Bildsten, Lars and Rutledge, Robert E. (2000) Transient Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries in Quiescence. . (Unpublished) https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150218-155519302
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Abstract
We summarize the quiescent X-ray observations of transient low-mass X-ray binaries. These observations show that, in quiescence, binaries containing black holes are fainter than those containing neutron stars. This has triggered a number of theoretical ideas about what causes the quiescent X-ray emission. For black hole binaries, the options are accretion onto the black hole or coronal emission from the rapidly rotating stellar companion. There are more possibilities for the neutron stars: accretion, thermal emission from the surface or non-thermal emission from a "turned-on" radio pulsar. We review recent theoretical work on these mechanisms and note where current observations can distinguish between them. We highlight the re-analysis of the quiescent neutron star emission by Rutledge and collaborators that showed thermal emission to be a predominant contributor in many of these systems. Our knowledge of these binaries is bound to dramatically improve now that the Chandra and XMM satellites are operating successfully.
Item Type: | Report or Paper (Discussion Paper) | ||||||||
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Additional Information: | We thank Ed Brown, George Pavlov and Slava Zavlin for the collaboration on much of this work.We are grateful to Ed Brown for preparing Fig. 3. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation through Grant NSF94-0174 and NASA via grant NAG5-3239. L.B. is a Cottrell Scholar of the Research Corporation. | ||||||||
Group: | Space Radiation Laboratory | ||||||||
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Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20150218-155519302 | ||||||||
Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150218-155519302 | ||||||||
Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||||||
ID Code: | 54964 | ||||||||
Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | ||||||||
Deposited By: | Deborah Miles | ||||||||
Deposited On: | 28 Nov 2022 22:34 | ||||||||
Last Modified: | 28 Nov 2022 22:34 |
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