Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

Table of Contents - 2008 - Volume 4, Symposium S256 (The Magellanic System: Stars, Gas, and Galaxies)  

Contributed Papers

Properties of X-ray binaries in the Magellanic Clouds from RXTE and Chandra observations

R. H. D. Corbeta1a2, M. J. Coea3, K. E. McGowana3, M. P. E. Schurcha3, L. J. Townsenda3, J. L. Galachea4 and F. E. Marshalla2

a1 University of Maryland, Baltimore County/CRESST, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA

a2 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

a3 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

a4 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Abstract

The X-ray binary population of the SMC is very different from that of the Milky Way consisting, with one exception, entirely of transient pulsating Be/neutron star binaries. We have now been monitoring these SMC X-ray pulsars for over 10 years using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer with observations typically every week. The RXTE observations have been complemented with surveys made using the Chandra observatory. The RXTE observations are non-imaging but enable detailed studies of pulsing sources. In contrast, Chandra observations can provide precise source locations and detections of sources at lower flux levels, but do not provide the same timing information or the extended duration light curves that RXTE observations do. We summarize the results of these monitoring programs which provide insights into both the differences between the SMC and the Milky Way, and the details of the accretion processes in X-ray pulsars.

Keywords

  • stars: emission-line;
  • Be;
  • stars: neutron;
  • pulsars: general;
  • Magellanic Clouds;
  • X-rays: binaries
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