Relativistic X-ray reflection and photoionized absorption in the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary GX 13+1

We analysed a dedicated NuSTAR observation of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Z-source GX 13+1 to study the timing and spectral properties of the source. From the colour-colour diagram, we conclude that during that observation the source transitioned from the normal branch to the flaring branch. We fitted the spectra of the source in each branch with a model consisting of an accretion disc, a Comptonized blackbody, relativistic reflection (relxillNS), and photoionized absorption (warmabs). Thanks to the combination of the large effective area and good energy resolution of NuSTAR at high energies, we found evidence of relativistic reflection in both the Fe K line profile and the Compton hump present in the 10-25 keV energy range. The inner disc radius is R-in less than or similar to 9.6 r(g) , which allowed us to further constrain the magnetic field strength to B less than or similar to 1.8 x 10(8) G. We also found evidence for the presence of a hot wind leading to photoionized absorption of Fe and Ni, with a Ni overabundance of similar to 6 times solar. From the spectral fits, we find that the distance between the ionizing source and the slab of ionized absorbing material is similar to 4-40 x 10(5) km. We also found that the width of the boundary layer extends similar to 3 km above the surface of a neutron star, which yielded a neutron star radius R-NS less than or similar to 16 km. The scenario inferred from the spectral modelling becomes self-consistent only for high electron densities in the accretion disc, n(e) similar to 10(22) - 10(23) cm(-3), as expected for a Shakura-Sunyaev disc, and significantly above the densities provided by relxillNS models. These results have implications for our understanding of the physical conditions in GX 13+1.