Transient Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries in Quiescence

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.