1,142 research outputs found
Swift observations of the dwarf nova ASASSN-18fs
The All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) reported a possible
Galactic dwarf nova ASASSN-18fs on 2018 March 19 at 13.2 mag in the V
band, with a quiescent magnitude of V17.6. Here we report on the follow-up
photometry using the {\it Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory}.Comment: Published by AAS Research Note
The nature of very faint X-ray binaries; hints from light curves
Very faint X-ray binaries (VFXBs), defined as having peak luminosities Lx of
10^34-10^36 erg/s, have been uncovered in significant numbers, but remain
poorly understood. We analyse three published outburst light curves of two
transient VFXBs using the exponential and linear decay formalism of King and
Ritter (1998). The decay timescales and brink luminosities suggest orbital
periods of order 1 hour. We review various estimates of VFXB properties, and
compare these with suggested explanations of the nature of VFXBs. We suggest
that: 1) VFXB outbursts showing linear decays might be explained as partial
drainings of the disc of "normal" X-ray transients, and many VFXB outbursts may
belong to this category; 2) VFXB outbursts showing exponential decays are best
explained by old, short-period systems involving mass transfer from a low-mass
white dwarf or brown dwarf; 3) persistent (or quasi-persistent) VFXBs, which
maintain an Lx of 10^34-10^35 erg/s for years, may be explained by
magnetospheric choking of the accretion flow in a propeller effect, permitting
a small portion of the flow to accrete onto the neutron star's surface. We thus
predict that (quasi-)persistent VFXBs may also be transitional millisecond
pulsars, turning on as millisecond radio pulsars when their Lx drops below
10^32 erg/s.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures. MNRAS, in pres
Extended Emission from Cygnus X-3 Detected with Chandra
We have discovered extended X-ray emission from the microquasar Cyg X-3 in
archival Chandra X-ray Observatory observations. A 5" wide structure lies
approximately 16" to the NE from the core point source and may be extended in
that direction. This angular scale corresponds to a physical extent of roughly
0.8 lyr, at a distance of 2.5 lyr from Cyg X-3 (assuming a 10 kpc distance).
The flux varied by a factor of 2.5 during the four months separating two of the
observations, indicating significant substructure. The peak 2-10 keV luminosity
was about 5e34 ergs/s. There may also be weaker, extended emission of similar
scale oppositely directed from the core, suggesting a bipolar outflow. This
structure is not part of the dust scattering halo, nor is it caused by the
Chandra point spread function. In this Letter we describe the observations and
discuss possible origins of the extension.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letters. 5 pages, 2 figures (1 color). Uses
emulateap
Dependence of the Frequency of the Kilohertz Quasi-Periodic Oscillations on X-ray Count Rate and Colors in 4U 1608-52
We present new results based on observations carried out with the Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer during the decay of an outburst of the low-mass X-ray binary
(LMXB) and atoll source 4U 1608-52. Our results appear to resolve, at least in
4U 1608-52, one of the long-standing issues about the phenomenology of the
kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations (kHz QPOs), namely, the lack of a unique
relation between the frequency of the kHz QPOs and the X-ray flux. We show that
despite its complex dependence on the X-ray flux, the frequency of the kHz QPOs
is monotonically related to the position of the source in the color-color
diagram. Our findings strengthen the idea that, as in the case of Z sources, in
the atoll sources the X-ray flux is not a good indicator of , and that
the observed changes in the frequency of the kHz QPOs in LMXBs are driven by
changes in . These results raise some concern about the recently
reported detection of the orbital frequency at the innermost stable orbit in 4U
1820-30.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Uses
AAS LaTex v4.0 (5 pages plus 4 postscript figures
Further constraints on neutron star crustal properties in the low-mass X-ray binary 1RXS J180408.9342058
We report on two new quiescent {\it XMM-Newton} observations (in addition to
the earlier {\it Swift}/XRT and {\it XMM-Newton} coverage) of the cooling
neutron star crust in the low-mass X-ray binary 1RXS J180408.9342058. Its
crust was heated during the 4.5 month accretion outburst of the source.
From our quiescent observations, fitting the spectra with a neutron star
atmosphere model, we found that the crust had cooled from 100 eV to
73 eV from 8 days to 479 days after the end of its outburst.
However, during the most recent observation, taken 860 days after the end
of the outburst, we found that the crust appeared not to have cooled further.
This suggested that the crust had returned to thermal equilibrium with the
neutron star core. We model the quiescent thermal evolution with the
theoretical crustal cooling code NSCool and find that the source requires a
shallow heat source, in addition to the standard deep crustal heating
processes, contributing 0.9 MeV per accreted nucleon during outburst to
explain its observed temperature decay. Our high quality {\it XMM-Newton} data
required an additional hard component to adequately fit the spectra. This
slightly complicates our interpretation of the quiescent data of 1RXS
J180408.9342058. The origin of this component is not fully understood.Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRA
Swift monitoring observation of the Be/X-ray transient GX 304-1 in quiescence and its current outburst
Swift monitoring observation of the Be/X-ray transient GX 304-1 in quiescence and its current outburst
On 2016 May 17, the Be/X-ray transient GX 30-41 was found (using MAXIand BAT) to exhibit a new outburst although this was not yet expected based on the previous outbursts of the source (Atel #9064)
Near-infrared counterparts of three transient very faint neutron star X-ray binaries
We present near-infrared (NIR) imaging observations of three transient
neutron star X-ray binaries, SAX J1753.5-2349, SAX J1806.5-2215 and AX
J1754.2-2754. All three sources are members of the class of `very faint' X-ray
transients which exhibit X-ray luminosities erg s.
The nature of this class of sources is still poorly understood. We detect NIR
counterparts for all three systems and perform multi-band photometry for both
SAX J1753.5-2349 and SAX J1806.5-2215, including narrow-band Br
photometry for SAX J1806.5-2215. We find that SAX J1753.5-2349 is significantly
redder than the field population, indicating that there may be absorption
intrinsic to the system, or perhaps a jet is contributing to the infrared
emission. SAX J1806.5-2215 appears to exhibit absorption in Br,
providing evidence for hydrogen in the system. Our observations of AX
J1754.2--2754 represent the first detection of a NIR counterpart for this
system. We find that none of the measured magnitudes are consistent with the
expected quiescent magnitudes of these systems. Assuming that the infrared
radiation is dominated by either the disc or the companion star, the observed
magnitudes argue against an ultracompact nature for all three systems.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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