X - ray properties of the transient pulsar 3 A 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 × 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 × 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.