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   

A submillimetre survey of the star formation history of radio galaxies   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

E. N. Archibald  J. S. Dunlop  D. H. Hughes  S. Rawlings  S. A. Eales  R. J. Ivison 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,323(2):417-444

We present the results of the first major systematic submillimetre survey of radio galaxies spanning the redshift range 1< z <5. The primary aim of this work is to elucidate the star formation history of this sub class of elliptical galaxies by tracing the cosmological evolution of dust mass. Using SCUBA on the JCMT, we have obtained 850-μm photometry of 47 radio galaxies to a consistent rms depth of 1 mJy, and have detected dust emission in 14 cases. The radio galaxy targets have been selected from a series of low-frequency radio surveys of increasing depth (3CRR, 6CE, etc.), in order to allow us to separate the effects of increasing redshift and increasing radio power on submillimetre luminosity. Although the dynamic range of our study is inevitably small, we find clear evidence that the typical submillimetre luminosity (and hence dust mass) of a powerful radio galaxy is a strongly increasing function of redshift; the detection rate rises from ≃15 per cent at z <2.5 to ≳75 per cent at z >2.5, and the average submillimetre luminosity rises at a rate ∝(1+ z )³ out to z ≃4. Moreover, our extensive sample allows us to argue that this behaviour is not driven by underlying correlations with other radio galaxy properties such as radio power, radio spectral index, or radio source size/age. Although radio selection may introduce other more subtle biases, the redshift distribution of our detected objects is in fact consistent with the most recent estimates of the redshift distribution of comparably bright submillimetre sources discovered in blank field surveys. The evolution of submillimetre luminosity found here for radio galaxies may thus be representative of massive ellipticals in general.  相似文献   

A normal and superoutburst study of the eclipsing SU UMa star: DV Ursae Majoris     

Daisaku Nogami  †  Taichi Kato  Hajime Baba  Rudolf Novák  J. J. Lockley  M. Somers 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,322(1):79-84

We report on time-resolved photometry carried out during the 1995 short outburst and the 1997 long outburst in the eclipsing dwarf nova DV UMa. The revised orbital period is 0.0858526172 (67) d. We detected gigantic superhumps with an amplitude of ∼0.6 mag in the mid-phase of the 1997 outburst, revealing the SU UMa nature of DV UMa. The superhump period is 0.0887 (4) d. The superhumps became less clear during the late phase of the superoutburst, and we found two possible periods of 0.0885 (15) and 0.0764 (15). During both outbursts, the eclipse was wide and shallow near the maximum, and then became narrower and deeper, which is qualitatively well explained by the current disc instability theory.  相似文献   

The short-period supersoft source in M31     

A. R. King  J. P. Osborne  K. Schenker 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,329(2):L43-L46

We show that the recently discovered short period supersoft source in M31 is probably a progenitor of a magnetic cataclysmic variable (CV). The white dwarf spins asynchronously because of the current high accretion rate. However its fieldstrength is typical of an AM Herculis system, which is what it will ultimately become. We discuss the relevance of this system to CV evolution, and its relation to some particular CVs with special characteristics.  相似文献   

Spectral analysis of water vapour in cool stars     

Hugh R. A.Jones  YakivPavlenko  SerenaViti  JonathanTennyson 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,330(3):675-684

M-star spectra, at wavelengths beyond 1.35 μm, are dominated by water vapour, yet terrestrial water vapour makes it notoriously difficult to obtain accurate measurement from ground-based observations. We have used the short-wavelength spectrometer on the Infrared Space Observatory at four wavelength settings to cover the  2.5–3.0 μm  region for a range of M stars. The observations show a good match with previous ground-based observations and with synthetic spectra based on the Partridge & Schwenke line list, although not with the SCAN line list. We have used a least-squared minimization technique to systematically find best-fitting parameters for the sample of stars. The temperatures that we find indicate a relatively hot temperature scale for M dwarfs. We consider that this could be a consequence of problems with the Partridge & Schwenke line list which leads to synthetic spectra predicting water bands that are too strong for a given temperature. Such problems need to be solved in the next generation of water vapour line lists, which will extend the calculation of water vapour to higher energy levels with the good convergence necessary for reliable modelling of hot water vapour. Then water bands can assume their natural role as the primary tool for the spectroscopic analysis of M stars.  相似文献   

The ultraviolet line spectrum of the soft X-ray transient XTE J1118+480: a CNO-processed core exposed     

C. A. Haswell  R. I. Hynes  A. R. King  K. Schenker 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,332(4):928-932

We compare ultraviolet (UV) spectra of the recent soft X-ray transients XTE J1118+480 and XTE J1859+226. The emission line strengths in XTE J1118+480 strongly suggest that the accreting material has been CNO processed. We show that this system must have come into contact with a secondary star of about 1.5 M_⊙, and an orbital period ∼15 h, very close to the bifurcation value at which the nuclear and angular momentum loss time-scales are similar. Subsequent evolution to the current period of 4.1 h was driven by angular momentum loss. In passing through a period of 7.75 h the secondary star would have shown essentially normal surface abundances. XTE J1118+480 could thus represent a slightly later evolutionary stage of A0620-00. We briefly discuss the broad Ly α absorption wings in XTE J1118+480.  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   

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the b_J-band galaxy luminosity function and survey selection function     

Peder Norberg  Shaun Cole  Carlton M. Baugh  Carlos S. Frenk  Ivan Baldry  Joss Bland-Hawthorn  Terry Bridges  Russell Cannon  Matthew Colless  Chris Collins  Warrick Couch  Nicholas J. G. Cross  Gavin Dalton  Roberto De Propris  Simon P. Driver  George Efstathiou  Richard S. Ellis  Karl Glazebrook  Carole Jackson  Ofer Lahav  Ian Lewis  Stuart Lumsden  Steve Maddox  Darren Madgwick  John A. Peacock  Bruce A. Peterson  Will Sutherland  Keith Taylor 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,336(3):907-931

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Extremely weak reflection features in the X-ray spectrum of XTE J1118+480: possible evidence for X-ray-emitting jets?     

J. M. Miller  D. R. Ballantyne  A. C. Fabian  W. H. G. Lewin 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,335(4):865-870

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Phase-resolved X-ray spectroscopy of the millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4−3658     

MarekGierlin´ski  ChrisDone  DidierBarret 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,331(1):141-153

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