IR spectra of the microquasar GRS 1915+105 during a low state
Abstract
There is controversy regarding the nature of the suspected donor star to the microquasar GRS 1915+105, and hence whether GRS 1915+105 is a high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) or a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB). In order to clarify this issue, we obtained an infrared (J, H and K) spectrum of GRS 1915+105 in its low state which shows a steeper continuum than the prototype X-ray binary Sco X-1. We did not detect any HeII emission at 2.189 microns from GRS 1915+105 in our quiescent spectrum, indicating that the line is transient and is only observed during episodes of high X-ray activity. For our instrument configuration, there is no detection of the 12CO lines which are characteristic of late-type stars either in GRS1915+105 or Sco X-1.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0101391,
title = {IR spectra of the microquasar GRS 1915+105 during a low state},
author = {E. T. Harlaftis and V. R. Dhillon and A. Castro-Tirado},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0101391},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 2 figures, A&A, accepted