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Cygnus X-3 and the problem of the missing Wolf-Rayet X-ray binaries

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 Added by Dave Lommen
 Publication date 2005
  fields Physics
and research's language is English




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Cygnus X-3 is a strong X-ray source (L_X about 10^38 erg/s) which is thought to consist of a compact object, accreting matter from a helium star. We find analytically that the estimated ranges of mass-loss rate and orbital-period derivative for Cyg X-3 are consistent with two models: i) the system is detached and the mass loss from the system comes from the stellar wind of a massive helium star, of which only a fraction that allows for the observed X-ray luminosity is accreted, or ii) the system is semidetached and a Roche-lobe-overflowing low- or moderate-mass helium donor transfers mass to the compact object, followed by ejection of its excess over the Eddington rate from the system. These analytical results appear to be consistent with evolutionary calculations. By means of population synthesis we find that currently in the Galaxy there may exist ~1 X-ray binary with a black hole that accretes from a >~ 7 MSun Wolf-Rayet star and ~1 X-ray binary in which a neutron star accretes matter from a Roche-lobe-overflowing helium star with mass <~ 1.5 MSun. Cyg X-3 is probably one of these systems.



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We present mid-infrared spectrophotometric observations of SS433 with ISOPHOT. The HeI+HeII lines in both spectra of SS433 and of the Wolf-Rayet star WR147, a wind-colliding WN8+BO5 binary system, closely match. The 2.5-12 micron continuum radiation is due to an expanding wind free-free emission in an intermediate case between optically thick and optically thin regimes. The inferred mass loss rate evaluation gives ~10^{-4} Msun/yr. Our results are consistent with a Wolf-Rayet-like companion to the compact object in SS433. A similar study for Cygnus X-3 confirms the Wolf-Rayet-like nature of its companion, although with a later WN type than previously suggested.
The Wolf-Rayet (WR) bubble S 308 around the WR star HD 50896 is one of the only two WR bubbles known to possess X-ray emission. We present XMM-Newton observations of three fields of this WR bubble that, in conjunction with an existing observation of its Northwest quadrant, map most of the nebula. The X-ray emission from S 308 displays a limb-brightened morphology, with a central cavity ~22 arcmin in size and a shell thickness of ~8 arcmin. This X-ray shell is confined by the optical shell of ionized material. The spectrum is dominated by the He-like triplets of NIV at 0.43 keV and OVII at 0.57 keV, and declines towards high energies, with a faint tail up to 1 keV. This spectrum can be described by a two-temperature optically thin plasma emission model (T1 ~ 1.1x10^6 K, T2 ~ 13x10^6 K), with a total X-ray luminosity ~2x10^33 erg/s at the assumed distance of 1.5 kpc.
Cygnus X-3 is a unique microquasar in the Galaxy hosting a Wolf-Rayet companion orbiting a compact object that most likely is a low-mass black hole. The unique source properties are likely due to the interaction of the compact object with the heavy stellar wind of the companion. In this paper, we concentrate on a very specific period of time prior to the massive outbursts observed from the source. During this period, Cygnus X-3 is in a so-called hypersoft state, where the radio and hard X-ray fluxes are found to be at their lowest values (or non-detected), the soft X-ray flux is at its highest values, and sporadic gamma-ray emission is observed. We will utilize multiwavelength observations in order to study the nature of the hypersoft state. We observed Cygnus X-3 during the hypersoft state with Swift and NuSTAR in the X-rays and SMA, AMI-LA, and RATAN-600 in the radio. We also considered X-ray monitoring data from MAXI and $gamma$-ray monitoring data from AGILE and Fermi. We found that the spectra and timing properties of the multiwavelength observations can be explained by a scenario where the jet production is turned off or highly diminished in the hypersoft state and the missing jet pressure allows the wind to refill the region close to the black hole. The results provide proof of actual jet quenching in soft states of X-ray binaries.
Using XMM-Newton, we undertook a dedicated project to search for X-ray bright wind-wind collisions in 18 WR+OB systems. We complemented these observations with Swift and Chandra datasets, allowing for the study of two additional systems. We also improved the ephemerides, for these systems displaying photometric changes, using TESS, Kepler, and ASAS-SN data. Five systems displayed a very faint X-ray emission ($log [L_{rm X}/L_{rm BOL}]<-8$) and three a faint one ($log [L_{rm X}/L_{rm BOL}]sim-7$), incompatible with typical colliding wind emission: not all WR binaries are thus X-ray bright. In a few other systems, X-rays from the O-star companion cannot be excluded as being the true source of X-rays (or a large contributor). In two additional cases, the emission appears faint but the observations were taken with the WR wind obscuring the line-of-sight, which could hide a colliding wind emission. Clear evidence of colliding winds was however found in the remaining six systems (WR19, 21, 31, 97, 105, 127). In WR19, increased absorption and larger emission at periastron are even detected, in line with expectations of adiabatic collisions.
We improve the method proposed by Yao emph{et al} (2003) to resolve the X-ray dust scattering halos of point sources. Using this method we re-analyze the Cygnus X-1 data observed with {it Chandra} (ObsID 1511) and derive the halo radial profile in different energy bands and the fractional halo intensity (FHI) as $I(E)=0.402times E_{{rm keV}}^{-2}$. We also apply the method to the Cygnus X-3 data ({it Chandra} ObsID 425) and derive the halo radial profile from the first order data with the {it Chandra} ACIS+HETG. It is found that the halo radial profile could be fit by the halo model MRN (Mathis, Rumpl $&$ Nordsieck, 1977) and WD01 (Weingartner $&$ Draine, 2001); the dust clouds should be located at between 1/2 to 1 of the distance to Cygnus X-1 and between 1/6 to 3/4 (from MRN model) or 1/6 to 2/3 (from WD01 model) of the distance to Cygnus X-3, respectively.
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