A study of the continuum and iron K line emission from low-mass X-raybinaries.
White, N. E.; Branduardi-Raymont, G.; Hasinger, G.; Manzo, G.; Mason, K. O.; Taylor, B. G.; Peacock, A.
Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Italy
Abstract
It is possible to classify the spectral properties of the luminous X-ray sources which are thought to contain accreting neutron stars broadly according to whether or not the source is a coherent X-ray pulsar. In the present paper a study is reported of the spectral properties of a sample of six low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXRB). It is found that the spectral properties of this sample can be qualitatively understood in terms of disk accretion on to a neutron star with a low magnetic field which is less than 10 to the 8th G, such that the accretion disk touches the neutron star surface.