Timing and Spectral properties of Be/X-ray pulsar EXO 2030+375 during a Type I outburst

Abstract

We present results from a study of broadband timing and spectral properties of EXO 2030+375 using a Suzaku observation. Pulsations with a period of 41.41 s and strong energy-dependent pulse profiles were clearly detected up to 100 keV. Narrow dips are seen in the profiles up to ~70 keV. The presence of prominent dips at several phases in the profiles up to such high energy ranges was not seen before. At higher energies, these dips gradually disappeared and the profile appeared to be single-peaked. The 1.0-200.0 keV broadband spectrum is found to be well described by a partial covering high-energy cutoff power-law model. Several low-energy emission lines are also detected in the pulsar spectrum. We fitted the spectrum using neutral as well as partially ionized absorbers along with the above continuum model yielding similar parameter values. The partial covering with a partially ionized absorber resulted in a marginally better fit. The spectral fitting did not require any cyclotron feature in the best-fit model. To investigate the changes in spectral parameters at dips, we carried out pulse-phase-resolved spectroscopy. During the dips, the value of the additional column density was estimated to be high compared to other pulse phases. While using a partially ionized absorber, the value of the ionization parameter is also higher at the dips. This may be the reason for the presence of dips up to higher energies. No other spectral parameters show any systematic variation with pulse phases of the pulsar.