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arXiv:astro-ph/0403120 (astro-ph)
[Submitted on 4 Mar 2004]

Title:BeppoSAX-WFC monitoring of the Galactic Center region

Authors:Jean in 't Zand (1,2), Frank Verbunt (2), John Heise (1,2), Angela Bazzano (3), Massimo Cocchi (3), Remon Cornelisse (4), Erik Kuulkers (5), Lorenzo Natalucci (3), Pietro Ubertini (3) ((1) SRON Utrecht, (2) Utrecht University, (3) IASF/CNR Sezione Roma, (4) University of Southampton, (5) ESTEC/ESA)
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Abstract: We review the results obtained with the Galactic center campaigns of the BeppoSAX Wide Field X-ray Cameras (WFCs). This pertains to the study of luminous low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). When pointed at the Galactic center, the WFC field of view contains more than half of the Galactic LMXB population. The results exemplify the excellent WFC capability to detect brief X-ray transients. Firstly, the WFCs expanded the known population of Galactic thermonuclear X-ray bursters by 50%. At least half of all LMXBs are now established to burst and, thus, to contain a neutron star as compact accretor rather than a black hole candidate. We provide a complete list of all 76 currently known bursters, including the new case 1RXS J170854.4-321857. Secondly, the WFCs have uncovered a population of weak transients with peak luminosities up to ~10^37 erg/s and durations from days to weeks. One is the first accretion-powered millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. Thirdly, the WFCs contributed considerably towards establishing that nearly all (12 out of 13) luminous low-mass X-ray binaries in Galactic globular clusters contain neutron stars rather than black holes. Thus, the neutron star to black hole ratio in clusters differs from that in the Galactic disk at a marginal confidence level of 97%.
Comments: 10 pages 6 figures, to appear in Proc. "The Restless High-Energy Universe" (2nd BeppoSAX Symposium), eds. E.P.J. van den Heuvel, J.J.M. in 't Zand & R.A.M.J. Wijers, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B Suppl. Ser
Subjects: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:astro-ph/0403120
  (or arXiv:astro-ph/0403120v1 for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.astro-ph/0403120
Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2004.04.083

Submission history

From: Jean In 't Zand [view email]
[v1] Thu, 4 Mar 2004 13:40:47 UTC (183 KB)
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