Discovery of the neutron star nature of SLX 1737-282

in't Zand, J. J. M.; Verbunt, F.; Kuulkers, E.; Markwardt, C. B.; Bazzano, A.; Cocchi, M.; Cornelisse, R.; Heise, J.; Natalucci, L.; Ubertini, P.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.389, p.L43-L46 (2002)

Advertised on:
7
2002
Number of authors
10
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
41
Refereed citations
32
Description
SLX 1737-282 is a persistent moderately bright X-ray source 1fdg2 from the Galactic center. X-ray observations with the Wide Field Cameras on BeppoSAX have for the first time revealed the true nature of SLX 1737-282: a 15 min long thermonuclear flash was detected exposing the source as a neutron star in a binary system. The flash was Eddington-limited constraining the distance to between 5 and 8 kpc. We analyze BeppoSAX, ROSAT, and RXTE data on SLX 1737-282. The persistent 0.5-200 keV luminosity is close to or less than 1% of the Eddington limit which implies a rarely-seen circumstance for thermonuclear flash activity.