A&A 378, 837-842 (2001)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20011276
V. Larionov1,2 - V. M. Lyuty3 - G. V. Zaitseva3
1 - Astronomical Institute of St. Petersburg University,
Petrodvorets, Bibliotechnaya Pl. 2, 198504, Russia
2 - Isaac Newton Institute of St. Petersburg, Chile, St. Petersburg Branch, Russia
3 -
P. K. Shternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, Russia
Received 16 January 2001 / Accepted 26 July 2001
Abstract
A homogeneous set of UBV photometry (354 data points
obtained between 1983 and 1998) for the Be/X-ray binary
A0535+26 = V725 Tau is analysed, aiming to look
for possible periodic component(s). After subtraction of the
long-term variation it was found that only a 103
periodic component remains in the power spectra in both the Vand B colour bands. The probability of chance occurrence of
such a peak is less than 0.1%. There are no signs of optical
variability at the X-ray period (
111
). We discuss
possible reasons for a 103-day modulation and suggest that it
corresponds to a beat frequency of the orbital period of the
neutron star and the precession period (
1400
)
either
of an accretion disc around the neutron star or a warped decretion
disc around the Be star.
Key words: stars: binaries: general - stars: circumstellar matter - stars: individual: V725 Tau - stars: pulsars: individual: A0535+26 - stars: variables: general - accretion, accretion discs
The X-ray binary A0535+26 has been an object of interest to both observers and theorists for a quarter of a century, from the moment of its first documented X-ray outburst in 1975 (Rosenberg et al. 1975). As soon as an optical counterpart was identified almost simultaneously by several authors (Liller 1975; Murdin 1975) with the 9th magnitude Be star HDE 245770, later named V725 Tau, there were several attempts to find the orbital period of the system, using both X-ray and optical (spectral and photometric) data.
Priedhorsky & Terrell (1983) have shown that all but the
most powerful X-ray outbursts (1975 April and 1980 October) take
place with a period 111 days. Now the general opinion is
that the orbital period is 110-111
.
The most reliable
determination of the X-ray period and initial epoch is currently
that of Motch et al. (1991):
and
.
This and other periodicities were claimed to have been found in optical (photometric and spectral) data. For instance, Hutchings et al. (1978) found that the radial velocities of absorption lines of HDE 245770 are variable, and suggested several probable periods: 28.6, 48 and 94 days. Some years later and based on a very similar dataset, Hutchings (1984) found a 112 day period. Guarnieri et al. (1982) noted at first possible 32, 63 or 77 day periods in their photometric data, but later (Guarnieri et al. 1985) found modulation in the V band photometry with the proposed orbital period of 110 days. Gnedin et al. (1988) made a Fourier analysis of V band photometry obtained during 1981-1985 and marked out periods of 1100, 103 and 28 days, but found no periodicity corresponding to the X-ray period.
Besides the determinations noted above, there are several more publications on this subject, listed by Giovannelli & Graziati (1992).
In a recent paper by Hao et al. (1996) all the published data sets from 1981 to 1993 have been analysed together. Their analysis have shown only two significant periods - 830 and 507 days. However their light curve modeling does not agree with the observational data and their prognosis of the photometric behavior of HDE 245570 for 1994-1997 was not confirmed by later observations (see Fig. 1 in Hao et al. 1996; Fig. 1 in Lyuty & Zaitseva 2000 and Fig. 2 in this work). It should be noted also that in Hao et al. (1996) no correction has been made for different zero-points and colour systems of the data sampled by different groups.
As soon as our data set had grown substantially and surpassed that used in Gnedin et al. (1988), as well as other published data sets, we attempted to search for periodic components in the light curves of A0535+26/V725 Tau. In Sect. 2 we describe our techniques of data analysis and obtain a value of the optical period, distinctly different from the orbital one, while in Sect. 3 we discuss possible reasons of the light modulation and suggest that it is caused by interplay of the orbital and precession motions. In Sect. 4 we summarize the results.
All the photometric data discussed herein have been obtained in
the period 1983-1998 with a photon-counting photometer at the
60 cm telescope of the GAISh Crimean laboratory (for details see
Lyuty & Zaitseva 2000). More than 350 individual UBVmeasurements have been made; the photometric accuracy is
in B, V and
in U. As the long-term behavior
of V725 Tau has been discussed in separate papers (Clark
et al. 1999; Lyuty & Zaitseva 2000), we restrict
ourselves here only to the analysis of variability on the time
scales close to the X-ray period.
