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[35.07] Soft-to-Hard State Transitions in LMC X-3

J. Wilms (IAA Tuebingen, Astronomie), M.A. Nowak (JILA), P. Boyd (GSFC), K. Pottschmidt (IAA Tuebingen, Astronomie), W.A. Heindl (CASS/UCSD), M.C. Begelman (JILA and Dept. APS, Univ. Colorado)

RXTE monitoring of the canonical soft state black hole candidate LMC X-3 during 1997 and 1998 revealed the presence of transitions to the hard state (Wilms et al., 2000, MNRAS, in press, astro-ph/0005489). The hardening reoccurs on a timescale of (roughly) 150d, although pure hard states are rarer.

We present results of the analysis of all available RXTE data of LMC X-3 (taken from 1997 through 1999) using thermal and non-thermal Comptonization models, focusing on the properties of the state transitions and the soft state. We compare these data to those from LMC X-1, the only soft state source which has only been seen during the soft state, and discuss the possible cause for the state transitions.

The hard states of LMC X-3 itself are the subject of an accompanying contribution by Boyd et al.

This research was funded by NASA grants NAG5-3225, NAG5-4621, NAG5-4737, NSF grants AST95-29170, AST98-76887, DFG grant Sta 173/22, and a travel grant by the DAAD.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: wilms@astro.uni-tuebingen.de