XMM-Newton and NICER Measurement of the Rms Spectrum of the Millihertz Quasiperiodic Oscillations in the Neutron-star Low-mass X-Ray Binary 4U 1636–53

Ming Lyu, Guobao Zhang, Mariano Méndez, D. Altamirano, G. C. Mancuso, Fu-Yuan Xiang, Huaping Xiao
2020 Astrophysical Journal  
We used two XMM-Newton and six Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer observations to investigate the fractional rms amplitude of the millihertz quasiperiodic oscillations (mHz QPOs) in the neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53. We studied, for the first time, the fractional rms amplitude of the mHz QPOs versus energy in 4U 1636-53 down to 0.2 keV. We find that, as the energy increases from ∼0.2 to ∼3 keV, the rms amplitude of the mHz QPOs increases, different from the decreasing
more » ... nd that has been previously observed above 3 keV. This finding has not yet been predicted by any current theoretical model; however, it provides an important observational feature to speculate whether a newly discovered mHz oscillation originates from the marginally stable nuclear burning process on the neutron-star surface. Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Low-mass x-ray binary stars (939); Neutron stars (1108); Astrophysical explosive burning (100)
doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab8cbe fatcat:t2744sbmubdmxf4tydas3dwayq