133 research outputs found
Assisted stellar suicide in V617 Sgr
V617 Sgr is a V Sagittae star - a group of binaries thought to be the
galactic counterparts of the Compact Binary Supersoft X-ray Sources - CBSS. To
check this hypothesis, we measured the time derivative of its orbital period.
Observed timings of eclipse minima spanning over 30,000 orbital cycles are
presented. We found that the orbital period evolves quite rapidly: P/Pdot = 1.1
x 10^{6} years. This is consistent with the idea that V617 Sgr is a wind driven
accretion supersoft source. As the binary system evolves with a time-scale of
about one million years, which is extremely short for a low mass evolved
binary, it is likely that the system will soon end either by having its
secondary completely evaporated or by the primary exploding as a supernova of
type Ia.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in A&A Letter
The Nature of the Hard-X-Ray Emitting Symbiotic Star RT Cru
We describe Chandra High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer
observations of RT Cru, the first of a new sub-class of symbiotic stars that
appear to contain white dwarfs (WDs) capable of producing hard X-ray emission
out to greater than 50 keV. The production of such hard X-ray emission from the
objects in this sub-class (which also includes CD -57 3057, T CrB, and CH Cyg)
challenges our understanding of accreting WDs. We find that the 0.3 -- 8.0 keV
X-ray spectrum of RT Cru emanates from an isobaric cooling flow, as in the
optically thin accretion-disk boundary layers of some dwarf novae. The
parameters of the spectral fit confirm that the compact accretor is a WD, and
they are consistent with the WD being massive. We detect rapid, stochastic
variability from the X-ray emission below 4 keV. The combination of flickering
variability and a cooling-flow spectrum indicates that RT Cru is likely powered
by accretion through a disk. Whereas the cataclysmic variable stars with the
hardest X-ray emission are typically magnetic accretors with X-ray flux
modulated at the WD spin period, we find that the X-ray emission from RT Cru is
not pulsed. RT Cru therefore shows no evidence for magnetically channeled
accretion, consistent with our interpretation that the Chandra spectrum arises
from an accretion-disk boundary layer.Comment: 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
WR 7a: a V Sagittae or a qWR star?
The star WR 7a, also known as SPH 2, has a spectrum that resembles that of V
Sagittae stars although no O VI emission has been reported. The Temporal
Variance Spectrum - TVS - analysis of our data shows weak but strongly variable
emission of O VI lines which is below the noise level in the intensity
spectrum. Contrary to what is seen in V Sagittae stars, optical photometric
monitoring shows very little, if any, flickering. We found evidence of periodic
variability. The most likely photometric period is P(phot) = 0.227(14) d, while
radial velocities suggest a period of P(spec) = 0.204(13) d. One-day aliases of
these periods can not be ruled out. We call attention to similarities with HD
45166 and DI Cru (= WR 46), where multiple periods are present. They may be
associated to the binary motion or to non-radial oscillations. In contrast to a
previous conclusion by Pereira et al. (1998), we show that WR 7a contains
hydrogen. The spectrum of the primary star seems to be detectable as the N V
4604A absorption line is visible. If so, it means that the wind is optically
thin in the continuum and that it is likely to be a helium main sequence star.
Given the similarity to HD 45166, we suggests that WR 7a may be a qWR - quasi
Wolf-Rayet - star. Its classification is WN4h/CE in the Smith et al. (1996)
three dimensional classification system.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, preprint of an article accepted for publication
in Monthly Notices of The Royal Astronomical Societ
Optical polarimetric monitoring of the type II-plateau SN 2005af
Aims. Core-collapse supernovae may show significant polarization that implies
non-spherically symmetric explosions. We observed the type II-plateau SN 2005af
using optical polarimetry in order to verify whether any asphericity is present
in the supernova temporal evolution. Methods. We used the IAGPOL imaging
polarimeter to obtain optical linear polarization measurements in R (five
epochs) and V (one epoch) broadbands. Interstellar polarization was estimated
from the field stars in the CCD frames. The optical polarimetric monitoring
began around one month after the explosion and lasted ~30 days, between the
plateau and the early nebular phase. Results. The weighted mean observed
polarization in R band was [1.89 +/- 0.03]% at position angle (PA) 54 deg.
After foreground subtraction, the level of the average intrinsic polarization
for SN 2005af was ~0.5% with a slight enhancement during the plateau phase and
a decline at early nebular phase. A rotation in PA on a time scale of days was
also observed. The polarimetric evolution of SN 2005af in the observed epochs
is consistent with an overall asphericity of ~20% and an inclination of ~30
deg. Evidence for a more complex, evolving asphericity, possibly involving
clumps in the SN 2005af envelope, is found.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to be published A&
Discovery of optical pulsations in V2116 Ophiuchi/GX 1+4
We report the detection of pulsations with s period in V2116 Oph,
the optical counterpart of the low-mass X-ray binary GX 1+4. The pulsations are
sinusoidal with modulation amplitude of up to 4% in blue light and were
observed in ten different observing sessions during 1996 April-August using a
CCD photometer at the 1.6-m and 0.6-m telescopes of Laborat\'orio Nacional de
Astrof\'{\i}sica, in Brazil. The pulsations were also observed with the
fast photometer. With only one exception the observed optical periods are
consistent with those observed by the BATSE instrument on board the Compton
Gamma Ray Observatory at the same epoch. There is a definite correlation
between the observability of pulsations and the optical brightness of the
system: V2116~Oph had magnitude in the range when the pulsed
signal was detected, and when no pulsations were present. The
discovery makes GX 1+4 only the third of accretion-powered X-ray
pulsars to be firmly detected as a pulsating source in the optical. The
presence of flickering and pulsations in V2116 Oph adds strong evidence for an
accretion disk scenario in this system. The absolute magnitude of the pulsed
component on 1996 May 27 is estimated to be . The implied
dimensions for the emitting region are 1.1 R_{\sun}, 3.2 R_{\sun}, and 7.0
R_{\sun}, for black-body spectral distributions with K, K, and K, respectively.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures in PostScript, latex, accepted for publication on
the Astrophysical Journal Letter
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