Kinematically Resolving the Fe K Complex in Her X-1: The Accretion Disk and Ionized Wind across X-Ray Eclipses
Abstract We present the XRISM/Resolve spectroscopy of Her X-1 across three X-ray eclipses observed in 2024 September, resolving its iron K complex through the ingress, mid-eclipse, and egress phases. The 5 eV high energy resolution of Resolve enabled us to disentangle and detect all the primary components of the iron K complex: neutral iron fluorescence (Fe K α and K β ) and highly ionized emission lines (Fe XXV He α and Fe XXVI Ly α ). The neutral Fe K α emission is not significantly detected during mid-eclipse, indicating a compact origin near the neutron star. At ingress and egress, the line centroid exhibits red- and blueshifts of ∼200 km s −1 after correcting for the systemic velocity and the neutron star’s orbital motion. This residual shift corresponds to Keplerian rotation at a characteristic radius of r disk ∼ 6.6 × 10 6 km, suggesting an association with the outer accretion disk. In contrast, the highly ionized Fe XXV He α and Fe XXVI Ly α lines remain visible during eclipses, indicating an extended origin. Photoionization modeling (SPEX pion model) yields log 10 ( ξ / erg cm s − 1 ) ∼ 3.4 and N H ∼ 3.1 × 10 22 cm −2 , consistent with the ionized disk wind of Her X-1. Flux-ratio diagnostics constrain the geometric inner boundary of the clumpy disk wind to R in = 3 − 2 + 5 × 1 0 10 cm (1 σ ), consistent with the Compton-heated thermal winds. The inferred mass outflow rate is M ̇ out ≈ 3.2 × 1 0 − 9 M ⊙ yr − 1 (half the supplied mass), consistent with absorption line measurements of the disk wind obtained out of eclipse.
Authors
- R. Staubert
- Daniele Rogantini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5359-9497)
- Jon M. Miller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2869-7682)
- Takuto Narita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7889-6144)
- Laura W. Brenneman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2663-1954)
- Peter Kosec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4511-8427)
- Teruaki Enoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1244-3100)
- Takeshi Go Tsuru (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5504-4903)
- Koh Sakamoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8032-3641)
- Daijiro Hitotsuyanagi
- Andrew Fabian
Institutions
- Kyoto University (JP)
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- RIKEN (JP)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics (JP)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Published
- 2026-11-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae96a7
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.75
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency