Open AccessThe Discovery of an Outburst and Pulsed X-Ray Flux from SMC X-2 Using the [ITAL]Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer[/ITAL]
Author(s) -
R. H. D. Corbet,
F. E. Marshall,
M. J. Coe,
S. Laycock,
G. Handler
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/318929
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , x ray , flux (metallurgy) , astronomy , nuclear physics , materials science , metallurgy
Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer All Sky Monitor observations of SMC X-2 show thatthe source experienced an outburst in January to April 2000 reaching a peakluminosity of greater than ~10^38 ergs s^-1. RXTE Proportional Counter Arrayobservations during this outburst reveal the presence of pulsations with a2.37s period. However, optical photometry of the optical counterpart showed thesource to be still significantly fainter than it was more than half a yearafter the outburst in the 1970s when SMC X-2 was discovered.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letter
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