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arXiv · 1403.7231

Revealing a new symbiotic X-ray binary with Gemini NIFS

Arash Bahramian·Jeanette C. Gladstone·Craig O. Heinke·Rudy Wijnands·Ramanpreet Kaur·Diego Altamirano
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Abstract

We use K-band spectroscopy of the counterpart to the rapidly variable X-ray transient XMMU J174445.5-295044 to identify it as a new symbiotic X-ray binary. XMMU J174445.5-295044 has shown a hard X-ray spectrum (we verify its association with an Integral/IBIS 18-40 keV detection in 2013 using a short Swift/XRT observation), high and varying N$_H$, and rapid flares on timescales down to minutes, suggesting wind accretion onto a compact star. We observed its near-infrared counterpart using the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) at Gemini-North, and classify the companion as ~ M2 III. We infer a distance of $3.1^{+1.8}_{-1.1}$ kpc (conservative 1-sigma errors), and therefore calculate that the observed X-ray luminosity (2-10 keV) has reached to at least 4$\times10^{34}$ erg/s. We therefore conclude that the source is a symbiotic X-ray binary containing a neutron star (or, less likely, black hole) accreting from the wind of a giant.

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Arash Bahramian, Jeanette C. Gladstone, Craig O. Heinke, Rudy Wijnands, Ramanpreet Kaur, Diego Altamirano. 2014-03-27. Revealing a new symbiotic X-ray binary with Gemini NIFS. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2Fstu611

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