Broad-Band Measurements of Cen X-3 With XTE and CGRO

Details Broad-Band Measurements of Cen X-3 With XTE and CGRO Broad-Band Measurements of Cen X-3 With XTE and CGRO

Jan 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999stin...9978757v&link_type=abstract

Technical Report, New Hampshire Univ. Durham, NH United States Physics Dept.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Astronomical Models, Centaurus Constellation, Binary Stars, Accretion Disks, Companion Stars, X Ray Binaries, Neutron Stars, O Stars, Uhuru Satellite, X Ray Astronomy, Magnetic Fields, Pulsars, X Rays, Emission Spectra, X Ray Timing Explorer

Scientific paper

Centaurus X-3 has played a key role in the development of our understanding of galactic x-ray binary sources. Timing analysis of the UHURU x-ray observations for the luminous Cen X-3 source (L approximately 1038 erg/s) revealed the first evidence for coherent x-ray pulsations from an object in a binary system (Giaconni 1971; Schreier 1972). It was quickly understood that the luminous pulsed x-ray emission could be generated by the accretion of matter from a companion star onto a rotating neutron star and led to the adoption of binary star models as the fundamental model for galactic x-ray sources (e.g. Pringle and Rees 1972; Lamb 1973). Based on modeling and refined observations since the original measurements, we now believe that Cen X-3 is a high mass x-ray binary system that contains a disk-fed pulsar with a period of 4.84 seconds that is in a 2.087 day orbit around an O-star companion. Since the pulsar discovery, its period has been intermittently monitored and those studies show a long term spin-up of the pulsar punctuated by short intervals of spin-down (e.g. Finger 1994). The implied torques are thought to originate from the interaction of an accretion disk with the magnetic field of a neutron star (Ghosh and Lamb 1979).

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