ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

A review of the Z-track sources

78   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Monika Balucinska-Church
 تاريخ النشر 2011
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

The brightest class of low mass X-ray binary source: the Z-track sources are reviewed specifically with regard to the nature of the three distinct states of the sources. A physical model is presented for the Cygnus X-2 sub-group in which increasing mass accretion rate takes place on the Normal Branch resulting in high neutron star temperature and radiation pressure responsible for inner disk disruption and launching of jets. The Flaring Branch consists of unstable nuclear burning on the neutron star. It is shown that the Sco X-1 like sub-group is dominated by almost non-stop flaring consisting of both unstable burning and increase of Mdot, causing higher neutron star temperatures. Finally, results of Atoll source surveys are presented and a model for the nature of the Banana and Island states in these sources is proposed. Motion along the Banana state is caused by variation of Mdot. Measurements of the high energy cut-off of the Comptonized emission E_CO provide the electron temperature T_e of the Comptonizing ADC; above a luminosity of 2x10^37 erg/s E_CO is a few keV and T_e equals the neutron star temperature. At lower luminosities, the cut-off energy rises towards 100 keV showing heating of the corona by an unknown process. This spectral hardening is the cause of the Island state of Atoll sources. The models for Z-track and Atoll sources thus constitute a unified model for low mass X-ray binary sources.

قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

We review the longterm confusion which has existed over the nature of flaring in the brightest class of low mass X-ray binary: the Z-track sources, specifically in the Cygnus X-2 sub-group. Intensity reductions in the lightcurve produce a branch in c olour -colour diagrams similar to that of real flares in the Sco X-1 like group, and the nature of this branch was not clear. However, based on observations of Cygnus X-2 in which this dipping/flaring occurred it was proposed that the mass accretion rate in Z-track sources in general increases monotonically along the Z-track towards the Flaring Branch, a standard assumption widely held. It was also suggested that the Cygnus X-2 group have high inclination. Based on recent multi-wavelength observations of Cygnus X-2 we resolve these issues, showing by spectral analysis that the Dipping Branch consists of absorption events in the outer disk, unrelated to the occasional real flaring in the source. Thus motivation for Mdot increasing along the Z from Horizontal - Normal to Flaring Branch is removed, as is the idea that high inclination distinguishes the Cygnus X-2 group. Finally, the observations provide further evidence for the extended nature of the Accretion Disk Corona (ADC), and the correct modelling of the ADC Comptonized emission is crucial to the interpretation of low mass X-ray binary data.
Based on the results of applying the extended ADC emission model for low mass X-ray binaries to three Z-track sources: GX340+0, GX5-1 and CygX-2, we propose an explanation of the CygnusX-2 like Z-track sources. The Normal Branch is dominated by the i ncreasing radiation pressure of the neutron star caused by a mass accretion rate that increases between the soft apex and the hard apex. The radiation pressure continues to increase on the Horizontal Branch becoming several times super-Eddington. We suggest that this disrupts the inner accretion disk and that part of the accretion flow is diverted vertically forming jets which are detected by their radio emission on this part of the Z-track. We thus propose that high radiation pressure is the necessary condition for the launching of jets. On the Flaring Branch there is a large increase in the neutron star blackbody luminosity at constant mass accretion rate indicating an additional energy source on the neutron star. We find that there is good agreement between the mass accretion rate per unit emitting area of the neutron star mdot at the onset of flaring and the theoretical critical value at which burning becomes unstable. We thus propose that flaring in the CygnusX-2 like sources consists of unstable nuclear burning. Correlation of measurements of kilohertz QPO frequencies in all three sources with spectral fitting results leads to the proposal that the upper kHz QPO is an oscillation always taking place at the inner accretion disk edge, the radius of which increases due to disruption of the disk by the high radiation pressure of the neutron star.
We present a new model for the Z-track phenomenon, based on analysis of the spectral evolution around the Z-track in several Z-track sources, in which radiation pressure plays a major role. Increasing mass accretion rate on the normal branch causes h eating of the neutron star with the emissive flux from the surface increasing by an order of magnitude to become super-Eddington at the horizontal branch where radio detection shows the presence of jets. We propose that the radiation pressure disrupts the inner disk leading to the launching of the jets. Secondly, by timing analysis of the same data we find a correlation of the frequency of kHz QPO with the emissive flux and propose that the higher frequency QPO is an oscillation at the inner disk edge which progressively moves to larger radial positions as the disk is disrupted by radiation pressure.
Although the most luminous class of neutron star low mass X-ray binaries, known as Z sources, have been well studied, their behavior is not fully understood. In particular, what causes these sources to trace out the characteristic Z-shaped pattern on color-color or hardness-intensity diagrams is not well known. By studying the physical properties of the different spectral states of these sources, we may better understand such variability. With that goal in mind, we present a recent NuSTAR observation of the Z source GX 349+2, which spans approximately 2 days, and covers all its spectral states. By creating a hardness-intensity diagram we were able to extract five spectra and trace the change in spectral parameters throughout the Z-track. GX 349+2 shows a strong, broad Fe K$alpha$ line in all states, regardless of the continuum model used. Through modeling of the reflection spectrum and Fe K$alpha$ line we find that in most states the inner disk radius is consistent with remaining unchanged at an average radius of 17.5 $R_g$ or 36.4 km for a canonical 1.4 $M_odot$ neutron star. During the brightest flaring branch, however, the inner disk radius from reflection is not well constrained.
In this paper, we report the first results of the extragalactic Z-source LMC X-2 obtained using the $sim$ 140 ks observations with {it Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC)} and {it Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT)} onboard {it AstroSat}. The HID c reated with the {it LAXPC} data revealed a complete Z-pattern of the source, showing all the three branches. We studied the evolution of the broadband X-ray spectra in the energy range of $0.5-20.0$ keV along the Z-track, a first such study of this source. The X-ray spectra of the different parts of the Z-pattern were well described by an absorbed Comptonized component. An absence of the accretion disc component suggests that the disc is most probably obscured by a Comptonized region. The best fit electron temperature ($kT_e$) was found to be in the range of $1.7-2.1$ keV and optical depth ($tau$) was found to be in the range of $13.2-17.5$. The optical depth ($tau$) increased as the source moved from the normal/flaring branch (NB/FB) vertex to the upper part of the FB, suggesting a possible outflow triggered by a strong radiation pressure. The power density spectra (PDS) of HB and NB could be fitted with a pure power-law of index $alpha$ $sim$ 1.68 and 0.83 respectively. We also found a weak evidence of QPO (2.8~$sigma$) in the FB. The intrinsic luminosity of the source varied between $(1.03-1.79)$ $times$ 10$^{38}$ ergs/s. We discuss our results by comparing with other Z-sources and the previous observations of LMC X-2.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا