8th HEAD Meeting, 8-11 September, 2004
Session 25 X-ray Binaries and White Dwarfs
Poster, Friday, September 10, 2004, 9:00am-10:00pm

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[25.30] Chandra Observations of Quiescent Black Hole and Neutron Star X-Ray Transients

J.A. Tomsick, D.M. Gelino (CASS/UCSD), P. Kaaret (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

During the past two years, we used the Chandra X-Ray Observatory to study six X-ray transient systems while they were in their quiescent, low X-ray luminosity, states. While three of the systems (V4641 Sgr, XTE J1859+226, and XTE J2123-058) were previously identified at other wavelengths and are relatively well-studied black hole or neutron star X-ray binaries, the other three systems (4U 0042+32, EXO 1747-214, and 4U 1730-22) have not been studied since their original outbursts in the 1970s or 1980s. For this latter group, a main motivation for the Chandra observations is to localize these sources to allow for optical or IR identifications and follow-up observations, and we report on our progress on this part of the project. Also, sensitive X-ray observations for six X-ray transients represents a significant addition to on-going efforts to learn about neutron star cooling and emission mechanisms at low luminosities, and we discuss our results in the context of these topics. JAT and DMG acknowledge partial support from Chandra award GO2-3057X issued by the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center.


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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.