The study of multi-peaked type-I X-ray bursts in the neutron-star low mass X-ray binary 4U 1636$-$536 with RXTE

Abstract

We have found and analysed 16 multi-peaked type-I bursts from the neutron-star low mass X-ray binary 4U 1636$-$53 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). One of the bursts is a rare quadruple-peaked burst which was not previously reported. All 16 bursts show a multi-peaked structure not only in the X-ray light curves but also in the bolometric light curves. Most of the multi-peaked bursts appear in observations during the transition from the hard to the soft state in the colour-colour diagram. We find an anti-correlation between the second peak flux and the separation time between two peaks. We also find that in the double-peaked bursts the peak-flux ratio and the temperature of the thermal component in the pre-burst spectra are correlated. This indicates that the double-peaked structure in the light curve of the bursts may be affected by enhanced accretion rate in the disc, or increased temperature of the neutron star.

12 pages, 11 figures, accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (8)

• Thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
• Evidence for enhanced persistent emission during sub-Eddington thermonuclear bursts
• The influence of accretion geometry on the spectral evolution during thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts
• Discovery of X-ray burst triplets in EXO 0748-676
• The Latitude of Type I X-Ray Burst Ignition on Rapidly Rotating Neutron Stars
• Signature of Temporary Burning Front Stalling from a Non-Photospheric Radius Expansion Double-peaked Burst
• Disc-Jet coupling in the LMXB 4U1636-53 from INTEGRAL
• Accretion rate and the occurrence of multi-peaked X-ray bursts

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts with late secondary peaks observed from 4U 1608-52
• Broadband time-resolved spectroscopy of thermonuclear X-ray bursts from 4U 1636-536 using AstroSat
• The study of thermonuclear X-ray bursts in accreting millisecond pulsar MAXI J1816-195 with NuSTAR and NICER
• The thermonuclear X-ray bursts of 4U 1730-22
• Probing thermonuclear bursts and X-ray reflection features in Aql X-1 during 2024 outburst
• Insight-HXMT observations on thermonuclear X-ray bursts from 4U~1608--52 in the low/hard state: the energy-dependant hard X-ray deficit and cooling saturation of the corona
• Return of 4U~1730--22 after 49 years silence: the peculiar burst properties of the 2021/2022 outbursts observed by Insight-HXMT
• New insight into the hard X-ray emission influenced by the type-\uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral1} bursts observed by Insight-HXMT during outburst of 4U 1636--536