AbstractThe transient luminous soft X-ray source RX J0513.9-6951 in the large magellanic cloud is a key object within the class of accreting binary supersoft X-ray sources. In this system, mass-transfer is thought to occur close to the Eddington limit of a solar mass white dwarf. The source switches quasi-periodically between two physically distinct states with anti-correlated X-ray and optical luminosities. We have obtained the first high-resolution X-ray spectrum of RX J0513.9-6951 on December 24, 2003 during an X-ray bright state as a 48ks target of opportunity observation with the low energy transmission grating spectrograph (LETGS) on board Chandra. The X-ray observations were triggered using optical monitoring data obtained with ANDICAM on the 1.3-m telescope at Cerro Tololo, Chile of the SMARTS consortium. The X-ray spectrum deviates strongly from a smooth continuum and reveals complex structures which are probably a mixture of absorption and emission line patterns. Such features can be understood as a superposition of X-ray emission from a hot high-gravity stellar atmosphere and from an optically thin corona-like plasma enshrouding the system. Here, we present first results of our spectral analysis of the LETGS data using white dwarf atmosphere codes.


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    Title :

    First high-resolution Chandra LETGS spectrum of the transient supersoft X-ray source RX J0513.9-6951


    Contributors:
    Burwitz, V. (author) / Reinsch, K. (author) / Greiner, J. (author) / Rauch, T. (author) / Suleimanov, V. (author) / Walter, F.W. (author) / Mennickent, R.E. (author) / Predehl, P. (author)

    Published in:

    Advances in Space Research ; 40 , 8 ; 1294-1298


    Publication date :

    2006-11-23


    Size :

    5 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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