Elemental Abundances in X-ray Binary Outflows

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Keshet, Noa, Behar, Ehud, Miller, Jon M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Keshet, Noa
Behar, Ehud
Miller, Jon M.
author_facet Keshet, Noa
Behar, Ehud
Miller, Jon M.
contents Line resolved X-ray spectra of outflows from X-ray binaries are interesting since they provide quantifiable measures of the accreted material on to the compact object (black hole or neutron star), which can not be observed directly in the accretion disk. One such measurement that has been largely overlooked is that of the elemental abundances, which potentially provide insights into the origin of the ejected material. Using the Chandra/HETG grating spectrometer we measure and present elemental abundances in four low-mass X-ray binaries. We compare two measurement methods. One is by fitting line series of individual ions and reconstructing the absorption measure distribution (AMD), and the other is a global fit with one or two individual ionization components. All outflows feature a steep AMD strongly favoring high ionization degrees. The present abundances are consistent with previous works suggesting the abundances in the outflows are non-solar. We find a tentative trend of increasing abundances with atomic number, which fits some core-collapse supernova models, but no exact match to a specific one.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_19440
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Elemental Abundances in X-ray Binary Outflows
Keshet, Noa
Behar, Ehud
Miller, Jon M.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Line resolved X-ray spectra of outflows from X-ray binaries are interesting since they provide quantifiable measures of the accreted material on to the compact object (black hole or neutron star), which can not be observed directly in the accretion disk. One such measurement that has been largely overlooked is that of the elemental abundances, which potentially provide insights into the origin of the ejected material. Using the Chandra/HETG grating spectrometer we measure and present elemental abundances in four low-mass X-ray binaries. We compare two measurement methods. One is by fitting line series of individual ions and reconstructing the absorption measure distribution (AMD), and the other is a global fit with one or two individual ionization components. All outflows feature a steep AMD strongly favoring high ionization degrees. The present abundances are consistent with previous works suggesting the abundances in the outflows are non-solar. We find a tentative trend of increasing abundances with atomic number, which fits some core-collapse supernova models, but no exact match to a specific one.
title Elemental Abundances in X-ray Binary Outflows
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19440