X-Ray Spectral and Temporal Properties of LMXB 4U 1608-52—Observed with AstroSat and NICER

Abstract We report results from a detailed study of the neutron star X-ray binary, 4U 1608-52, using observations with AstroSat (Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter/Soft X-ray Telescope) and the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer during its 2016 and 2020 outbursts. The 0.7–20.0 keV spectra could be well described with the disk blackbody and thermal Comptonization model. The best-fitting inner disk temperature is ∼1 keV and radius ∼ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>22.17</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2.38</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2.57</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> –27.19 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.85</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2.03</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> km and no significant evolution was observed in the disk radius after performing flux and time-resolved spectroscopy. We used a multi-Lorentzian approach to fit the power density spectra and obtained broadband noise variability. We estimated the energy-dependent fractional rms and time lag of the broadband noise, and these variations are quantitatively modeled as being due to the coherent variation of the disk emission and the coronal heating rate. Thus, the rapid temporal modeling is consistent with the longer-term spectral evolution where the inner disk radius does not vary, and instead, the variations can be attributed to accretion rate variations that change the inner disk temperature and the coronal heating rate.