High Energy Studies of High Mass X-ray Binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Abstract
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is known to harbour a significant population of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXB), which are a direct result of recent tidal interactions triggering star birth in the galaxy. Using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), along with the INTEGRAL and Swift satellites, we have studied this growing population for more than 10 years. This has allowed the study of a large group of HMXBs without the difficulties of differing distances and extinctions that complicate Milky Way studies of such systems. In this paper we report on recent RXTE observations and describe the detailed behavior of some recently detected sources. In particular we discuss the newly discovered HMXB IGR J01054-7253, an 11.5s pulsar, and describe how intensive RXTE monitoring has allowed a complete orbital solution to be calculated for this object. We show that intensive monitoring of outbursting sources could prove to be an effective tool for determining orbital solutions to many systems in the SMC: we use the 8.8s pulsar RX J0051.8-7231, which has recently undergone the most luminous outburst ever seen in the SMC, and IGR J01054-7253 as examples of this. This work has been funded by the University of Southampton.
- Publication:
-
AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #11
- Pub Date:
- March 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010HEAD...11.4312T