2004/01/16 by Thomas J. Maccarone, Arunav Kundu, Stephen E. Zepf · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Binary number #Binary star #Cluster (spacecraft) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Globular cluster #Line (geometry) #Metallicity #Spectral line #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/382937
published as Astrophys.J. 606 (2004) 430-435 · 6 pages, no figures, accepted to ApJ
arxiv created 2004/01/16 · openalex publication_date 2004/04/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We show that irradiation-induced stellar winds can explain two important metallicity effects in X-ray binaries: the higher numbers and softer spectra of X-ray binaries in metal-rich globular clusters (GCs) compared to those in metal-poor ones. As has been previously noted by Iben, Tutukov, and Fedorova, the winds should be stronger at lower metallicity because of less efficient line cooling. This speeds up the evolution of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) in metal-poor clusters and hence reduces their number. These winds can also provide extra material near the accreting object, which can create an intrinsic absorber that hardens the X-ray spectra of the metal-poor cluster systems relative to the metal-rich ones, as suggested by observations. We outline some additional observational predictions of this model.