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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
A 420-day X-ray/optical modulation and extended X-ray dips in the short-period transient Swift J1753.5-0127
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 433, No. 1, Year 2013
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Description
We have discovered a ~420-d modulation, with associated X-ray dips, in Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer-All Sky Monitor/Monitor of All-Sky X-ray Image/Swift-Burst Alert Telescope archival light curves of the short-period (3.2 h) black holeX-ray transient, Swift J1753.5-0127. This modulation only appeared at the end of a gradual re-brightening, approximately 3 yr after the initial X-ray outburst in mid-2005. The same periodicity is present in both the 2-20 and 15-50 keV bands, but with a ~0.1 phase offset (≈40 d). Contemporaneous photometry in the optical and near-infrared reveals a weaker modulation, but consistent with the X-ray period. There are two substantial X-ray dips (very strong in the 15-50 keV band, weaker at lower energies) that are separated by an interval equal to the X-ray period. This likely indicates two physically separated emitting regions for the hard X-ray and lower energy emission. We interpret this periodicity as a property of the accretion disc, most likely a long-term precession, where the disc edge structure and X-ray irradiation are responsible for the hard X-ray dips and modulation, although we discuss other possible explanations, including Lense-Thirring precession in the inner disc region and spectral state variations. Such precession indicates a very high mass ratio low-mass X-ray binary, which even for a ~10M· BH requires a brown dwarf donor (~0.02MM·), making Swift J1753.5-0127 a possible analogue of millisecond X-ray pulsars. We compare the properties of Swift J1753.5-0127 with other recently discovered short-period transients, which are now forming a separate population of high-latitude BH transients located in the galactic halo. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Authors & Co-Authors
Shaw, Aarran W.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Charles, Philip A.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Bird, Antony J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Cornelisse, Rémon
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Universidad de la Laguna
Casares, J.
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Universidad de la Laguna
Lewis, Fraser W.
United Kingdom, Pontypridd
University of South Wales
United Kingdom, Milton Keynes
The Open University
Muñoz-Darías, Teodoro
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Russell, David M.
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Universidad de la Laguna
Zurita, Christina
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias
Spain, San Cristobal de la Laguna
Universidad de la Laguna
Statistics
Citations: 20
Authors: 9
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1093/mnras/stt763
ISSN:
00358711
e-ISSN:
13652966
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study