Bibcode
in't Zand, J. J. M.; Cornelisse, R.; Kuulkers, E.; Heise, J.; Verbunt, F.; Cumming, A.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #8, #25.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 36, p.954
Advertised on:
8
2004
Citations
1
Refereed citations
1
Description
Analysis of archival data from the BeppoSAX Wide Field Cameras has
yielded further detections of superbursts. Remarkably, several are from
a persistent low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) that radiates within a few
tens of percent of the Eddington limit, in contrast to all other
superbursts detected with BeppoSAX and RXTE which are from LMXBs
radiating between 0.1 and 0.25 times Eddington. These data provide
important constraints for superburst models which are based on unstable
carbon burning in the top 100 m of the neutron star. Another new result
concerns evidence that stable helium burning is an important process in
producing the fuel for such carbon shell flashes.