Long Type I X‐Ray Bursts and Neutron Star Interior Physics

Cumming, Andrew; Macbeth, Jared; Zand, J. J. M. in ’t; Page, Dany

doi:10.1086/504698

Cited by 182 publications

(375 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…From our modelling to the combined 2012-2013 data set we find a maximum depth for the shallow heat of log P =27.5 (P ≃3 × 10 27 erg cm −3 ), which corresponds to a column depth of y≃10 13 g cm −2 . This is broadly consistent with expectations from superbursts, which are thought to occur at y≃10 12 g cm −2 and require additional heating to get the temperature sufficiently high to achieve ignition at this depth (e.g., Cumming et al 2006). We note that Aql X-1 is itself not a superburster.…”

Section: Crust Cooling and Shallow Heating In Aql X-1supporting

confidence: 88%

“…This can be reconciled if there is an additional heat flux coming from the crust. Furthermore, the ignition of carbon that produces superbursts (very rare and energetic, hours-long X-ray bursts) can only be achieved if the crust temperature is considerably higher than accounted for by nuclear heating (e.g., Cumming et al 2006;Keek et al 2008;Altamirano et al 2012). Finally, the cessation of X-ray bursts as the mass-accretion rate increases seems to occur much more rapidly than can be accounted for by nuclear heating, and may also require additional energy release at shallow depth (in 't Zand et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constraining the properties of neutron star crusts with the transient low-mass X-ray binary Aql X-1

Waterhouse

Degenaar

Wijnands

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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Aql X-1 is a prolific transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary that exhibits an accretion outburst approximately once every year. Whether the thermal X-rays detected in intervening quiescent episodes are the result of cooling of the neutron star or due to continued low-level accretion remains unclear. In this work we use Swift data obtained after the long and bright 2011 and 2013 outbursts, as well as the short and faint 2015 outburst, to investigate the hypothesis that cooling of the accretion-heated neutron star crust dominates the quiescent thermal emission in Aql X-1. We demonstrate that the X-ray light curves and measured neutron star surface temperatures are consistent with the expectations of the crust cooling paradigm. By using a thermal evolution code, we find that ≃1.2 − 3.2 MeV nucleon −1 of shallow heat release describes the observational data well, depending on the assumed mass-accretion rate and temperature of the stellar core. We find no evidence for varying strengths of this shallow heating after different outbursts, but this could be due to limitations of the data. We argue that monitoring Aql X-1 for up to ≃1 year after future outbursts can be a powerful tool to break model degeneracies and solve open questions about the magnitude, depth and origin of shallow heating in neutron star crusts.

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Section: Crust Cooling and Shallow Heating In Aql X-1supporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraining the properties of neutron star crusts with the transient low-mass X-ray binary Aql X-1

Waterhouse

Degenaar

Wijnands

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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“…On average, the GBM bursts in 2S0918-549 (t rec = 56 ± 12 day; á ñ E = 6 × 10 39 erg) are more energetic and less frequent than those from 4U0614+09 (t rec = 17 ± 2 day; á ñ E = 2 × 10 39 erg). This is qualitatively explained by ignition models, given that 2S0918-549 accretes at a rate about half that of 4U0614+09 (Cumming et al 2006). Lower ṁ implies a colder neutron star envelope, a longer fuel accumulation time, and a greater ignition depth.…”

Section: Other Bursters and The Integrated Galactic Txrb Samplementioning

confidence: 97%

“…In particular, at the lowest ṁ (near or below 1% of the Eddington limit) the heat flux from the NS crust can critically influence the ignition conditions for tXRBs. Thus we can potentially use low-ṁ tXRBs to constrain the internal properties of NSs (Cumming et al 2006). However, because recurrence times of low-ṁ tXRBS are of the order of weeks to months, they are extremely difficult to measure with pointed or scanning X-ray detectors.…”

Section: The Rare and Most Energetic Thermonuclear Burstsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fermi–gbm Three-Year X-Ray Burst Catalog

Jenke

Linares

Connaughton

et al. 2016

ApJ

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The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) is an all-sky gamma-ray monitor well known in the gamma-ray burst (GRB) community. Although GBM excels in detecting the hard, bright extragalactic GRBs, its sensitivity above 8 keV and its all-sky view make it an excellent instrument for the detection of rare, short-lived Galactic transients. In 2010 March, we initiated a systematic search for transients using GBM data. We conclude this phase of the search by presenting a three-year catalog of 1084 X-ray bursts. Using spectral analysis, location, and spatial distributions we classified the 1084 events into 752 thermonuclear X-ray bursts, 267 transient events from accretion flares and X-ray pulses, and 65 untriggered gamma-ray bursts. All thermonuclear bursts have peak blackbody temperatures broadly consistent with photospheric radius expansion (PRE) bursts. We find an average rate of 1.4 PRE bursts per day, integrated over all Galactic bursters within about 10 kpc. These include 33 and 10 bursts from the ultra-compact X-ray binaries 4U0614+09 and 2S0918-549, respectively. We discuss these recurrence times and estimate the total mass ejected by PRE bursts in our Galaxy.

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“…We consider reactions of each type (each line in Table I) separately, and apply the analytic model (13) and (20) to every reaction. In this manner we determine 3 fit parameters, E C , δ and j 0 , for every reaction.…”

Section: Fitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large collection of astrophysicalSfactors and their compact representation

et al. 2012

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Numerous nuclear reactions in the crust of accreting neutron stars are strongly affected by dense plasma environment. Simulations of superbursts, deep crustal heating and other nuclear burning phenomena in neutron stars require astrophysical S-factors for these reactions (as a function of center-of-mass energy E of colliding nuclei). A large database of S-factors is created for about 5,000 non-resonant fusion reactions involving stable and unstable isotopes of Be, B, C, N, O, F, Ne, Na, Mg, and Si. It extends the previous database of about 1,000 reactions involving isotopes of C, O, Ne, and Mg. The calculations are performed using the São Paulo potential and the barrier penetration formalism. All calculated S-data are parameterized by an analytic model for S(E) proposed before [Phys. Rev. C 82, 044609 (2010)] and further elaborated here. For a given reaction, the present S(E)-model contains three parameters. These parameters are easily interpolated along reactions involving isotopes of the same elements with only seven input parameters, giving an ultracompact, accurate, simple, and uniform database. The S(E) approximation can also be used to estimate theoretical uncertainties of S(E) and nuclear reaction rates in dense matter, as illustrated for the case of the 34 Ne+ 34 Ne reaction in the inner crust of an accreting neutron star.

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Long Type I X‐Ray Bursts and Neutron Star Interior Physics

Cited by 182 publications

References 83 publications

Constraining the properties of neutron star crusts with the transient low-mass X-ray binary Aql X-1

Constraining the properties of neutron star crusts with the transient low-mass X-ray binary Aql X-1

The Fermi–gbm Three-Year X-Ray Burst Catalog

Large collection of astrophysicalSfactors and their compact representation

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