X-RAY VARIABILITY IN THE QUIESCENT STATE OF CENTAURUS X-4

Authors
CAMPANA S MEREGHETTI S STELLA L COLPI M
Citation
S. Campana et al., X-RAY VARIABILITY IN THE QUIESCENT STATE OF CENTAURUS X-4, Astronomy and astrophysics, 324(3), 1997, pp. 941-942
Citations number
9
Categorie Soggetti
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Journal title
Astronomy and astrophysics → ACNP
ISSN journal
00046361
Volume
324
Issue
3
Year of publication
1997
Pages
941 - 942
Database
ISI
SICI code
0004-6361(1997)324:3<941:XVITQS>2.0.ZU;2-L
Abstract
We report on a ROSAT-HRI observation of the soft X-ray transient Cen X -4 during quiescence. We discover a variation in the flux by a factor of 3 in less than four days. This relatively fast variation, the first observed from a quiescent soft X-ray transient, rules out some of the emission mechanisms that have been proposed for the quiescent flux. A ccretion either onto the neutron star surface or onto the magnetospher ic boundary is clearly favored.