Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2015

Published In

Monthly Notices Of The Royal Astronomical Society

Abstract

We observed NGC 1624-2, the O-type star with the largest known magnetic field (Bp ∼ 20  kG), in X-rays with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS-S) camera on-board the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Our two observations were obtained at the minimum and maximum of the periodic Hα emission cycle, corresponding to the rotational phases where the magnetic field is the closest to equator-on and pole-on, respectively. With these observations, we aim to characterize the star's magnetosphere via the X-ray emission produced by magnetically confined wind shocks. Our main findings are as follows. (i) The observed spectrum of NGC 1624-2 is hard, similar to the magnetic O-type star θ1 Ori C, with only a few photons detected below 0.8 keV. The emergent X-ray flux is 30 per cent lower at the Hα minimum phase. (ii) Our modelling indicated that this seemingly hard spectrum is in fact a consequence of relatively soft intrinsic emission, similar to other magnetic Of?p stars, combined with a large amount of local absorption (∼1–3× 1022 cm−2). This combination is necessary to reproduce both the prominent Mg and Si spectral features, and the lack of flux at low energies. NGC 1624-2 is intrinsically luminous in X-rays (logLemX∼33.4) but 70–95 per cent of the X-ray emission produced by magnetically confined wind shocks is absorbed before it escapes the magnetosphere (logLISMcorX∼32.5). (iii) The high X-ray luminosity, its variation with stellar rotation, and its large attenuation are all consistent with a large dynamical magnetosphere with magnetically confined wind shocks.

Keywords

stars: early-type, stars: individual: NGC 1624-2, stars: magnetic field, stars: massive, stars: winds, outflows, X-rays: stars

Comments

This article has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

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