The Rapid Burster is unique for its so-called type-II X-ray bursts, during which the X-ray intensity brightens dramatically, and which can recur as often as every few tens of seconds. The precise mechanism is unknown, but the bursts are thought to be episodes of enhanced accretion mediated (somehow) by the magnetic field. SRON PhD student Tullio Bagnoli has just completed a study of the type-I (thermonuclear) bursts which are also seen from the Rapid Burster, which are detected up to an unusually high accretion rate, compared to the other neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. In this respect, the Rapid Burster appears similar to the enigmatic source Terzan 5 X-2, which suggests that this system may also rotate unusually slowly. The paper was just accepted by MNRAS

Read the paper arXiv:1302.4286

Labels: 2013, thermonuclear bursts