Optical follow-up of new Small Magellanic Cloud wing Be/X-ray binaries     

M. P. E. Schurch  M. J. Coe  K. E. McGowan  V. A. McBride  D. A. H. Buckley  J. L. Galache  R. H. D. Corbet  M. Still  P. Vaisanen  A. Kniazev  K. Nordsieck 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,381(4):1561-1568

We investigate the optical counterparts of recently discovered Be/X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). In total four sources, SXP101, SXP700, SXP348 and SXP65.8 were detected during the Chandra survey of the wing of the SMC. SXP700 and SXP65.8 were previously unknown. Many optical ground-based telescopes have been utilized in the optical follow-up, providing coverage in both the red and blue bands. This has led to the classification of all of the counterparts as Be stars and confirms that three lie within the Galactic spectral distribution of known Be/X-ray binaries. SXP101 lies outside this distribution and is the latest spectral type known. Monitoring of the Hα emission line suggests that all the sources barring SXP700 have highly variable circumstellar discs, possibly a result of their comparatively short orbital periods. Phase-resolved X-ray spectroscopy has also been performed on SXP65.8, revealing that the emission is indeed harder during the passage of the X-ray beam through the line of sight.  相似文献   

A highly polarized radio jet during the 1998 outburst of the black hole transient XTE J1748–288     

C. Brocksopp  J. C. A. Miller-Jones  R. P. Fender  B. W. Stappers 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,378(3):1111-1117

XTE J1748−288 is a black hole X-ray transient which went into outburst in 1998 June. The X-ray light curves showed canonical morphologies, with minor variations on the 'fast rise exponential decay' profile. The radio source, however, reached an unusually high flux density of over 600 mJy. This high radio flux was accompanied by an exceptional  (>20  per cent)  fractional linear polarization, the variability of which was anticorrelated with the flux density. We use this variability to discuss possible depolarization mechanisms and to predict the underlying behaviour of the (unresolved) core/jet components.  相似文献   

Kinematics and stellar populations of the dwarf elliptical galaxy IC 3653     

I. V. Chilingarian  P. Prugniel  O. K. Sil'chenko  V. L. Afanasiev 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,376(3):1033-1046

We present the first 3D observations of a diffuse elliptical galaxy (dE). The good quality data (S/N up to 40) reveal the kinematical signature of an embedded stellar disc, reminiscent of what is commonly observed in elliptical galaxies, though similarity of their origins is questionable. Colour map built from Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) images confirms the presence of this disc. Its characteristic scale (about 3 arcsec =250 pc) is about a half of galaxy's effective radius, and its metallicity is 0.1–0.2 dex larger than the underlying population. Fitting the spectra with synthetic single stellar populations (SSP), we found an SSP-equivalent age of 5 Gyr and nearly solar metallicity [Fe/H]  =−0.06  dex. We checked that these determinations are consistent with those based on Lick indices, but have smaller error bars. The kinematical discovery of a stellar disc in dE gives additional support to an evolutionary link from dwarf irregular galaxies due to stripping of the gas against the intracluster medium.  相似文献   

On the ultracompact nature of 4U 1822−000     

T. Shahbaz  C. A. Watson  H. Hernandez-Peralta 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,376(4):1886-1888

We report the discovery of a periodic modulation in the optical lightcurve of the candidate ultracompact X-ray binary 4U 1822−000. Using time-resolved optical photometry taken with the William Herschel Telescope we find evidence for a sinusoidal modulation with a semi-amplitude of 8 per cent and a period of 191 min, which is most likely close to the true orbital period of the binary. Using the van Paradijs & McClintock relation for the absolute magnitude and the distance modulus allowing for interstellar reddening, we estimate the distance to 4U 1822−000 to be 6.3 kpc. The long orbital period casts severe doubts on the ultracompact nature of 4U 1822−000.  相似文献   

Separation of the visible and dark matter in the Einstein ring LBG J213512.73−010143     

Simon Dye  Ian Smail  A. M. Swinbank  H. Ebeling  A. C. Edge 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,379(1):308-316

