Fa. Harrison et al., Simultaneous X-ray and radio monitoring of the unusual binary LS I+61 degrees 303: Measurements of the light curve and high-energy spectrum, ASTROPHYS J, 528(1), 2000, pp. 454-461
The binary system, LS I +61 degrees 303, is unusual both because of the dra
matic, periodic, radio outbursts, and because of its possible association w
ith the 100 MeV gamma-ray source, 2CG 135+ 01. We have performed simultaneo
us radio and Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer X-ray observations at 11 intervals
over the 26.5 day orbit, and in addition searched for variability on times
cales ranging from milliseconds to hours. We confirm the modulation of the
X-ray emission on orbital timescales originally reported by Taylor et al.,
and in addition we find a significant offset between the peak of the X-ray
and radio flux. We argue that based on these results, the most likely X-ray
emission mechanism is inverse Compton scattering of stellar photons off of
electrons accelerated at the shock boundary between the relativistic wind
of a young pulsar and the Be star wind. In these observations we also detec
ted 2-150 keV flux from the nearby low-redshift quasar QSO 0241+622. Compar
ing these measurements to previous hard X-ray and gamma-ray observations of
the region containing both LS I +61 degrees 303 and QSO 0241 + 622, it is
clear that emission from the QSO dominates.