The Peculiar Behavior of Burst Oscillations in the Accreting Millisecond X-ray Pulsar XTE J1814–338

Accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (AMXPs) show burst oscillations during thermonuclear explosions of the accreted plasma which are markedly different from those observed in non-pulsating low mass X-ray binaries. The AMXP XTE J1814–338 is known for having burst oscillations that are phase locked (constant phase difference) and coincident with the accretion powered pulsations during all its thermonuclear bursts but the last one. In this work we use a coherent timing analysis to investigate this phenomenon in more detail and with higher time resolution than was done in the past. We confirm that the burst oscillation phases are, on average, phase locked to the accretion powered pulsations. However, they also display moderate (≲ 0.1 cycles) drifts during each individual burst, showing a repeating pattern that is consistently observed according to the thermonuclear burst phase (rise, peak, tail). Despite the existence of these drifting patterns, the burst oscillation phases somehow are able to average out at almost the exact position of the accretion powered pulsations. We provide a kinematic description of the phenomenon and review the existing models in the literature. The phenomenon remains without a clear explanation, but we can place important constraints on the thermonuclear burst mechanism. In particular, the observations imply that the ignition point of the thermonuclear burst occurs close to the foot of the accretion column. We speculate that the burning fluid expands in a backward tilted accretion column trapped by the magnetic field, while at the same time the burning flame covers the surface.

The MAVERIC Survey: Variable Jet-accretion Coupling in Luminous Accreting Neutron Stars in Galactic Globular Clusters

Accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries show outflows—and sometimes jets—in the general manner of accreting black holes. However, the quantitative link between the accretion flow (traced by X-rays) and outflows and/or jets (traced by radio emission) is much less well understood for neutron stars than for black holes, other than the general observation that neutron stars are fainter in the radio at a given X-ray luminosity. We use data from the deep MAVERIC radio continuum survey of Galactic globular clusters for a systematic radio and X-ray study of six luminous (L X > 1034 erg s−1) persistent neutron star X-ray binaries in our survey, as well as two other transient systems also captured by our data. We find that these neutron star X-ray binaries show an even larger range in radio luminosity than previously observed. In particular, in quiescence at L X ∼ 3 × 1034 erg s−1, the confirmed neutron star binary GRS 1747–312 in Terzan 6 sits near the upper envelope of the black hole radio/X-ray correlation, and the persistently accreting neutron star systems AC 211 (in M15) and X1850–087 (in NGC 6712) show unusual radio variability and luminous radio emission. We interpret AC 211 as an obscured “Z source” that is accreting at close to the Eddington limit, while the properties of X1850–087 are difficult to explain, and motivate future coordinated radio and X-ray observations. Overall, our results show that neutron stars do not follow a single relation between inflow and outflow, and confirm that their accretion dynamics are more complex than for black holes.

Eccentric Neutron Star Disk Driven Type II Outburst Pairs in Be/X-ray Binaries

Be star X-ray binaries are transient systems that show two different types of outbursts. Type I outbursts occur each orbital period while type II outbursts have a period and duration that are not related to any periodicity of the binary system. Type II outbursts may be caused by mass transfer to the neutron star from a highly eccentric Be star disk. A sufficiently misaligned Be star decretion disk undergoes secular Von Zeipel–Lidov–Kozai (ZLK) oscillations of eccentricity and inclination. Observations show that in some systems the type II outbursts come in pairs with the second being of lower luminosity. We use numerical hydrodynamical simulations to explore the dynamics of the highly misaligned disk that forms around the neutron star as a consequence of mass transfer from the Be star disk. We show that the neutron star disk may also be ZLK unstable and that the eccentricity growth leads to an enhancement in the accretion rate onto the neutron star that lasts for several orbital periods, resembling a type II outburst. We suggest that in a type II outburst pair, the first outburst is caused by mass transfer from the eccentric Be star disk while the second and smaller outburst is caused by the eccentric neutron star disk. We find that the timescale between outbursts in a pair may be compatible with the observed estimates.

Central X-Ray Point Sources Found to Be Abundant in Low-mass, Late-type Galaxies Predicted to Contain an Intermediate-mass Black Hole

Building upon three late-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster with both a predicted black hole mass of less than ∼105 M ⊙ and a centrally located X-ray point source, we reveal 11 more such galaxies, more than tripling the number of active intermediate-mass black hole candidates among this population. Moreover, this amounts to a ∼36 ± 8% X-ray detection rate (despite the sometimes high, X-ray-absorbing, H i column densities), compared to just 10 ± 5% for (the largely H i-free) dwarf early-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster. The expected contribution of X-ray binaries from the galaxies’ inner field stars is negligible. Moreover, given that both the spiral and dwarf galaxies contain nuclear star clusters, the above inequality appears to disfavor X-ray binaries in nuclear star clusters. The higher occupation, or rather detection, fraction among the spiral galaxies may instead reflect an enhanced cool gas/fuel supply and Eddington ratio. Indeed, four of the 11 new X-ray detections are associated with known LINERs or LINER/H ii composites. For all (four) of the new detections for which the X-ray flux was strong enough to establish the spectral energy distribution in the Chandra band, it is consistent with power-law spectra. Furthermore, the X-ray emission from the source with the highest flux (NGC 4197: L X ≈ 1040 erg s−1) suggests a non-stellar-mass black hole if the X-ray spectrum corresponds to the “low/hard state”. Follow-up observations to further probe the black hole masses, and prospects for spatially resolving the gravitational spheres of influence around intermediate-mass black holes, are reviewed in some detail.

