Optical photometry of massive X-ray binaries - CEN X-3/V779 CEN

Details Optical photometry of massive X-ray binaries - CEN X-3/V779 CEN Optical photometry of massive X-ray binaries - CEN X-3/V779 CEN

Aug 1983

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1983a%26a...124..294v&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 124, no. 2, Aug. 1983, p. 294-299.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

12

Binary Stars, Centaurus Constellation, Light Curve, Stellar Spectrophotometry, Variable Stars, X Ray Binaries, X Ray Sources, Accretion Disks, Neutron Stars, Orbital Elements, Stellar Magnitude, Ubv Spectra

Scientific paper

The results of photometric observations of V779 Cen, the optical counterpart of the massive X-ray binary Cen X-3, are presented. By combining these results with previously published data, an average light curve is derived. This curve shows the customary double-wave shape, with equal maxima and unequal minima, characteristic of ellipsoidal variations of a tidally distorted, gravitationally darkened, primary star. The light curve is shifted, by about 0.015 cycles, with respect to the X-ray ephemeris. Only by stretching the system parameters to their extreme limits can the amplitudes of the light curve be understood as a result of ellipsoidal variations only, and an additional source of light is probably present in this system. Since Cen X-3 is likely to be powered by Roche-lobe overflow, it is attractive to identify this light source, which contributes about 2 percent to the optical brightness of Cen X-3, with an accretion disk. No convincing evidence is found for the presence of long-term periodic variations in the shape of the light curve, with amplitudes in excess of about 0.01 mag.

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