Detection of a relativistic iron line in MXB 1728–34 with XMM-Newton

EGRON, ELISE MARIE JEANNE;di Salvo T;BURDERI, LUCIANO;Papitto A;Barragán L;Dauser T;Wilms J;D’Aì A;RIGGIO, ALESSANDRO;Iaria R;Robba R.

2011-01-01

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Abstract

We analyzed an XMM-Newton observation of the low-mass X-ray binary and atoll source MXB 1728-34. The source was in a low-luminosity state during the XMM-Newton observation, corresponding to a bolometric X-ray luminosity of 5×10^36 d^2 erg/s, with d the distance in units of 5.1 kpc. The 1-11 keV X-ray spectrum of the source, obtained combining data from all the five instruments on-board XMM-Newton, is well fitted by a Comptonized continuum. Evident residuals are present at 6-7 keV, which are ascribed to the presence of a broad iron emission line. This feature can be equally well fitted by a relativistically smeared line or by a self-consistent, relativistically smeared reflection model. Under the hypothesis that the iron line is produced by reflection from the inner accretion disk, we can infer important information on the physical parameters of the system, such as the inner disk radius, Rin = 25-100 km, and the inclination of the system, 44◦ < i < 60◦.