Characterizing X-ray binary long-term variability
Characterizing X-ray binary long-term variability
Long-term (‘superorbital’) periods or modulations have been detected in a wide variety of both low- and high-mass X-ray binaries at X-ray and optical wavelengths. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to account for the variability properties, such as precessing and/or warped accretion discs, amongst others. The All Sky Monitor onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer provides the most extensive (?15 years) and sensitive X-ray archive for studying such behaviour. It is also clear that such variations can be intermittent and/or a function of X-ray spectral state. Consequently, we use a time-dependent dynamic power spectrum method to examine how these modulations vary with time in 25 X-ray binaries for which superorbital periodicities have been previously reported. Our aim is to characterize these periodicities in a completely systematic way. Some (such as Her X-1 and LMC X-4) are remarkably stable, but others show a range of properties, from even longer variability time-scales to quite chaotic behaviour
1575-1589
Kotze, M.M.
2b1f3f9e-28f2-4af0-ae62-35bb56393822
Charles, P.A.
0429b380-0754-4dc1-8def-885c7fa6a086
February 2012
Kotze, M.M.
2b1f3f9e-28f2-4af0-ae62-35bb56393822
Charles, P.A.
0429b380-0754-4dc1-8def-885c7fa6a086
Kotze, M.M. and Charles, P.A.
(2012)
Characterizing X-ray binary long-term variability.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 420 (2), .
(doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.20146.x).
Abstract
Long-term (‘superorbital’) periods or modulations have been detected in a wide variety of both low- and high-mass X-ray binaries at X-ray and optical wavelengths. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to account for the variability properties, such as precessing and/or warped accretion discs, amongst others. The All Sky Monitor onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer provides the most extensive (?15 years) and sensitive X-ray archive for studying such behaviour. It is also clear that such variations can be intermittent and/or a function of X-ray spectral state. Consequently, we use a time-dependent dynamic power spectrum method to examine how these modulations vary with time in 25 X-ray binaries for which superorbital periodicities have been previously reported. Our aim is to characterize these periodicities in a completely systematic way. Some (such as Her X-1 and LMC X-4) are remarkably stable, but others show a range of properties, from even longer variability time-scales to quite chaotic behaviour
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e-pub ahead of print date: December 2011
Published date: February 2012
Organisations:
Astronomy Group
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Local EPrints ID: 339766
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/339766
ISSN: 1365-2966
PURE UUID: 49d2cadb-5df2-43ad-aa16-78290a5e11db
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Date deposited: 30 May 2012 10:31
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 11:15
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Author:
M.M. Kotze
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