Broadband X-Ray Observations of the Periodic Optical Source ZTF J185139.81+171430.3 and Its Identification as a Massive Intermediate Polar

Abstract We present X-ray observations of the periodic optical source ZTF J185139.81+171430.3 (hereafter ZTF J1851) by the XMM-Newton, NICER, and NuSTAR telescopes. The source was initially speculated to be a white dwarf (WD) pulsar system, due to its short period ( P ∼ 12 minutes) and highly modulated optical lightcurves. Our observations revealed a variable X-ray counterpart extending up to 40 keV with an X-ray luminosity of L X ∼ 3 × 10 33 erg s −1 (0.3–40 keV). Utilizing timing data from XMM-Newton and NICER, we detected a periodic signal at P spin = 12.2640(7) ± 0.0583 minutes with >6 σ significance. The pulsed profile displays ∼25% and ∼10% modulation in the 0.3–2 and 2–10 keV bands, respectively. Broadband X-ray spectra are best characterized by an absorbed optically thin thermal plasma model with kT ≈ 25 keV and a Fe K- α fluorescent line at 6.4 keV. The bright and hard X-ray emission rules out the possibility of a WD pulsar or ultra-compact X-ray binary. The high plasma temperature and Fe emission lines suggest that ZTF J1851 is an intermediate polar spinning at 12.264 minutes. We employed an X-ray spectral model composed of the accretion column emission and X-ray reflection to fit the broadband X-ray spectra. Assuming spin equilibrium between the WD and the inner accretion disk, we derived a WD mass range of M WD = (1.07–1.32) M ⊙ , exceeding the mean WD mass of IPs (〈 M WD 〉 = 0.8 M ⊙ ). Our findings illustrate that follow-up broadband X-ray observations could provide unique diagnostics to elucidate the nature of periodic optical sources anticipated to be detected in the upcoming Rubin all-sky optical surveys.