Study of timing and spectral properties of the X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 during the giant outburst in 2020 November-December

We made a detailed study of the timing and spectral properties of the X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 during the recent giant outburst in 2020 November and December. The flux of the pulsar reached a record value of ~12.5 Crab as observed by Swift/BAT (15-50 keV) and the corresponding mass accretion rate was ~6.67 × 10¹⁷ g s^-1 near the peak of the outburst. There was a transition from the subcritical to the supercritical accretion regime which allows exploring different properties of the source in the supercritical regime. A q-like feature was detected in the hardness-intensity diagram during the outburst. We observed high variability and strong energy dependence of pulse profiles during the outburst. Cyclotron Resonant Scattering Feature (CRSF) was detected at ~44 keV from the NuSTAR energy spectrum in the subcritical regime and the corresponding magnetic field was B ≃ 4.9 × 10¹² G. The energy of the CRSF was shifted towards lower energy in the supercritical regime. The luminosity dependence of the CRSF was studied and during the supercritical regime, a negative correlation was observed between the line energy and luminosity. The critical luminosity was ~6 × 10³⁷erg s^-1 above which a state transition occurred. A reversal of correlation between the photon index and luminosity was observed near the critical luminosity. The NuSTAR spectra can be described by a composite model with two continuum components, a blackbody emission, cut-off power law, and a discrete component to account for the iron emission line at 6.4 keV. An additional cyclotron absorption feature was included in the model.