XMM-Newton Proposal 03015401

Cornelisse, Remon
Bibliographical reference

XMM-Newton Proposal ID #03015401

Advertised on:
10
2004
Number of authors
1
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We propose to observe the peculiar neutron star low mass X-ray binary (NS/LMXB) 2S 1803-245 in quiescence. Together with EXO 1745-248, it is the only transient that reached peak luminosities comparable to the Eddington- limit. This makes 2S 1803-245 one of the thermally brightest NSs in quiescence according to the cooling theory, and therefore one of the best quiescent NSs to investigate. Furthermore, EXO 1745-248 showed enhanced cooling and its quiescent spectrum was completely dominated by a power-law tail, suggested to be related to a high magnetic field strength NS (as is also suggested in the brightest NS/LMXBs). This makes 2S 1803-245 an excellent candidate to verify the connection between high magnetic field strength NS and the high peak luminosity during outburst.