Linking burst-only X-ray binary sources to faint X-ray transients

Abstract

Burst-only sources are X-ray sources showing up only during short bursts but with no persistent emission (at least with the monitoring instrument which led to their discovery). These bursts have spectral characteristics consistent with thermonuclear (type I) burst from the neutron star surface, linking burst-only sources to neutron star X-ray binary transients. We have carried out a series of snapshot observations of the entire sample of burst-only sources with the Swift satellite. We found a few sources in outburst and detect faint candidates likely representing their quiescent counterparts. In addition, we observed three quasi-persistent faint X-ray binary transients. Finally we discuss burst-only sources and quasi-persistent sources in the framework of neutron star transients.

9 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication on ApJ

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• A Catalog of X-ray Point Sources from Two Megaseconds of Chandra Observations of the Galactic Center
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