Photometric Periodicities of Be/X-Ray Pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud

2005/06/29 by P. C. Schmidtke, A. P. Cowley
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Be star #Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution #Large Magellanic Cloud #Photometry (optics) #Pulsar #Small Magellanic Cloud #Stars #Variable star #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/491705

published as Astron.J.130:2220-2229,2005; Astron.J.132:919-925,2006 · 27 pages, 15 figures

arxiv created 2005/06/29 · openalex publication_date 2005/10/26 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Analysis of the long-term photometric variability of seven Be/X-ray pulsar systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud has been carried out. We find that a variety of types of variability are present, including long-term irregular changes, periodic orbital outbursts due to interaction between the stars (weeks to months), low-amplitude quasi-periodic variations of the equatorial disk (days), and nonradial pulsations of the Be primary star (hours).

Citations

• Observations of the unusual counterpart to the X-ray pulsar AX J0051−733
• X-ray observations of Be/X-ray binaries in the SMC
• Discovery of a 1247 s pulsar in the Be X-ray binary SAX J2239.3+6116
• Two long-period X-ray pulsars detected in the SMC field around