Are the very faint X-ray transients period gap systems?

Thomas J. Maccarone, Alessandro Patruno

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

We discuss a scenario for the very faint X-ray transients as X-ray binaries fed by winds from detached M dwarf donors in binary stars within the 'period gap'-the range of periods where donor stars have become fully convective, and shrunken so that they no longer fill their Roche lobes, but have not yet re-attached due to the systems shrinking through gravitational radiation. This wind-fed detached binary scenario can reproduce the two key properties of the very faint X-ray transients-their faintness, which defines them, and their relatively low duty cycle outbursts which require that they have low mean mass transfer rates. We discuss feasible observational tests of the scenario.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1335-1340
Number of pages6
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume428
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2013

Keywords

  • Accretion
  • Accretion discs-binaries: Close-stars: Late-type-stars: Mass-loss-X-rays: Binaries

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