Stellar winds and accretion in massive X-ray binaries

Details Stellar winds and accretion in massive X-ray binaries Stellar winds and accretion in massive X-ray binaries

Jun 1976

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1976a%26a....49..327l&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 49, no. 3, June 1976, p. 327-335.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

97

Binary Stars, Early Stars, Stellar Mass, Stellar Winds, X Ray Binaries, X Ray Sources, Luminous Intensity, Mass Transfer, Radiation Pressure, Stellar Luminosity, Wind Velocity, X Ray Stars

Scientific paper

The paper investigates whether the observed concentration of optical components in massive binary X-ray sources at spectral types earlier than B1 and masses greater than about 15 solar masses can be explained in terms of known properties of stellar winds. To do this, observational and theoretical data on stellar winds are employed to calculate the accretion rates for the compact stars in several massive X-ray binaries as a function of the spectral types and luminosities of the optical companions. Accretion rates and X-ray luminosities are computed for Vela X-1, 3U 1700-37, Cyg X-1, Cen X-3, and SMC X-1; the expected X-ray fluxes are compared with observations. It is found that: (1) wind accretion from a star deep within its Roche lobe should not produce a strong long-lived X-ray source if the mass of the compact star is less than about 2 solar masses; (2) the expected X-ray fluxes drop rather sharply beyond spectral type B0; and (3) the high X-ray luminosities of Cen X-3 and SMC X-1 may be explained by a combination of nonsynchronous rotation of the primary star and smaller wind velocities near the orbit than predicted for a wind that is driven only by radiation pressure.

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