The chemical composition of the accretion disk and donor star in Ultra Compact X-ray Binaries: A comprehensive X-ray analysis

TL;DR

This study analyzes X-ray spectra of Ultra Compact X-ray Binaries to determine their chemical composition, linking iron line presence to donor star type and burst activity, thus providing insights into their accretion disk makeup.

Contribution

It establishes a correlation between iron Kα emission and donor star composition, proposing a method to identify He-rich versus C/O-rich donors in UCXBs.

Findings

Persistent iron emission correlates with frequent X-ray bursts.

Absence of iron line associates with fewer or no bursts.

He-rich donors likely in systems with iron emission.

Abstract

We have analyzed the X-ray spectra of all known Ultra Compact X-ray Binaries (UCXBs), with the purpose of constraining the chemical composition of their accretion disk and donor star. Our investigation was focused on the presence (or absence) of the Fe K${\alpha}$ emission line, which was used as the probe of chemical composition of the disk, based on previously established theoretical predictions for the reflection of X-ray radiation off the surface of C/O-rich or He-rich accretion disks in UCXBs. We have contrasted the results of our spectral analysis to the history of type I X-ray bursts from these systems, which can also indicate donor star composition. We found that UCXBs with prominent and persistent iron K${\alpha}$ emission also featured repeat bursting activity. On the other hand, the UCXBs for which no iron line was detected, appear to have few or no type I X-ray bursts detected over more than a decade of monitoring. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, demonstrating a strong correlation between the Fe K${\alpha}$ line strength and the abundance of C and O in the accretion disk material and given the expected correlation between the H/He abundance and the recurrence rate of type I X-ray bursts, we propose that there is a considerable likelihood that UCXBs with persistent iron emission have He-rich donors, while those that do not, likely have C/O or O/Ne/Mg-rich donors. Our results strongly advocate for the development of more sophisticated simulations of X-ray reflection from hydrogen-poor accretion disks.