![]() |
Figure 1:
a) Power spectrum and
b) spectral window in the V band for our 1983-1998
observations after subtraction of the linear trend. The highest
peak corresponds to a (quasi)period of ![]() ![]() |
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We calculate the power spectrum and spectral window of the data
set as
respectively, where
,
tjdenotes the time of observation, and mj and
,
correspondingly, the individual and mean values of the brightness.
Figure 1a shows the power spectrum of the V band data
(linear trend removed) for the period from 1983 to 1998. The
largest peak in the spectrum corresponds to 1400 days
and is readily explainable: a wave with that characteristic time
scale is easily seen in Fig. 2, superimposed on a smooth
decay in brightness, in the optical and infrared light curves (see
also Larionov 1993 and Clark et al. 1999). In the
region of the orbital period (
0.01 d-1), only a
faint peak corresponding to
is seen. At the
frequency corresponding to a 111 day period, there is no peak at
all.
![]() |
Figure 2:
a)
The light curve of V725 Tau in V band, b) smoothed light
curve with a 50![]() |
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In order to judge with sufficient confidence the reality of the
orbital plus close and/or related periodicities, one should remove
the longer-period component(s) of variability. In our case it is
not sufficient to subtract the linear trend, and we need to take
into account the slow light variations with a (quasi)period of
1400 days. We have constructed an approximating data set
using the method of a sliding mean with the window value
,
replacing raw data mi for each time ti by the weighted
mean:
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Figure 3:
a)
Power spectrum of the residuals
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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The amplitude of the sine-wave obtained is
in V and
in B, while in U the 103-day peak is not seen above
the noise. The significance of the detection of the faint
sine-wave superimposed on the large-amplitude slow variability can
be tested by adding an artificial low-amplitude harmonic to the
raw data. We added a sine-wave with
and
amplitude
to the raw V data, then repeated the same
cleaning routine as described above (Eqs. (3)
and (4)). Figure 3 demonstrates that the
low-frequency filtration method described above can be used to
detect, at least for the data set discussed, periodic
variability on a time scale of
100
with
amplitude
.
In order to test whether the 103-day period is real or an artifact
intrinsic to some part of the data set, we have split the initial
data set into two parts corresponding to values above and below
the linear trend and have repeated the same procedure. We have
found that the 103-day harmonic is intrinsic to both parts of the
initial dataset, although for the low-brightness part the
significance of the
peak is slightly less.
Figure 4 gives the phase curves of residuals
for the whole data set and for the "upper'' and "lower'' parts
of it. It is easily seen that both the shape and initial phases
are the same. We calculate the ephemeris of the small-scale
optical variations as
,
where E is the epoch
number.
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Figure 4:
a)
![]() ![]() |
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The probability of chance occurrence of a peak with amplitude
in the power spectrum with a mean value
can be estimated as
;
for
non-uniformly spaced data the number of independent frequencies
,
where
N is the number of observations (Horne &
Baliunas 1986). In our case N=354 and
;
after subtraction of the slow component as
described above (Eqs. (3) and (4)),
.
Nevertheless, there are some peaks in the frequency range
0.007-0.017 with power >10-5. In order to test their
reality, we have followed the recipe given by Horne &
Baliunas (1986) for irregularly spaced data and
subtracted a
period sine-wave from the initial
light curve. After this we find that only a peak at a frequency
corresponding to
and its aliases remain in the power
spectrum. This feature replaces the
periodicity
from JD 2449400 (1993 April) onwards. It is remarkable that this
change of periods coincides with the time of the most prominent
X-ray outburst over the past three decades.
Figure 3c displays power spectrum after subtraction of a sine-wave
of period
before 1993 April and
after that time. Comparing Fig. 3a and Fig. 3c, we conclude that
only the
and
peaks are real,
although the latter feature is present in only 1/5 of the total
data set, thus preventing us from making exact estimates of the
ephemeris. A slight enhancement of the noise level around
0.01 d-1 in Fig. 3c is most probably caused by the
deviation of the real signal from a true sine-wave.
