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[18.04] An Uninterrupted, Serendipitous Chandra Observation of the Intermediate Polar TX Col

E. M. Schlegel (Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. for Astrophysics), A. Salinas (Univ. of Texas, Austin and CfA)

The intermediate polar TX Col displays strongly modulated soft X-rays, a host of X-ray periods and aliases, and a high pulse fraction (>50%). EXOSAT revealed two periodicities at ~1910 sec (spin) and ~2105 sec (spin minus orbit). Surprisingly, the spin period dominated at soft X-rays, while the beat period dominated the hard X-rays.

Chandra serendipitously observed TX Col for about 53 ksec using ACIS. We report on attempts to deconvolve the light curve into the various spin and orbit beats, provide energy-filtered light curves, and phase-resolved spectroscopy. The value of these results is directly related to the uninterrupted observation, the first such observation since the EXOSAT study in 1986.

The research of EMS was supported by NASA Contract NAS8-39073 to SAO; the research of AS was supported by the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates Program at SAO.

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#2
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.