822 research outputs found
Discovery of Two Simultaneous Kilohertz QPOs in the Persistent Flux of GX 349+2
We report the discovery of two simultaneous quasi-periodic oscillations in
the persistent flux of GX 349+2 at frequencies 712 +/- 9 and 978 +/- 9 Hz, with
rms amplitudes 1.25% +/- 0.34% and 1.34 +/- 0.32%, respectively. During our 152
ks observation with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, GX 342+2 was in either the
normal branch or the flaring branch with count rates in the nominal 2-60 keV
RXTE-PCA band ranging from a low of 8,000 cps to a high of 15,000 cps. The kHz
QPOs were observed only when the source was at the top of the normal branch
when the count rate was about 8,200 cps corresponding to a flux of 1.4E-8
ergs/cm**2/s in the 2-10 keV band. With this report, now kHz QPOs have been
observed in all the 6 Z sources.Comment: 5 pages, LaTex (aas2pp4), Accepted for publication in ApJ Let
Neutron Star Masses and Radii as Inferred from kilo-Hertz QPOs
Kilo-Hertz (kHz) Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) have been discovered in
the X-ray fluxes of 8 low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) with the Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer (RXTE). The characteristics of these QPOs are remarkably
similar from one source to another. In particular, the highest observed QPO
frequencies for 6 of the 8 sources fall in a very narrow range: 1,066 to 1,171
Hz. This is the more remarkable when one considers that these sources are
thought to have very different luminosities and magnetic fields, and produce
very different count rates in the RXTE detectors. Therefore it is highly
unlikely that this near constancy of the highest observed frequencies is due to
some unknown selection effect or instrumental bias. In this letter we propose
that the highest observed QPO frequency can be taken as the orbital frequency
of the marginally stable orbit. This leads to the conclusions that the neutron
stars in these LMXBs are inside their marginally stable orbits and have masses
in the vicinity of 2.0 solar masses. This mass is consistent with the
hypothesis that these neutron stars were born with about 1.4 solar masses and
have been accreting matter at a fraction of the Eddington limit for 100 million
years.Comment: 7 pages, uses aas2pp4.sty, Accepted by ApJ
Time-resolved optical photometry of the ultra-compact binary 4U0614+091
We present a detailed optical study of the ultra-compact X-ray binary
4U0614+091. We have used 63 hrs of time-resolved optical photometry taken with
three different telescopes (IAC80, NOT and SPM) to search for optical
modulations. The power spectra of each dataset reveals sinusoidal modulations
with different periods, which are not always present. The strongest modulation
has a period of 51.3 mins, a semi-amplitude of 4.6 mmags, and is present in the
IAC80 data. The SPM and NOT data show periods of 42 mins and 64 mins
respectively, but with much weaker amplitudes, 2.6 mags and 1.3 mmags
respectively. These modulations arise from either X-ray irradiation of the
inner face of the secondary star and/or a superhump modulation from the
accretion disc, or quasi-periodic modulations in the accretion disc. It is
unclear whether these periods/quasi-periodic modulations are related to the
orbital period, however, the strongest period of 51.3 mins is close to earlier
tentative orbital periods. Further observations taken over a long base-line are
encouraged.Comment: Accepted for publication in PAS
X-radiation from clusters of galaxies: Spectral evidence for a hot evolved gas
OSO-8 observations of the X-ray flux in the range 2-60 keV from the Virgo, Perseus, and Coma Clusters provide strong evidence for the thermal origin of the radiation, including iron line emission. The data are adequately described by emission from an isothermal plasma with an iron abundance in near agreement with cosmic levels. A power law description is generally less acceptable and is ruled out in the case of Perseus. Implications on the origin of the cluster gas are discussed
Spectral characteristics of 3U1915-05, a burst source candidate
An X-ray burst source was discovered near the X-ray source 3U1915-05. The continuum spectra of both the burst source and the quiescent 3U1915-05 are hard, with kT above 20 keV. The spectrum of 3U1915-05 has a feature at 9.1 keV, which, if attributed to absorption by hydrogen and helium-like iron, suggests the presence of a highly ionized cloud surrounding a central X-ray source
Milli-second Oscillations in the Persistent and Bursting Flux of Aql X-1 During an Outburst
The Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer observed the soft X-Ray transient Aql X-1
during its outburst in February and March 1997. We report the discovery of
quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in its persistent flux with frequencies in
the range of 740 to 830 Hz, Q-value of over 100, and a fractional RMS amplitude
of (6.8 +- 0.6)%, and nearly coherent oscillations (NCOs) during a Type-I burst
with a frequency of 549 Hz. The frequency of the QPOs in the persistent flux is
correlated with the mass accretion rate on time scale of hours, but not on time
scale of days. This is most likely the manifestation in a single source of the
kHz QPO puzzle observed among many sources, i.e., on the one hand, individual
sources show a correlation between the QPO frequency and the inferred mass
accretion rate, on the other hand, the dozen or so sources with luminosities
spanning two decades have essentially the same QPO frequencies. We propose that
this multi-valued QPO frequency and mass accretion rate correlation indicates
the existence of many similar regimes of the accretion disk. These regimes,
with a very similar energy spectrum and QPO frequency, are distinguished from
each other by the mass accretion rate or the total X-ray flux. The NCOs during
the burst can be made almost perfectly coherent by taking into account a large
frequency derivative. This strongly suggests that this frequency is related to
the neutron star spin frequency. The large frequency derivative is attributable
to the expansion or contraction of the neutron star photosphere during the
burst.Comment: 6 pages, LaTex (aas2pp4), Accepted for publication in ApJ Let
X-ray spectra of Hercules X-1. 3: Pulse phase dependence in high energy continuum
Pulse phase-dependent spectral changes in the high energy (less than 20 keV) continuum of Hercules X-1 were observed. Cyclotron absorption of underlying continua can reproduce the observed angular dependence in the high energy cutoff. Implications of this model, which include the possibility of determining the angular separation between the line of sight and the neutron star magnetic field if the absorbing electron spectrum is known are discussed
- …