A serendipitous XMM-Newton observation of the intermediate polar WX Pyx

Abstract

We briefly describe a serendipitous observation of the little-studied intermediate polar WX Pyx using XMM-Newton. The X-ray spin period is 1557.3 s, confirming the optical period published in 1996. An orbital period of ~5.54 h is inferred from the separation of the spin-orbit sidelobe components. The soft and hard band spin-folded light curves are roughly sinusoidal in shape. The best-fit spectrum is consistent with a bremsstrahlung temperature of ~18 keV. An upper limit of ~300 eV is assigned to the presence of Fe line emission. WX Pyx lies near TX and TV Col in the P_spin-P_orb plane.

Research supported by contract number NAS8-39073 to SAO.