We stress once again that the 111-day orbital periodicity is not
revealed in the optical photometry. It is then natural to suppose
that one of the constituents of the total radiation of the system,
besides that of the optical star, is that of a precessing disc -
either an accretion disc around the neutron star or a
tilted/warped equatorial envelope around the optical star. The
period of precession, whichever precessing body, would then be
,
and
900
after 1993
April. In the following we consider these two scenarios
separately.
In the case of the neutron star (NS) accretion disc, the axis of
the disc is inclined to the orbital plane of the system and,
additionally, is counter-precessing with a 1360
period.
In this case the disc cross-section, as
seen from the optical companion, would be changing with a
frequency equal to the sum of orbital and precession frequencies,
which would lead to the 103-day modulation observed.
The existence of an accretion disc in this binary system at least during some X-ray outbursts is firmly established - it is confirmed by quasi-periodic oscillations of X-rays during X-ray outbursts (Finger et al. 1996, 1996) and by neutron star spin-up episodes (Nagase et al. 1984). However, the question as to whether the disc exists permanently or is formed just before the outburst remains unresolved.
A similar model was proposed to describe the optical light curves
of some other X-ray binaries: Cen X-3, LMC X-4
and others (see, e.g., Heemskerk & van Paradijs 1989) -
however, unlike A0535+26, these systems show orbital
variability besides precession. This can be explained by the fact
that A0535+26 is a wide binary, and the effects caused by
the ellipsoidal shape of the optical component and/or its X-ray
heating are unobservable. Also, in the case of A0535+26
the large eccentricity of the orbit -
(Finger et
al. 1994, 1996) - plays a major role. As a result,
both the effective cross-section of the disc to the stellar wind
and its illumination in periastron and apastron would differ by
9 times; when
1360 day precession is added, this
enables the 103-days modulation to be observed.
Meanwhile, the disc's input to the total optical radiation of the system can be as small as a few per cent (Lyuty & Zaitseva 2000), and it would be quite a difficult task to distinguish it based on the difference between its photometric and/or spectral parameters and those of a giant star and its envelope.
The disc is not expected to rotate as a solid body, and its structure is dependent on X-ray outbursts occurring at the surface of the neutron star and subsequent re-radiation of stored energy. Because of this, neither the amplitude of precession modulation nor the period and phase of precession should be stable.
Meanwhile, we see that during the first 10 years of our
observations (up to 1993), the 103-day periodicity of the optical
variations is retained, which means that the precession period is
rather stable, changing from 1360
to
900
after the major X-ray outburst. Nevertheless,
as expected, in the total radiation of the system the relative
contribution of the component connected with the disc precession
is not constant. Figure 5 illustrates the phase curves in
V band after subtraction of the slow component, separately for
the ascending and descending branches of the initial light curve
shown in Fig. 2. It is evident that the 103-day
modulation is practically absent when the light level is
increasing, and, on the contrary, is quite distinct when the light
fades.
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Figure 5:
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One of the possible mechanisms of stimulation of the accretion
disc precession is free precession of the neutron star. It was
shown by Schwarzenberg-Czerny (1992) that
,
where
is the period of free precession of a neutron star and
is the period of its axial rotation. In the
case of A0535+26
and correspondingly
.
It is
natural to suppose that the proximity of this period to the
characteristic time of the large-scale photometric variability is
not coincidental. What then can serve as a "transmission link''
from the freely precessing neutron star and its accretion disc to
the equatorial envelope of the optical component? Let us be
reminded that the neutron star in A0535+26 system has a powerful
magnetic field,
1013 G. Periodic changes in
orientation of the magnetic field relative to the equatorial
envelope would lead to periodic changes in the strength of their
interaction, first of all near periastron; the shock wave arising
in the envelope would lead to (quasi)periodic ejections of the
envelope. Clark et al. (1999) and Lyuty & Zaitseva
(2000) argue that the long time scale variability of
A0535+26 in the period we are analysing is explained by the
successive expulsions of the Be star envelope that occur on a
characteristic time-scale of
1400 days. We have to note,
however, that the detailed description of the interaction of the
Be star envelope and NS magnetic field needs additional modelling
work that is beyond the scope of this paper.
A quite different approach may be considered on the basis of recent analysis of spectral variability of another Be/X-ray binary, V635 Cas = 4U0115+63, made by Negueruela & Okazaki (2001) and Negueruela et al. (2001). These authors argue that in V635 Cas, just as in similar Be/X-ray systems, a major role is played by an equatorial decretion disc around the optical star. This disc is truncated as a result of tidal/resonant interaction with the neutron star companion. At a certain stage the disc becomes unstable, tilts and warps and starts to precess. Later on, the disc is disrupted due to interaction with the orbiting neutron star, and a giant X-ray outburst may occur. The above authors argue that this model does not imply any substantial change in the optical star's mass loss rate.
