宇宙最強の磁石 “中性子星” がのみこむ多量のガスと回転スピードの未知なる関係を発見 10年以上にわたるX線モニタリングの成果

2025-10-30 愛媛大学

愛媛大学などの国際研究チームは、強い磁場を持つ中性子星(マグネター)が大量のガスを取り込む際、ガスの流入速度と星の自転速度の間に新たな相関関係があることを発見した。X線観測衛星「NICER」などのデータ解析により、回転が速い星ほど降着ガス量が多く、磁場による減速効果を上回る現象が確認された。従来モデルでは説明できなかった中性子星の回転進化を再考する成果であり、超高密度天体の磁気・重力相互作用理解に新たな知見をもたらす。成果は『Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society』誌に掲載。

宇宙最強の磁石 “中性子星” がのみこむ多量のガスと回転スピードの未知なる関係を発見 10年以上にわたるX線モニタリングの成果

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超高輝度X線パルサーNGC 7793 P13のスペクトルとタイミング特性のモニタリング Monitoring of the Spectral and Timing Properties of the Ultraluminous X-Ray Pulsar NGC 7793 P13

Marina Yoshimoto, Tomokage Yoneyama, Shogo B. Kobayashi, Hirokazu Odaka, Taiki Kawamuro, and Hironori Matsumoto
The Astrophysical Journal Letters  Published: 2025 October 29
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ae018f

Abstract

We present the long-term spectral and timing evolution of the ultraluminous X-ray pulsar NGC 7793 P13 from 2011 to 2024 based on archival data from XMM-Newton, Chandra, NICER, and NuSTAR, including unpublished data after 2020. This data set enables us to investigate the observational properties across a long modulation of ∼10 yr. Although previous studies suggested an increasing trend in flux in 2020, we find that the pulsar decreased its flux to 2.6+0.7-0.7 ×10-14erg㎝-2s-1 in 2021, and rebrightened to 3.9+0.1-0.1 ×10-12erg㎝-2s-1   by 2024. Moreover, in the last two years, the spin-up rate was twice as large as that before 2020. However, the pulsed fraction was roughly as expected from an anticorrelation with the flux confirmed before 2020. Furthermore, we perform systematic phase-resolved spectroscopy to investigate the spectral evolution. The results show that, during the flux-decaying epoch, spectral hardness in the off-pulse phase softened while that in its on-pulse phase remained almost unchanged. This softening was not observable in the rebrightening epoch. Our results could provide new insights into the accretion geometry of neutron stars in supercritical accretion systems.

1701物理及び化学
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