Plasma Dynamics of Radiative Cooling Accretion Flow in AM Herculis with XRISM


Terada Y., Mori K., Hayashi T., Bridges G. L., Ishida M., Schwope A. D., ...Daha Fazla

Astrophysical Journal, cilt.1002, sa.2, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 1002 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae5f97
  • Dergi Adı: Astrophysical Journal
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, INSPEC, zbMATH, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Cataclysmic variable stars (203), Cooling flows (2028), High energy astrophysics (739), Plasma astrophysics (1261), Space plasmas (1544)
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

We present XRISM/Resolve high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the prototypical magnetic cataclysmic variable AM Herculis. All satellite lines of highly ionized Fe are fully resolved. Lighter-element lines (Si, S, Ca) show 2–3 eV widths consistent with purely thermal broadening, while the broader 6–7 eV Fe lines require additional bulk Doppler broadening. Spin-phase-resolved modulations are clearly detected in the Fe XXV and Fe XXVI lines, with semiamplitudes of 81.8 ± 6 km s−1 and 132.5 ± 9 km s−1, and mean velocities of 143.6 ± 6 km s−1 and 225.6 ± 8 km s−1, respectively. After removing these bulk Doppler shifts, we obtain intrinsic Doppler widths of (Formula presented) 5.23−0.15+0.16 eV for Fe XXV and (Formula presented) 6.23−0.18+0.19 eV for Fe XXVI, directly revealing gradients of bulk velocity and temperature in the cooling-flow plasma. We additionally examined the resonance anisotropy predicted by Terada et al.; the equivalent widths (EWs) of the Fe XXV and Fe XXVI resonance lines increase at the pole-on phase by factors of 1.30–1.35, in positive correlation with their oscillator strengths. Combining XRISM with simultaneous NuSTAR data and PSAC/MCVSPEC plasma models, we derive a self-consistent shock temperature of 24.0 ± 0.1 keV and shock velocity of 1116 ± 2 km s−1. Radiative transfer simulations of the resonance lines further constrain the shock density to ≈(5–6) × 1015 cm−3, providing a new density diagnostic for accretion columns. The resulting accretion-column geometry has a height of 200–300 km and a radius of 200–400 km.