Following that idea, we may suppose that the precessing body in
the A0535+26 system is a tilted/warped disc around Be
star. Then it is natural that the gravitational pull of the
neutron star in the moments of closest approach of the NS to the
disc causes its distortion, which is observed in the light curve
as minor variations superposed on global changes. Due to
precession, the times of closest approach do not coincide with the
periastron passages, but rather precede them by
8
after each orbit. Within this approach we
can find a natural explanation for the fact that during the
ascending parts of the global light curve, no 103-day modulation
is seen: it only means that the decretion disc is not large enough
to become tilted and warped and therefore it does not precess.
To further develop this model, one may speculate that the changes
of projection of the warped disc to the plane of sky, as seen from
the optical companion, should cause substantial variations with
the precessional period, superposed on the optical light curve.
This is actually observed: we noted before the coincidence of the
time-scale of global optical variations with
almost the same period of precession - whichever the precessing
body.
One might expect that the X-ray activity within the system may
also in some way be connected with the phases of the
period. We tried to check whether such a
correlation exists, and found that out of 18 documented outbursts
with amplitude
0.2 Crab (Giovannelli & Graziati
1992; Finger et al. 1996), 7 peaked in a narrow
interval 0.6-0.7 of the optical phase curve (Figs. 4
and 5), where phase 0.0 refers to optical minimum (see
Table 1). This means that X-ray outbursts "prefer'' to
happen 10 to 20 days after the optical maxima. If we consider
this in the context of the warped decretion disc model, this delay
can be explained as the time needed for the matter captured from
the Be-star disc - disturbed during the close passage of the
neutron star - to travel to the vicinity of the NS companion,
where it loses its angular momentum, falls onto the NS, and causes
an X-ray flare. It can be noted that during 2001 two occasions of
favourable X-ray and optical phases will be in June and October;
unluckily, the former date corresponds to the seasonal gap of
observations.
JD2400000+ | X-ray flux |
![]() |
(Crab units) | ||
42533 |
2.8 | 0.81 |
42614 | 0.2 | 0.60 |
42724 | 0.3 | 0.67 |
42829 | 0.3 | 0.69 |
43288 | 0.5 | 0.15 |
43508 | 0.5 | 0.29 |
43617 | 0.2 | 0.35 |
43732 | 0.7 | 0.47 |
43951 | 0.2 | 0.60 |
44522 | 1.5 | 0.15 |
44952 | 0.2 | 0.33 |
45290 | 0.2 | 0.62 |
45515 | 0.5 | 0.81 |
45619 | 0.8 | 0.82 |
45732 | 0.8 | 0.92 |
46736 | 0.8 | 0.68 |
47625 | 0.6 | 0.33 |
49403 | 1.4 | 0.62 |
An analysis of the uniform photometric data set obtained in the period 1983-1998 has allowed a confident separation of the periodic constituent in the light curve of the high-mass X-ray binary, A0535+26/V725 Tau. The parameters of this periodic component and its link with the phase of activity of the optical component allow us to suggest precession of an accretion disc around the neutron star or a warped equatorial disc around a Be star as the most likely mechanisms. At this point, both models seem to be viable; meanwhile, the analysis of already existing spectral data could be helpful, in the sense that if the warped disc model does reflect reality, one might expect to see V/R and EW variations corresponding to the precessional motion.
Within both models, we do not expect that substantial X-ray
outbursts to occur during ascending parts of the large-scale
optical light curve. Moreover, X-ray outbursts tend to occur at
specific phases of the
optical light curve. Taken
together, both effects can explain the "missing outburst''
phenomenon.
Our results lead us to suppose that in other similar systems we can hope to distinguish the minor photometric variations close to, but not necessarily coincident with, the binary rotation period. In future papers of this series, we plan to apply the techniques described here to the analysis of the light curves of similar systems, such as X Per and V635 Cas.
Acknowledgements
V. Larionov acknowledges support from the Russian Federal Program "Integration'' (project K0232). We thank Catherine Brocksopp and Alan Marscher for critically reading the manuscript and for helpful discussion.