A Study of the Low-Mass X-Ray Binary Hz-Herculis / HERCULES-X-1 Using IUE and Optical Data

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Scientific paper

An extensive body of uniformly extracted IUE spectrophotometry of HZ Her/Her X-l is presented. To interpret these data a light-curve synthesis model comprising a distorted, X-ray heated primary accompanied by an accretion disc is developed. Roche geometry is used for the star, and the X-ray shadow thrown by the disc accounted for. The model's parameters are estimated by fitting to optical photometry compiled by Gerend & Boynton. We conclude that the intrinsic hard X-ray luminosity of Her X-1 is ˜⅓LEdd, that a fan pattern is favoured over pencil-beamed X-ray emission, and that ˜½ the hard X-rays incident on HZ Her are reprocessed to optical radiation. It is argued that non-local reradiation of incident X-ray energy is unimportant. In addition, a large accretion disc is required (Rdisc O.8Rlobe). The model successfully reproduces the lUE data near maximum light, and allows the UV spectrum of the accretion disc to be isolated. This spectrum can be approximated by a power law, fλ ∝ λ-5/4, which varies in level by a factor ≳ 3. The disc's luminosity is provided by reprocessed X-rays.

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