HEAD 2000, November 2000
Session 22. Accreting X-Ray Pulsars
Display, Wednesday, November 8, 2000, 8:00am-6:00pm, Bora Bora Ballroom

[Previous] | [Session 22] | [Next]


[22.13] XTE J1906+09 Observations with RXTE

C. A. Wilson (NASA/MSFC), M. Finger, P. Woods (USRA/MSFC), E. Gogus (UAH)

The 89 s pulsar XTE J1906+09 was serendipitously discovered in a 1996 observation of the soft gamma repeater SGR 1900+14. Two outbursts, in 1996 September and 1998 September have been reported to date. Since this system appears to be transient, it is likely in a Be/X-ray binary, accreting material from a circumstellar disk around its companion. Preliminary pulse timing analyses of RXTE data from the 1998 September outburst revealed an orbital signature consistent with either (i) a low-eccentricity, short period orbit,

similar to OAO 1657-415 or (ii) periastron passage in a longer orbital period, higher eccentricity Be/X-ray binary system. No companion has been identified to date due to the large 2' error radius of the current best position. SGR 1900+14 has been regularly monitored with RXTE since 1998. Because XTE J1906+09 is only 33\arcmin\ away, it often shares the RXTE/PCA field of view with SGR 1900+14, giving us a large number of archival PCA observations. We will present results of a search of RXTE data for outbursts of XTE 1906+09, including histories of pulse frequency, 2-30 keV intensity, pulse profiles, and energy spectra. Results of a pulse timing analysis of the detected outbursts will also be presented.



[Previous] | [Session 22] | [Next]