Published in

American Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal, 1(960), p. 57, 2023

DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/acf9a6

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Insight-HXMT Views Her X-1: Probing the Dependence of the Cyclotron Line Energy on Flux and Time

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Abstract Recent observations of Her X-1 with NuSTAR (as well as with INTEGRAL, Swift, and Astrosat) have provided evidence that the nearly 20 yr-long decay of the cyclotron line energy since ∼1994 has ended and that a stable value has replaced the decay. Using the observations of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) performed between 2017 July and 2020 February, we analyze the spectra of Her X-1 in its main-on state, focusing on tracing the evolution of cyclotron line energy. While our analysis of eight main-on observations with Insight-HXMT (two in coordination with NuSTAR) shows significant differences with the results of NuSTAR, two earlier findings are confirmed: the positive correlation between the cyclotron line energy and the X-ray flux (source luminosity) and the constancy of the flux-normalized cyclotron line energy during 2017–2020—albeit with significant uncertainty about the absolute value.