Identification of a Likely Radio Counterpart to the Rapid Burster

Creators: Moore, Christopher B.; Rutledge, Robert E.; Fox, Derek W.; Guerriero, Robert A.; Lewin, Walter H. G.; Fender, Robert; van Paradijs, Jan

Abstract

We have identified a likely radio counterpart to the low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1730-335 (the Rapid Burster). The counterpart has shown 8.4 GHz radio on/off behavior correlated with the X-ray on/off behavior as observed by the RXTE/ASM during six VLA observations. The probability of an unrelated, randomly varying background source duplicating this behavior is 1%-3% depending on the correlation timescale. The location of the radio source is R.A. 17^h33^m24^s.61, decl. -33°23'19".8 (J2000), ±0".1. We do not detect 8.4 GHz radio emission coincident with type II (accretion-driven) X-ray bursts. The ratio of radio to X-ray emission during such bursts is constrained to be below the ratio observed during X-ray-persistent emission at the 2.9 σ level. Synchrotron bubble models of the radio emission can provide a reasonable fit to the full data set, collected over several outbursts, assuming that the radio evolution is the same from outburst to outburst but given the physical constraints the emission is more likely to be due to ~1 hr radio flares such as have been observed from the X-ray binary GRS 1915+105.

Additional Information

© 2000. The American Astronomical Society. Received 1998 December 21; accepted 1999 November 10. We are grateful to Evan Smith, Jean Swank, and the XTE Science Operations Facility staff for their efficient processing of the several XTE TOO observations covered in this work. We are also indebted to VLA observers and staff Phillip Hicks, Robert Hjellming, Rick Perley, Michael Rupen, and Ken Sowinski, who graciously gave us time to perform observations of the RB, to Barry Clark, who worked on short notice to help find the time to make observations during critical periods, to Tasso Tzioumis, who performed the observations at ATCA, and to Ian Robson, who made possible the observations at the JCMT. We are grateful to M. van der Klis and the anonymous referee for their detailed and helpful comments on the manuscript. This work has been supported under NASA Grant NAG5-7481. J. v. P. acknowledges the support of NASA under grant NAG5-7414. R. P. F. was supported during the period of this research initially by ASTRON grant 781-76-017 and subsequently by the EC Marie Curie Fellowship ERBFMBICT 972436. C. B. M. thanks the University of Groningen for its support in the form of a Kapteyn Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship. R. E. R. thanks his host J. Trümper of Max-Planck-Institut für Extreterrestrische Physik, where this work began, and his host Lars Bildsten of University of California, Berkeley, where this work was completed.

Attached Files

Published - 2000-04.pdf

Files

2000-04.pdf

Files (169.6 kB)

Name	Size	Download all
2000-04.pdf md5:ad7b54532d1179a5d3c6452581f894d7	169.6 kB	Preview Download

Additional details

	All versions	This version
Views	0	0
Downloads	0	0
Data volume	0 Bytes	0 Bytes