CXO J004318.8+412016*A steady supersoft X-ray source in M 31

We obtained an optical spectrum of a star we identify as the optical counterpart of the M31 Chandra source CXO J004318.8+412016, because of prominent emission lines of the Balmer series, of neutral helium, and a He II line at 4686 Å. The continuum energy distribution and the spectral characteristics...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Orio, M., Luna, G.J.M., Kotulla, R., Gallager, J.S., Zampieri, L., Mikolajewska, J., Harbeck, D., Bianchini, A., Chiosi, E., Della Valle, M., de Martino, D., Kaur, A., Mapelli, M., Munari, U., Odendaal, A., Trinchieri, G., Wade, J., Zemko, P.
Formato: JOUR
Materias:
Binaries: symbiotic
Galaxies: individual: M31
White dwarfs
X-rays: binaries
X-rays: individual: CXO J004318.8+412016
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00358711_v470_n2_p2212_Orio
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
Descripción
Sumario:We obtained an optical spectrum of a star we identify as the optical counterpart of the M31 Chandra source CXO J004318.8+412016, because of prominent emission lines of the Balmer series, of neutral helium, and a He II line at 4686 Å. The continuum energy distribution and the spectral characteristics demonstrate the presence of a red giant of K or earlier spectral type, so we concluded that the binary is likely to be a symbiotic system. CXO J004318.8+412016 has been observed in X-rays as a luminous supersoft source (SSS) since 1979, with effective temperature exceeding 40 eV and variable X-ray luminosity, oscillating between a few times 1035 erg s-1 and a few times 1037 erg s-1 in the space of a few weeks. The optical, infrared and ultraviolet colours of the optical object are consistent with an an accretion disc around a compact object companion, which may be either a white dwarf or a black hole, depending on the system parameters. If the origin of the luminous supersoft X-rays is the atmosphere of a white dwarf that is burning hydrogen in shell, it is as hot and luminous as post-thermonuclear flash novae, yet no major optical outburst has ever been observed, suggesting that the white dwarf is very massive (m ≥ 1.2 M⊙) and it is accreting and burning at the high rate m > 10-8 M⊙ yr-1 expected for Type Ia supernovae progenitors. In this case, the X-ray variability may be due to a very short recurrence time of only mildly degenerate thermonuclear flashes. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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