ Ekin0.5,where M is the mass loss rate and Ekin is the kinetic energy of the wind.The X-ray luminosities decrease with growing magnetic confinement parameter η.We also argue that there is an additional(probably non-thermal) component contributed to the stellar X-ray emission.

Time-resolved K-shell x-ray spectra of nanosecond laser-produced titanium tracer in gold plasmas

A study of a nanosecond laser irradiation on the titanium-layer-buried gold planar target is presented. The timeresolved x-ray emission spectra of titanium tracer are measured by a streaked crystal spectrometer. By comparing the simulated spectra obtained by using the FLYCHK code with the measured titanium spectra, the temporal plasma states, i.e.,the electron temperatures and densities, are deduced. To evaluate the feasibility of using the method for the characterization of Au plasma states, the deduced plasma states from the measured titanium spectra are compared with the Multi-1D hydrodynamic simulations of laser-produced Au plasmas. By comparing the measured and simulated results, an overall agreement for the electron temperatures is found, whereas there are deviations in the electron densities. The experiment–theory discrepancy may suggest that the plasma state could not be well reproduced by the Multi-1D hydrodynamic simulation, in which the radial gradient is not taken into account. Further investigations on the spectral characterization and hydrodynamic simulations of the plasma states are needed. All the measured and FLYCHK simulated spectra are given in this paper as datasets. The datasets are openly available at http://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.j00113.00032.

Infrared Low-Resolution Spectra of HAEBE Stars

IRAS low-resolution spectra are presented for 36 HAEBE stars. It is found that silicate dust in amorphous or glassy form is common material in the circumstellar disks or/and shells of HAEBE stars. It is also found that the PAH feature is often appeared as well.

Analysis of the X-ray emission of OB stars II: B stars

This paper is the second part of an investigation into the mechanism for the origin of X-rays in early-type stars. Archival X-ray observations of 25 B stars, obtained by the XMM-Newton satellite, are analysed. We check two hypotheses on the origin of X-ray emission: the Magnetically Confined Wind Shock Model(MCWS) and Pollock’s paradigm. For all studied stars, the mean ratio of the half widths at half maximum to the terminal velocities appears to be R ≈ 0.15-0.20 in contradiction to Pollock’s hypothesis that R ≈ 0.5. We checked three possible consequences of the MCWS model: correlations between the hardness of the X-ray spectra for B stars and terminal wind velocities, mass loss rates and magnetic fields.It was shown that such correlations are marginal or even absent both for magnetic and non-magnetic B stars.

Study of Secondary Cosmic Rays and Astronomical X-Ray Sources using Small Stratospheric Balloons

The X-ray sources of the universe are extraterrestrial in nature which emit X-ray photons.The closest strong X-ray source is the Sun,which is followed by various compact sources such as neutron stars,black holes,the Crab pulsar,etc.In this paper,we analyze the data received from several low-cost lightweight meteorological balloon-borne missions launched by the Indian Centre for Space Physics.Our main interest is to study the variation of the vertical intensity of secondary cosmic rays,the detection of strong X-ray sources,and their spectra in the energy band of^(1)0–80 keV during the complete flights.Due to the lack of an onboard pointing system,low exposure time,achieving a maximum altitude of only~42 km,and freely rotating the payload about its axis,we modeled the background radiation flux for the X-ray detector using physical assumptions.We also present the source detection method,observation of the pulsation of the Crab(^(3)3 Hz),and spectra of some sources such as the quiet Sun and the Crab pulsar.

The Completeness of Accreting Neutron Star Binary Candidates from the Chinese Space Station Telescope

A neutron star(NS)has many extreme physical conditions,and one may obtain some important information about an NS via accreting neutron star binary(ANSB)systems.The upcoming Chinese Space Station Telescope(CSST)provides an opportunity to search for a large sample of ANSB candidates.Our goal is to check the completeness of the potential ANSB samples from CSST data.In this paper,we generate some ANSBs and normal binaries under the CSST photometric system by binary evolution and binary population synthesis method and use a machine learning method to train a classification model.Although the Precision(94.56%)of our machine learning model is as high as before study,the Recall is only about 63.29%.The Precision/Recall is mainly determined by the mass transfer rate between the NSs and their companions.In addition,we also find that the completeness of ANSB samples from CSST photometric data by the machine learning method also depends on the companion mass and the age of the system.ANSB candidates with a low initial mass companion star(0.1 M_(⊙)to 1 M_(⊙))have a relatively high Precision(94.94%)and high Recall(86.32%),whereas ANSB candidates with a higher initial mass companion star(1.1 M_(⊙)to 3 M_(⊙))have similar Precision(93.88%)and quite low Recall(42.67%).Our results indicate that although the machine learning method may obtain a relatively pure sample of ANSBs,a completeness correction is necessary for one to obtain a complete sample.

