9-13 July 2012
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
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Orbital periods of Be X-ray binaries through optical lightcurves

11 Jul 2012, 17:10
20m
Oral Presentation Track D1 - Astrophysics Astrophysics

Speaker

Dr Vanessa McBride (University of Cape Town, SAAO)

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)

The motion of the neutron star around a massive Be star in a Be X-ray binary is thought to disturb the circumstellar disk, resulting in an orbital modulation of the optical flux. We present new periodicities of 9 Be X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud, and show how the shape of folded lightcurves can be used as metrics to discriminate between orbital and other types of modulation (e.g. rotation, pulsation) in the lightcurves.

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Primary authors

Dr Antony Bird (University of Southampton) Prof. Malcolm Coe (University of Southampton) Dr Vanessa McBride (University of Cape Town, SAAO)

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