The ultraviolet line spectrum of the soft X-ray transient XTE J1118+480: a CNO-processed core exposed

2002/02/19 by C. A. Haswell, R. I. Hynes, A. R. King +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Angular momentum #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Core (optical fiber) #Emission spectrum #Line (geometry) #Optics #Orbital period #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Spectral line #Stars #Ultraviolet #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05369.x

published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 332 (2002) 928 · 6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

arxiv created 2002/02/19 · openalex publication_date 2002/06/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We compare ultraviolet (UV) spectra of the recent soft X-ray transients XTE J1118+480 and XTE J1859+226. The emission line strengths in XTE J1118+480 strongly suggest that the accreting material has been CNO processed. We show that this system must have come into contact with a secondary star of about 1.5 M⊙, and an orbital period ∼15 h, very close to the bifurcation value at which the nuclear and angular momentum loss time-scales are similar. Subsequent evolution to the current period of 4.1 h was driven by angular momentum loss. In passing through a period of 7.75 h the secondary star would have shown essentially normal surface abundances. XTE J1118+480 could thus represent a slightly later evolutionary stage of A0620-00. We briefly discuss the broad Lyα absorption wings in XTE J1118+480.

Citations

• A Black Hole Greater Than 6 [ITAL]M[/ITAL][TINF]⊙[/TINF] in the X-Ray Nova XTE J1118+480
• Atomic data for resonance absorption lines. I - Wavelengths longward of the Lyman limit
• The NextGen Model Atmosphere Grid for \documentclassaastex \usepackageamsbsy \usepackageamsfonts \usepackageamssymb \usepackagebm \usepackagemathrsfs \usepackagepifont \usepackagestmaryrd \usepackagetextcomp \usepackageportland,xspace \usepackageamsmath,amsxtra \usepackage[OT2,OT1]fontenc \newcommand\cyr \renewcommand\rmdefaultwncyr \renewcommand\sfdefaultwncyss \renewcommand\encodingdefaultOT2 \normalfont \selectfont \DeclareTextFontCommand\textcyr\cyr \pagestyleempty \DeclareMathSizes10976 \begindocument \landscape 3000≤ T_eff ≤ 10,000 \enddocument K

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