Related papers: The variable quiescence of Cen X-4
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…
The quasi-persistent neutron star low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1659-29 went into quiescence in 2001, and we have followed its quiescent X-ray evolution since. Observations over the first 4 years showed a rapid drop in flux and temperature of…
We have observed the X-ray transient XTE J0421+56 in quiescence with XMM-Newton. The observed spectrum is highly unusual being dominated by an emission feature at ~6.5 keV. The spectrum can be fit using a partially covered power-law and…
We report on XMM-Newton observations performed on 2001 September 13-14 of the neutron star X-ray transient KS 1731-260 in quiescence. The source was detected at an unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux of only 4 - 8 x 10^{-14} erg/s, depending on the…
XMMSL1 J171900.4-353217 is a very-faint X-ray transient that was discovered in 2010 March when it exhibited an outburst. We report on 7 observations, obtained with the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard the Neil Gehrels {\it{Swift}} Observatory…
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…
Aql X-1 is a soft X-ray transient source and emits type I X-ray bursts. A spectral state transition was observed with RXTE during its outburst decay in February and March 1997. Its 10-30 keV and 5-10 keV count rate ratio increased suddenly…
We report on the first X-ray observations of the neutron star soft X-ray transient (SXT) XTE J2123-058 in quiescence, made by Chandra and BeppoSAX, as well as contemporaneous optical observations. In 2002, the Chandra spectrum of XTE…
Accretion onto magnetized neutron stars is expected to be centrifugally inhibited at low accretion rates. Several sources, however, are known to pulsate in quiescence at luminosities below the theoretical limit predicted for the onset of…
Tracking the spectral evolution of transiently accreting neutron stars between outburst and quiescence probes relatively poorly understood accretion regimes. Such studies are challenging because they require frequent monitoring of sources…
We analyzed the rapid aperiodic X-ray variability of the recently discovered millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. The power density spectrum is dominated by a strong band-limited noise component, which follows a power-law with index…
Strongly magnetized, accreting neutron stars show periodic and aperiodic variability over a wide range of time scales. By obtaining spectral and timing information on these different time scales, we can have a closer look into the physics…
The propeller effect should cut off accretion in fast-spinning neutron star high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) at low mass transfer rates. However, accretion continues in some HMXBs at $L_{x} < 10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$, as evidenced by…
The Be/X-ray transient GRO J1750-27 exhibited a type-II (giant) outburst in 2015. After the source transited to quiescence, we triggered our multi-year Chandra monitoring programme to study its quiescent behaviour. The programme was…
Using the Chandra/ACIS-I detector, we have identified an X-ray source (CXOU 132619.7-472910.8) in the globular cluster NGC 5139 with a thermal spectrum identical to that observed from transiently accreting neutron stars in quiescence. The…
Swift J1749.4-2807 is a transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary that contains an accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar spinning at 518 Hz. It is the first of its kind that displays X-ray eclipses, which holds significant promise to…
We present new X-ray and radio observations of the WR star EZ CMa (HD 50896) obtained with XMM-Newton and the VLA. This WN4 star shows optical/UV variability at a period of 3.76 d whose cause is unknown. VLA flux measurements at five…
The neutron star low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748-676 started a transition from outburst to quiescence in August 2008, after more than 24 years of continuous accretion. The return of the source to quiescence has been monitored extensively by…
We present a study of the X-ray source NGC 2403 XMM4 (4XMM J073702.2+653934) based on 20 years of archival observations with XMM-Newton, Chandra, Swift and NuSTAR. Although it has previously been classified as an ultraluminous X-ray source…
This work presents an investigation of the stochastic X-ray variability from the 164 Hz accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17062-6143, based on regular observations collected with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer between 2017…