Analysis of the X-ray emission of OB stars:O stars

We investigate the global properties of X-ray emission from O stars, analyzing the X-ray spec- tra of 32 O stars from archival data of the XMM-Newton space observatory. We examine two hypotheses about of the origin of X-ray emission from O stars. The first is a paradigm proposed by Pollock, that was revealed from an analysis of the （ Ori X-ray observation. The second is the magnetically confined wind-shock （MCWS） model. For checking Pollock＇s hypothesis, we determine the distribution of the ratio of half width at half maximum （HWHM） to the wind terminal velocity for lines in spectra of all examined stars. In addition, we check three probable consequences from the MCWS model. We analyze if a correlation exists between the spectral hardness and such stellar parameters as the wind terminal velocity, stellar magnetic field and mass loss rate. The result showed that Pollock＇s hypothesis is not correct. We also established that not all consequences of the MCWS model considered by us are con- firmed. In addition, our spectral analysis method indicated that O stars probably have clumped stellar winds with spherical clumps.

High Resolution Spectroscopy of Halo Stars in the Near UV and Blue Region I. Spectra in the Wavelength Region 3550-5000 A

An atlas of high resolution （R = 60 000） CCD-spectra in the wavelength range 3500-5000A is presented for four objects in metallicity range -3.0 〈 [Fe/H] 〈 -0.6, temperature range 4750 〈 Teff 〈 5900K, and surface gravity range 1.6 〈 Igg 〈 5.0. We describe the calibration of the stellar atmospheric parameters using Alonso＇s formula based on the method of infrared flux and outline the determination of the abundances of a total number of 25 chemical elements. An analysis of the abundance determination errors for different chemical elements is carried out, and a method is provided for the observations and reduction of spectral material. Properties of the method of producing an atlas of spectra and line identifications are described.

M dwarf stars—the by-product of X-ray selected AGN candidates

X-ray loud M dwarfs are a major source of by-products （contamination） in the X-ray band of the multiwavelength quasar survey. As a by-product, the low dispersion spectra of 22 M dwarfs are obtained in which the spectra of 16 sources are taken for the first time. The spectral types and distances of the sample are given based on spectral indices CaH2, CaH3, and TiO5. The parameter ζ TiO/CaH is calculated to separate the different metallicity classes among dwarfs, subdwarfs and extreme subdwarfs. We also discuss the distributions in the diagrams of log（L x /L bol ）, the ratio between X-ray and bolometric luminosity versus spectral type and infrared colors.

Merging strangeon stars

The state of supranuclear matter in compact stars remains puzzling, and it is argued that pul- sars could be strangeon stars. What would happen if binary strangeon stars merge？ This kind of merger could result in the formation of a hyper-massive strangeon star, accompanied by bursts of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation （and even a strangeon kilonova explained in the paper）. The tidal polarizability of binary strangeon stars is different from that of binary neutron stars, because a strangeon star is self-bound on the surface by the fundamental strong force while a neutron star by the gravity, and their equations of state are different. Our calculation shows that the tidal polarizability of merging bi- nary strangeon stars is favored by GW170817. Three kinds of kilonovae （i.e., of neutron, quark and strangeon） are discussed, and the light curve of the kilonova AT 2017gfo following GW170817 could be explained by considering the decaying strangeon nuggets and remnant star spin-down. Additionally, the energy ejected to the fireball around the nascent remnant strangeon star, being manifested as a gamma-ray burst, is calculated. It is found that, after a prompt burst, an X-ray plateau could follow in a timescale of 102 - 103 s. Certainly, the results could be tested also by further observational synergies between gravitational wave detectors （e.g., Advanced LIGO） and X-ray telescopes （e.g., the Chinese HXMT satellite and eXTP mission）, and especially if the detected gravitational wave form is checked by peculiar equations of state provided by the numerical relativistical simulation.

