Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2002-01-11
v574 n2 pt1 ApJ August 1, 2002 issue
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
14 pages, including 1 figure. Submitted to ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/341058
We report here the results of a 90 ks BeppoSAX observation of the low mass X-ray binary and atoll source KS 1731-260 during a quiescent phase. From this observation we derive a source X-ray luminosity of \sim 10^{33} ergs/s (for a source distance of 7 kpc). If the neutron star is spinning at a period of a few milliseconds, as inferred from the nearly-coherent oscillations observed during type-I X-ray bursts, the quiescent X-ray luminosity constrains the neutron star magnetic field strength to less than \sim 10^9 G. If the quiescent emission originates from the release of thermal energy accumulated through deep crust heating in the previous accretion phase, then the measured quiescent luminosity requires a neutron star mass of more than 1.7 M_\odot or a very long outbust recurrence time (\sim 10^3 yr). The former possibility would be in agreement with the expectation of the recycling scenario, namely that the neutron star has accreted a significant amount of mass, enough to spin it up to millisecond periods.
Burderi Luciano
Burgay Marta
Campana Sergio
Fiore Fabrizio
Gennaro Giuseppe
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