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      Discovery of thermonuclear (Type I) X-ray bursts in the X-ray binary Swift J1858.6–0814 observed with NICER and NuSTAR

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          ABSTRACT

          Swift J1858.6–0814 is a recently discovered X-ray binary notable for extremely strong variability (by factors of >100 in soft X-rays) in its discovery state. We present the detection of five thermonuclear (Type I) X-ray bursts from Swift J1858.6–0814, implying that the compact object in the system is a neutron star (NS). Some of the bursts show photospheric radius expansion, so their peak flux can be used to estimate the distance to the system. The peak luminosity, and hence distance, can depend on several system parameters; for the most likely values, a high inclination and a helium atmosphere, $D=12.8_{-0.6}^{+0.8}$ kpc, although systematic effects allow a conservative range of 9–18 kpc. Before one burst, we detect a QPO at 9.6 ± 0.5 mHz with a fractional rms amplitude of 2.2 ± 0.2 per cent (0.5–10 keV), likely due to marginally stable burning of helium; similar oscillations may be present before the other bursts but the light curves are not long enough to allow their detection. We also search for burst oscillations but do not detect any, with an upper limit in the best case of 15 per cent fractional amplitude (over 1–8 keV). Finally, we discuss the implications of the NS accretor and this distance on other inferences which have been made about the system. In particular, we find that Swift J1858.6–0814 was observed at super-Eddington luminosities at least during bright flares during the variable stage of its outburst.

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          Most cited references79

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              X-ray bursts

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
                Oxford University Press (OUP)
                0035-8711
                1365-2966
                November 2020
                October 10 2020
                November 2020
                October 10 2020
                September 10 2020
                : 499
                : 1
                : 793-803
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
                [2 ]Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
                [3 ]NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
                [4 ]Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía(CCT-La Plata, CONICET; CICPBA), C.C. No. 5, 1894 Villa Elisa, Argentina
                [5 ]Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
                [6 ]Istanbul University, Science Faculty, Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Beyazıt, 34119 Istanbul, Turkey
                [7 ]Istanbul University Observatory Research and Application Center, Istanbul University, 34119 Istanbul Turkey
                [8 ]National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327-328, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark
                [9 ]MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
                [10 ]IRAP, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 9 avenue du Colonel Roche, BP 44346, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
                [11 ]Eureka Scientific, Inc., 2452 Delmer Street, Oakland, CA 94602, USA
                [12 ]SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, NL-3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands
                [13 ]Department of Astronomy, Tsinghua University, Shuangqing Road 30, Beijing 100084, China
                [14 ]Tsinghua Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University, Shuangqing Road 30, Beijing 100084, China
                [15 ]NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, NSSTC, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA
                [16 ]Universities Space Research Association, Science and Technology Institute, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA
                [17 ]Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1104, USA
                [18 ]Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Atatürk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey
                [19 ]Astrophysics Science Division and Joint Space-Science Institute, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
                [20 ]Department of Physics, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, I-00133 Rome, Italy
                [21 ]INAF –Astronomical Observatory of Rome, Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone (Rome), Italy
                [22 ]Space Sciences Laboratory, 7 Gauss Way, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450, USA
                [23 ]Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
                Article
                10.1093/mnras/staa2749
                fd8d9d5f-6859-4e2f-931f-de6bd28f5c20
                © 2020

                https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model

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