Title: Precessing Warped Be Disk Triggering the Giant Outbursts in 2009 and 2011 in A 0535+262/V725 Tau Authors: Yuki Moritani (1 and 2), Daisaku Nogami (3), Atsuo T. Okazaki (4), Akira Imada (5), Eiji Kambe (5), Satoshi Honda (3 and 6), Osamu Hashimoto (7), Sahori Mizoguchi (8 and 9), Yuichi Kanda (8 and 10), Kozo Sadakane (8), Kohei Ichikawa (2) ((1) Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Centre, Hiroshima University, (2) Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, (3) Kwasan Observatory, Kyoto University, (4) Faculty of Engineering, Hokkai-Gakuen University, (5) Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, (6) Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory, Centre for Astronomy, University of Hyogo, (7) Gunma Astronomical Observatory, (8) Astronomy Institute, Osaka Kyoiku University, (9) Sendai Astronomical Observatory, (10) Fujisoft Incorporated)
We carried out optical high-dispersion spectroscopic monitoring of the Be disk in a Be/X-ray binary A 0535+262/V725 Tau from 2009 to 2012, covering two giant outbursts and several normal outbursts. This monitoring was performed in order to investigate variabilities of the Be disk due to the interaction with the neutron star in recent X-ray active phase from 2008 to 2011. Such variabilities give a clue to uncleared detailed mechanism for very bright X-ray outbursts, which are unique to some Be/X-ray binaries with relatively wide and eccentric orbit. In the previous letter (Moritani et al. 2011), a brief overview of line profile variabilities around the 2009 giant outburst was given and the possibility of a warped Be disk was discussed. In this paper, a full analysis of the Halpha line profiles as well as other line profiles is carried out. A bright blue component, or blue "shoulder", showing up after periastron indicates the presence of a dense gas stream toward the neutron star, which is associated with observed outbursts. We re-analyse the Halpha line profiles before 2009 (down to 2005) in order to investigate the variability of the disk structure in the innermost region, which seems to have detached from the Be star surface by 2008. A redshifted enhanced component is remarkable in all emission lines observed around the 2009 giant outburst, occasionally forming a triple peak. These features indicate that the Be disk was warped in X-ray active phase. We estimate the position of the warped region from fitting the radial velocity of the redshifted enhanced component of Halpha, and find that it was very close to the periastron when two giant outbursts in 2009 and 2011 and a bright normal outburst in 2010 March occurred. These facts strongly suggest that the warped Be disk triggered these giant outbursts.
The accreting binary X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 was observed in outburst by the INTEGRAL satellite between 00:53 UT, 3rd August and 04:32 UT, 4th August, 2009. The Be/X-ray binary (HIP 26566) was discovered in 1975 during a giant outburst.