Document Type

Article

Abstract

We present Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray observations that monitor the neutron star cooling of the quasi-persistent neutron star X-ray transients KS 1731-260 and MXB 1659-29 for approximately 4 yr after these sources returned to quiescence from prolonged outbursts. In both sources the outbursts were long enough to significantly heat the neutron star crust out of thermal equilibrium with the core. We analyse the X-ray spectra by fitting absorbed neutron star atmosphere models to the observations. The results of our analysis strengthen the preliminary findings of Wijnands et al. that in both sources the neutron star crust cools down very rapidly suggesting it has a high heat conductivity and that the neutron star core requires enhanced core cooling processes. Importantly, we now detect the flattening of the cooling in both sources as the crust returns to thermal equilibrium with the core. We measure the thermal equilbrium flux and temperature in both sources by fitting a curve that decays exponentially to a constant level. The cooling curves cannot be fit with just a simple exponential decay without the constant offset. We find the constant bolometric flux and effective temperature components to be (9.2 +/- 0.9) × 10-14ergcm-2 s-1 and 70.0 +/- 1.6 eV in

Disciplines

Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity | External Galaxies | Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy

Comments

NOTICE IN COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLISHER POLICY: This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©2006 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Available at doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10895.x

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