The Properties of X‐Ray and Optical Light Curves of X‐Ray Novae
Abstract
We have collected the available data from the literature and from public data archives covering the past two decades for the long-term X-ray and optical light curves of X-ray nova (XN) outbursts. XN outbursts are due to episodic accretion events, primarily in low-mass X-ray binaries normally characterized by low mass transfer rates. Dynamical studies indicate that most XNs contain a black hole. The soft X-ray emission during outburst traces the accretion rate through the inner edge of the accretion disk, while the optical light curve traces the physical conditions at the outer disk—thus, collectively, they contain information on the time-dependent behavior of accretion processes through the disks. In this paper, we carry out for the first time a systematic, statistical study of XN light curves that are classified into five morphological types. Basic light-curve parameters, such as the outburst peak flux, amplitude, luminosity, rise and decay timescales, the observed and expected outburst durations, and the total energy radiated, are tabulated and discussed. We find that the rise timescales have a flat distribution while the decay timescales have a much narrower and near-Gaussian distribution, centered around 30 days and dominated by the strongest outbursts. The peak luminosity is also distributed like a Gaussian, centered around 0.2 in Eddington units, while the total energy released has a much broader distribution around 10 44 ergs. We find no intrinsic difference between…
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