We model the mass distribution in the recently discovered Einstein ring LBG J213512.73−010143 (the 'Cosmic Eye') using archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging. We reconstruct the mass density profile of the z = 0.73 lens and the surface brightness distribution of the z = 3.07 source and find that the observed ring is best fitted with a dual-component lens model consisting of a baryonic Sersic component nested within a dark matter halo. The dark matter halo has an inner slope of 1.42^+0.24_−0.22, consistent with cold dark matter simulations after allowing for baryon contraction. The baryonic component has a mass-to-light ratio of  1.71^+0.28_−0.38 M_⊙/L _{B ⊙}  which when evolved to the present day is in agreement with local ellipticals. Within the Einstein radius of 0.77 arcsec (5.6 kpc), the baryons account for 46 ± 11 per cent of the projected lens mass. External shear from a nearby foreground cluster is accurately predicted by the model. The reconstructed surface brightness distribution in the source plane clearly shows two peaks. Through a generalization of our lens inversion method, we conclude that the redshifts of both peaks are consistent with each other, suggesting that we are seeing structure within a single galaxy.  相似文献   

New flaring of an ultraluminous X-ray source in NGC 1365     

R. Soria  A. Baldi  G. Risaliti  G. Fabbiano  A. King  V. La Parola  A. Zezas 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,379(4):1313-1324

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The population of AM CVn stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey     

G. H. A. Roelofs  G. Nelemans  P. J. Groot 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,382(2):685-692

The AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) stars are rare interacting white dwarf binaries, whose formation and evolution are still poorly known. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey provides, for the first time, a sample of six AM CVn stars (out of a total population of 18) that are sufficiently homogeneous that we can start to study the population in some detail.
We use the Sloan sample to 'calibrate' theoretical population synthesis models for the space density of AM CVn stars. We consider optimistic and pessimistic models for different theoretical formation channels, which yield predictions for the local space density that are more than two orders of magnitude apart. When calibrated with the observations, all models give a local space density  ρ₀= 1–3 × 10⁻⁶ pc⁻³  , which is lower than expected.
We discuss the implications for the formation of AM CVn stars, and conclude that at least one of the dominant formation channels (the double-degenerate channel) has to be suppressed relative to the optimistic models. In the framework of the current models this suggests that the mass transfer between white dwarfs usually cannot be stabilized. We furthermore discuss evolutionary effects that have so far not been considered in population synthesis models, but which could be of influence for the observed population. We finish by remarking that, with our lower space density, the expected number of Galactic AM CVn stars resolvable by gravitational-wave detectors like the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna ( LISA ) should be lowered from current estimates, to about 1000 for a mission duration of 1 yr.  相似文献   

An XMM–Newton observation of the neutron star X-ray transient 2S 1803−245 in quiescence     

R. Cornelisse  R. Wijnands  J. Homan 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,380(4):1637-1641

We observed the neutron star X-ray transient 2S 1803−245 in quiescence with the X-ray satellite XMM–Newton , but did not detect it. An analysis of the X-ray bursts observed during the 1998 outburst of 2S 1803−245 gives an upper limit to the distance of ≤7.3 kpc, leading to an upper limit on the quiescent 0.5–10 keV X-ray luminosity of  ≤2.8 × 10³² erg s⁻¹  (3σ). Since the expected orbital period of 2S 1803−245 is several hours, this limit is not much higher than those observed for the quiescent black hole transients with similar orbital periods.  相似文献   

What is the origin of the soft excess in active galactic nuclei?   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Ma&#;gorzata A. Sobolewska  Chris Done 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,374(1):150-158

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Shock breakout in Type Ibc supernovae and application to GRB 060218/SN 2006aj     

Li-Xin Li 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,375(1):240-256

Recently, a soft blackbody component was observed in the early X-ray afterglow of GRB 060218, which was interpreted as shock breakout from the thick wind of the progenitor Wolf–Rayet (WR) star of the underlying Type Ic supernova 2006aj. In this paper, we present a simple model for computing the characteristic quantities (including energy, temperature and time duration) for the transient event from the shock breakout in Type Ibc supernovae produced by the core-collapse of WR stars surrounded by dense winds. In contrast to the case of a star without a strong wind, the shock breakout occurs in the wind region rather than inside the star, caused by the large optical depth in the wind. We find that, for the case of a WR star with a dense wind, the total energy of the radiation generated by the supernova shock breakout is larger than that in the case of the same star without a wind by a factor of >10. The temperature can be either hotter or colder, depending on the wind parameters. The time duration is larger caused by the increase in the effective radius of the star due to the presence of a thick wind. Then, we apply the model to GRB 060218/SN 2006aj. We show that, to explain both the temperature and the total energy of the blackbody component observed in GRB 060218 by the shock breakout, the progenitor WR star has to have an unrealistically large core radius (the radius at optical depth of 20), larger than 100 R_⊙. In spite of this disappointing result, our model is expected to have important applications to the observations on Type Ibc supernovae in which the detection of shock breakout will provide important clues to the progenitors of Type Ibc supernovae.  相似文献