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Irregular X-ray Variation of LMC X-3

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

H.C. Pan
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Space Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Department of Physics (Theoretical Physics), University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, UK
G.K. Skinner
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Space Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
R.A. Sunyaev
Affiliation:
IKI, Space Research Institute, Profsoyuznaya, 84/32, Moscow 117296, Russia
N.L. Alexandrovich
Affiliation:
IKI, Space Research Institute, Profsoyuznaya, 84/32, Moscow 117296, Russia

Extract

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LMC X-3 is an X-ray binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was discovered by UHURU and observations with various satellites showed that the X-ray source was variable by a factor of up to 100 (e.g. Traves et al. 1988). Using the GINGA and HEAO-1 observations, Cowley et al. (1991) found a strong ∼ 198 (or possibly ∼ 99) day modulation in the X-ray luminosities of LMC X-3. They suggested that this modulation may be due to an accretion disc precession, or periodic variations in the mass transfer rate, or a combination of both.

We observed LMC X-3 with the TTM in 1988-1990. The present paper gives some results from the analysis of the data obtained.

The TTM is a coded mask telescope on board the MIR space station. It is capable of producing images in the energy range 2-30 keV with a spectral resolution of about 18% at 6 keV (Brinkman et al. 1985).

Type
High-Energy Transients
Copyright
Copyright © Springer-Verlag 1995

References

Brinkman, A.C., Dam, J., Mels, W.A., Skinner, G.K., Willmore, P.W., 1985, in Perola, G.C., Salvati, M., eds, Non-thermal and Very High Temperature Phenomena in X-Ray Astronomy, Roma: Università “La Sapienza”, p. 263 Google Scholar
Cowley, A.P., et al., 1991, ApJ 381, 526 Google Scholar
Mitsuda, K., et al., 1984, PASJ 36, 741 Google Scholar
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