Revisiting a fundamental test of the disc instability model for X-ray binaries

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 424:3 (2012) 1991-2001

Authors:

M Coriat, RP Fender, G Dubus

Abstract:

We revisit a core prediction of the disc instability model (DIM) applied to X-ray binaries. The model predicts the existence of a critical mass-transfer rate, which depends on disc size, separating transient and persistent systems. We therefore selected a sample of 52 persistent and transient neutron star and black hole X-ray binaries and verified if the observed persistent (transient) systems do lie in the appropriate stable (unstable) region of parameter space predicted by the model. We find that, despite the significant uncertainties inherent to these kinds of studies, the data are in very good agreement with the theoretical expectations. We then discuss some individual cases that do not clearly fit into this main conclusion. Finally, we introduce the transientness parameter as a measure of the activity of a source and show a clear trend of the average outburst recurrence time to decrease with transientness in agreement with the DIM predictions. We therefore conclude that, despite difficulties in reproducing the complex details of the light curves, the DIM succeeds in explaining the global behaviour of X-ray binaries averaged over a long enough period of time. © 2012 The Authors. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS.

SEARCH FOR POINT-LIKE SOURCES OF ULTRA-HIGH ENERGY NEUTRINOS AT THE PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY AND IMPROVED LIMIT ON THE DIFFUSE FLUX OF TAU NEUTRINOS

The Astrophysical Journal Letters American Astronomical Society 755:1 (2012) l4

Authors:

