Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1999-09-17
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
33 pages, including 3 ps figures, LaTeX. To appear in ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/308303
We fit hydrogen atmosphere models to the X-ray data for four neutron stars (three from a previous paper, plus 4U 2129+47) and six black hole candidates (A0620-00, GS 2000+25, GS 1124-68, GS 2023+33, GRO J1655-40, and GRO J0422+32). While the neutron stars are similar in their intrinsic X-ray spectra (similar effective temperatures and emission area radii ~10 km), the spectra of two black hole candidates are significantly different, and the spectra of the remaining four are consistent with a very large parameter space that includes the neutron stars. The spectral differences between the neutron stars and black hole candidates favors the interpretation that the quiescent neutron star emission is predominantly thermal emission from the neutron star surface. Our work suggests that an X-ray spectral comparison in quiescence provides an additional means for distinguishing between neutron stars and black holes. The faint X-ray sources in globular clusters are also a class of objects which can be investigated in this manner.
Bildsten Lars
Brown Edward F.
Pavlov George G.
Rutledge Robert E.
Zavlin Vyatcheslav E.
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