Slow and Fast Transitions in the Rising Phase of Outbursts from NS-LMXB transients, AqlX-1 and 4U1608-52

TL;DR

This study classifies outbursts from neutron-star low-mass X-ray binaries into two types based on their initial rising behaviors and energy intensity patterns, revealing different transition timings and luminosities.

Contribution

It introduces a new classification of outbursts into slow and fast types based on energy band intensity evolution and transition timing, linked to pre-outburst luminosity.

Findings

Two outburst types: S-type and F-type, distinguished by intensity patterns.

S-type has longer initial hard state and higher pre-outburst luminosity.

Transition luminosity for S-type exceeds 8 x 10^{36} erg/s.

Abstract

We analyzed the initial rising behaviors of X-ray outbursts from two transient low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) containing a neutron-star (NS), Aql X-1 and 4U 1608-52, which are continuously being monitored by MAXI/GSC in 2--20 keV, RXTE/ASM in 2--10 keV, and Swift/BAT in 15--50 keV. We found that the observed ten outbursts are classified into two types by the patterns of the relative intensity evolutions in the two energy bands below/above 15 keV. One type behaves as the 15--50 keV intensity achieves the maximum during the initial hard-state period and drops greatly at the hard-to-soft state transition. On the other hand, the other type does as both the 2--15 keV and the 15--50 keV intensities achieve the maximums after the transition. The former have the longer initial hard-state ($\gtrsim$ 9 d) than the latter's ($\ltsim$5 d). Therefore, we named them as slow-type (S-type) and fast-type (F-type), respectively. These two types also show the differences in the luminosity at the hard-to-soft state transition as well as in the average luminosity before the outburst started, where the S-type are higher than the F-type in the both. These results suggest that the X-ray radiation during the pre-outburst period, which heats up the accretion disk and delays the disk transition (i.e., from a geometrically thick disk to a thin one), would determine whether the following outburst becomes S-type or F-type. The luminosity when the hard-to-soft state transition occurs is higher than $\sim 8 \times10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the S-type, which corresponds to 4% of the Eddington luminosity for a 1.4 \Mo NS.