Constraints On The Very Faint X-Ray Transient System M15 X-3

• Author / Creator

  Arnason, Robin M

• We present the first combined optical/X-ray observation of a very faint transient
  X-ray binary (VFXT), M15 X-3. Chandra observations constrain the source to be
  < 10^34 erg/s in all observations. The X-ray spectrum shows evidence of curvature,
  and is best fit by a broken power law with break energy Ebreak = 2.71+0.38
  -0:05 keV, and
  power law indices of Gamma1 = 1.25+0.02
  -0.01 and Gamma_2 = 1.82+0.20
  -0.02. Fitting the HST magnitudes
  of the optical counterpart suggests a power-law accretion disk and a main-sequence
  companion of size 0.440+0.035
  -0:060 solar masses. This mass estimate is likely to be an upper limit
  since the short inferred period of P ~ 4 hr implies the companion is irradiated. This
  rules out several explanations for very faint transient behaviour for this source, and
  suggests a neutron star accretor experiencing inefficient accretion due to a propeller effect.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • X-Ray Binaries
  • Compact Objects
  • Neutron Stars
  • Accretion
  • X-Ray Astronomy

• Graduation date

  Fall 2014

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3V11VT9S

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.