The 2013 outburst of a transient very faint X-ray binary, 23" from Sgr A*

TL;DR

This paper presents detailed observations of a very faint X-ray binary's 2013 outburst, providing insights into its low luminosity and accretion physics through multi-telescope data analysis.

Contribution

It offers one of the most comprehensive studies of a VFXB outburst, combining data from multiple telescopes to analyze its luminosity, spectral properties, and accretion state.

Findings

Peak luminosity was 5.0×10^35 erg/s in 2-10 keV band.

X-ray spectrum was well-fit by an absorbed power-law with photon index ~1.7.

The outburst lasted over 50 days with detections in 173 ks of observations.

Abstract

We report observations using the Swift/XRT, NuSTAR, and Chandra X-ray telescopes of the transient X-ray source CXOGC J174540.0-290005, during its 2013 outburst. Due to its location in the field of multiple observing campaigns targeting Sgr A*, this is one of the best-studied outbursts of a very faint X-ray binary (VFXB; peak $L_X<10^{36}$ erg/s) yet recorded, with detections in 173 ks of X-ray observations over 50 days. VFXBs are of particular interest, due to their unusually low outburst luminosities and time-averaged mass transfer rates, which are hard to explain within standard accretion physics and binary evolution. The 2013 outburst of CXOGC J174540.0-290005 peaked at $L_X$(2-10 keV)=$5.0\times10^{35}$ erg/s, and all data above $10^{34}$ ergs/s were well-fit by an absorbed power-law of photon index $\sim1.7$, extending from 2 keV out to $\sim$70 keV. We discuss the implications of these observations for the accretion state of CXOGC J174540.0-290005.