Issue |
A&A
Volume 406, Number 1, July IV 2003
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 233 - 243 | |
Section | Stellar structure and evolution | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20030681 | |
Published online | 17 November 2003 |
Bursts, eclipses, dips and a refined position for the luminous low-mass X-ray binary in the globular cluster Terzan 6
1
SRON National Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, The Netherlands
2
Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University, PO Box 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
3
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
4
Dept. of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
5
ESA-ESTEC, Science Operations & Data Systems Division, SCI-SDG, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Corresponding author: J. J. M. in 't Zand, jeanz@sron.nl
Received:
21
February
2003
Accepted:
6
May
2003
GRS 1747-312 is a bright transient X-ray source in the globular
cluster Terzan 6 with quasi-periodic outbursts approximately every
4.5 months. We carried out 2–60 keV target-of-opportunity
observations during eight outbursts with the Proportional Counter
Array on the RXTE satellite, for a total exposure time of 301 ks, and
detect the first unambiguous thermonuclear X-ray bursts from this
source. This identifies the compact accretor in this binary as a
neutron star. The neutron star identification implies that twelve out
of thirteen luminous (above 1036 erg s-1) X-ray sources in Galactic
globular clusters harbor neutron stars, with AC211's nature (in M15)
remaining elusive. We observed 24 transitions of eclipses of the X-ray
emitting region by the companion star and are able to improve the
accuracy of the orbital period by a factor of 104. The period is
d. We do not detect a period derivative with an
upper limit of
yr-1. Archival
Chandra data were analyzed to further refine the X-ray position, and
the cluster's center of gravity was re-determined from optical data
resulting in a correction amounting to 2 core radii. We find that
GRS 1747-312 is
core radii from the cluster center.
Key words: accretion, accretion disks / globular clusters: individual: Terzan 6 / X-rays: binaries / X-rays: bursts / X-rays: individual: GRS 1747-312
© ESO, 2003
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.