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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
Treves, A., et al., 1988, ApJ 325, 119 Google Scholar