Decade time-scale modulation of low mass X-ray binaries

Details Decade time-scale modulation of low mass X-ray binaries Decade time-scale modulation of low mass X-ray binaries

2009-09-02

arxiv.org/abs/0909.0444v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

8 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted by MNRAS

Scientific paper

Regular observations by the All Sky Monitor aboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite have yielded well-sampled light-curves with a time baseline of over ten years. We find that up to eight of the sixteen brightest persistent low mass X-ray binaries show significant, possible sinusoidal, variations with periods of order ten years. We speculate on its possible origin and prevalence in the population of low mass X-ray binaries and we find the presence of a third object in the system, or long-period variability intrinsic to the donor star, as being attractive origins for the X-ray flux modulation we detect. For some of the objects in which we do not detect a signal, there is substantial short-term variation which may hide modest modulation on long time-scales. Decade time-scale modulations may thus be even more common.

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