Clump Accretion in Supergiant Fast X-Ray Transients
Abstract
Supergiant Fast X-Ray Transients (SFXTs) are a subclass of High-Mass X-Ray Binaries that consist of a neutron star and OB supergiant donor star. These systems display short, bright x-ray flares lasting a few minutes to a few hours with luminosities reaching 1036 erg/s, several orders of magnitude larger than the quiescent luminosities of 1032 erg/s. The clumpy wind hypothesis has been proposed as a possible mechanism for these transient flares; in this model, a portion of the stellar wind from the donor star forms into clumps and is accreted onto the neutron star, inducing flares. We use high-resolution 3D hydrodynamic simulations to test the clumpy wind hypothesis, tracking the mass and angular momentum accretion rates to infer properties of the resulting x-ray flare and secular evolution of the neutron star rotation. Our results are significantly different from the predictions of Hoyle-Lyttleton Accretion (HLA) theory, which assume steady, laminar, axisymmetric flow. For example, an off-axis clump initiated with an impact parameter greater than the clump radius (for which HLA predicts no effect) produces a small spike in mass accretion and induces a long period of disk-like flow that dramatically reduces the accretion rate below the steady HLA value. The result is a brief, weak flare with a net decrease in total accreted mass compared with steady wind accretion accompanied by a substantial accretion of angular momentum.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22315536C