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摘要
The heating and cooling of transiently accreting neutron stars provides a powerful probe of the structure and composition of their crust. Observations of superbursts and cooling of accretion-heated neutron stars require more heat release than is accounted for in current models. Obtaining firm constraints on the depth and magnitude of this extra heat is challenging and therefore its origin remains uncertain. We report on Swift and XMM-Newton observations of the transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary XTE J1709-267, which were made in 2012 September-October when it transitioned to quiescence after a similar or equal to 10 week long accretion outburst. The source is detected with XMM-Newton at a 0.5-10 keV luminosity of L-X similar or equal to 2x10(34)(D/8.5 kpc)(2) erg s(-1). The X-ray spectrum consists of a thermal component that fits to a neutron star atmosphere model and a non-thermal emission tail, each of which contribute similar or equal to 50% to the total flux. The neutron star temperature decreases from similar or equal to 158 to similar or equal to 152 eV during the similar or equal to 8 hr long observation. This can be interpreted as cooling of a crustal layer located at a column density of y similar or equal to 5 x 10(12) g cm(-2) (similar or equal to 50 m inside the neutron star), which is just below the ignition depth of superbursts. The required heat generation in the layers on top would be similar or equal to 0.06-0.13 MeV per accreted nucleon. The magnitude and depth rule out electron captures and nuclear fusion reactions as the heat source, but it may be accounted for by chemical separation of light and heavy nuclei. Low-level accretion offers an alternative explanation for the observed variability.
- 出版日期2013-4-20
