Abstract
In outburst, neutron star X-ray binaries produce less powerful jets than black holes at a given X-ray luminosity. This has made them more difficult to study as they fade towards quiescence. To explore whether neutron stars power jets at low accretion rates (LX ≲ 1036 erg s-1), we investigate the radio and X-ray properties of three accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars (IGR J17511-3057, SAX J1808.4-3658 and IGR J00291+5934) during their outbursts in 2015, and of the non-pulsing neutron starCenX-4 in quiescence (2015) and in outburst (1979). We did not detect the radio counterpart of IGR J17511-3057 in outburst or of Cen X-4 in quiescence, but did detect IGR J00291+5934 and SAX J1808.4-3658, showing that at least some neutron stars launch jets at low accretion rates. While the radio and X-ray emission in IGR J00291+5934 seem to be tightly correlated, the relationship in SAX J1808.4-3658 is more complicated.We find that SAX J1808.4-3658 produces jets during the reflaring tail, and we explore a toy model to ascertain whether the radio emission could be attributed to the onset of a strong propeller. The lack of a universal radio/X-ray correlation, with different behaviours in different neutron star systems (with various radio/X-ray correlations; some being radio faint and others not), points at distinct disc-jet interactions in individual sources, while always being fainter in the radio band than black holes at the same X-ray luminosity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 324-339 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 470 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2017 |
Keywords
- Accretion
- Accretion discs
- ISM: jets and outflows
- Radio continuum: transients
- Stars: neutron
- X-rays: binaries
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science