NICER detection of a new candidate cyclotron line in the bursting X-ray pulsar GRO J1744-28

Abstract

We report the detection of cyclotron resonant scattering features (CRSFs) in the spectrum of the unique bursting pulsar GRO J1744-28, observed during its recent outburst in 2021 with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). Clear pulsations at a frequency of 2.141128 Hz as well as Type II X-ray bursts were observed. The pulse profile exhibits a single-peaked shape in all energy bands, with the pulse fraction showing a positive correlation with energy. We find that the persistent X-ray continuum of the accreting pulsar is well described by typical phenomenological models, and we confirm the presence of the cyclotron line at $\sim$5 keV as reported in previous studies. In addition, we detect a candidate absorption feature with a centroid energy of 2 keV. If confirmed, this feature could be interpreted as a CRSF, which would correspond to a magnetic field of $\sim$1.8 $\times 10^{11}$ G. Pulse-phase-resolved analysis also reveals this absorption line around the peak pulse phases. These NICER observations provide tentative evidence for the cyclotron line candidate, establishing GRO J1744-28 as a key laboratory for studying accretion physics in an intermediate-strength magnetic field.