Catalog of outbursts of neutron star LMXBs

TL;DR

This paper compiles a comprehensive catalog of 87 transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries, identifying 109 new outbursts and analyzing their recurrence, which aids understanding of binary evolution and accretion physics.

Contribution

It provides the first extensive catalog of outbursts for these systems, including newly identified events and analysis of outburst recurrence patterns.

Findings

109 outbursts not previously reported

Detection efficiency since 1996 for bright outbursts

Many systems have zero or one outburst recorded, suggesting faint binaries or frequent low-level activity

Abstract

Many X-ray binaries are transiently accreting. Having statistics on their recurrence times is helpful to address questions related to binary evolution and populations, as well as the physics of binary systems. We compile a catalog of known outbursts of 87 transient neutron star (identified through bursts or pulsations) low-mass X-ray binaries, until mid-2025. Most outbursts are taken from the literature, but we also identify some outbursts from public X-ray monitoring lightcurves. We find 109 outbursts not previously identified in the literature; most are from the frequent transients GRS 1747-312 and the Rapid Burster MXB 1730-335, though we suspect that two outbursts from Liller 1 may be from another transient, besides the Rapid Burster. We also find new outbursts for 10 other systems, and verify substantial quiescent intervals for XMM J174457-2850.3, XMMU J174716.1-281048, and AX J1754.2-2754. Outburst detection has been relatively efficient since 1996 for outbursts above $F_X$(2-10)$=3\times10^{-10}$ ergs/s/cm$^2$. While several systems have many known outbursts, 40 of the 87 systems we track have zero or one recorded outburst between 1996 and 2023. This suggests that many faint Galactic Center X-ray binaries may be neutron star X-ray binaries, though we cannot completely rule out the proposition that most neutron star X-ray binaries undergo frequent outbursts below all-sky monitor detection limits.