In this paper we propose and examine a physical mechanism which can lead to the generation of noise in the mass accretion rate of low mass X-ray binaries on time-scales comparable to the orbital period of the system. We consider modulations of mass c
aptured by the compact object from the companion stars stellar wind in binaries with late type giants, systems which usually have long orbital periods. We show that a hydrodynamical interaction of the wind matter within a binary system even without eccentricity results in variability of the mass accretion rate with characteristic time-scales close to the orbital period. The cause of the variability is an undeveloped turbulent motion (perturbed motion without significant vorticity) of wind matter near the compact object. Our conclusions are supported by 3D simulations with two different hydrodynamic codes based on Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches -- the SPH code GADGET and the Eulerian code PLUTO. In this work we assume that the wind mass loss rate of the secondary is at the level of $(0.5-1)times10^{-7} M_odot$/year, required to produce observable variations of the mass accretion rate on the primary. This value is higher than that, estimated for single giant stars of this type, but examples of even higher mass loss rate of late type giants in binaries do exist. Our simulations show that the stellar wind matter intercepted by the compact object might create observational appearances similar to that of an accretion disc corona/wind and could be detected via high energy resolution observations of X-ray absorption lines, in particular, highly ionized ions of heavy elements.
We present the results of our optical identifications of four hard X-ray sources from the Swift all-sky survey. We obtained optical spectra for each of the program objects with the 6-m BTA telescope (Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy
of Sciences, Nizhnii Arkhyz), which allowed their nature to be established. Two sources (SWIFT J2237.2+6324} and SWIFT J2341.0+7645) are shown to belong to the class of cataclysmic variables (suspected polars or intermediate polars). The measured emission line width turns out to be fairly large (FWHM ~ 15-25 A), suggesting the presence of extended, rapidly rotating (v~400-600 km/s) accretion disks in the systems. Apart from line broadening, we have detected a change in the positions of the line centroids for SWIFT J2341.0+7645, which is most likely attributable to the orbital motion of the white dwarf in the binary system. The other two program objects (SWIFT J0003.3+2737 and SWIFT J0113.8+2515) are extragalactic in origin: the first is a Seyfert 2 galaxy and the second is a blazar at redshift z=1.594. Apart from the optical spectra, we provide the X-ray spectra for all sources in the 0.6-10 keV energy band obtained from XRT/Swift data.
We study the statistical properties of faint X-ray sources detected in the Chandra Bulge Field. The unprecedented sensitivity of the Chandra observations allows us to probe the population of faint Galactic X-ray sources down to luminosities L(2-10 ke
V)~1e30 erg/sec at the Galactic Center distance. We show that the luminosity function of these CBF sources agrees well with the luminosity function of sources in the Solar vicinity (Sazonov et al. 2006). The cumulative luminosity density of sources detected in the CBF in the luminosity range 1e30-1e32 erg/sec per unit stellar mass is L(2-10 keV)/M*=(1.7+/-0.3)e27 erg/sec/Msun. Taking into account sources in the luminosity range 1e32-1e34 erg/sec from Sazonov et al. (2006), the cumulative luminosity density in the broad luminosity range 1e30-1e34 erg/sec becomes L(2-10 keV)/M*=(2.4+/-0.4)e27 erg/sec/Msun. The majority of sources with the faintest luminosities should be active binary stars with hot coronae based on the available luminosity function of X-ray sources in the Solar environment.
We present the results of our optical identification of the X-ray source IGR J16547-1916 detected by the INTEGRAL observatory during a deep all-sky survey. Analysis of the spectroscopic data from the SWIFT and INTEGRAL observatories in the X-ray ener
gy band and from the BTA (Special Astrophysical Observatory) telescope in the optical band has shown that the source is most likely an intermediate polar -- an accreting white dwarf with the mass of M~0.85 M_Sun in a low-mass binary system. Subsequent studies of the objects rapid variability with the RTT-150 telescope have confirmed this conclusion by revealing periodic pulsations of its optical emission with a period of ~550 s.
We study simultaneous X-ray and optical observations of three intermediate polars EX Hya, V1223 Sgr and TV Col with the aim to understand the propagation of matter in their accretion flows. We show that in all cases the power spectra of flux variabil
ity of binary systems in X-rays and in optical band are similar to each other and the majority of X-ray and optical fluxes are correlated with time lag <1 sec. These findings support the idea that optical emission of accretion disks, in these binary systems,largely originates as reprocessing of X-ray luminosity of their white dwarfs. In the best obtained dataset of EX Hya we see that the optical lightcurve unambiguously contains some component, which leads the X-ray emission by ~7 sec. We interpret this in the framework of the model of propagating fluctuations and thus deduce the time of travel of the matter from the innermost part of the truncated accretion disk to the white dwarf surface. This value agrees very well with the time expected for matter threaded onto the magnetosphere of the white dwarf to fall to its surface. The datasets of V1223 Sgr and TV Col in general confirm these findings,but have poorer quality.
