Peer-Reviewed Journal Details
Mandatory Fields
Williams, BF,Naik, S,Garcia, MR,Callanan, PJ;
2006
May
Astrophysical Journal
A catalog of transient X-ray sources in M31
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Optional Fields
accretion, accretion disks binaries : close galaxies : individual (M31) X-rays : binaries X-rays : stars XMM-NEWTON OBSERVATIONS PLANE CHAMPLANE SURVEY AQUILA X-1 CENTRAL REGION LIGHT CURVES BLACK-HOLES CHANDRA BINARIES DISCOVERY POLARS
643
356
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From 1999 October to 2002 August, 45 transient X-ray sources were detected in M31 by Chandra and XMM-Newton. We have performed spectral analysis of all XMM-Newton and Chandra ACIS detections of these sources, as well as flux measurements of Chandra HRC detections. The result is absorption-corrected X-ray light curves for these sources covering this 2.8 yr period, along with spectral parameters for several epochs of the outbursts of most of the transient sources. We supply a catalog of the locations, outburst dates, peak observed luminosities, decay time estimates, and spectral properties of the transient sources, and we discuss similarities with Galactic X-ray novae. Duty cycle estimates are possible for eight of the transients and range from 34% to 2%; upper limits to the duty cycles are estimated for an additional 15 transients and cover a similar range. We find five transients that have rapid decay times and may be ultracompact X-ray binaries. Spectra of three of the transients suggest that they may be faint Galactic foreground sources. If even one is a foreground source, this suggests a surface density of faint transient X-ray sources of >= 1 deg(-2).
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