TY - JOUR
T1 - Swift J201424.9+152930: Discovery of a new deeply eclipsing binary with 491-s and 3.4-h modulations
AU - Esposito, P.
AU - Israel, G. L.
AU - de Martino, D.
AU - D'Avanzo, P.
AU - Testa, V.
AU - Sidoli, L.
AU - Di Stefano, R.
AU - Belfiore, A.
AU - Mapelli, M.
AU - Piranomonte, S.
AU - Rodríguez Castillo, G. A.
AU - Moretti, A.
AU - D'Elia, V.
AU - Verrecchia, F.
AU - Campana, S.
AU - Rea, N.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - © 2015 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. We report on the discovery of a new X-ray pulsator, Swift J201424.9+152930 (Sw J2014). Owing to its X-ray modulation at 491 s, it was discovered in a systematic search for coherent signals in the archival data of the Swift X-ray Telescope. To investigate the nature of Sw J2014, we performed multiwavelength follow-up observations with space-borne (Swift and XMM- Newton) and ground-based (the 1.5-m Loiano Telescope and the 3.6-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo) instruments. The X-ray spectrum of Sw J2014 can be described by a hard and highly absorbed (NH ~ 5 × 1022 cm-2) power law (Γ ~ 1). The optical observations made it possible to single out the optical counterpart to this source, which displays several variable emission lines and total eclipses lasting ≈20 min. Total eclipses of similar length were observed also in X-rays. The study of the eclipses, allowed us to infer a second periodicity of 3.44 h, which we interpret as the orbital period of a close binary system. We also found that the period has not significantly changed over a ~7 yr timespan. Based on the timing signatures of Sw J2014, and its optical and X-ray spectral properties, we suggest that it is a close binary hosting an accreting magnetic white dwarf. The system is therefore a cataclysmic variable of the intermediate polar type and one of the very few showing deep eclipses.
AB - © 2015 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. We report on the discovery of a new X-ray pulsator, Swift J201424.9+152930 (Sw J2014). Owing to its X-ray modulation at 491 s, it was discovered in a systematic search for coherent signals in the archival data of the Swift X-ray Telescope. To investigate the nature of Sw J2014, we performed multiwavelength follow-up observations with space-borne (Swift and XMM- Newton) and ground-based (the 1.5-m Loiano Telescope and the 3.6-m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo) instruments. The X-ray spectrum of Sw J2014 can be described by a hard and highly absorbed (NH ~ 5 × 1022 cm-2) power law (Γ ~ 1). The optical observations made it possible to single out the optical counterpart to this source, which displays several variable emission lines and total eclipses lasting ≈20 min. Total eclipses of similar length were observed also in X-rays. The study of the eclipses, allowed us to infer a second periodicity of 3.44 h, which we interpret as the orbital period of a close binary system. We also found that the period has not significantly changed over a ~7 yr timespan. Based on the timing signatures of Sw J2014, and its optical and X-ray spectral properties, we suggest that it is a close binary hosting an accreting magnetic white dwarf. The system is therefore a cataclysmic variable of the intermediate polar type and one of the very few showing deep eclipses.
KW - Novae, cataclysmic variables
KW - White dwarfs
KW - X-rays: binaries
KW - X-rays: individual: Swift J201424.9+152930
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stv724
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stv724
M3 - Article
VL - 450
SP - 1705
EP - 1715
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
SN - 0035-8711
IS - 2
ER -