Measurement of tungsten impurity spectra with a two-crystal X-ray crystal spectrometer on EAST

Spectral measurement of tungsten(W)impurity is essential to study impurity transport.Therefore,an X-ray crystal spectrometer(XCS)on EAST was used to measure the line spectra from highly ionized W ions.On EAST,both poloidal XCS and tangential XCS have been developed to measure the plasma temperature as well as the rotation velocity.Recently,He-like and H-like argon spectra have also been obtained using a two-crystal setup.W lines are identified in this study.Through a careful analysis,the W lines of 3.9336,3.9321,and 3.664(A)are found to be diffracted by He-like or H-like crystals.The lines are confirmed with the NIST database.We also calculated the ion temperature with Doppler broadening of these lines.The ion temperature from the W lines is entirely consistent with that from Ar line spectra.The measurement of these W line spectra could be used to study W impurity transport in future work.

The optical/UV excess of X-ray-dim isolated neutron star Ⅱ.Nonuniformity of plasma on a strangeon star surface

Several X-ray-dim isolated neutron stars （XDINSs）, also known as the Magnificent Seven, exhibit a Planck-like soft X-ray spectrum. In the optical/ultraviolet （UV） band, there is an excess of radiation compared to an extrapolation from the X-ray spectrum. However, the majority exhibits ＂spec- tral deviations＂： the fact that there is more flux at longer wavelengths makes spectra deviate from the Rayleigh-Jeans law. A model of bremsstrahlung emission from a nonuniform plasma atmosphere is proposed in the regime of a strangeon star to explain the optical/UV excess and its spectral devi- ation as well as X-ray pulsation. The atmosphere is on the surface of strangeon matter, which has negligible emission, and is formed by the accretion of ISM-fed debris disk matter moving along the magnetic field lines to near the polar caps. These particles may spread out of the polar regions which makes the atmosphere non-uniform. The modeled electron temperatures are ~ 100 - 200 eV with radi- ation radii Ropt ~ 5 - 14km. The spectra of five sources （RX J0720.4-3125, RX J0806.4-4123, RX J1308.6＋2127, RX J1605.3＋3249, RX J1856.5-3754） from optical/UV to X-ray bands can be fitted well by the radiative model, and exhibit Gaussian absorption lines at ~ 100 - 500 eV as would be expected. Furthermore, the surroundings （i.e., fallback disks or dusty belts） of XDINSs could be tested by future infrared/submillimeter observations.

Statistical Properties of X-Ray Bursts from SGR J1935+2154 Detected by Insight-HXMT

As one class of the most important objects in the universe,magnetars can produce a lot of different frequency bursts including X-ray bursts.In Cai et al.,75 X-ray bursts produced by magnetar SGR J1935+2154 during an active period in 2020 are published,including the duration and net photon counts of each burst,and waiting time based on the trigger time difference.In this paper,we utilize the power-law model,dN(x)/dx∝(x+x_0)~((-α)_x),to fit the cumulative distributions of these parameters.It can be found that all the cumulative distributions can be well fitted,which can be interpreted by a self-organizing criticality theory.Furthermore,we check whether this phenomenon still exists in different energy bands and find that there is no obvious evolution.These findings further confirm that the X-ray bursts from magnetars are likely to be generated by some self-organizing critical process,which can be explained by a possible magnetic reconnection scenario in magnetars.

Optical and X-Ray Studies of Marginal Contact Binary RW Dor Using TESS and XMM-Newton Observatories

Marginal short-period contact binaries are important to understand as they pose a different physical scenario than the predicted theoretical model based on the thermal relaxation oscillation mechanism due to their shallow degree of contact.Here we present the optical and X-ray studies of a contact binary source RW Dor using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS)and XMM-Newton telescopes.For the first time we report the varying O'Connell effect and explain the asymmetry with a spot model.Based on the new times of minima,we make a robust estimate of the orbital period of the third body at 47.01~0.52 yr with an eccentricity e=0.21.We show that the period-decreasing trend observed in O-C variation can be explained by both conservative mass transfer from primary to secondary and AML via stellar wind.The X-ray luminosity exhibited by RW Dor did not vary significantly on three different occasions and was found to be about 3.34×10~(29)erg s~(-1).Assuming that the quiescent X-ray emission is emitted from an undisturbed loop structure,the loop size is estimated to be 0.6-1×10~(10)cm which is≤Alfvén radius r_A~8×10~(10)cm.

