We search the literature for reports on the spectral properties of neutron-star low-mass X-ray binaries when they have accretion luminosities between 1E34 and 1E36 ergs/s. We found that in this luminosity range the photon index (obtained from fitting
a simple absorbed power-law in the 0.5-10 keV range) increases with decreasing 0.5-10 keV X-ray luminosity (i.e., the spectrum softens). Such behaviour has been reported before for individual sources, but here we demonstrate that very likely most (if not all) neutron-star systems behave in a similar manner and possibly even follow a universal relation. When comparing the neutron-star systems with black-hole systems, it is clear that most black-hole binaries have significantly harder spectra at luminosities of 1E34 - 1E35 erg/s. Despite a limited number of data points, there are indications that these spectral differences also extend to the 1E35 - 1E36 erg/s range. This observed difference between the neutron-star binaries and black-hole ones suggests that the spectral properties (between 0.5-10 keV) at 1E34 - 1E35 erg/s can be used to tentatively determine the nature of the accretor in unclassified X-ray binaries. We discuss our results in the context of properties of the accretion flow at low luminosities and we suggest that the observed spectral differences likely arise from the neutron-star surface becoming dominantly visible in the X-ray spectra. We also suggest that both the thermal component and the non-thermal component might be caused by low-level accretion onto the neutron-star surface for luminosities below a few times 1E34 erg/s.
We report on a series of Swift/XRT observations, performed between February and 22 March 2012, during the quiescent state of the neutron-star X-ray binary SAX J1750.8-2900. In these observations, the source was either just detected or undetected, dep
ending on the exposure length (which ranged from ~0.3 to ~3.8 ks). The upper limits for the non-detections were consistent with the detected luminosities (when fitting a thermal model to the spectrum) of ~1E34 erg/s (0.5-10 keV). This level is consistent with what has been measured previously for this source in quiescence. However, on March 17 the source was found to have an order of magnitude larger count rate. When fitting the flare spectrum with an absorbed power-law model, we obtained a flare luminosity of (3-4) 1E34 erg/s (0.5-10 keV). Follow-up Swift observations showed that this flare lasted <16 days. This event was very likely due to a brief episode of low-level accretion onto the neutron star and provides further evidence that the quiescent state of neutron-star X-ray transients might not be as quiet as is generally assumed. The detection of this low-level accretion flare raises the question whether the quiescent emission of the source (outside the flare) could also be due to residual accretion, albeit continuous instead of episodic. However, we provide arguments which would suggest that the lowest intensity level might instead represent the cooling of the accretion-heated neutron star.
It is assumed that accreting neutron stars (NSs) in LMXBs are heated due to the compression of the existing crust by the accreted matter which gives rise to nuclear reactions in the crust. It has been shown that most of the energy is released deep in
the crust by pycnonuclear reactions involving low-Z elements. We discuss if NSs in very-faint X-ray transients (VFXTs; those which have peak X-ray luminosities < 1E36 erg/s) can be used to test this model. Unfortunately we cannot conclusively answer this because of the large uncertainties in our estimates of the accretion rate history of those VFXTs, both the short-term (less than a few tens of thousands of years) and the one throughout their lifetime. The latter is important because it can be so low that the NSs might not have accreted enough matter to become massive enough that enhanced cooling processes become active. Therefore, they could be relatively warm compared to other systems for which such enhanced cooling processed have been inferred. However, the amount of matter can also not be too low because then the crust might not have been replaced significantly by accreted matter and thus a hybrid crust of partly accreted and partly original, albeit further compressed matter, might be present. This would inhibit the full range of pycnonuclear reactions to occur and thus very likely decreasing the amount of heat deposited in the crust. Furthermore, better understanding is needed how a hybrid crust affects other properties such as the thermal conductivity. We also show that some individual NS LMXBs might have hybrid crusts as well as the NSs in HMXBs. This has to be taken into account when studying the cooling properties of those systems when they are in quiescence. We show that the VFXTs are likely not the dominate transients that are associated with the brightest low-luminosity X-ray sources in globular clusters as was hypothesized.
We report on two short XMM-Newton observations performed in August 2006 and February 2007 during the quiescence state of the enigmatic black hole candidate system IGR J17091-3624. During both observations the source was clearly detected. Although the
errors on the estimated fluxes are large, the source appears to be brighter by several tens of percents during the February 2007 observation compared to the August 2006 observation. During both observations the 2-10 keV luminosity of the source was close to ~10^{33} erg/s for an assumed distance of 10 kpc. However, we note that the distance to this source is not well constrained and it has been suggested it might be as far as 35 kpc which would result in an order of magnitude higher luminosities. If the empirically found relation between the orbital period and the quiescence luminosity of black hole transients is also valid for IGR J17091-3624, then we can estimate an orbital period of >100 hours (>4 days) for a distance of 10 kpc but it could be as large as tens of days if the source is truly much further away. Such a large orbital period would be similar to GRS 1915+105 which has an orbital period of ~34 days. Orbital periods this large could possibly be connected to the fact that both sources exhibit the same very violent and extreme rapid X-ray variability which has so far not yet been seen from any other black hole system. Alternatively the orbital period of IGR J17091-3624 might be more in line with the other systems (<100 hours) but we happened to have observed the source in an episode of elevated accretion which was significantly higher than its true quiescent accretion rate. In that case, the absence or presence of extreme short-term variability properties as is seen for IGR J17091-3624 and GRS 1915+105 is not related to the orbital periods of these black hole systems.
We present an analysis of the Swift BAT and XRT data of GRB060602B, which is most likely an accreting neutron star in a binary system and not a gamma-ray burst. Our analysis shows that the BAT burst spectrum is consistent with a thermonuclear flash (
type-I X-ray burst) from the surface of an accreting neutron star in a binary system. The X-ray binary nature is further confirmed by the report of a detection of a faint point source at the position of the XRT counterpart of the burst in archival XMM-Newton data approximately 6 years before the burst and in more recent XMM-Newton data obtained at the end of September 2006 (nearly 4 months after the burst). Since the source is very likely not a gamma-ray burst, we rename the source Swift J1749.4-2807, based on the Swift/BAT discovery coordinates. Using the BAT data of the type-I X-ray burst we determined that the source is at most at a distance of 6.7+-1.3 kpc. For a transiently accreting X-ray binary its soft X-ray behaviour is atypical: its 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity (as measured using the Swift/XRT data) decreased by nearly 3 orders of magnitude in about 1 day, much faster than what is usually seen for X-ray transients. If the earlier phases of the outburst also evolved this rapidly, then many similar systems might remain undiscovered because the X-rays are difficult to detect and the type-I X-ray bursts might be missed by all sky surveying instruments. This source might be part of a class of very-fast transient low-mass X-ray binary systems of which there may be a significant population in our Galaxy.
During the last few years a class of enigmatic sub-luminous accreting neutron stars has been found in our Galaxy. They have peak X-ray luminosities (2-10 keV) of a few times 1E34 erg/s to a few times 1E35 erg/s, and both persistent and transient sour
ces have been found. I present a short overview of our knowledge of these systems and what we can learn from them.
