| Name | 040247 |
| Title | Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients: A new class of massive X-ray binaries |
| URL | https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0402470101 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-0dx0gcr |
| Author | Prof David M. Smith |
| Description | At least four x-ray binaries (XTE J1739-302, IGR J17544-2619, IGR J16465-4507, and AX J1841.0-0536) have been established as Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients, with outbursts lasting only hours, spectra requiring a BH or NS accretor, faint quiescent emission, and O-B supergiant companions. Since they are difficult to detect and the list is rapidly growing, SFXTs may be the dominant population of x-ray binaries born with two very massive components. They may therefore be the primary progenitors of NS-NS or NS-BH mergers, and key to our understanding of short-hard gamma-ray bursts and the search for sources of gravitational waves. We propose to study the quiescent emission of four candidate sources and use the Newton localizations to test whether a (rare) OB supergiant is in the field. |
| Publication | No observations found associated with the current proposal |
| Instrument | EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2 |
| Temporal Coverage | 2006-10-07T23:45:59Z/2006-10-14T11:32:09Z |
| Version | 17.56_20190403_1200 |
| Mission Description | The European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESA's second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earth's atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis. |
| Creator Contact | https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk |
| Date Published | 2007-11-16T00:00:00Z |
| Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
| Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, 2007-11-16T00:00:00Z, 040247, 17.56_20190403_1200. https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-0dx0gcr |