The Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer

Abstract

RXTE has been operating for nearly 2 years and is planning the third. The spacecraft performance has been good and the three instruments are operating well. Observations have been made of the range of targets suitable for RXTE, including such different objects as accreting neutron stars and black holes, stellar flares, and supernova remnants. The goals of studying high time resolution and broad energy range and optimizing multi-wavelength participation are yielding important results. Oscillations found from low-mass X-ray binaries probably are signatures of the spin of the neutron stars and of the shortest orbital periods around the neutron stars. These are constraining neutron star parameters. Oscillation and spectral results from black hole candidates bring into the realm of possibility the possibilities of measuring the spins of the black holes and using X-ray data to test predictions of gravitation theory. Multi-wavelength observations are leading to identification of the locations of the X-ray emission regions and, in the case of the micro-quasars, to understanding of the mechanisms for jet formation. Recently faster observing response than originally planned has made possible some RXTE contributions to identification of gamma-ray bursts.

8 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Proceedings of the Symposium "The Active X-Ray Sky: Results from BeppoSAX and Rossi-XTE", Rome, Italy, 21-24 October, 1997, Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplements. Eds. L. Scarsi, H. Bradt, P. Giommi, and F. Fiore

References in corpus (23)

• Lense-Thirring Precession and QPOs in Low Mass X-Ray Binaries
• Black Hole Spin in X-Ray Binaries: Observational Consequences
• An unstable central disk in the superluminal black-hole X-ray binary GRS 1915+105
• Temporal Properties of Cygnus X-1 During the Spectral Transitions
• Evidence for a Disk-Jet Interaction in the Microquasar GRS 1915+105
• Evidence for Frame-Dragging Around Spinning Black Holes in X-Ray Binaries
• The 1996 Soft State Transitions of Cygnus X-1
• Evidence for "Propeller" Effects In X-ray Pulsars GX 1+4 And GROJ1744-28
• The Origin of the X-ray and Ultraviolet Emission in NGC 7469
• The 67 Hz Feature in the Black Hole Candidate GRS 1915+105 as a Possible ``Diskoseismic'' Mode
• Rapid infrared flares in GRS 1915+105 : evidence for infrared synchrotron emission
• Milli-second Oscillations in the Persistent and Bursting Flux of Aql X-1 During an Outburst
• Neutron Star Masses and Radii as Inferred from kilo-Hertz QPOs
• The relativistic iron line profile in the Seyfert 1 Galaxy IC4329a
• Strong-field general relativity and quasi-periodic oscillations in x-ray binaries
• The strength and width of Fe Kalpha lines in Seyferts and their correlations with the X-ray slope
• The size of the accretion region in intermediate polars: eclipses of XY Arietis observed with RXTE
• An outburst of the magnetic cataclysmic variable XY Arietis observed with RXTE
• RXTE Observation of Cygnus X-1: Spectral Analysis
• Simultaneous ASCA And RXTE Observations of Cygnus X--1 During Its 1996 State Transition
• Rxte Observations of a New X-Ray Transient: GRS 1737-31
• Post-Burst Quasi-Periodic Oscillations from GRO J1744-28 and from the Rapid Burster
• X-rays and gamma-rays from accretion flows onto black holes in Seyferts and X-ray binaries

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Comptonization efficiencies of the variability classes of GRS 1915+105