Long Term X-ray Monitoring Of The TeV Binary LS I +61 303 with RXTE

Abstract

We report on the results of a long term X-ray monitoring campaign of the galactic binary LS I +61 303 performed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. This dataset consists of 1 ks pointings taken every other day between 2007 August 28 until 2008 February 2. The observations covered six full cycles of the 26.496 day binary period and constitute the largest continuous X-ray monitoring dataset on LS I +61 303 to date with this sensitivity. There is no statistically strong detection of modulation of flux or photon index with orbital phase; however, we do find a strong correlation between flux and photon index, with the spectrum becoming harder at higher fluxes. The dataset contains three large flaring episodes, the largest of these reaching a flux level of 7.2 (+0.1,-0.2)*10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1 in the 3-10 keV band, which is a factor of three times larger than flux levels typically seen in the system. Analysis of these flares shows the X-ray emission from LS I +61 303 changing by up to a factor of six over timescales of several hundred seconds as well as doubling times as fast as 2 seconds. This is the fastest variability ever observed from LS I +61 303 at this wavelength and places constraints on the size of the X-ray emitting region.

24 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

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• INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton observations of LSI +61 303
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Cited by in corpus (40)

• Gamma-ray binaries and related systems
• Swift X-ray Telescope Monitoring of Fermi-LAT Gamma Ray Sources of Interest
• Fermi LAT Observations of LS I +61 303: First detection of an orbital modulation in GeV Gamma Rays
• Long-term monitoring of the high-energy gamma-ray emission from LS I +61° 303 and LS 5039
• Advances in Understanding High-Mass X-ray Binaries with INTEGRAL and Future Directions
• A magnetar-like event from LS I +61 303 and its nature as a gamma-ray binary
• A New TeV Binary: The Discovery of an Orbital Period in HESS J0632+057
• A compact pulsar wind nebula model of the gamma-ray loud binary LS I +61 303
• Correlated X-ray and Very High Energy emission in the gamma-ray binary LS I +61 303
• Multiwavelength Observations of LS I +61 303 with VERITAS, Swift and RXTE
• HESS J1943+213: a candidate extreme BL Lacertae object
• VERITAS Observations of the TeV Binary LS I +61 303 During 2008-2010
• Superorbital modulation of X-ray emission from gamma-ray binary LSI +61 303
• Deep Chandra observations of TeV binaries I: LSI +61 303
• Deep Chandra observations of TeV binaries II: LS 5039
• Probing the Nature of the unidentified TeV Gamma-ray source HESS J0632+057 with Swift
• Variability in the orbital profiles of the X-ray emission of the gamma-ray binary LS I +61 303
• Long-term X-ray monitoring of LS I +61 303: analysis of spectral variability and flares
• Overview of non-transient gamma-ray binaries and prospects for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Exceptionally bright TeV flares from the binary LS I +61${}^{\circ }$ 303
• Simulations of an inhomogeneous stellar wind interacting with a pulsar wind in a binary system
• Discovery of a variable X-ray counterpart to HESS J1832-093: A new gamma-ray binary?
• H-alpha observations of the gamma-ray-emitting Be/X-ray binary LSI+61303: orbital modulation, disk truncation, and long-term variability
• Long-term monitoring of LS I+61303 with INTEGRAL
• Study of orbital and superorbital variability of LSI +61 303 with X-ray data
• TeV Gamma-rays from accreting magnetars in massive binaries
• Clumpy stellar winds and high-energy emission in high-mass binaries hosting a young pulsar
• Modeling the effects of clumpy winds in the high-energy light curves of γ-ray binaries
• Multiwavelength Observations of The TeV Binary LS I +61 303 with VERITAS, Fermi-LAT and Swift-XRT During a TeV Outburst
• Trace the Accretion Geometry of H 1743--322 with Type C Quasi-periodic Oscillations in Multiple Outbursts
• The Multi-wavelength Characteristics of the TeV Binary LS I +61${}^{\circ }$ 303
• Chandra Imaging of Gamma-Ray Binaries
• Achromatic rapid flares in hard X-rays in the $\gamma$-ray binary LS I +61-303
• Very-high-energy observations of the binaries V 404 Cyg and 4U 0115+634 during giant X-ray outbursts
• Rapid X-ray variability of the gamma-ray binary LS I+61 303
• The MAGIC highlights of the gamma ray binary LS I +61 303
• X-ray observations of PSR B1259-63 near the 2007 periastron passage
• What can Simbol-X do for gamma-ray binaries?
• Future science issues for Galactic very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy
• Spectral lags of flaring events in $LSI+61^o$ 303 from RXTE Observations