A rare outburst from the stealthy BeXRB system Swift J0549.7-6812

M. J. Coe; J. A. Kennea; I. M. Monageng; D. A.H. Buckley; A. Udalski; P. A. Evans

doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1987

A rare outburst from the stealthy BeXRB system Swift J0549.7-6812

M. J. Coe, J. A. Kennea, I. M. Monageng, D. A.H. Buckley, A. Udalski, P. A. Evans

Astronomy & Astrophysics

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2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a Be/X-ray binary system (BeXRB) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibiting an ~6 s pulse period. Like many such systems, the variable X-ray emission is believed to be driven by the underlying behaviour of the mass donor Be star. In this paper, we report on X-ray observations of the brightest known outburst from this system, which reached a luminosity of ~8 × 10³⁷ erg s^-1. These observations are supported by contemporaneous optical photometric observations, the first reported optical spectrum, as well as several years of historical data from Optical Gravitational Lens Explorer (OGLE) and Gaia . The latter strongly suggest a binary period of 46.1 d. All the observational data indicate that Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a system that spends the vast majority of its time in X-ray quiescence, or even switched off completely. This suggests that occasional observations may easily miss it, and many similar systems, and thereby underestimate the massive star evolution numbers for the LMC.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	3263-3269
Number of pages	7
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	524
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1987
State	Published - Sep 1 2023

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1093/mnras/stad1987

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title = "A rare outburst from the stealthy BeXRB system Swift J0549.7-6812",

abstract = "Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a Be/X-ray binary system (BeXRB) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibiting an ~6 s pulse period. Like many such systems, the variable X-ray emission is believed to be driven by the underlying behaviour of the mass donor Be star. In this paper, we report on X-ray observations of the brightest known outburst from this system, which reached a luminosity of ~8 × 1037 erg s-1. These observations are supported by contemporaneous optical photometric observations, the first reported optical spectrum, as well as several years of historical data from Optical Gravitational Lens Explorer (OGLE) and Gaia . The latter strongly suggest a binary period of 46.1 d. All the observational data indicate that Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a system that spends the vast majority of its time in X-ray quiescence, or even switched off completely. This suggests that occasional observations may easily miss it, and many similar systems, and thereby underestimate the massive star evolution numbers for the LMC.",

author = "Coe, {M. J.} and Kennea, {J. A.} and Monageng, {I. M.} and Buckley, {D. A.H.} and A. Udalski and Evans, {P. A.}",

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AU - Kennea, J. A.

AU - Monageng, I. M.

AU - Buckley, D. A.H.

AU - Udalski, A.

AU - Evans, P. A.

PY - 2023/9/1

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N2 - Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a Be/X-ray binary system (BeXRB) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibiting an ~6 s pulse period. Like many such systems, the variable X-ray emission is believed to be driven by the underlying behaviour of the mass donor Be star. In this paper, we report on X-ray observations of the brightest known outburst from this system, which reached a luminosity of ~8 × 1037 erg s-1. These observations are supported by contemporaneous optical photometric observations, the first reported optical spectrum, as well as several years of historical data from Optical Gravitational Lens Explorer (OGLE) and Gaia . The latter strongly suggest a binary period of 46.1 d. All the observational data indicate that Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a system that spends the vast majority of its time in X-ray quiescence, or even switched off completely. This suggests that occasional observations may easily miss it, and many similar systems, and thereby underestimate the massive star evolution numbers for the LMC.

AB - Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a Be/X-ray binary system (BeXRB) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) exhibiting an ~6 s pulse period. Like many such systems, the variable X-ray emission is believed to be driven by the underlying behaviour of the mass donor Be star. In this paper, we report on X-ray observations of the brightest known outburst from this system, which reached a luminosity of ~8 × 1037 erg s-1. These observations are supported by contemporaneous optical photometric observations, the first reported optical spectrum, as well as several years of historical data from Optical Gravitational Lens Explorer (OGLE) and Gaia . The latter strongly suggest a binary period of 46.1 d. All the observational data indicate that Swift J0549.7 -6812 is a system that spends the vast majority of its time in X-ray quiescence, or even switched off completely. This suggests that occasional observations may easily miss it, and many similar systems, and thereby underestimate the massive star evolution numbers for the LMC.

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A rare outburst from the stealthy BeXRB system Swift J0549.7-6812

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