Neutron star masses from hydrodynamical effects in obscured supergiant high mass X-ray binaries

Abstract

Context. A population of obscured supergiant high mass X-ray binaries has been discovered by INTEGRAL. X-ray wind tomography of IGR J17252-3616 inferred a slow wind velocity to account for the enhanced obscuration. Aims. The main goal of this study is to understand under which conditions high obscuration could occur. Methods. We have used an hydrodynamical code to simulate the flow of the stellar wind around the neutron star. A grid of simulations was used to study the dependency of the absorbing column density and of the X-ray light-curves on the model parameters. A comparison between the simulation results and the observations of IGR J17252-3616 provides an estimate on these parameters. Results. We have constrained the wind terminal velocity to 500-600 km s -1 and the neutron star mass to 1.75-2.15 M ·. Conclusions. We have confirmed that the initial hypothesis of a slow wind velocity with a moderate mass loss rate is valid. The mass of the neutron star can be constrained by studying its impact on the accretion flow. © 2012 ESO.