Evidence of non-solar elemental composition in the clocked X-ray burster SRGA J144459.2-604207

Abstract

In 2024 February and March, a series of many Type I X-ray bursts were observed from the accreting neutron star SRGA J144459.2−604207, which has been identified by multiple X-ray satellites, with the first reports coming from INTEGRAL and NinjaSat. These observations reveal that after exhibiting very regular behavior as a “clocked” burster, the peak luminosity of the SRGA J144459.2-604207 X-ray bursts shows a gradual decline. The observed light curves exhibit a short plateau feature, potentially with a double peak, followed by a rapid decay in the tail-features unlike those seen in previously observed clocked bursters. In this study, we calculate a series of multizone X-ray burst models with various compositions of accreted matter, specifically varying the mass fractions of hydrogen (X), helium (Y), and heavier CNO elements or metallicity (Z[CNO]). We demonstrate that a model with higher Z[CNO] and/or lower X/Y compared to the solar values can reproduce the observed behavior of SRGA J144459.2-604207. Therefore, we propose that this new X-ray burster is likely the first clocked burster with non-solar elemental compositions. Moreover, based on the X-ray burst light curve morphology in the decline phase observed by NinjaSat, a He-enhanced model with X/Y ≈ 1.5 seems preferred over high-metallicity cases. We also give a brief discussion on the implications for the neutron star mass, binary star evolution, inclination angle, and the potential for a high-metallicity scenario, the last of which is closely related to the properties of the hot CNO cycle.