We present optical spectroscopy and optical and infrared photometry of the neutron star soft X-ray transient Aql X--1 during its X-ray outburst of August 1997. By modelling the X-ray, optical, and IR light curves, we find a 3 day delay between the IR and X-ray rise times, analogous to the UV-optical delay seen in dwarf novae outbursts and black hole X-ray transients. We interpret this delay as the signature of an ``outside-in'' outburst, in which a thermal instability in the outer disc propagates inward. This outburst is the first of this type definitively identified in a neutron star X-ray transient.
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9807071,
title = {An ``outside-in'' outburst of Aql X--1},
author = {T. Shahbaz and R. M. Bandyopadhyay and P. A. Charles and R. M. Wagner and P. Muhli and P. Hakala and J. Casares and J. Greenhill},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9807071},
year = {2015}
}