An active M star with X-ray double flares disguised as an ultra-luminous X-ray source

Here we present research on an ultra-luminous X-ray source （ULX） candidate 2XMM J 140229.91＋542118.8. The X-ray light curves of this ULX candidate in M 101 exhibit features of a flare star. More importantly, the Chandra light curve displays unusual X-ray double flares, which is comprised of two close peaks. The X-ray （0.3-11.0 keV） flux of the first peak was derived from the two-temperature APEC model as ～ 1.1 ±0.1× 10-12 ergcm-2 s-1. The observed flux at its first peak increased by about two orders of magnitude in X-ray as compared to quiescence. The slope of the second fast decay phase is steeper than the slope of the first fast decay phase, indicating that the appearance of a second flare accelerated the cooling of the first flare in a way we do not understand yet. We also observed its optical counterpart using a 2.16 m telescope administered by National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. By optical spectral fitting, it is confirmed to be a late type dMe2.5 star. According to the spectral type and apparent magnitude of its optical counterpart, we estimate the photometric distance to be ～ 133.4 ±14.2 pc. According to the X-ray spectral fitting, a possible explanation is provided. However, more similar close double flares are needed to confirm whether this accelerated cooling event is a unique coincidence or a common physical process during double flaring.

Temporal variations and spectral properties of the Be/X-ray pulsar GRO J1008–57 studied by INTEGRAL

The spin period variations and hard X-ray spectral properties of the Be/Xray pulsar GRO J1008-57 are studied with INTEGRAL observations during two out- bursts in 2004 June and 2009 March. The pulsation periods of -93.66 s in 2004 and - 93.73 s in 2009 are determined. Pulse profiles of GRO J1008-57 during out- bursts are strongly energy dependent with a double-peaked profile from 3-7 keV and a single-peaked profile in hard X-rays above 7 keV. Combined with previous measure- ments, we find that GRO J1008-57 has undergone a spin-down trend from 1993 - 2009 with a rate of - 4.1 × 10^-5 s d^-1, and could have changed into a spin-up trend after 2009. We find a relatively soft spectrum in the early phase of the 2009 outburst with cutoff energy ~ 13keV. Above a hard X-ray flux of - 10^-9 erg cm^-2 s^-1, the spectra of GRO J1008-57 during outbursts need an enhanced hydrogen absorption with column density ~ 6 x 1022 cm-2. The observed dip-like pulse profile of GRO J1008-57 in soft X-ray bands could be caused by this intrinsic absorption. Around the outburst peaks, a possible cyclotron resonance scattering feature at - 74 keV is detected in the spectra of GRO J1008-57 which is consistent with the feature that was reported in MAXI/GSC observations, making the source a neutron star with the highest known magnetic field （- 6.6 × 10^12 G） among accreting X-ray pulsars. This marginal feature is supported by the present detections in GRO J1008-57 following the correlation between the fundamental line energies and cutoff energies in accret- ing X-ray pulsars. Finally we discovered two modulation periods at - 124.38 d and 248.78d using RXTE/ASM light curves of GRO J1008-57. Two flare peaks ap- pearing in the folded light curve had different spectral properties. The normal outburst lasting 0,1 of an orbital phase had a hard spectrum and could not be significantly de- tected below 3 keV. The second flare lasting ten days showed a very soft spectrum without significant detections above 5 keV. GRO J1008-57 is a good candidate of an accreting system with an equatorial circumstellar disk around the companion star. The neutron star passing the disk of the Be star near periastron and apastron produces two X-ray flares. The soft spectral properties in the secondary flares still need further detailed studies with soft X-ray spectroscopy.

Spectral Properties of Anomalous X-ray Pulsars

We examine the spectra of the persistent emission from anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and their variation with the spin-down rate . Based on an accretion-powered model, the influences of both the magnetic field and the mass accretion rate on the spectral properties of AXPs are addressed. We then investigate the relation between the spectral property of AXPs and mass accretion rate . The result shows that there exists a linear correlation between the photon index and the mass accretion rate: the spectral hardness increases with increasing . A possible emission mechanism for the explanation of the spectral properties of AXPs is also discussed.

X-ray spectra of high temperature tungsten plasma calculated with collisional radiative model

Tungsten is regarded as an important candidate of plasma facing material in international thermonuclear experimental reactor （ITER）, so the determination and modeling of spectra of tungsten plasma, especially the spectra at high temperature were intensely focused on recently. In this work, using the atomic structure code of Cowan, a collisional radiative model （CRM） based on the spin-orbit-split-arrays is developed. Based on this model, the charge state distribution of tungsten ions is determined and the soft X-ray spectra from high charged ions of tungsten at different temperatures are calculated. The results show that both the average ionization charge and line positions are well agreed with others calculations and measurements with discrepancies of less than 0.63% and 1.26%, respectively. The spectra at higher temperatures are also reported and the relationship between ion abundance and temperature is predicted in this work.