Diverse Long-Term Variability of Five Candidate High-Mass X-ray Binaries from Swift Burst Alert Telescope Observations

TL;DR

This study analyzes long-term X-ray variability in five candidate high-mass X-ray binaries using Swift BAT data, revealing orbital periods, pulsations, and complex behaviors indicative of Be star systems.

Contribution

It provides new long-term modulation measurements and insights into the nature of these binaries, especially confirming Be star companions and identifying potential orbital and superorbital periods.

Findings

Detected orbital periods of 49.6 and 44 days in two sources.

Identified pulsations at 33.4 s and 54 s in two systems.

Observed complex variability and possible long-term changes in modulation.

Abstract

We present an investigation of long-term modulation in the X-ray light curves of five little-studied candidate high-mass X-ray binaries using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. IGR J14488-5942 and AX J1700.2-4220 show strong modulation at periods of 49.6 and 44 days, respectively, which are interpreted as orbital periods of Be star systems. For IGR J14488-5942, observations with Swift X-ray Telescope show a hint of pulsations at 33.4 s. For AX J1700.2-4220, 54 s pulsations were previously found with XMM. Swift J1816.7-1613 exhibits complicated behavior. The strongest peak in the power spectrum is at a period near 150 days, but this conflicts with a determination of a period of 118.5 days by La Parola et al. (2014). AX J1820.5-1434 has been proposed to exhibit modulation near 54 days, but the extended BAT observations suggest modulation at slightly longer than double this at approximately 111 days. There appears to be a long-term change in the shape of the modulation near 111 days, which may explain the apparent discrepancy. The X-ray pulsar XTE J1906+090, which was previously proposed to be a Be star system with an orbital period of ~30 days from pulse timing, shows peaks in the power spectrum at 81 and 173 days. The origins of these periods are unclear, although they might be the orbital period and a superorbital period respectively. For all five sources, the long-term variability, together with the combination of orbital and proposed pulse periods, suggests that the sources contain Be star mass donors.