A change in the outburst recurrence time of the Rapid Burster

Abstract

Abstract. An apparent sudden change in the outburst recurrence time displayed by the Rapid Burster occurred around the end of 1999. The time between consecutive outbursts shrinked from ≈200 to ≈100 days somewhere between November 1999 and March 2000. In parallel, the average peak intensity also decreased of a factor ∼2 in all outbursts occurred after November 1999 with respect to those occurred before this date. I discuss these results by comparing them with similar cases of changes in the recurrence time of other transient X-ray binaries and with the behaviour of Dwarf Novae. A viable explanation is connected with changes in the value of the quiescence mass transfer rate from the secondary, although the detailed origin of these changes remains at best speculative. Further, this result has important implications for programming time-constrained observations of the Rapid Burster both in outburst and in quiescence.

A systematic search for periodicities of X-ray binaries in the Swift BAT data

“…The first period is reported by [4], [6] during the first years of ASM operation; the shorter period coexists with previous one, together with other short periods [6]. The change of the recurrence time from about 200 days to about 100 days at the end of 1999 has been reported by [19]. I confirm the presence of 100 and 200 days periods in ASM data.…”

X-ray outbursts from a new transient in NGC 55

“…Thus, the source possibly showed a repeated outburst. The outburst recurrence period would be about a month, which is much smaller than the reported recurrence periods for the NS and BH systems (Kuulkers et al 1997;Masetti 2002).…”

Characterizing X-ray binary long-term variability

“…They may be indicative of the time‐scale on which bursts recur, rather than periodicities. Masetti (2002) reported this change from ∼200 d to ∼100 d in outburst recurrence time. The location of X1730−333 in Fig.…”