Although the peculiar surface abundances of Tc-poor S stars in six symbioticsbinaries suggest that the compact object should be a white dwarf, the X-rayspectrum from at least one member of this class points to the presence of aneutron star. For that object, the X-ray spectrum can be modeled as dueComptonized black-body emission with the seed-photons coming from the neutronstar. To determine if chemically peculiar symbiotics host a white dwarf or aneutron star, we propose to obtain XMM-Newton X-ray spectra of four suchsymbiotics. This proposal has implications for our understanding of the originof polluted atmospheres and of binary stellar evolution.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2016-01-27T21:27:48Z/2016-01-28T17:11:08Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs 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 Earths 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.
European Space Agency, Dr Gerardo Luna, 2017, 'Identifying the companions of chemically peculiar red giants', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-urm6jhs
