Abstract
We report on the results of a four-year long X-ray monitoring campaign of the central 1.2 square degrees of our Galaxy, performed with Chandra and XMM-Newton between 2005 and 2008. Our study focuses on the properties of transient X-ray sources that reach 2-10 keV luminosities of LX ≳ 1034 erg s-1 for an assumed distance of 8 kpc. There are 17 known X-ray transients within the field of view of our campaign, eight of which were detected in outburst during our observations: the transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries GRS 1741-2853, AX J1745.6-2901, SAX J1747.0-2853, KS 1741-293 (all four are also known X-ray bursters), and GRO J1744-28 (a 2.1 Hz X-ray pulsar), and the unclassified X-ray transients XMM J174457-2850.3, CXOGC J174535.5-290124 and CXOGC J174541.0-290014. We present their X-ray spectra and flux evolution during our campaign, and discuss our results in light of their historic activity. Our main results include the detection of two thermonuclear X-ray bursts from SAX J1
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 49 |
| Journal | Astronomy and Astrophysics |
| State | Published - Sep 2012 |
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Degenaar, N., Wijnands, R., Cackett, E. M., Homan, J., Zand, J. JM. I. ., Kuulkers, E., Maccarone, T., & Klis, M. V. D. (2012). A four-year XMM-Newton/Chandra monitoring campaign of the Galactic centre: analysing the X-ray transients. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 49.