J/MNRAS/471/1468 Transient black hole X-ray binaries XMM obs. (Eckersall+, 2017)
Modelling the effect of absorption from the interstellar medium on
transient black hole X-ray binaries.
Eckersall A.J., Vaughan S., Wynn G.A.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 471, 1468-1474 (2017)>
=2017MNRAS.471.1468E 2017MNRAS.471.1468E (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Binaries, X-ray ; Stars, masses ; Stars, distances
Keywords: accretion, accretion discs - black hole physics - ISM: abundances -
X-rays: binaries
Abstract:
All observations of Galactic X-ray binaries are affected by absorption
from gas and dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) which imprints
narrow (line) and broad (photoelectric edges) features on the
continuum emission spectrum of the binary. Any spectral model used to
fit data from a Galactic X-ray binary must therefore take account of
these features; when the absorption is strong (as for most Galactic
sources) it becomes important to accurately model the ISM absorption
in order to obtain unbiased estimates of the parameters of the
(emission) spectrum of the binary system. In this paper, we present
analysis of some of the best spectroscopic data from the XMM-Newton
RGS instrument using the most up-to-date photoabsorption model of the
gaseous ISM ISMabs. We calculate column densities for H, O, Ne and Fe
for seven transient black hole X-ray binary systems. We find that the
hydrogen column densities in particular can vary greatly from those
presented elsewhere in the literature. We assess the impact of using
inaccurate column densities and older X-ray absorption models on
spectral analysis using simulated data. We find that poor treatment of
absorption can lead to large biases in inferred disc properties and
that an independent analysis of absorption parameters can be used to
alleviate such issues.
Description:
In total, we have processed data for 96 observations from 35 different
systems. These represent all publicly available observations of BH
XRBs up until 2015 September 30. Table A1 contains all the information
on the observations included in this study, along with the system
parameters (mass of primary, distance and inclination) used in the RGS
fitting (values taken from Tetarenko et al. (2016ApJS..222...15T 2016ApJS..222...15T) and
references therein, and from Froning et al. (2014ApJ...780...48F 2014ApJ...780...48F)). If
not known, we assume a mass of 10M☉, a distance of 5kpc an
a disc inclination of 5°.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
sources.dat 46 33 List of studied sources
tablea1.dat 96 82 Observation log
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See also:
B/xmm : XMM-Newton Observation Log (XMM-Newton Science Operation Center, 2014)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: sources.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 22 A22 --- Name Simbad name
24- 25 I2 h RAh Simbad right ascension (J2000.0)
27- 28 I2 min RAm Simbad right ascension (J2000.0)
30- 34 F5.2 s RAs Simbad right ascension (J2000.0)
36 A1 --- DE- Simbad declination sign (J2000.0)
37- 38 I2 deg DEd Simbad declination (J2000.0)
40- 41 I2 arcmin DEm Simbad declination (J2000.0)
43- 46 F4.1 arcsec DEs Simbad declination (J2000.0)
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 22 A22 --- Name System Name
24- 28 F5.2 Msun Mass ? Mass (1)
30- 34 F5.2 kpc Dist ? Distance (1)
36- 39 F4.1 deg Incl ? Inclination (1)
41- 50 I10 --- ObsID XMM-Newton ObsID
52- 56 A5 --- Rev Revolution number
57- 62 F6.2 ks Dur Duration (ks)
64- 73 A10 "date" Date Observation date
75- 96 A22 --- pnmode pn mode (2)
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Note (1): All mass, distance and inclination values are from those collected in
Tetarenko et al. (2016ApJS..222...15T 2016ApJS..222...15T), with the exception of
Swift J1753.5-0127 which are based on calculations in
Froning et al. (2014ApJ...780...48F 2014ApJ...780...48F).
Note (2): Bracketed letters next to pn mode refer to the reason for the
observation being rejected from the sample (n=no data, f=faint, p=piled-up).
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 19-May-2020