P Abreu, M Aglietta, M Ahlers, EJ Ahn, IFM Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, A Almela, J Alvarez Castillo, J Alvarez-Muñiz, R Alves Batista, M Ambrosio, A Aminaei, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, T Antiči'c, C Aramo, E Arganda, F Arqueros, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, M Avenier, G Avila, AM Badescu, M Balzer, KB Barber, AF Barbosa, R Bardenet, SLC Barroso, B Baughman, J Bäuml, C Baus, JJ Beatty, KH Becker, A Bellétoile, JA Bellido, S BenZvi, C Berat, X Bertou, PL Biermann, P Billoir, O Blanch-Bigas, F Blanco, M Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, M Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, I Brancus, P Brogueira, WC Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, L Buroker, RE Burton, KS Caballero-Mora, B Caccianiga, L Caramete, R Caruso, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, SH Cheng, A Chiavassa, JA Chinellato, J Chirinos Diaz, J Chudoba, M Cilmo, RW Clay, G Cocciolo, L Collica, MR Coluccia, R Conceição, F Contreras, H Cook, MJ Cooper, J Coppens, A Cordier, S Coutu, CE Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, B Daniel, S Dasso, K Daumiller, BR Dawson, RM de Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato, SJ de Jong, G De La Vega, WJM de Mello, JRT de Mello Neto, I De Mitri, V de Souza, KD de Vries, L del Peral, M del Río, O Deligny, H Dembinski, N Dhital, C Di Giulio, ML Díaz Castro, PN Diep, F Diogo, C Dobrigkeit, W Docters, JC D'Olivo, PN Dong, A Dorofeev, JC dos Anjos, MT Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, J Ebr, R Engel, M Erdmann, CO Escobar, J Espadanal, A Etchegoyen, P Facal San Luis, H Falcke, G Farrar, AC Fauth, N Fazzini, AP Ferguson, B Fick, JM Figueira, A Filevich, A Filipčič, S Fliescher, CE Fracchiolla, ED Fraenkel, O Fratu, U Fröhlich, B Fuchs, R Gaior, RF Gamarra, S Gambetta, B García, ST Garcia Roca, D Garcia-Gamez, D Garcia-Pinto, A Gascon Bravo, H Gemmeke, PL Ghia, M Giller, J Gitto, H Glass, MS Gold, G Golup, F Gomez Albarracin, M Gómez Berisso, PF Gómez Vitale, P Gonçalves, JG Gonzalez, B Gookin, A Gorgi, P Gouffon, E Grashorn, S Grebe, N Griffith, M Grigat, AF Grillo, Y Guardincerri, F Guarino, GP Guedes, P Hansen, D Harari, TA Harrison, JL Harton, A Haungs, T Hebbeker, D Heck, AE Herve, C Hojvat, N Hollon, VC Holmes, P Homola, JR Hörandel, P Horvath, M Hrabovský, D Huber, T Huege, A Insolia, F Ionita, A Italiano, S Jansen, C Jarne, S Jiraskova, M Josebachuili, K Kadija, KH Kampert, P Karhan, P Kasper, I Katkov, B Kégl, B Keilhauer, A Keivani, JL Kelley, E Kemp, RM Kieckhafer, HO Klages, M Kleifges, J Kleinfeller, J Knapp, D-H Koang, K Kotera, N Krohm, O Krömer, D Kruppke-Hansen, D Kuempel, JK Kulbartz, N Kunka, G La Rosa, C Lachaud, D LaHurd, L Latronico, R Lauer, P Lautridou, S Le Coz, MSAB Leão, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, MA Leigui de Oliveira, A Letessier-Selvon, I Lhenry-Yvon, K Link, R López, A Lopez Agüera, K Louedec, J Lozano Bahilo, L Lu, A Lucero, M Ludwig, H Lyberis, MC Maccarone, C Macolino, S Maldera, J Maller, D Mandat, P Mantsch, AG Mariazzi, J Marin, V Marin, IC Maris, HR Marquez Falcon, G Marsella, D Martello, L Martin, H Martinez, O Martínez Bravo, D Martraire, JJ Masías Meza, HJ Mathes, J Matthews, JAJ Matthews, G Matthiae, D Maurel, D Maurizio, PO Mazur, G Medina-Tanco, M Melissas, D Melo, E Menichetti, A Menshikov, P Mertsch, C Meurer, R Meyhandan, S Mi'canovi'c, MI Micheletti, IA Minaya, L Miramonti, L Molina-Bueno, S Mollerach, M Monasor, D Monnier Ragaigne, F Montanet, B Morales, C Morello, E Moreno, JC Moreno, M Mostafá, CA Moura, MA Muller, G Müller, M Münchmeyer, R Mussa, G Navarra, JL Navarro, S Navas, P Necesal, L Nellen, A Nelles, J Neuser, PT Nhung, M Niechciol, L Niemietz, N Nierstenhoefer, D Nitz, D Nosek, L Nožka, J Oehlschläger, A Olinto, M Ortiz, N Pacheco, D Pakk Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, N Palmieri, G Parente, E Parizot, A Parra, S Pastor, T Paul, M Pech, J Pe¸kala, R Pelayo, IM Pepe, L Perrone, R Pesce, E Petermann, S Petrera, A Petrolini, Y Petrov, C Pfendner, R Piegaia, T Pierog, P Pieroni, M Pimenta, V Pirronello, M Platino, M Plum, VH Ponce, M Pontz, A Porcelli, P Privitera, M Prouza, EJ Quel, S Querchfeld, J Rautenberg, O Ravel, D Ravignani, B Revenu, J Ridky, S Riggi, M Risse, P Ristori, H Rivera, V Rizi, J Roberts, W Rodrigues de Carvalho, G Rodriguez, I Rodriguez Cabo, J Rodriguez Martino, J Rodriguez Rojo, MD Rodríguez-Frías, G Ros, J Rosado, T Rossler, M Roth, B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, E Roulet, AC Rovero, C Rühle, A Saftoiu, F Salamida, H Salazar, F Salesa Greus, G Salina, F Sánchez, CE Santo, E Santos, EM Santos, F Sarazin, B Sarkar, S Sarkar, R Sato, N Scharf, V Scherini, H Schieler, P Schiffer, A Schmidt, O Scholten, H Schoorlemmer, J Schovancova, P Schovánek, F Schröder, S Schulte, D Schuster, SJ Sciutto, M Scuderi, A Segreto, M Settimo, A Shadkam, RC Shellard, I Sidelnik, G Sigl, HH Silva Lopez, O Sima, A 'Smiałkowski, R Šmída, GR Snow, P Sommers, J Sorokin, H Spinka, R Squartini, YN Srivastava, S Stanic, J Stapleton, J Stasielak, M Stephan, A Stutz, F Suarez, T Suomijärvi, AD Supanitsky, T Šuša, MS Sutherland, J Swain, Z Szadkowski, M Szuba, A Tapia, M Tartare, O Taşcău, R Tcaciuc, NT Thao, D Thomas, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, W Tkaczyk, CJ Todero Peixoto, G Toma, L Tomankova, B Tomé, A Tonachini, P Travnicek, DB Tridapalli, G Tristram, E Trovato, M Tueros, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, JF Valdés Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, G van Aar, AM van den Berg, A van Vliet, E Varela, B Vargas Cárdenas, JR Vázquez, RA Vázquez, D Veberič, V Verzi, J Vicha, M Videla, L Villaseñor, H Wahlberg, P Wahrlich, O Wainberg, D Walz, AA Watson, M Weber, K Weidenhaupt, A Weindl, F Werner, S Westerhoff, BJ Whelan, A Widom, G Wieczorek, L Wiencke, B Wilczyńska, H Wilczyński, M Will, C Williams, T Winchen, M Wommer, B Wundheiler, T Yamamoto, T Yapici, P Younk, G Yuan, A Yushkov, B Zamorano Garcia, E Zas, D Zavrtanik, M Zavrtanik, I Zaw, A Zepeda, J Zhou, Y Zhu, M Zimbres Silva, M Ziolkowski

