Suzaku X-ray Spectroscopy of a Peculiar Hot Star Near the Galactic Center
Abstract
We present the results from an X-ray spectral study of a peculiar point-like source near the Galactic center using Japanese X-ray satellite Suzaku.
We detected an intense Fe XXV Kα line with an equivalent width of ∼ 1 keV. The overall X-ray spectrum is very well described by an optically-thin thermal plasma model with a temperature of ∼5×10^7 K and Fe abundance of ∼0.8 solar absorbed by an inter-stellar column of N_{H}∼2×10^{23} cm^{-2}. We also analyzed the archived data of Chandra and XMM-Newton and find that the X-ray flux spanning ∼ 6 years shows year-scale time variability of a factor of ∼ 2. The probable counterpart in the IR bands is very bright (L_bol∼ 10^{4.9} L_⊙) and has a cool (T_{BB}∼ 1000 K) spectral energy distribution. The most plausible nature of this source is a carbon-rich Wolf-Rayet binary system.- Publication:
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Massive Star Formation: Observations Confront Theory
- Pub Date:
- May 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008ASPC..387..448H