The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

An X-ray, optical and infra-red study of high-mass X-Ray binaries in the small magellanic cloud

An X-ray, optical and infra-red study of high-mass X-Ray binaries in the small magellanic cloud
An X-ray, optical and infra-red study of high-mass X-Ray binaries in the small magellanic cloud
The known population of high-mass X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud is continually growing and is now a similar size to that of the Milky Way, despite a significant mass difference between the two galaxies. In this thesis, I present multi-wavelength observations of Be/X-ray binaries that have undergone an outburst during the past three years, including the discovery of new systems and extended outbursts from previously known sources. The results are discussed in terms of both the underlying physics of individual outbursts and how the growing SMC population is helping our understanding of the formation and evolution of highmass X-ray binaries. In particular, I describe the orbital analysis of every extended X-ray outburst detected by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and present the first significant sample of systems outside of the Milky Way for which a binary orbital solution is known.
Townsend, Lee J.
383d1487-54d3-4912-82d3-1cc3b4b28d5e
Townsend, Lee J.
383d1487-54d3-4912-82d3-1cc3b4b28d5e
Coe, Malcolm J.
04dfb23b-1456-46a3-9242-5cee983471d5

Townsend, Lee J. (2012) An X-ray, optical and infra-red study of high-mass X-Ray binaries in the small magellanic cloud. University of Southampton, Physics and Astronomy, Doctoral Thesis, 188pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

The known population of high-mass X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud is continually growing and is now a similar size to that of the Milky Way, despite a significant mass difference between the two galaxies. In this thesis, I present multi-wavelength observations of Be/X-ray binaries that have undergone an outburst during the past three years, including the discovery of new systems and extended outbursts from previously known sources. The results are discussed in terms of both the underlying physics of individual outbursts and how the growing SMC population is helping our understanding of the formation and evolution of highmass X-ray binaries. In particular, I describe the orbital analysis of every extended X-ray outburst detected by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and present the first significant sample of systems outside of the Milky Way for which a binary orbital solution is known.

Text
Lee_Townsend_PHD.pdf - Other
Download (5MB)

More information

Published date: 17 March 2012
Organisations: University of Southampton, Physics & Astronomy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 337555
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/337555
PURE UUID: b5d9e8ba-1c9d-425c-800a-a74d90b1bae7
ORCID for Malcolm J. Coe: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0763-8547

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Jun 2012 14:30
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:35

Export record

Contributors

Author: Lee J. Townsend
Thesis advisor: Malcolm J. Coe ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×