Gravitational-wave background of neutron star–white dwarf binaries     

Asantha Cooray 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2004,354(1):25-30

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Keck II spectroscopy of mHz quasi-periodic oscillations in Hercules X-1     

K. O'Brien  Keith Horne  B. Boroson †  M. Still ‡  R. Gomer  J.B. Oke  P. Boyd  S.D. Vrtilek 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,326(3):1067-1075

We present Keck II spectroscopy of optical mHz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the light curve of the X-ray pulsar binary Hercules X-1. In the power spectrum it appears as 'peaked noise', with a coherency ∼2, a central frequency of 35 mHz and a peak-to-peak amplitude of 5 per cent. However, the dynamic power spectrum shows it to be an intermittent QPO, with a lifetime of ∼100 s, as expected if the lifetime of the orbiting material is equal to the thermal time-scale of the inner disc. We have decomposed the spectral time series into constant and variable components and used blackbody fits to the resulting spectra to characterize the spectrum of the QPO variability and constrain possible production sites. We find that the spectrum of the QPO is best fitted by a small hot region, possibly the inner regions of the accretion disc, where the ballistic accretion stream impacts on to the disc. The lack of any excess power around the QPO frequency in the X-ray power spectrum, created using simultaneous light curves from RXTE , implies that the QPO is not simply reprocessed X-ray variability.  相似文献   

A complete relativistic ionized accretion disc in Cygnus X-1     

A.J. Young †  A.C. Fabian  R.R. Ross  Y. Tanaka 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,325(3):1045-1052

The galactic black hole candidate Cygnus X-1 is observed to be in one of two X-ray spectral states: either the low/hard (low soft X-ray flux and a flat power-law tail) or high/soft (high blackbody-like soft X-ray flux and a steep power-law tail) state. The physical origin of these two states is unclear. We present here a model of an ionized accretion disc, the spectrum of which is blurred by relativistic effects, and fit it to the ASCA , Ginga and EXOSAT data of Cygnus X-1 in both spectral states. We confirm that relativistic blurring provides a much better fit to the low/hard state data and, contrary to some previous results, find the data of both states to be consistent with an ionized thin accretion disc with a reflected fraction of unity extending to the innermost stable circular orbit around the black hole. Our model is an alternative to those that, in the low/hard state, require the accretion disc to be truncated at a few tens of Schwarzschild radii, within which there is a Thomson-thin, hot accretion flow. We suggest a mechanism that may cause the changes in spectral state.  相似文献   

Testing the line-driven disc wind model: time-resolved ultraviolet spectroscopy of IX Vel and V3885 Sgr     

L. E. Hartley  J. E. Drew  K. S. Long  C. Knigge  D. Proga 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,332(1):127-143

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MACHO photometry of two Large Magellanic Cloud Be X-ray transients, EXO 0531–66 and H 0544–665     

K. E. McGowan  P. A. Charles 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,335(4):941-947

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密近双星自转的测量和研究（Ⅰ）观测和处理结果     

潘开科  谭徽松  汪洵浩 《中国天文和天体物理学报》1994,(3)

用相同的仪器条件在美国ＫｉｔｔＰｅａｋ国立天文台观测了一批密近双星，并用两种方法得出其自转速度，最后给出了７５个双星系统的９９个子星的自转速度，其中５４个子星是首次进行自转测量。这批高精度的自转值为研究双星的同步性和检验各种同步机制提供了可靠的观测资料。  相似文献   

Tidally distorted accretion discs in binary stars     

G. I.Ogilvie 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,330(4):937-949

The non-axisymmetric features observed in the discs of dwarf novae in outburst are usually considered to be spiral shocks, which are the non-linear relatives of tidally excited waves. This interpretation suffers from a number of problems. For example, the natural site of wave excitation lies outside the Roche lobe, the disc must be especially hot, and most treatments of wave propagation do not take into account the vertical structure of the disc.
In this paper I construct a detailed semi-analytical model of the non-linear tidal distortion of a thin, three-dimensional accretion disc by a binary companion on a circular orbit. The analysis presented here allows for vertical motion and radiative energy transport, and introduces a simple model for the turbulent magnetic stress. The   m =2  inner vertical resonance has an important influence on the amplitude and phase of the tidal distortion. I show that the observed patterns find a natural explanation if the emission is associated with the tidally thickened sectors of the outer disc, which may be irradiated from the centre. According to this hypothesis, it may be possible to constrain the physical parameters of the disc through future observations.  相似文献   

4U 1957+11: a persistent low-mass X-ray binary and black hole candidate in the high state?     

