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A strongly truncated inner accretion disk in the Rapid Burster

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Eijnden, JVD 
Bagnoli, T 
Degenaar, N 
Lohfink, AM 
Parker, ML 

Abstract

The neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) the Rapid Burster (RB; MXB 1730-335) uniquely shows both Type I and Type II X-ray bursts. The origin of the latter is ill-understood but has been linked to magnetospheric gating of the accretion flow. We present a spectral analysis of simultaneous Swift, NuSTAR and XMM–Newton observations of the RB during its 2015 outburst. Although a broad Fe K line has been observed before, the high quality of our observations allows us to model this line using relativistic reflection models for the first time. We find that the disc is strongly truncated at 41.8−5.3+6.7 gravitational radii (∼87 km), which supports magnetospheric Type II burst models and strongly disfavours models involving instabilities at the innermost stable circular orbit. Assuming that the RB magnetic field indeed truncates the disc, we find B = (6.2 ± 1.5) × 108 G, larger than typically inferred for NS LMXBs. In addition, we find a low inclination (i=29±2). Finally, we comment on the origin of the Comptonized and thermal components in the RB spectrum.

Description

Keywords

accretion, accretion discs, stars: neutron, X-rays: binaries, X-rays: individual: MXB 1730-335

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1745-3925
1745-3933

Volume Title

466

Publisher

Oxford University Press
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/N000927/1)
European Research Council (340442)
European Commission (627148)
We thank the referee for comments on this Letter. JvdE and ND are supported by a Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded to ND. ND also acknowledges support via a Marie Curie fellowship (FP-PEOPLE-2013-IEF-627148) from the European Commission. ACF, AL and MP are supported by Advanced Grant Feedback 340442 from the European Research Counsil (ERC). TB acknowledges support from NewCompStar (COST Action MP1304). JvdE and TB acknowledge the hospitality of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, where this research was carried out.