Abstract
This paper gives an overview of the properties of the observed X-ray spectra of low-mass X-ray binaries containing a neutron star (neutron-star LMXBs) and those of X-ray binaries containing a black hole (black-hole XBs). The X-ray spectra of these systems change their characteristics with the mass accretion rate. At high X-ray luminosities, typically L x >1037 erg sec−1, soft thermal emission from the accretion disk dominates. There is a distinct difference in the X-ray spectrum between neutron-star LMXBs and black-hole XBs. When the luminosity decreases below a certain level (L x ∼1037 erg sec−1), the X-ray spectra of both systems undergo a transition to a hard power-law form. At further low luminosities (L x <1033–32 erg sec−1), the spectra become very soft. The characteristics of these X-ray spectra at different X-ray luminosities (different accretion rates) are described and the implications are discussed.
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Tanaka, Y. (1997). X-ray spectrum of low-mass X-ray binaries. In: Meyer-Hofmeister, E., Spruit, H. (eds) Accretion Disks — New Aspects. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 487. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0105817
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0105817
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