Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-01-14
Astron.Astrophys.400:633-642,2003
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
9 pages and 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Scientific paper
10.1051/0004-6361:20030038
GX 3+1 is a low-mass X-ray binary that is persistently bright since its discovery in 1964. It was found to be an X-ray burster twenty years ago proving that the compact object in this system is a neutron star. The burst rate is so low that only 18 bursts were reported prior to 1996. The Wide Field Cameras on BeppoSAX have, through a dedicated monitoring program on the Galactic center region, increased the number of X-ray bursts from GX 3+1 by 61. Since GX 3+1 exhibits a slow (order of years) modulation in the persistent flux of about 50%, these observations opens up the unique possibility to study burst properties as a function of mass accretion rate for very low burst rates. This is the first time that bursts are detected from GX 3+1 in the high state. From the analysis we learn that all bursts are short with e-folding decay times smaller than 10 s. Therefore, all bursts are due to unstable helium burning. Furthermore, the burst rate drops sixfold in a fairly narrow range of 2-20 keV flux; we discuss possible origins for this.
Bazzano Angela
Cocchi Massimo
Cornelisse Remon
den Hartog Peter R.
Heisse J.
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