Seven Years with the Swift Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients Project
arXiv:1504.07249 · doi:10.1016/j.jheap.2015.04.008
Abstract
Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs) are HMXBs with OB supergiant companions. I review the results of the Swift SFXT Project, which since 2007 has been exploiting Swift's capabilities in a systematic study of SFXTs and supergiant X-ray binaries (SGXBs) by combining follow-ups of outbursts, when detailed broad-band spectroscopy is possible, with long-term monitoring campaigns, when the out-of-outburst fainter states can be observed. This strategy has led us to measure their duty cycles as a function of luminosity, to extract their differential luminosity distributions in the soft X-ray domain, and to compare, with unprecedented detail, the X-ray variability in these different classes of sources. I also discuss the "seventh year crisis", the challenges that the recent Swift observations are making to the prevailing models attempting to explain the SFXT behaviour.
12 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Review paper for "Swift 10 Years of Discovery" conference. Accepted for Publication in the Journal of High Energy Astrophysics
References in corpus (25)
- Probing clumpy stellar winds with a neutron star
- Multi-wavelength observations of Galactic hard X-ray sources discovered by INTEGRAL. II. The environment of the companion star
- An alternative hypothesis for the outburst mechanism in Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients: the case of IGR J11215-5952
- Monitoring Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients with Swift. I. Behavior outside outbursts
- IGR J17544-2619: A new supergiant fast X-ray transient revealed by optical/infrared observations
- Chandra Localizations and Spectra of INTEGRAL Sources in the Galactic Plane: The Cycle 9 Sample
- Distribution of High-Mass X-ray Binaries in the Milky Way
- Bright Flares in Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients
- Swift/XRT observes the fifth outburst of the periodic Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient IGR J11215-5952
- IGR J11215-5952: a hard X-ray transient displaying recurrent outbursts
- Multiple flaring activity in the supergiant fast X-ray transient IGR J08408-4503 observed with Swift
- Giant outburst from the supergiant fast X-ray transient IGR J17544-2619: accretion from a transient disc?
- NuSTAR Detection Of A Cyclotron Line In The Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient IGR J17544-2619
- Monitoring Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients with Swift. Results from the first year
- Detection of an orbital period in the supergiant high mass X-ray binary IGR J164654507 with Swift-BAT
- Monitoring Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients with Swift. Rise to the outburst in IGR J16479-4514
- Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients and Other Wind Accretors
- Swift/XRT monitoring of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient IGR J18483-0311 for an entire orbital period
- Supergiant fast X-ray transients as an under-luminous class of supergiant X-ray binaries
- Confirmation of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient nature of AX J1841.0-0536 from Swift outburst observations
- The first broad-band X-ray study of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient SAXJ1818.6-1703 in outburst
- Soft X-ray characterisation of the long term properties of Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients
- Expected number of supergiant fast X-ray transients in the Milky Way
- INTEGRAL discovery of unusually long broad-band X-ray activity from the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient IGR J18483-0311
- Constraining duty cycles through a Bayesian technique
Cited by in corpus (11)
- Blasts from the Past: Supernova Shock Breakouts among X-Ray Transients in the XMM-Newton Archive
- Multi-wavelength observations of IGR J17544-2619 from quiescence to outburst
- Fast flaring observed from XMMU J053108.3-690923 by eROSITA: a supergiant fast X-ray transient in the Large Magellanic Cloud
- Accretion disc by Roche lobe overflow in the supergiant fast X-ray transient IGR J08408-4503
- The 100-month Swift catalogue of supergiant fast X-ray transients II. SFXT diagnostics from outburst properties
- IGR J17503-2636: a candidate supergiant fast X-ray transient
- X-ray flashes from the low-mass X-ray binary IGR J17407-2808
- Capturing the lowest luminosity state of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient XTE J1739-302
- Searching for supergiant fast X-ray transients with Swift
- Detecting the intrinsic X-ray emission from the O-type donor star and the residual accretion in a Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient during its faintest state
- 4XMM J181330.1-175110: a new supergiant fast X-ray transient