Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Feb 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010head...11.4307h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #11, #43.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.732
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The relation between mass accretion rate and the X-ray properties of neutron-star low-mass X-ray binaries (NS-LMXBs) remains poorly understood. One of the major questions is whether differences in accretion rate alone are enough to account for the various (Z and atoll) sub-classes. Here I report on observations of the unique, super-Eddington neutron-star transient XTE J1701-462 that answer this question unambiguously. During its 20 month outburst, which was followed in unprecedented detail with RXTE, this source evolved through various NS-LMXBs sub-classes. This evolution primarily manifested itself as a change in the shape of the tracks in X-ray color-color and hardness-intensity diagrams, and was accompanied by changes in the kHz quasi-periodic oscillations, broad-band variability, burst behavior, and X-ray spectra. The observations strongly suggest that the wide variety in behavior observed in NS-LMXBs with different luminosities can be linked through changes in a single variable parameter, namely the mass accretion rate, without the need for additional differences in neutron star spin/magnetic field, or viewing angle, as was long believed. I will also discuss the implications of these findings for the nature of the spectral evolution in individual NS-LMXBs accreting at near-Eddington luminosities. I suggest that, contrary to the low-luminosity NS-LNMBs, motion along the color-color tracks of these sources is most likely not caused by changes in the mass accretion rate, but rather is the result of instabilities in the accretion flow.
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