DISCOVERY OF THE NEAR-INFRARED COUNTERPART TO THE LUMINOUS NEUTRON-STAR LOW-MASS X-RAY BINARY GX 3+1
Name
Berg-2014-Discovery of the nea.pdf
Size
437.07 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
39821353af0b4bfbf2235073fbf03d6c
Author(s)
van den Berg, Maureen
Homan, Jeroen
Fridriksson, Joel K.
Linares, Manuel Alegret
Date Issued
September 2014
Journal
Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society
Citation
Van den Berg, Maureen, Jeroen Homan, Joel K. Fridriksson, and Manuel Linares. “DISCOVERY OF THE NEAR-INFRARED COUNTERPART TO THE LUMINOUS NEUTRON-STAR LOW-MASS X-RAY BINARY GX 3+1.” The Astrophysical Journal 793, no. 2 (September 16, 2014): 128. © 2014 American Astronomical Society.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Using the High Resolution Camera on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we have measured an accurate position for the bright persistent neutron star X-ray binary and atoll source GX 3+1. At a location that is consistent with this new position, we have discovered the near-infrared (NIR) counterpart to GX 3+1 in images taken with the PANIC and FourStar cameras on the Magellan Baade Telescope. The identification of this K[subscript s] = 15.8 ± 0.1 mag star as the counterpart is based on the presence of a Br γ emission line in an NIR spectrum taken with the Folded-port InfraRed Echelette spectrograph on the Baade Telescope. The absolute magnitude derived from the best available distance estimate to GX 3+1 indicates that the mass donor in the system is not a late-type giant. We find that the NIR light in GX 3+1 is likely dominated by the contribution from a heated outer accretion disk. This is similar to what has been found for the NIR flux from the brighter class of Z sources, but unlike the behavior of atolls fainter (LX ≈ 10[superscript 36]-10[superscript 37] erg s[superscript –1]) than GX 3+1, where optically thin synchrotron emission from a jet probably dominates the NIR flux.
MIT Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/793/2/128
