Discovery of an eclipsing X-ray binary with a 32.69 hour period in M101: an analog of Her X-1 or LMC X-4?

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dc.creatorLiu, Jifeng
dc.creatordi Stefano, Rosanne
dc.creatorMcClintock, Jeffrey
dc.creatorKong, Albert
dc.creatorBregman, Joel
dc.creatorKuntz, Kip
dc.date2006-08-16
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:39:47Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:39:47Z
dc.descriptionWe report the discovery of an eclipsing X-ray binary in M101, the first such system to be discovered outside the Local Group. Based on a sequence of 25 Chandra observations that sample a wide range of orbital phases, we find a period of 32.688 $\pm$ 0.002 hours, which we interpret as an orbital period. The folded light curve exhibits an eclipse lasting about 8 hours, suggesting a compact orbit in an nearly edge-on configuration. The X-ray binary has an average luminosity of $L_X(0.3-8 {\rm keV}) \approx 1.3\times10^{38}$ erg/sec, with only one out of the 25 observations significantly lower in flux than the average light curve.The presence of the eclipse and the $\sim$ 1.4-day orbital period suggests that this source is an analog of the well studied eclipsing X-ray binary pulsars Her X-1 or LMC X-4. Combining the Chandra data and the HST ACS/WFC images, we have identified several possible optical counterparts, including an O5-O3 star with V = 25.0. Follow-up optical monitoring observations should be able to identify the donor and further constrain the orbital properties.
dc.description24 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, ApJ in press
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0608354
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0608354
dc.identifierAstrophys.J.653:602-612,2006
dc.identifierdoi:10.1086/508447
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/181151
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleDiscovery of an eclipsing X-ray binary with a 32.69 hour period in M101: an analog of Her X-1 or LMC X-4?
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