NIR spectral classification of the companion in the gamma-ray binary HESS J1832-093 as an O6 V star

HESS J1832−093 is a member of the rare class of gamma-ray binaries, as recently confirmed by the detection of orbitally modulated X-ray and gamma-ray emission with a period of ∼86 d. The spectral type of the massive companion star has been difficult to retrieve as there is no optical counterpart, bu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Soelen, B. van, Bordas, P., Negueruela, Ignacio, Oña Wilhelmi, Emma de, Papitto, Alessandro, Ribó, Marc
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/357620
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/357620
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Binaries: spectroscopic
Stars: neutron
Gamma-rays: stars
X-rays: binaries
X-rays: individual: (HESS J1832−093, 2MASS J18324516−0921545)
Descripción
Sumario:HESS J1832−093 is a member of the rare class of gamma-ray binaries, as recently confirmed by the detection of orbitally modulated X-ray and gamma-ray emission with a period of ∼86 d. The spectral type of the massive companion star has been difficult to retrieve as there is no optical counterpart, but the system is coincident with a near-infrared source. Previous results have shown that the infrared counterpart is consistent with an O or B-type star, but a clear classification is still lacking. We observed the counterpart twice, in 2019 and 2021, with the X-Shooter spectrograph operating on the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The obtained spectra classify the counterpart as an O6 V-type star. We estimate a distance to the source of 6.7 ± 0.5 kpc, although this estimate can be severely affected by the high extinction towards the source. This new O6 V classification for the companion star in HESS J1832−093 provides further support to an apparent grouping around a given spectral type for all discovered gamma-ray binaries that contain an O-type star. This may be due to the interplay between the initial mass function and the wind momentum–luminosity relation.