This paper is the first in a series devoted to the hard X-ray whole sky survey performed by the INTEGRAL observatory over seven years. Here we present an improved method for image reconstruction with the IBIS coded mask telescope. The main improvemen
ts are related to the suppression of systematic effects which strongly limit sensitivity in the region of the Galactic Plane (GP), especially in the crowded field of the Galactic Center (GC). We extended the IBIS/ISGRI background model to take into account the Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission (GRXE). To suppress residual systematic artifacts on a reconstructed sky image we applied nonparametric sky image filtering based on wavelet decomposition. The implemented modifications of the sky reconstruction method decrease the systematic noise in the ~20 Ms deep field of GC by ~44%, and practically remove it from the high-latitude sky images. New observational data sets, along with an improved reconstruction algorithm, allow us to conduct the hard X-ray survey with the best currently available minimal sensitivity 3.7E-12 erg/s/cm2 ~0.26 mCrab in the 17-60 keV band at a 5 sigma detection level. The survey covers 90% of the sky down to the flux limit of 6.2E-11 erg/s/cm2 (~4.32 mCrab) and 10% of the sky area down to the flux limit of 8.6E-12 erg/s/cm2 (~0.60 mCrab).
We studied the stellar population in the central 6.6x6.6arcmin,region of the ultra-deep (1Msec) Chandra Galactic field - the Chandra bulge field (CBF) approximately 1.5 degrees away from the Galactic Center - using the Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC
blue (F435W) and red (F625W) images. We mainly focus on the behavior of red clump giants - a distinct stellar population, which is known to have an essentially constant intrinsic luminosity and color. By studying the variation in the position of the red clump giants on a spatially resolved color-magnitude diagram, we confirm the anomalous total-to-selective extinction ratio, as reported in previous work for other Galactic bulge fields. We show that the interstellar extinction in this area is <A_(F625W)>= 4 on average, but varies significantly between ~3-5 on angular scales as small as 1 arcminute. Using the distribution of red clump giants in an extinction-corrected color-magnitude diagram, we constrain the shape of a stellar-mass distribution model in the direction of this ultra-deep Chandra field, which will be used in a future analysis of the population of X-ray sources. We also show that the adopted model for the stellar density distribution predicts an infrared surface brightness in the direction of the Chandra bulge field in good agreement (i.e. within ~15%) with the actual measurements derived from the Spitzer/IRAC observations.
We study the power spectra of the variability of seven intermediate polars containing magnetized asynchronous accreting white dwarfs, XSS J00564+4548,IGR J00234+6141, DO Dra, V1223 Sgr, IGR J15094-6649, IGR J16500-3307 and IGR J17195-4100, in the opt
ical band and demonstrate that their variability can be well described by a model based on fluctuations propagating in a truncated accretion disk. The power spectra have breaks at Fourier frequencies, which we associate with the Keplerian frequency of the disk at the boundary of the white dwarfs magnetospheres. We propose that the properties of the optical power spectra can be used to deduce the geometry of the inner parts of the accretion disk, in particular: 1) truncation radii of the magnetically disrupted accretion disks in intermediate polars, 2) the truncation radii of the accretion disk in quiescent states of dwarf novae
We study power density spectra (PDS) of X-ray flux variability in binary systems where the accretion flow is truncated by the magnetosphere. PDS of accreting X-ray pulsars where the neutron star is close to the corotation with the accretion disk at t
he magnetospheric boundary, have a distinct break/cutoff at the neutron star spin frequency. This break can naturally be explained in the perturbation propagation model, which assumes that at any given radius in the accretion disk stochastic perturbations are introduced to the flow with frequencies characteristic for this radius. These perturbations are then advected to the region of main energy release leading to a self-similar variability of X-ray flux P~f^{-1...-1.5}. The break in the PDS is then a natural manifestation of the transition from the disk to magnetospheric flow at the frequency characteristic for the accretion disk truncation radius (magnetospheric radius). The proximity of the PDS break frequency to the spin frequency in corotating pulsars strongly suggests that the typical variability time scale in accretion disks is close to the Keplerian one. In transient accreting X-ray pulsars characterized by large variations of the mass accretion rate during outbursts, the PDS break frequency follows the variations of the X-ray flux, reflecting the change of the magnetosphere size with the accretion rate. Above the break frequency the PDS steepens to ~f^{-2} law which holds over a broad frequency range. These results suggest that strong f^{-1...-1.5} aperiodic variability which is ubiquitous in accretion disks is not characteristic for magnetospheric flows.
We use deep Chandra observations to measure the emissivity of the unresolved X-ray emission in the elliptical galaxy NGC 3379. After elimination of bright, low-mass X-ray binaries with luminosities >10^{36 erg/sec, we find that the remaining unresolv
ed X-ray emission is characterized by an emissivity per unit stellar mass L_x/M_stars ~8.2x10^{27} erg/s/M_sun in the 0.5-2 keV energy band. This value is in good agreement with those previousely determined for the dwarf elliptical galaxy M32, the bulge of the spiral galaxy M31 and the Milky Way, as well as with the integrated X-ray emissivity of cataclysmic variables and coronally active binaries in the Solar neighborhood. This strongly suggests that i) the bulk of the unresolved X-ray emission in NGC 3379 is produced by its old stellar population and ii) the old stellar populations in all galaxies can be characterized by a universal value of X-ray emissivity per unit stellar mass or per unit K band luminosity.
