Spectral analysis of ultraluminous X-ray pulsars with models of X-ray pulsars

Abstract

A fraction of the ultraluminous X-ray (ULX) sources are known to be accreting neutron stars as they show coherent X-ray pulsations with pulse periods ranging from 1-30s. While initially thought to host intermediate-mass black holes, ULXs have since been recognized as a diverse class of objects, including ULX pulsars. These pulsars require models specifically tailored to account for their unique accretion physics, distinct from those used for Galactic black hole binaries. The X-ray spectra of all Galactic accreting X-ray pulsars (including sources in the Magellanic Clouds) are dominated by a high-energy cut-off power law and some of the sources show a soft excess, some emission lines, cyclotron absorption features, etc. In this work, we undertake a comprehensive analysis of the broad-band X-ray spectra of five ULX pulsars using simultaneous XMM–Newton and NuSTAR observations and show that their X-ray spectra can be effectively described by spectral models, similar to those used for the local accretion-powered X-ray pulsars. A soft excess is detected in all the sources which is also consistent with the local X-ray pulsars that have low absorption column density. We have marginal detection or low upper limit on the presence of the iron K-alpha emission line from these sources, which is a key difference of the ULX pulsars with the local accreting X-ray pulsars. We discuss the implication of this on the nature of the binary companion and the accretion mechanism in the ULX pulsars.