| Issue |
A&A
Volume 403, Number 1, May III 2003
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | L11 - L14 | |
| Section | Letters | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20030423 | |
| Published online | 29 April 2003 | |
Letter to the Editor
Discovery of a quiescent neutron star binary in the globular cluster M 13
Centre d'Étude Spatiale des Rayonnements, 9 Av. du Colonel Roche, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
Corresponding author: D. Barret, Didier.Barret@cesr.fr
Received:
7
February
2003
Accepted:
21
March
2003
We have discovered with XMM-Newton an X-ray source in the
core of the globular cluster M 13, whose X-ray spectral properties
suggest that it is a quiescent neutron star X-ray binary. The
spectrum can be well fitted with a pure hydrogen atmosphere model,
with 
eV, 
km and an X-ray
luminosity of 
ergs s-1. In the light of this
result, we have discovered a strong correlation between the stellar
encounter rate and the number of quiescent neutron stars found in
the ten globular clusters observed so far by either XMM-Newton or
Chandra. This result lends strong support to the idea that these
systems are primarily produced by stellar encounters in the core of
globular clusters.
Key words: globular clusters / stars: neutron / X-rays: general
© ESO, 2003
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