Constraining Progenitors of Observed Low-mass X-ray Binaries Using Convection and Rotation-Boosted Magnetic Braking

We present a new method for constraining the mass transfer evolution of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs)—a reverse population synthesis technique. This is done using the detailed 1D stellar evolution code MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) to evolve a high-resolution grid of binary systems spanning a comprehensive range of initial donor masses and orbital periods. We use the recently developed convection and rotation-boosted (CARB) magnetic braking scheme. The CARB magnetic braking scheme is the only magnetic braking prescription capable of reproducing an entire sample of well-studied persistent LMXBs—those with mass ratios, periods, and mass transfer rates that have been observationally determined. Using the reverse population synthesis technique, where we follow any simulated system that successfully reproduces an observed LMXB backward, we have constrained possible progenitors for each observed well-studied persistent LMXB. We also determined that the minimum number of LMXB formations in the Milky Way is 1500 per Gyr if we exclude Cyg X-2. For Cyg X-2, the most likely formation rate is 9000 LMXB Gyr−1. The technique we describe can be applied to any observed LMXB with well-constrained mass ratio, period, and mass transfer rate. With the upcoming GAIA DR3 containing information on binary systems, this technique can be applied to the data release to search for progenitors of observed persistent LMXBs.

X-Ray Binaries in M51 I: Catalog and Statistics

We used archival data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (Chandra) and the Hubble Space Telescope, to identify 334 candidate X-ray binary systems and their potential optical counterparts in the interacting galaxy pair NGC 5194/5195 (M51). We present the catalog and data analysis of X-ray and optical properties for those sources, from the deep 892 ks Chandra observations, along with the magnitudes of candidate optical sources as measured in the 8.16 ks Hubble Space Telescope observations. The X-ray luminosity function of the X-ray sources above a few times 1036 erg s−1 follows a power law N ( > L X , b ) ∝ L X , b 1 − α with α = 1.65 ± 0.03. Approximately 80% of sources are variable over a 30 day window. Nearly half of the X-ray sources (173/334) have an optical counterpart within 0.″5.

The Maximum Accreted Mass of Recycled Pulsars

The maximum mass of neutron stars (NSs) is of great importance for constraining equations of state of NSs and understanding the mass gap between NSs and stellar-mass black holes. NSs in X-ray binaries increase in mass by accreting material from their companions (known as the recycling process), and the uncertainties in the accretion process make studying the NS mass at birth a challenge. In this work, we investigate the NS accreted mass while considering the effect of NS spin evolution and provide the maximum accreted mass for NSs in the recycling process. By exploring a series of binary evolution calculations, we obtain the final NS mass and the maximum accreted mass for a given birth mass of an NS and a mass transfer efficiency. Our results show that NSs can accrete relatively more material for binary systems with donor masses in the range of 1.8 ∼ 2.4 M ⊙, NSs accrete relatively more mass when the remnant WD mass is in the range of ∼ 0.25–0.30 M ⊙, and the maximum accreted mass is positively correlated with the initial NS mass. For a 1.4 M ⊙ NS at birth with a moderate mass transfer efficiency of 0.3, the maximum accreted mass could be 0.27 M ⊙. The results can be used to estimate the minimum birth mass for systems with massive NSs in observations.

Detection of the Microquasar V404 Cygni at γ-Rays Revisited: Short Flaring Events in Quiescence

The microquasar V404 Cygni (also known as GS 2023+338) was previously reported to have weak GeV γ-ray emission in subday time periods during its 2015 outburst. In order to provide more detailed information at the high energy range for this black hole binary system, we conduct analysis on the data obtained with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi). Both the LAT database and source catalog used are the latest versions. In addition to the previously reported detection at the peak of the 2015 outburst, we find a possible detection (∼4σ) of the source during the 3 day time period of 2015 August 17–19 (at the end of the 2015 outburst) and one convincing detection (≃7σ) in 2016 August 23–25. The latter high-significance detection shows that the γ-ray emission of the source is soft with photon index Γ ∼ 2.9. As γ-ray emission from microquasars is considered to be associated with their jet activity, we discuss the results by comparing with those well-studied cases, namely, Cyg X-3 and Cyg X-1. The detection helps identify V404 Cygni as a microquasar with detectable γ-ray emission in its quiescent state, and adds interesting features to the microquasar group, or in a more general context to X-ray binaries with jets.