Search results for "Accretion"
showing 10 items of 385 documents
Orbital X‐Ray Variability of the Microquasar LS 5039
2005
The properties of the orbit and the donor star in the high mass X-ray binary microquasar LS 5039 indicate that accretion processes should mainly occur via a radiatively driven wind. In such a scenario, significant X-ray variability would be expected due to the eccentricity of the orbit. The source has been observed at X-rays by several missions, although with a poor coverage that prevents to reach any conclusion about orbital variability. Therefore, we conducted RossiXTE observations of the microquasar system LS 5039 covering a full orbital period of 4 days. Individual observations are well fitted with an absorbed power-law plus a Gaussian at 6.7 keV, to account for iron line emission that …
BeppoSAX observation of 4U 1705-44: detection of hard X-ray emission in the soft state
2007
4U 1705-44 is one of the best studied type I X-ray burster and atoll sources. Since it covers a wide range in luminosity (from a few to 50 x 10^{36} erg s^{-1}) and shows clear spectral state transitions, it represents a good laboratory to test the accretion models proposed for atoll sources. We analysed the energy spectrum accumulated with BeppoSAX observations (43.5 ksec) in August 2000 when the source was in a soft spectral state. The continuum of the wide band energy spectrum is well described by the sum of a blackbody (kT_{bb}~0.56 keV) and a Comptonized component (seed-photon temperature kT_W~1 keV, electron temperature kT_e~2.7 keV, and optical depth ~11). A hard tail was detected at…
Harmonic Coupling of the Red Noise in X‐Ray Pulsars
1997
The power spectra of X-ray pulsars often show the presence of a red-noise component. This noise is produced by aperiodic variability believed to be associated with instabilities that seem to occur in accretion flows onto compact objects. In this paper we discuss how, independently of the details of the physical processes that generate these instabilities, a careful analysis of the power spectra can furnish some constraints on the distance from the stellar surface at which the sudden energy release associated with the instabilities occurs. In particular, any aperiodic variability coming from the accretion flow funneled toward the magnetic poles should be modulated at the pulsar spin period (…
Binary evolution of PSR J1713+0747
2007
PSR J1713+0747 is a binary millisecond radio pulsar with a long orbital period (Porb ∼ 68 d) and a very low neutron star mass (M NS = 1.3 ± 0.2 M⊙). We simulate the evolution of this binary system with an accurate numerical code, which keeps into account both the evolution of the primary and of the whole binary system. We show that strong ejection of matter from the system is fundamental to obtain a mass at the end of the evolution that is within 1 - σ from the observed one, but propeller effects are almost negligible in such a system, where the accretion rate is always near to the Eddington limit. We show that there are indeed two mechanisms can account for the amount of mass loss from the…
Measuring Microlensing using Spectra of Multiply Lensed Quasars
2012
We report on a program of spectroscopic observations of gravitationally-lensed QSOs with multiple images. We seek to establish whether microlensing is occurring in each QSO image using only single-epoch observations. We calculate flux ratios for the cores of emission lines in image pairs to set a baseline for no microlensing. The offset of the continuum flux ratios relative to this baseline yields the microlensing magnification free from extinction, as extinction affects the continuum and the lines equally. When we find chromatic microlensing, we attempt to constrain the size of the QSO accretion disk. SDSSJ1004+4112 and HE1104-1805 show chromatic microlensing with amplitudes $0.2< |\Delta …
The Two‐Component X‐Ray Broadband Spectrum of X Persei Observed byBeppoSAX
1998
We report temporal and broadband (0.1-200 keV) spectral analysis of the Be/X-ray binary X Persei observed by the Narrow Field Instruments (NFI) on board the BeppoSAX satellite. The source luminosity is ~1.2 × 1034 ergs s-1 in the energy range 0.1-10 keV and ~2.4 × 1034 ergs s-1 in the range 0.1-200 keV. The source shows pulsations from 0.1 keV up to 80 keV. No variations of the pulse profile with energy are visible. The barycentric pulse period is 837.376 ± 0.026 s, in agreement with the secular spin-down observed since 1978. The 0.1-10 keV energy spectrum can be well fitted by a power law plus high-energy cutoff, in agreement with previous observations, although at higher energies a hard e…
X-ray and optical bursts and flares in YSOs: results from a 5-day XMM-Newton monitoring campaign of L1551
2006
We present the results of a five-day monitoring campaign with XMM-Newton of six X-ray bright young stellar objects (YSOs) in the star-forming complex L1551 in Taurus. All stars present significant variability on the five-day time scale. Modulation of the light curve on time scales comparable with the star's rotational period appeared to be present in the case of one weak-lined T Tauri star. Significant spectral variations between the 2000 and the 2004 observations were detected in the (unresolved) classical T Tauri binary system XZ Tau: a hot plasma component which was present in the X-ray spectrum in 2000 had significantly weakened in 2004. As XZ Tau N was undergoing a strong optical outbu…
V4046 Sgr: X-rays from accretion shock
2013
AbstractWe present results of the X-ray monitoring of V4046 Sgr, a close classical T Tauri star binary, with both components accreting material. The 360 ks long XMM observation allowed us to measure the plasma densities at different temperatures, and to check whether and how the density varies with time. We find that plasma at temperatures of 1–4 MK has high densities, and we observe correlated and simultaneous density variations of plasma, probed by O VII and Ne IX triplets. These results strongly indicate that all the inspected He-like triplets are produced by high-density plasma heated in accretion shocks, and located at the base of accretion flows.
The complex enviroment around Cir X-1
2008
We present the results of an archival 54 ks long Chandra observation of the peculiar source Cir X–1 during the phase passage 0.223-0.261, based on the phase zero passage at the periastron, of its orbital period. We focus on the study of detected emission and absorption features using the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer on board of the Chandra satellite. A comparative analysis of X-ray spectra, selected at different flux levels of the source, allows us to distinguish between a very hard state, at a low countrate, and a brighter, softer, highly absorbed spectrum during episodes of flaring activity, when the unabsorbed source luminosity is about three times the value in the hard …
3D YSO accretion shock simulations: a study of the magnetic, chromospheric and stochastic flow effects
2013
AbstractThe structure and dynamics of young stellar object (YSO) accretion shocks depend strongly on the local magnetic field strength and configuration, as well as on the radiative transfer effects responsible for the energy losses. We present the first 3D YSO shock simulations of the interior of the stream, assuming a uniform background magnetic field, a clumpy infalling gas, and an acoustic energy flux flowing at the base of the chromosphere. We study the dynamical evolution and the post-shock structure as a function of the plasma-beta (thermal pressure over magnetic pressure). We find that a strong magnetic field (~hundreds of Gauss) leads to the formation of fibrils in the shocked gas …