Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Mar 1986
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986a%26a...157l..10v&link_type=abstract
Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 157, no. 2, March 1986, p. L10-L12. Research supported by the John Simon Gugge
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
43
Black Body Radiation, Neutron Stars, Spectrum Analysis, X Ray Spectra, Brightness Temperature, Spectral Energy Distribution, Stellar Spectra, X Ray Sources
Scientific paper
If the neutron star in an X-ray burst source is sufficiently hot to give a significant (blackbody or blackbody-like) contribution to the total persistent X-ray flux, blackbody radii obtained from standard analyses of X-ray bursts contain systematic errors which can be very large near the end of a burst when the burst flux reaches low values. The blackbody temperature calculated from the burst flux spectra (i.e., from the radiation in excess of the pre- and post-burst persistent emission) is then directly related to the quiescent temperature of the neutron star, and is independent of the excess burst flux. As a consequence, the calculated apparent blackbody radii go to zero as the burst flux goes to zero. Therefore, a decrease in the apparent blackbody radius near the end of a burst (this has been observed) does not necessarily reflect an actual decrease in the area of a burst emission region. Systematic errors can, in principle, also be introduced when persistent spectra of one source observed at different times are subtracted, and blackbody fits are made to the difference spectrum.
Lewin H. G.
Paradijs Jan van
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