Open AccessOn the outburst amplitude of the soft X‐ray transients
Author(s) -
Shahbaz Tariq,
Kuulkers Erik
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.29511221.x
Subject(s) - physics , amplitude , astrophysics , orb (optics) , orbital period , magnitude (astronomy) , accretion disc , light curve , transient (computer programming) , accretion (finance) , astronomy , optics , stars , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics) , operating system
We find a strong correlation between the optical outburst amplitude Δ V and orbital period P orb for the soft X‐ray transient sources with orbital periods less than 1 d. By fitting the observed values for eight X‐ray transients, we determine an empirical relation that can be used to predict the orbital period of an X‐ray transient given only its outburst amplitude: Δ V =14.36−7.63 log P orb (h). For periods less than 12 h we determine a relation for the absolute magnitude of the accretion disc during outburst, which then allows us to estimate the distances to the sources.