RudyWijnands †  Jon M.Miller  Michiel van derKlis 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,331(1):60-70

We report on several pointed Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations of the enigmatic low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 1957+11 at different X-ray luminosities. The luminosity of the source varied by more than a factor of 4 on time-scales of months to years. The spectrum of the source tends to become harder when its luminosity increases. Only very weak  (1–2  per cent rms amplitude,  0.001–10 Hz  ,  2–60 keV)  rapid X-ray variability was observed during the observations. A comparison of the spectral and temporal behaviour of 4U 1957+11 with other X-ray binary systems, in particular LMC X-3, indicates that 4U 1957+11 is likely to be a persistent LMXB harbouring a black hole and it is persistently in the black hole high state. If confirmed, it would be the only such system known.  相似文献   

Precessing warped accretion discs in X-ray binaries     

G. I. Ogilvie  G. Dubus 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,320(4):485-503

We study the radiation-driven warping of accretion discs in the context of X-ray binaries. The latest evolutionary equations are adopted, which extend the classical alpha theory to time-dependent thin discs with non-linear warps. We also develop accurate, analytical expressions for the tidal torque and the radiation torque, including self-shadowing.
We investigate the possible non-linear dynamics of the system within the framework of bifurcation theory. First, we re-examine the stability of an initially flat disc to the Pringle instability. Then we compute directly the branches of non-linear solutions representing steadily precessing discs. Finally, we determine the stability of the non-linear solutions. Each problem involves only ordinary differential equations, allowing a rapid, accurate and well-resolved solution.
We find that radiation-driven warping is probably not a common occurrence in low-mass X-ray binaries. We also find that stable, steadily precessing discs exist for a narrow range of parameters close to the stability limit. This could explain why so few systems show clear, repeatable 'superorbital' variations. The best examples of such systems, Her X-1, SS 433 and LMC X-4, all lie close to the stability limit for a reasonable choice of parameters. Systems far from the stability limit, including Cyg X-2, Cen X-3 and SMC X-1, probably experience quasi-periodic or chaotic variability as first noticed recently by Wijers and Pringle. We show that radiation-driven warping provides a coherent and persuasive framework but that it does not provide a generic explanation for the long-term variabilities in all X-ray binaries.  相似文献   

The optical counterpart to SAX J1808.4−3658: observations in quiescence     

L. Homer  P.A. Charles  D. Chakrabarty  L. van Zyl 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,325(4):1471-1476

We report the first extensive set of optical photometric observations of the counterpart to SAX J1808.4−3658 (V4580 Sagittarii) in quiescence. The source was detected at V ∼21 , 5 mag fainter than at the peak of its 1998 outburst. However, a comparable ∼6 per cent semi-amplitude 2-h modulation of its flux is revealed. This has the same phasing and approximately sinusoidal modulation as seen during outburst, and with photometric minimum when the pulsar is behind the companion. The lack of a double-humped morphology rules out an ellipsoidal origin, implying that the bulk of the optical flux does not arise from the companion. Moreover, applying crude modelling to the disc and X-ray irradiated face of the donor shows that the internal energy release of a remnant disc (with mass transfer driven by gravitational radiation) is sufficient to explain most of the optical emission, and with the modulation because of the varying contribution of the heated face of the star. We note that this model is also consistent with the much lower X-ray to optical flux ratio in quiescence versus outburst, and with the phasing of the optical modulation.  相似文献