X-ray properties of the transient pulsar 3A 0535+262 in quiescence

We present the timing and spectral properties of the transient Be/X-ray binary pulsar 3A 0535+262 during quiescence using three observations with the narrow field imaging instruments (NFI) of BeppoSAX. Assuming a distance of 2 kpc for this system, the 2-10 keV X-ray luminosities measured from the three observations are in the range of 1.5-4.0 $\times$ 10$^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$, indicating a very low rate of accretion. We report the detection of pulsations at a very low luminosity of 2 $\times$ 10$^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$ during one of the three observations, though at this accretion rate the system is expected to be in the centrifugally inhibited regime. The X-ray spectra for the unpulsed observations are best modeled as power law type while a combined model of power law and black-body is required to fit the pulsed spectrum.
13 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics