Related papers: Quiescent X-ray emission from Cen X-4: a variable …
The Swift satellite monitored the quiescence of the low-mass X-ray binary transient Aql X-1 on a weekly basis during the March-November 2012 interval. A total of 42 observations were carried out in the soft X-ray (0.3-10 keV) band with the…
We report on the quiescent spectrum measured with Chandra/ACIS-S of the transient, type-I X-ray bursting neutron star Aql X-1, immediately following an accretion outburst. The neutron star radius, assuming a pure hydrogen atmosphere and…
We report on a 61 ks BeppoSAX observation of the soft X-ray transient Cen X-4 during quiescence which allowed to study the source X-ray spectrum from ~ 0.3 keV to ~ 8 keV. A two-component spectral model was required, consisting of a black…
In late 2008, the quasi-persistent neutron star X-ray transient and eclipsing binary EXO 0748-676 started a transition from outburst to quiescence, after it had been actively accreting for more than 24 years. In a previous work, we…
X-ray observations of quiescent X-ray binaries have the potential to provide insight into the structure and the composition of neutron stars. EXO 0748-676 had been actively accreting for over 24 yr before its outburst ceased in late 2008.…
The X-ray transient, 4U 1730-22, has not been detected in outburst since 1972, when a single outburst was detected by the Uhuru satellite. This neutron star or black hole X-ray binary is presumably in quiescence now, and here, we report on…
We present the results of continued monitoring of the quiescent neutron star low-mass X-ray binary XTE J1701-462 with Chandra and Swift. A new Chandra observation from 2010 October extends our tracking of the neutron star surface…
Ser X-1 is a low mass neutron star X-ray binary and has been persistently accreting since its discovery in the 1960s. It has always been observed to be in a soft spectral state and has never showed substantial long-term X-ray variability.…
We re-analyze the available X-ray spectral data of the type I bursting neutron star transients Aql X-1, Cen X-4, and 4U 1608-522 using realistic hydrogen atmosphere models. Previous spectral fits assumed a blackbody spectrum; because the…
Transiently accreting neutron stars in quiescence (Lx<10^34 erg/s) have been observed to vary in intensity by factors of few, over timescales of days to years. If the quiescent luminosity is powered by a hot NS core, the core cooling…
The composition of the outer 100 m of a neutron star sets the heat flux that flows outwards from the core. For an accreting neutron star in an X-ray transient, the thermal quiescent flux depends sensitively on the amount of hydrogen and…
EXO 1745-248 is a transient neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary that resides in the globular cluster Terzan 5. We studied the transient during its quiescent state using 18 Chandra observations of the cluster acquired between 2003 and 2016.…
For thermonuclear flashes to occur on neutron-star surfaces, fuel must have been accreted from a donor star. However, sometimes flashes are seen from transient binary systems when they are thought to be in their quiescent phase, during…
We have observed the quasi-persistent neutron-star X-ray transient and eclipsing binary MXB 1659-29 in quiescence on three occasions with Chandra. The purpose of our observations was to monitor the quiescent behavior of the source after its…
The BL Lac object Mkn~421 was observed three times by the X-ray observatory BeppoSAX in consecutive days during 1997 April and May. The source was in a quiescent state, with an average 2-10 keV flux of 9.0 x 10^(-11) erg/cm/cm/s. Flux…
We use the observed optical-UV and X-ray emission spectrum of Cen X-4 during quiescence to constrain models for the accretion flow in this system. We argue that the optical-UV emission is not due to an optically-thick quiescent accretion…
We present a short (~3.6 ks) Chandra/HRC-I observation of the globular cluster Terzan 1. This cluster is known to contain the bright neutron star low-mass X-ray binary X 1732-304 which was active during the 1980's and most of the 1990's.…
We report on the quiescent X-ray properties of the recently discovered transiently accreting 11 Hz X-ray pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5. Using two archival Chandra observations, we demonstrate that the quiescent spectrum of this…
We studied the transient neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary GRS 1747-312, located in the globular cluster Terzan 6, in its quiescent state after its outburst in August 2004, using an archival XMM-Newton observation. A source was detected in…
Nuclear reactions occurring deep in the crust of a transiently accreting neutron star efficiently maintain the core at a temperature >5e7 K. When accretion halts, the envelope relaxes to a thermal equilibrium set by the flux from the hot…