Abstract
Quasi-periodic outburst activity is not uncommon among Population II X-ray binaries. This paper reports observations of such activity in several sources, made by the Vela 5B X-ray monitor. Typical periods are 1/2–2 years with an r.m.s. scatter in interval time of ∼10%. This activity is reminiscent of the superoutburst cycles of SU UMa CV's with respect to mean recurrence times, the variation of the recurrence times about their mean, and the total mass transferred during outburst. However, the outbursts in the X-ray sources have a substantially longer duration, 50–100 days instead of ∼10 days. I suggest that SU UMa and X-ray transient outbursts may be caused by similar mass-transfer instabilities.
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Priedhorsky, W. Recurrent Population II X-ray transients — similarities to SU UMa cataclysmic variables. Astrophys Space Sci 126, 89–98 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644177
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644177