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The X-ray persistence and characteristically soft spectrum of the black holeX-ray binary LMC X-3 make this source a touchstone for penetrating studies ofaccretion physics. We analyze a rich, 10-year collection of optical/infrared(OIR) time-series data in conjunction with all available contemporaneous X-raydata collected by the ASM and PCA detectors aboard the Rossi X-ray TimingExplorer. A cross-correlation analysis reveals an X-ray lag of ~2 weeks.Motivated by this result, we develop a model that reproduces the complex OIRlight curves of LMC X-3. The model is comprised of three components ofemission: stellar light; accretion luminosity from the outer disk inferred fromthe time-lagged X-ray emission; and light from the X-ray-heated star and outerdisk. Using the model, we filter a strong noise component out of theellipsoidal light curves and derive an improved orbital period for the system.Concerning accretion physics, we find that the local viscous timescale in thedisk increases with the local mass accretion rate; this in turn implies thatthe viscosity parameter alpha decreases with increasing luminosity. Finally, wefind that X-ray heating is a strong function of X-ray luminosity below ~50% ofthe Eddington limit, while above this limit X-ray heating is heavilysuppressed. We ascribe this behavior to the strong dependence of the flaring inthe disk upon X-ray luminosity, concluding that for luminosities above ~50% ofEddington, the star lies fully in the shadow of the disk.

Modeling the Optical-X-ray Accretion Lag in LMC X-3: Insights Into Black-Hole Accretion Physics