Suzaku observations of the 2013 outburst of KS 1947+300

Abstract

We report on the timing and spectral analysis of two Suzaku observations with different flux levels of the high-mass X-ray binary KS 1947+300 during its 2013 outburst. In agreement with simultaneous NuSTAR observations, the continuum is well described by an absorbed power law with a cutoff and an additional blackbody component. In addition, we find fluorescent emission from neutral, He-like, and even H-like iron. We determine a pulse period of ~18.8 s with the source showing a spin-up between the two observations. Both Suzaku observations show very similar behavior of the pulse profile, which is strongly energy dependent. This profile has an evolution from a profile with one peak at low energies to a profile with two peaks of different widths toward higher energies seen in both the Suzaku and NuSTAR data. Such an evolution to a more complex profile at higher energies is rarely seen in X-ray pulsars, most cases show the opposite behavior. Pulse phase-resolved spectral analysis shows a variation in the absorbing column density, NH, over pulse phase. Spectra taken during the pulse profile minima are intrinsically softer compared to the pulse phase-averaged spectrum.

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