English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

We investigate the thermonuclear bursting behaviour of IGR J 17473− 2721, an X‐ray transient that in 2008 underwent a 6‐month long outburst, starting (unusually) with an X‐ray burst. We detected a total of 57 thermonuclear bursts throughout the outburst with  AGILE ,  Swift ,  Rossi X‐ray Timing Explorer  ( RXTE ) and the  INTErnational Gamma‐Ray Astrophysics Laboratory  (INTEGRAL) . The wide range of inferred accretion rates (between &lt;1 and ≃20 per cent of the Eddington accretion rate ) spanned during the outburst allows us to study changes in the nuclear burning processes and to identify up to seven different phases. The burst rate increased gradually with the accretion rate until it dropped (at a persistent flux corresponding to ≃15 per cent of ) a few days before the outburst peak, after which bursts were not detected for a month. As the persistent emission subsequently decreased, the bursting activity resumed at a much lower rate than during the outburst rise. This hysteresis may arise from the thermal effect of the accretion on the surface nuclear burning processes, and the time‐scale is roughly consistent with that expected for the neutron star crust thermal response. On the other hand, an undetected ‘superburst’, occurring within a data gap near the outburst peak, could have produced a similar quenching of burst activity.

Puzzling thermonuclear burst behaviour from the transient low‐mass X‐ray binary IGR J17473−2721