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The X-Ray Halo of GX 13+1
Randall K. Smith,Richard J. Edgar, andRichard A. Shafer
© 2002. The AmericanAstronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed inU.S.A.
The Astrophysical Journal,Volume 581,Number 1Citation Randall K. Smithet al 2002ApJ581 562DOI 10.1086/344151
Randall K. Smith
AFFILIATIONS
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Richard J. Edgar
AFFILIATIONS
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Richard A. Shafer
AFFILIATIONS
Laboratory for Astronomy and Space Physics, Code 685, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771
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- Received2002 April 17
- Accepted2002 August 12
Abstract
We present observations of the X-ray halo around the low-mass X-ray binary GX 13+1 from theChandra X-ray telescope. The halo is caused by scattering in interstellar dust grains, and we use it to diagnose the line-of-sight position, size distribution, and density of the grains. Using the intrinsic energy resolution ofChandra's ACIS CCDs and the recent calibration observation of theChandra point-spread function, we were able to extract the halo fraction as a function of energy and off-axis angle. We define a new quantity, the "halo coefficient," or the total halo intensity relative to the source extrapolated to 1 keV, and measure it to be 1.5
for GX 13+1. We find a relationship between this value and the dust size, density, and hydrogen column density along the line of sight to GX 13+1. We also conclude that our data do not agree with "fluffy" dust models that earlier X-ray halo observations have supported and that models including an additional large dust grain population are not supported by these data.
