Discovery of a quiescent neutron star binary in the globular cluster M13
Abstract
We have discovered with XMM-Newton an X-ray source in the core of the globular cluster M13, 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 T=76 +/- 3 eV, R=12.8 +/- 0.4 km and an X-ray luminosity of 7.3 +/- 0.6 x 10^{32} erg/s. 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.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0303471,
title = {Discovery of a quiescent neutron star binary in the globular cluster M13},
author = {Bruce Gendre and Didier Barret and Natalie A. Webb},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0303471},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 B&W figures and 1 color figure. Accepted for publication in A&A Letters. Revised reference list and minor corrections