Future Science Prospects for AMI

(2012)

Authors:

Keith Grainge, Paul Alexander, Richard Battye, Mark Birkinshaw, Andrew Blain, Malcolm Bremer, Sarah Bridle, Michael Brown, Richard Davis, Clive Dickinson, Alastair Edge, George Efstathiou, Robert Fender, Martin Hardcastle, Jennifer Hatchell, Michael Hobson, Matthew Jarvis, Benjamin Maughan, Ian McHardy, Matthew Middleton, Anthony Lasenby, Richard Saunders, Giorgio Savini, Anna Scaife, Graham Smith, Mark Thompson, Glenn White, Kris Zarb-Adami, James Allison, Jane Buckle, Alberto Castro-Tirado, Maria Chernyakova, Roger Deane, Farhan Feroz, Ricardo Genova Santos, David Green, Diana Hannikainen, Ian Heywood, Natasha Hurley-Walker, Ruediger Kneissl, Karri Koljonen, Shrinivas Kulkarni, Sera Markoff, Carrie MacTavish, Michael McCollough, Simone Migliari, Jon M Miller, James Miller-Jones, Malak Olamaie, Zsolt Paragi, Timothy Pearson, Guy Pooley, Katja Pottschmidt, Rafael Rebolo, John Richer, Julia Riley, Jerome Rodriguez, Carmen Rodriguez-Gonzalvez, Anthony Rushton, Petri Savolainen, Paul Scott, Timothy Shimwell, Marco Tavani, John Tomsick, Valeriu Tudose, Kurt van der Heyden, Alexander van der Horst, Angelo Varlotta, Elizabeth Waldram, Joern Wilms, Andrzej Zdziarski, Jonathan Zwart, Yvette Perrott, Clare Rumsey, Michel Schammel

Stellar Mass Black Holes and Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources

(2012)

Authors:

Rob Fender, Tomaso Belloni

Stellar-mass black holes and ultraluminous x-ray sources.

Science 337:6094 (2012) 540-544

Authors:

Rob Fender, Tomaso Belloni

Abstract:

We review the likely population, observational properties, and broad implications of stellar-mass black holes and ultraluminous x-ray sources. We focus on the clear empirical rules connecting accretion and outflow that have been established for stellar-mass black holes in binary systems in the past decade and a half. These patterns of behavior are probably the keys that will allow us to understand black hole feedback on the largest scales over cosmological time scales.