Variability in the cycle length of the supersoft source RX J0513.9-6951
Abstract
The supersoft X-ray binary RX J0513.9-6951 shows cyclic changes between optical-low / X-ray-on states and optical-high / X-ray-off states. It is supposed to be accreting close to the Eddington-critical limit and driven by "accretion wind evolution". We seek to derive the variations in the characteristic time scales of the long-term optical light curve and to determine the implications for the physical parameters of the system. We used existing and new optical monitoring observations covering a total time span of 14 years and compared the durations of the low and high states with the model calculations of Hachisu & Kato. The cycle lengths and especially the durations of the optical high states show a longterm modulation with variations that, according to the accretion wind evolution model, would imply variations in the mass transfer rate by a factor of 5 on timescales of years.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0802.1998,
title = {Variability in the cycle length of the supersoft source RX J0513.9-6951},
author = {V. Burwitz and K. Reinsch and J. Greiner and E. Meyer-Hofmeister and F. Meyer and F. M. Walter and R. E. Mennickent},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.1998},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
6 Pages, 5 Figures