Possible Suzaku detection of non-thermal X-ray signals from a rotating magnetized white dwarf
Abstract
For decades rotating neutron stars NSs have been regarded as a textbook example of astrophysical particle acceleration sites but details of the acceleration mechanism remains a mystery for example we cannot yet observationally distinguish polar cap models from outer gap models To solve the model degeneracy it is useful to study similar systems with much different physical parameters Strongly-magnetized white dwarfs WDs are ideal for this purpose because they have essentially the same system geometry as NSs but differ largely from NSs in the system parameters including the size magnetic field and the rotation velocity with the induced electric field expected to reach 10 13 to 10 14 eV Based on this idea the best candidate among WDs AE Aquarii was observed with the fifth Japaneses X-ray satellite Suzaku The hard X-ray detector HXD onboard Suzaku has the highest sensitivity in hard X-ray band over 10 keV A marginal detection in hard X-ray band has been achieved with the HXD and was separated from the thermal emission The flux corresponds to about 0 02 of its spin down energy If the signal is real this observation must be a first case of detection of the non-thermal emission from WDs
- Publication:
-
36th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006cosp...36.2740T