Orbital Period and Outburst Luminosity of Transient Low Mass X-ray Binaries

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the relation between the maximal luminosity of X-ray outburst and the orbital period in transient low mass X-ray binaries (or soft X-ray transients) observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in the past decade. We find that the maximal luminosity (3-200 keV) in Eddington unit generally increases with increasing orbital period, which does not show a luminosity saturation but in general agrees with theoretical prediction. The peak luminosities in ultra-compact binaries might be higher than those with orbital period of 2-4 h, but more data are needed to make the claim. We also find that there is no significant difference in the 3-200 keV outburst peak luminosity between neutron star systems and black hole systems with orbital periods above 4 h; however, there might be significant difference at smaller orbital period where only neutron star systems are observed and radiatively ineffcient accretion flow is expected to work at the low luminosities for black hole accreters.

28 pages, 5 figures, accepted by ApJ

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• Disk reflection and a possible disk wind during a soft X-ray state in the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 1RXS J180408.9-342058
• Hibernating black holes revealed by photometric mass functions
• Evolution of finite viscous disks with time-independent viscosity
• Discovery of GRS 1915+105 variability patterns in the Rapid Burster
• Formation of Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Fast orbital shrinkage of black hole X-ray binaries driven by circumbinary disks
• The stringent upper limit on jet power in the persistent soft state source 4U~1957+11
• Selection Effects on the Orbital Period Distribution of Low Mass Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• Variability of Optical Counterparts in the Chandra Galactic Bulge Survey
• The relation between outburst rate and orbital period in low-mass X-ray binary transients
• State Transitions in Ultracompact Neutron Star LMXBs: towards the Low Luminosity Limit