Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-07-05
Astrophys.J.648:L135-L138,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
5 pages, including two figures, one in color. re-submitted to ApJL after addressing referee's comments
Scientific paper
10.1086/507990
We report the discovery of excess 4.5 and 8 micron emission from three quiescent black hole low-mass X-ray binaries, A 0620-00, GS 2023+338, and XTE J1118+480. The mid-infrared emission from GS 2023+338 probably originates in the accretion disk. However, the excess emission from A 0620-00 and XTE J1118+480 is brighter and peaks at longer wavelengths, and so probably originates from circumbinary dust that is heated by the light of the secondary star. We find that the inner edge of the dust distribution lies near 1.7 times the binary separation, which is the minimum radius at which a circumbinary disk would be stable against tidal disruption. The excess infrared emission is not detected at 24 micron, which implies that the dust does not extend beyond about 3 times the binary separation. The total masses of circumbinary material are between 10^22 and 10^24 g. The material could be the remains of fall-back disks produced in supernovae, or material from the companions injected into circumbinary orbits during mass transfer.
Mauerhan Jon
Muno Michael P.
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