Related papers: On the Outbursts of Soft X-ray Transients
We note that the solution of accretion disk dynamics for an initial delta-function mass distribution gives a light curve that fits both the rise and the decay pattern of the outburst light curves of black-hole soft X-ray transients (BSXTs)…
We have accumulated multiwavelength lightcurves for eight black hole X-ray binaries which have been observed to enter a supposed ``soft X-ray transient'' outburst, but which in fact remained in the low/hard state throughout the outburst.…
We have accumulated multiwavelength (X-ray, optical, radio) lightcurves for the eight black hole X-ray binaries which have been observed to enter a supposed `soft X-ray transient' outburst, but remained in the low/hard state throughout the…
Many black hole X-ray transients are in a low state for several decades until an outburst occurs. We interpret this outburst behaviour as a marginal occurrence of a dwarf nova type disk instability in the cool outer accretion disk. We…
The most plausible mechanism for triggering the outburst of black hole candidate X-ray transients is the ionization thermal instability. The disk instability models can give the observed mass flow in quiescence, but not the X-ray spectrum.…
I briefly review the theory of soft X-ray transient systems. Irradiation of the accretion disc faces by the central X-ray source determines both the occurrence and the nature of the outbursts, in particular forcing these to be long viscous…
We have analyzed {\it Rossi} X-ray timing explorer (RXTE) pointed observations of the outbursts of black hole and neutron star soft X-ray transients in which an initial low/hard state or `island' state, followed by a transition to a softer…
We study the prospect of explaining the outbursts of Soft X-ray Transients (SXTs) by the thermal-viscous instability in a thin disc. This instability is linked to hydrogen ionization and is significantly changed when irradiation of the disc…
We have analysed X-ray outbursts from several Galactic black hole (GBH) transients, as seen by the ASM on board RXTE. We have used the best estimates of distance and black hole mass to find their luminosity (scaled to the Eddington limit),…
The observations and theory of the exciting new class of galactic black hole X-ray transients is reviewed. Seven of these systems have measured mass functions or mass estimates in excess of stable neutron stars, making them excellent black…
The disk instability picture gives a plausible explanation for the behavior of soft X-ray transient systems if self-irradiation of the disk is included. We show that there is a simple relation between the peak luminosity (at the start of an…
A recent paper by King and Ritter (1998: hereafter KR) proposed that the light curves of soft X-ray transients (SXTs) are dominated by the effect of irradiation of the accretion disc by the central X-rays. This prevents the onset of the…
We test whether the model proposed by Esin et al. to explain X-ray observations of the black hole soft X-ray transient GRS 1124-68 in outburst can also explain the optical lightcurves of a similar object A0620-00. We show that to reproduce…
I review models trying to explain dwarf-nova outbursts and soft X-ray transients. The disc-instability model for dwarf-novae is still in its preliminary state of development: its predictions depend very strongly on the unknown viscosity…
Very faint X-ray binaries appear to be transient in many cases with peak luminosities much fainter than that of usual soft X-ray transients, but their nature still remains elusive. We investigate the possibility that this transient…
We show that the X-ray outburst light curves of four transient anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs), namely XTE J1810-197, SGR 0501+4516, SGR 1627-41 and CXOU J164710.2-455216, can be produced by the fallback…
Supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) are high mass X-ray binaries associated with OB supergiant companions and characterised by an X-ray flaring behaviour whose dynamical range reaches 5 orders of magnitude on timescales of a few…
The X-ray light-curves of the recurring outbursts observed in low-mass X-ray binaries provide strong test beds for constraining (still) poorly understood disc-accretion processes. These light-curves act as a powerful diagnostic to probe the…
Recent studies of black hole and neutron star low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) show a positive correlation between the X-ray flux at which the low/hard(LH)-to-high/soft(HS) state transition occurs and the peak flux of the following HS state.…
In the canonical understanding of transient X-ray sources the accretion during quiescence occurs via a geometrically thin disk in the outer part and via an advection-dominated hot coronal flow/ADAF in the inner part. The inner part…